title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The Belle Isle Aquarium reopened on August 18, 2012, and is now run by the Belle Isle Conservancy. It originally opened on August 18, 1904, and was the oldest continually operating public aquarium in North America when it closed on April 3, 2005. The aquarium was operated by the Detroit Zoological Society prior to the 2005 closure. It is open to the public from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm every Saturday and Sunday, free of charge. The historic building features a single large gallery with an arched ceiling covered in green glass tile to evoke an underwater feeling. Additional recreational options in the early 21st century include a nature center, wheelchair accessible nature trail, fishing piers, playgrounds, picnic shelters, and handball, tennis and basketball courts, baseball fields, and cricket pitch.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: After years of economic problems, in 2013, the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy. A State Emergency Manager was appointed by the state government to oversee the city's finances. As part of the process, the state proposed taking over Belle Isle and converting it into a state park. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a lease on October 1, 2013, to lease the park from the city for 30 years; while the city council rejected that offer in mid-October, the Michigan Emergency Loan Board opted for the state's proposal on November 12, 2013. It set a 90-day transition period beginning on December 1, 2013, to turn the park operations over to the state. As part of the deal, the state promised to make up to $20 million in improvements to the park over the next three years. Belle Isle formally became a state park on February 10, 2014.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: Users of the state park entering by car or motorcycle must either pay the standard state park user entrance fee or have a Michigan Recreational Passport sticker on the license plate of their vehicles. There is no charge for those who enter the park on foot or by bicycle.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: Belle Isle was the top-visited state park in Michigan in 2016, receiving more than 4 million visitors. Since the state took control in 2014, it has invested $32 million in renovation and improvements in the park.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The park is one of the termini for the cross-state Iron Belle Trail, which consists of separate hiking and biking trails.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: On August 31, 2020, Belle Isle hosted a city-wide memorial to commemorate 1,500 victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Mike Duggan declared the day as Detroit Memorial Day to honor the victims of the disease.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: In 1992, a temporary street race circuit was constructed on the isle for CART races. The island hosted ten events at Belle Isle from 1992 to 2001, and racing resumed in 2007 as part of the IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: On December 18, 2008, the scheduled race for 2009 was canceled. The automotive economic crisis, and its impact on the Detroit area, was the primary reason. Roger Penske did not rule out a return in the future.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: On September 20, 2011, race organizers gained approval from Detroit City Council to use the updated track and support area on Belle Isle. On October 11, 2011, it was announced that the race would return in 2012. The race continues to be held annually, as of May 2021. The race weekends usually feature IndyCar as well as IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Since 2013 the Indycar races run in a format of a doubleheader, with one race at Saturday and another one at Sunday, for the same distance. The starting grid for both races is being determined in two separate qualifying sessions held a few hours before each race.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: Plans are underway to renew the tradition of Summer concert band performances for 2018 at the Remick Band Shell. Various Detroit-area concert bands are planning on performing on Sunday afternoons at the Band Shell. For instance, the Heritage Concert Band of Troy is scheduled to team with the Belgian American Association Band for a joint performance on July 29, 2018, at 1:30PM (tentative time). Many of the musicians belong to both concert bands.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: It was announced that Belle Isle would be the site of heavy metal band Metallica's 2013 Orion Music + More Festival, guaranteeing $100,000 in revenue. On December 26, 2012, Detroit Councilman Ken Cockrel Jr. confirmed rumors that the city was in the process of confirming 2014 and 2015 as well to take place at Belle Isle. However, in 2013 the festival series was canceled permanently due to financial constraints.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: Belle Isle was home to the Detroit Futbol League, but games are now held at the Fort Wayne grounds due to field conditions at Belle Isle.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The James Scott Memorial Fountain is a monument located in Belle Isle Park, in Detroit, Michigan. Designed by architect Cass Gilbert and sculptor Herbert Adams, the fountain was completed in 1925 at a cost of $500,000. The lower bowl has a diameter of 510 ft (160 m) and the central spray reaches 125 ft (38 m). The fountain honors the controversial James Scott, who left $200,000 to the City of Detroit for a fountain in tribute to himself.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The Belle Isle Aquarium is a public aquarium located in Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan. Designed by architect Albert Kahn, it opened on August 18, 1904, and was the oldest continually operating public aquarium in North America when it closed on April 3, 2005. The aquarium reopened to the public on August 18, 2012, and is now run by the Belle Isle Conservancy. The 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) historic building features a single large gallery with an arched ceiling covered in green glass tile to evoke an underwater feeling. The aquarium was operated by the Detroit Zoological Society prior to the 2005 closure. It is currently operated by the Belle Isle Conservancy.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, commonly and locally known as the Belle Isle Conservatory, is a greenhouse and botanical garden which opened in 1904. Located three miles (4.8 km) east of the city's downtown, on Belle Isle, it covers .


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The Belle Isle Conservatory was built in 1904, designed by architect Albert Kahn, and rebuilt 1952–1954 with aluminum replacing its original wooden beams. In 1953, it was named in honor of Anna Scripps Whitcomb, who left her 600-plant orchid collection to the city. Thanks to her gift and subsequent donations, the conservatory is now home to one of the largest municipally-owned orchid collections in the United States. Rare orchids were saved from Great Britain during the World War II bombing and transported to the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory. Due to a lack of maintenance and budget cuts in recent years, the vast majority of orchids have now died.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The conservatory site contains formal perennial gardens, annual flower beds, a rose garden, and lily pond garden. The conservatory itself covers more than an acre, features an imposing central dome 85 feet (26 m) high (with a total volume of 100,601 cubic feet), and is organized as a palm house in the dome, the north and south wings, and a show house. The south wing contains tropical plants of economic importance such as bananas, oranges, coffee, sugar cane, and orchids. The north wing hosts the extensive collections of ferns, cacti, and succulents. The show house, remodeled 1980–1981, features a continuous display of blooming plants. The conservatory is currently undergoing renovations, and is closed to the public until July 2019.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The Belle Isle Nature Center (BINC) is a nature center that encompasses approximately 4 acres (1.6 ha) of undisturbed forested wetland on Belle Isle. The nature center provides year-round educational, recreational and environmental conservation opportunities for the community.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: A Deer Encounter, where fallow deer that once roamed the island can be fed by visitors, is part of a multi-phase project to convert the former Belle Isle Zoo into a nature center focusing on Michigan wildlife, flora and fauna. The BINC also includes a renovated auditorium, a turtle exhibit featuring native Michigan turtles, an indoor beehive allowing year-round viewing of bee behavior, a spider exhibit, and a Creation Station for children's educational programming.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is a maritime museum. Located on The Strand on Belle Isle Park, this museum places special interest on Detroit's role on national and regional maritime history. The museum features exhibits such as one of the largest collection of model ships in the world, and the bow anchor of the legendary SS Edmund Fitzgerald.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: A large playground slide was opened in the park in 1967. The slide was closed for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, and upon reopening experienced issues with the speed at which riders were descending, which was attributed to the fact it had been freshly waxed.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: At , Belle Isle Park was the largest city island park (prior to its transfer to the State of Michigan as a state park) and is larger than Central Park in New York City, also designed by Olmsted.


title: Belle Isle Park (Michigan)

text: Detroit's River Rouge Park is . Prior to Belle Isle becoming a state park, the city's Parks and Recreation Department managed of parks (now approximately ). The Huron-Clinton Metroparks authority manages of parks and beaches; however, this does not include all parks in the area. There are thousands of additional acres of .


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor royal palace, built by Henry VIII in Surrey, England; it stood from 1538 to 1682–83. Its site lies in what is now Nonsuch Park on the boundaries of the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey and the London Borough of Sutton.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: The palace was designed to be a celebration of the power and the grandeur of the Tudor dynasty, built to rival Francis I's Château de Chambord. Unlike most of Henry's palaces, Nonsuch was not an adaptation of an old building; he chose to build a new palace in this location because it was near to one of his main hunting grounds. However the choice of location was unwise, as there was no nearby supply of water suitable for domestic use. The palace cost at least £24,000 (over £10 million in 2021) because of its rich ornamentation and is considered a key work in the introduction of elements of Renaissance design to England.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Nonsuch Palace, near Cheam, Greater London , was perhaps the grandest of Henry VIII's building projects. It was built on the site of Cuddington, near Ewell, the church and village having been destroyed and compensation paid, to create a suitable site. Work started on 22 April 1538, the first day of Henry's thirtieth regnal year, and six months after the birth of his son, later Edward VI.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Within two months the name "Nonsuch" appears in the building accounts, its name a boast that there was no such palace elsewhere equal to it in magnificence. Construction had been substantially carried out by 1541, but it took several more years to complete. As the Royal Household took possession of vast tracts of surrounding acreage, several major roads were re-routed or by-passed to circumvent what became Nonsuch Great Park.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: The palace was incomplete when Henry VIII died in 1547. In 1556 Queen Mary I sold it to Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, who completed it. In 1585 the Treaty of Nonsuch was signed by Elizabeth I of England and the Dutch Republic at the palace. It returned to royal hands in the 1590s. Nonsuch came to Anne of Denmark as her jointure property as the consort of King James. The Great Park remained the property of Lord Lumley until he surrendered the lease to the queen in 1605. She rarely visited, but came in July 1617 attended by Viscount Lisle, Lucy, Countess of Bedford, and the Earls of Southampton and Montgomery.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Under King James I, Viscount Lumley was appointed Keeper of the Palace and Little Park, and then in 1606, the Earl of Worcester succeeded him, naming the park lodge Worcester House. Both James I and Charles I regularly visited for hunting and racing.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Following Parliament's victory in the English Civil War, the Nonsuch estate was confiscated and let to a series of Parliamentarian supporters: first to Algernon Sidney, then to Colonel Robert Lilburne. The estate was then sold to Major-General John Lambert, and latterly to General Thomas Pride, who held it until his death in 1658.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: The palace was handed back to the Crown after the Restoration in 1660, with the palace given to Queen Henrietta Maria and the park and Worcester House leased to Sir Robert Long. John Evelyn visited it in 1666 and reported:I ... took an exact view of the plaster statues and bass-relievos inserted betwixt the timbers and punchceons of the outside walls of the Court; which must needs have been the work of some celebrated Italian. I much admired how they had lasted so well and entire since the time of Henry VIII., exposed as they are to the air; and pity it is they are not taken out and preserved in some dry place; a gallery would become them. There are some mezzo-relievos as big as the life; the story is of the Heathen Gods, emblems, compartments, &c. The palace consists of two courts, of which the first is of stone, castle like, by the Lord Lumleys (of whom it was purchased), the other of timber, a Gothic fabric, but these walls incomparably beautified. I observed that the appearing timber-puncheons, entrelices, &c., were all so covered with scales of slate, that it seemed carved in the wood and painted, the slate fastened on the timber in pretty figures, that has, like a coat of armour, preserved it from rotting. There stand in the garden two handsome stone pyramids, and the avenue planted with rows of fair elms, but the rest of these goodly trees, both of this and of Worcester Park adjoining, were felled by those destructive and avaricious rebels in the late war, which defaced one of the stateliest seats his Majesty had.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Nonsuch remained royal property until 1670, when Charles II gave it to his mistress, Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine, with the title Baroness of Nonsuch. She had it pulled down around 1682–3 and sold off the building materials to pay gambling debts.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Some elements were incorporated into other buildings; for example the wood panelling can still be seen today in the Great Hall at Loseley Park near Guildford. No trace of the palace remains on its site today, but some pieces are held by the British Museum. There is a discernible rise of land where the old Cuddington church used to be, before it was demolished to make way for the palace. Nonsuch Palace should not be confused with Nonsuch Mansion, which is at the east of the park, nor its associated banqueting hall whose foundations are still visible to the south east of the palace site.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: Only about three contemporary images of the palace survive, and they do not reveal very much about either the layout or the details of the building. Following the digging of the trenches in World War II, it was reported that pieces of pottery had been discovered in the area, later found to be from the site of the palace. An outline of the site layout was also visible from the air, providing additional evidence in the search for the location of the site.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: The site was excavated in 1959–60; the plan of the palace was quite simple with inner and outer courtyards, each with a fortified gatehouse. The exterior and outer courtyard were quite plain, but the inner courtyard was decorated with breathtaking stucco panels moulded in high relief. To the north, it was fortified in a medieval style, but the southern face had ornate Renaissance decoration, with tall octagonal towers at each end. It was within one of these towers that the premiere of Thomas Tallis' masterwork, "Spem in alium", was perhaps performed. The 1959 excavation of Nonsuch by Martin Biddle, aged 22, was a key event in the history of archaeology in the UK. It was one of the first post-medieval sites to be excavated, and attracted over 75,000 visitors during the work. This excavation led to major developments in post-medieval archaeology.


title: Nonsuch Palace

text: John Speed's map of Surrey has an insert depicting the palace and a part of its gardens, including some of the principal ornaments. These are also known from detailed drawings in the "Red Velvet Book", the 1590 Lumley inventory.


title: Names of India in its official languages

text: India has many official names, expressing its linguistic diversity. Hindi in the Devanagari script is the sole official language of India as per Article 343 of the Constitution of India and there is no national language for the country. English in the Latin alphabet has the status of a "subsidiary official language" according to clause 3 of . Hindi romanisation uses Hunterian transliteration, which is the "national system of romanisation in India" and the one officially used by the Government of India. The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages, which have been referred to as "scheduled" languages and given recognition, status, and official encouragement.


title: Goo Goo Dolls discography

text: The following article documents the album, single, video and multimedia releases by the American rock band the Goo Goo Dolls.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: The Emerald Triangle is a region in Northern California, named as such due to it being the largest cannabis-producing region in the United States. The region includes three counties in an upside-down triangular configuration:


title: Emerald Triangle

text: Growers have been cultivating "Cannabis" plants in this region since the 1960s, during San Francisco's Summer of Love. Growing cannabis in the Emerald Triangle is considered a way of life, and the locals believe that everyone living in this region is either directly or indirectly reliant on the cannabis industry. The industry exploded in the region with the passage of California Proposition 215, which legalized the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes in California. The passage of Proposition 64 in 2016 legalized the general sale and distribution of cannabis.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: When growing cannabis was illegal, this area was remote with limited law enforcement. The area has developed a reputation for cannabis with exceptionally good flavor and cannabinoid profiles.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: In 1984, Humboldt residents filed a federal lawsuit claiming they had been subject to illegal surveillance by U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft deployed by the California-based multiagency task force started the year prior, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: The total population in the Emerald Triangle is 236,250 according to the 2010 census. The majority of the population is widely spread throughout the woody hills and mountains that make up the area. With an area of 11,138 square miles, the Emerald Triangle population density is 21/mi.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: In this sparsely populated region, the largest urban area is the city of Eureka in Humboldt County with a population approaching 50,000 people. The second and third largest cities, by far larger than any other cities in the region, are Arcata (also in Humboldt), with 17,231 people, and Ukiah (in Mendocino), with 16,075 people.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: There is an environmental impact from outdoor cannabis production in the Emerald Triangle, which is largely unregulated. These effects include illegal damming, diversion and taking of water from streams (especially during summer), and also pesticide-laden runoff into streams, all of which may degrade critical salmon fisheries. Clearcutting and roadbuilding for the cannabis plantations can also degrade the environment and endanger salmon. The grows often occur illegally on public land.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: The Lookouts, founded in 1985 by Larry Livermore, who also founded Lookout! Records, was Tré Cool's first band. The punk rock band named for the fire lookout at Iron Peak in Mendocino County, which led local marijuana growers to threaten to burn down Livermore's house for bringing too much publicity to their hilly isolated region of the Emerald Triangle near Spyrock. The band wrote many songs about the surrounding area on Mendocino Homeland and Spy Rock Road, an album named for the road lined with marijuana grows that leads to Iron Peak. Livermore also wrote "Spy Rock Memories", a 2013 book about his time living off the grid in the heart of the Emerald Triangle.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: On the TV show "Lost", during flashback scenes in the episode "Further Instructions", John Locke picks up a hitchhiker who happens to be an undercover police officer on State Route 36 and brings him back to a farm near Bridgeville, where they grow marijuana in a greenhouse.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: "Humboldt County" is a 2008 comedy-drama about a medical school dropout who drives north Humboldt County to live on a pot farm.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: "Homegrown is a 1998 movie starring Billy Bob Thornton that follows marijuana growers in an unspecific area of the Emerald Triangle, most likely northern Mendocino County.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: In "Object Impermanence", an episode of Showtime's "Weeds", Nancy Botwin drives to Heylia James' boobytrapped outdoor marijuana grow in Humboldt County.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: Discovery Channel's "Pot Cops", a 2013 docuseries, followed the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office's Marijuana Enforcement Team in 2013.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: The 2013 book "" by Emily Brady, is written about the marijuana industry in Humboldt County and the surrounding Emerald Triangle.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: Amazon Prime's "Budding Prospects" was a 2017 pilot episode for a series based on the 1984 novel of the same name by T.C. Boyle that was set in Mendocino County in the 1980s. Amazon released the pilot but did not greenlight the series.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: Two other nationally distributed paperback books written about marijuana cultivation in the Emerald Triangle include Steve Chapple's 1984 book "Outlaws in Babylon: Shocking True Stories on the Marijuana Frontier" and Ray Raphael's 1985 book "Cash Crop: An American Dream".


title: Emerald Triangle

text: Netflix's 2018 television series "Murder Mountain" examines the high rate of missing people and murders in Humboldt County. The show covers the history of illegal marijuana farming including the relationship of local farmers and local authorities as the area attempts to transition into a legal cannabis industry.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: The 2020 film "Freeland" is about a longtime Humboldt County marijuana grower, played by Krisha Fairchild, growing illegally despite the availability of the legal market.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: The 2021 documentary "Lady Buds", produced by Gravitas Ventures, which women who work in the marijuana industry in Northern California, is being developed into a scripted comedy feature film and a non-scripted series.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: Hulu's 2021 docuseries "Sasquatch" is based on the murder of pot growers in Mendocino County in the 1990s, purportedly perpetrated by Bigfoot.


title: Emerald Triangle

text: The 2021 crime podcast "Dark Woods", produced by Dick Wolf and set in Humboldt County that includes a trespass marijuana grow on public land, is currently being developed by Universal Television for a TV adaptation.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: Chloë Alexandra Adele Emily Agnew (born 1989) is an Irish singer and songwriter, best known for being an original and former member of the Celtic music group Celtic Woman.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: Agnew was born to Irish entertainer Adele "Twink" King and Irish oboist David Agnew in Knocklyon, County Dublin, where she lived with her mother and younger sister, Naomi.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: She made her first television appearance on her mother's programme aged four weeks old, and later sang on the show at the age of six. She attended Notre Dame des Missions Junior School for her primary school education, followed by Alexandra College girls' school.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: In 1998, Agnew represented Ireland and was the winner of the Grand Prix at the First International Children's Song Competition in Cairo with a song called "The Friendship Tree". She then began to perform pantomime at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin and continued in that role for four years.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: In 1999, she appeared in "The Young Messiah", a modern adaptation of Handel's "Messiah". In this production, she played one of the children and performed sign language.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: In 2000, aged 11, Agnew approached director David Downes about recording a song to raise money for the children of Afghanistan. With his help, she recorded "Angel of Mercy" for the album "This Holy Christmas Night", which raised over £20,000 for the Afghan Children's Charity Fund in 2001. That same year, she joined the Christ Church Cathedral Girls' Choir, and remained a member for three years.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: In 2002, she was signed to Celtic Collections, and with the backing of Downes she recorded her debut album "Chloë". In 2004, she released her second album, "Chloë: Walking in the Air". She also recorded a companion DVD for her second album, released in Europe in 2004 and in North America in 2007.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: She appeared as part of the group Celtic Woman at The Helix in Dublin in 2004, the youngest member at the time. Agnew has been featured on 14 albums with the group, recording songs in multiple languages and taking part in several world tours.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: On 5 August 2013, Celtic Woman announced Agnew would be taking a break from Celtic Woman to focus on solo projects. Her position was filled by Derry-born singer Mairéad Carlin.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: After leaving Celtic Woman, Agnew was chosen to be the special guest of the Celtic Thunder cruise. She, along with former Celtic Thunder member Paul Byrom, was also a special guest of Lisa Kelly's concerts called "The Voice of Ireland" and "A Celtic Christmas." Agnew was also part of Ethan Bortnick's concert with another former Celtic Thunder member Damian McGinty.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: Agnew did a concert performance with her boyfriend Dermot Kiernan and American singer-songwriters Kate Steinway and Marissa Lauren in the LA Songwriting school on 2015.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: On 22 January 2020, it was announced that Agnew was returning to Celtic Woman for the US Celebration Tour to fill in for Éabha McMahon, who was taking a leave from the group. However the tour was postponed shortly after due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 21 April 2020, Agnew announced that she would be rejoining the group for the rescheduled Celebration Tour. Agnew then announced that she would participate in the Postcards from Ireland Tour as well as the Postcards from Ireland album and TV special/DVD. On 19 August 2022, Agnew announced that she would be taking a break from group once again to focus on solo projects.


title: Chloë Agnew

text: Agnew is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. She often says prayers just before going on stage to "Calm her nerves".


title: Duplex stainless steel

text: Duplex stainless steels are a family of stainless steels. These are called duplex (or austenitic-ferritic) grades because their metallurgical structure consists of two phases, austenite (face-centered cubic lattice) and ferrite (body centered cubic lattice) in roughly equal proportions. They are designed to provide better corrosion resistance, particularly chloride stress corrosion and chloride pitting corrosion, and higher strength than standard austenitic stainless steels such as Type 304 or 316. The main differences in composition, when compared with an austenitic stainless steel is that the duplex steels have a higher chromium content, 20–28%; higher molybdenum, up to 5%; lower nickel, up to 9% and 0.05–0.50% nitrogen. Both the low nickel content and the high strength (enabling thinner sections to be used) give significant cost benefits. They are therefore used extensively in the offshore oil and gas industry for pipework systems, manifolds, risers, etc. and in the petrochemical industry in the form of pipelines and pressure vessels. In addition to the improved corrosion resistance compared with the 300 series stainless steels duplex steels also have higher strength. For example, a Type 304 stainless steel has a 0.2% proof strength in the region of , a 22%Cr duplex stainless steel a minimum 0.2% proof strength of some and a superduplex grade a minimum of .


title: Duplex stainless steel

text: Duplex stainless steels are usually divided into three groups based on their pitting corrosion resistance, characterised by the pitting resistance equivalence number, .


title: Duplex stainless steel

text: Duplex grades are therefore attractive when mechanical properties at room temperature are important because they allow thinner sections.


title: Duplex stainless steel

text: Duplex stainless steel grades must be cooled as quickly as possible to room temperature after hot forming to avoid the precipitation of intermetallic phases (Sigma phase in particular) which drastically reduce the impact resistance at room temperature as well as the corrosion resistance.


title: Duplex stainless steel

text: Alloying elements Cr, Mo, W, Si increase the stability and the formation of intermetallic phases. Therefore super duplex grades have a higher hot working temperature range and require faster cooling rates than the lean duplex grades.


title: Duplex stainless steel

text: Duplex stainless steels are usually selected for their high mechanical properties and good to very high corrosion resistance (particularly to stress corrosion cracking).


title: American middle class

text: Though the American middle class does not have a definitive definition, contemporary social scientists have put forward several ostensibly congruent theories on it. Depending on the class model used, the middle class constitutes anywhere from 25% to 75% of households.


title: American middle class

text: One of the first major studies of the middle class in America was "", published in 1951 by sociologist C. Wright Mills. Later sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert of Hamilton College commonly divide the middle class into two sub-groups. Constituting roughly 15% to 20% of households is the upper or professional middle class consisting of highly educated, salaried professionals and managers. Constituting roughly one third of households is the lower middle class consisting mostly of semi-professionals, skilled craftsmen and lower-level management. Middle-class persons commonly have a comfortable standard of living, significant economic security, considerable work autonomy and rely on their expertise to sustain themselves.


title: American middle class

text: Members of the middle class belong to diverse groups which overlap with each other. Overall, middle-class persons, especially upper-middle-class individuals, are characterized by conceptualizing, creating and consulting. Thus, college education is one of the main indicators of middle-class status. Largely attributed to the nature of middle-class occupations, middle class values tend to emphasize independence, adherence to intrinsic standards, valuing innovation and respecting non-conformity. The middle class is more politically active than other demographics.


title: American middle class

text: Income varies considerably, from near the national median to well in excess of US$100,000. However, household income figures do not always reflect class status and standard of living as they are largely influenced by the number of income earners and fail to recognize household size. It is therefore possible for a large, dual-earner, lower middle class household to out-earn a small, one-earner, upper middle class household. The middle classes are very influential as they encompass the majority of voters, writers, teachers, journalists and editors. Most societal trends in the U.S. originate within the middle classes.


title: American middle class

text: Scholars have a variety of technical measures of who is middle-class. By contrast public opinion has a variety of implicit measures. The definitions seem to stretch quite a great deal depending on the political cause that is being invoked or defended, as one commentator noted:


title: American middle class

text: The middle class by one definition consists of an upper middle class, made up of professionals distinguished by exceptionally high educational attainment as well as high economic security; and a lower middle class, consisting of semi-professionals. While the groups overlap, differences between those at the center of both groups are considerable.


title: American middle class

text: The lower middle class has lower educational attainment, considerably less workplace autonomy, and lower incomes than the upper middle class. With the emergence of a two-tier labor market, the economic benefits and life chances of upper middle class professionals have grown considerably compared to those of the lower middle class.


title: American middle class

text: The lower middle class needs two income earners in order to sustain a comfortable standard of living, while many upper middle class households can maintain a similar standard of living with just one income earner.


title: American middle class

text: The "professional class", also called the "upper middle class," consists mostly of highly educated white collar salaried professionals, whose work is largely self-directed. In 2005, these household incomes commonly exceed $100,000 per year. Class members typically hold graduate degrees, with educational attainment serving as the main distinguishing feature of this class.


title: American middle class

text: These professionals typically conceptualize, create, consult, and supervise. As a result, upper middle class employees enjoy great autonomy in the work place and are more satisfied with their careers than non-professional middle class individuals. In terms of financial wealth income, the professional middle class fits in the top third, but seldom reach the top 5% of American society. According to sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert, James M. Henslin, Joseph Hickey, and William Thompson, the upper middle class constitutes 15% of the population.


title: American middle class

text: Values and mannerisms are difficult to pinpoint for a group encompassing millions of persons. Naturally, any large group of people will feature social diversity to some extent. However, some generalizations can be made using education and income as class defining criteria. William Thompson and Joseph Hickey noted that upper middle class individuals have a more direct and confident manner of speech. In her 1989 publication "Effects of Social Class and Interactive Setting on Maternal Speech", Erica Hoff-Ginsberg found that among her surveyed subjects, "upper-middle class mothers talked more per unit of time and sustained longer interactions with children". She also found that the speech of upper middle-class mothers differs "in its functional, discourse, and lexico-syntactic properties", from those in the working class.


title: American middle class

text: Upper middle-class manners tend to require individuals to engage in conversational discourse with rather distant associates and to abstain from sharing excessive personal information. This contradicts working-class speech patterns, which often include frequent mentions of one's personal life. Further research also suggests that working-class parents emphasize conformity, traditional gender roles, and the adherence to external standards in their children, such as being neat and clean and "[believing] in strict leadership". This contrasted with professional-class households, where gender roles were more egalitarian and loosely defined. Upper middle class children were largely taught to adhere to internal standards, with curiosity, individuality, self-direction, and openness to new ideas being emphasized.


title: American middle class

text: While a recent Gallup survey showed mass affluent households to be conservative on economic issues while liberal on social issues, the upper middle class seems to be relatively politically polarized. In the 2006 mid-term elections both Democrats and Republicans received over 40% of the vote from those with advanced degrees and those in households with six figure incomes. While households with incomes exceeding $100,000 tend to favor Republicans slightly, they are also the only income demographic where Ralph Nader won more than 1% of the vote. Among those with graduate degrees, a smaller group than those with six figure incomes, the majority tends to vote Democratic with roughly 1% having voted for Nader in 2004.


title: American middle class

text: The lower middle class is the 2nd most populous according to both Gilbert's as well as Thompson & Hickey's models, constituting roughly one third of the population, the same percentage as the working class. However, according to Henslin, who also divides the middle class into two sub-groups, the lower middle class is the most populous, constituting 34% of the population. In all three class models the lower middle class is said to consist of "semi-professionals" and lower level white collar employees. An adaptation by sociologists Brian K. William, Stacy C. Sawyer, and Carl M. Wahlstrom of Dennis Gilbert's class model gave the following description of the lower middle class:


title: American middle class

text: Taking into account the percentages provided in the six-class model by Gilbert, as well as the model of Thompson and Hickey, one can apply U.S. Census Bureau statistics regarding income. According to these class models the lower middle class is located roughly between the 52nd and 84th percentile of society. In terms of personal income distribution in 2005, that would mean gross annual personal incomes from about $32,500 to $60,000.


title: American middle class

text: As 42% of all households, and the majority of those in the top 40%, had two income earners, household income figures would be significantly higher, ranging from roughly $50,000 to $100,000 in 2005. In terms of educational attainment, 27% of persons had a Bachelor's degree or higher.


title: American middle class

text: Seen from a sociological perspective based on class-cleavages, the majority of Americans can be described as members of the working class.


title: American middle class

text: The use of the term "working class" is applicable if the position of individuals, households and families in relation to the production of goods and services is the main determinant of social class. Class distinctions are seen in the distribution of individuals within society whose influence and importance differ. The nature of a person's work and the associated degrees of influence, responsibility, and complexity determine a person's social class. The higher the degree of influence and responsibility a person has or the more complex the work, the higher his or her status in society.


title: American middle class

text: As qualified personnel become scarce for relatively important, responsible, and complex occupations income increases, following the economic theory of scarcity resulting in value. According to this approach, occupation becomes more essential in determining class than income. Whereas professionals tend to create, conceptualize, consult and instruct, most Americans do not enjoy a high degree of independence in their work, as they merely follow set instructions.


title: American middle class

text: Definitions of the working class are confusing. Defined in terms of income, they may be split into middle-middle or statistical middle class in order to speak to issues of class structure. Class models such as Dennis Gilbert or Thompson and Hickey estimate that roughly 53% of Americans are members of the working or lower classes.


title: American middle class

text: Factors such as nature of work and lack of influence within their jobs leads some theorists to the conclusion that most Americans are working class. They have data that shows the majority of workers are not paid to share their ideas. These workers are closely supervised and do not enjoy independence in their jobs. Also, they are not paid to think. For example: The median annual earnings of salaried dentists were $136,960 in May 2006, indicating a high degree of scarcity for qualified personnel. The opinions and thoughts of dentists, much like those of other professionals, are sought after by their organizations and clients. The dentist creates a diagnosis, consults the patient, and conceptualizes a treatment. In 2009, Dental assistants made roughly $14.40 an hour, about $32,000 annually. Unlike dentists, dental assistants do not have much influence over the treatment of patients. They carry out routine procedures and follow the dentists' instructions. Here we see that a dental assistant being classified as working class. Similar relationships can be observed in other occupations.


title: American middle class

text: Some modern theories of political economy consider a large middle class to be a beneficial and stabilizing influence on society because it has neither the possibly explosive revolutionary tendencies of the lower class, nor the absolutist tendencies of an entrenched upper class. Most sociological definitions of middle class follow Max Weber. Here, the middle class is defined as consisting of professionals or business owners who share a culture of domesticity and sub-urbanity and a level of relative security against social crisis in the form of socially desired skill or wealth. Thus, the theory on the middle class by Weber can be cited as one that supports the notion of the middle class being composed of a quasi-elite of professionals and managers, who are largely immune to economic downturns and trends such as out-sourcing which affect the statistical middle class.


title: American middle class

text: Sociologists contend that middle class persons usually have above median incomes. As social classes lack clear boundaries and overlap there are no definite income thresholds as for what is considered middle class. In 2004, sociologist Leonard Beeghley identifies a male making $57,000 and a female making $40,000 with a combined households income of $97,000 as a typical American middle-class family. In 2005, sociologists William Thompson and Joseph Hickey estimate an income range of roughly $35,000 to $75,000 for the lower middle class and $100,000 or more for the upper middle class.


title: American middle class

text: Educational attainment is one of the most prominent determinants of class status. Expertise is a necessary component of the capitalist market system, and is seen as one of the factors of production. Those with higher educational attainment tend to be positioned in occupations with greater autonomy, influence over the organizational process, and higher financial compensation. The following chart further explains the correlation between educational attainment and personal as well as household income.


title: American middle class

text: Household income is one of a household's attributes most commonly used to determine its class status but income may not always accurately reflect a household's position within society or the economy. Unlike personal income, household income does not reflect occupational achievement as much as it measures the number of income earners. Sociologist Dennis Gilbert acknowledges that a working-class household with two income earners may out-earn a single-income upper-middle-class household. For example, according to the US Department of Labor, two registered nurses could quite easily command a household income of $126,000 in 2006, while the median income for a lawyer was $94,930.


title: American middle class

text: Furthermore, household income fails to recognize household size. For example, a single attorney, earning $95,000, may have a higher standard of living than a family of four with an income of $120,000. Yet household income is still a commonly used class indicator.


title: American middle class

text: The influence of the middle class depends on which theory one utilizes. If the middle class is defined as a modern bourgeoisie, the "middle class" has great influence. If middle class is used in a manner that includes all persons who are at neither extreme of the social strata, it might still be influential, as such definition may include the "professional middle class", which is then commonly referred to as the "upper middle class". Despite the fact that the professional (upper) middle class is a privileged minority, it is the perhaps the most influential class in the United States.


title: American middle class

text: Several reasons can be cited as to why the professional middle class is so influential. One is that journalists, commentators, writers, professors, economists, and political scientists, who are essential in shaping public opinion, are almost exclusively members of the professional middle class. Considering the overwhelming presence of professional middle-class persons in post secondary education, another essential instrument in regards to shaping public opinion, it should come as no surprise that the lifestyle exclusive to this quasi-elite has become indicative of the American mainstream itself. In addition to setting trends, the professional middle class also holds occupations which include managerial duties, meaning that middle-class professionals spend much of their work-life directing others and conceptualizing the workday for the average worker.


title: American middle class

text: Yet another reason is the economic clout generated by this class. In 2005 according to U.S. Census statistics, the top third of society, excluding the top 5%, controlled the largest share of income in the United States. Although some in the statistical middle class (for example, police officers and fire fighters in the more affluent suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area) may have lifestyles as comfortable as those found among the ranks of the professional middle class, only few have the same degree of autonomy and influence over society as those in the professional middle class. Other white-collar members of the statistical middle class may not only be unable to afford the middle-class lifestyle but also lack the influence found in the professional middle class.


title: American middle class

text: Due to the many different ways of sub-dividing the middle class, some occupations indicative of the professional middle class might be categorized as upper-middle or lower-middle. Typical occupations for members of the middle class are those identified as being part of "the professions" and often include managerial duties as well, with all being white collar: Accountants, Tenured Professors (Post-secondary educators), Psychologists, Physicians, Engineers, Lawyers, commissioned Military Officers, Architects, Journalists, Mid-level corporate managers, Writers, Economists, Political Scientists, Urban planners, Financial managers, Registered Nurses (RNs), Pharmacists and Analysts.


title: American middle class

text: Autonomy is often seen as one of the greatest measurements of a person's class status. Even though some working class employees might also enjoy largely self-directed work, large degrees of autonomy in the work place, as well as influence over the organizational process, which are commonly the results of obtained expertise, these can still be seen as hallmarks of upper-middle-class or professional-middle-class professions.


title: American middle class

text: As for the lower middle class, other less prestigious occupations, many sales positions, entry-level management, secretaries, etc., would be included. In addition to professionals whose work is largely self-directed and includes managerial duties, many other less privileged members of the statistical middle class would find themselves in semi-independent to independent white collar positions. Many of those in the statistical middle class might work in what are called the professional support fields. These fields include occupations such as dental hygienists, and other professional and sales support.


title: American middle class

text: The American middle class, at least those living the lifestyle, has become known around the world for conspicuous consumption. To this day, the professional middle class in the United States holds the world record for having the largest homes, most appliances, and most automobiles. In 2005, the average new home had a square footage of 2,434 square feet (roughly 226 square meters) with 58% of these homes having ceilings with heights in excess of nine feet on the first floor. As new homes only represent a small portion of the housing stock in the US, with most suburban homes having been built in the 1970s when the average square footage was 1,600, it is fair to assume that these large new suburban homes will be inhabited by members of the professional middle class.


title: American middle class

text: Overall, many social critics and intellectuals, most of whom are members of the professional middle class themselves, have commented on the extravagant consumption habits of the professional middle class. It is also often pointed out that the suburban lifestyle of the American professional middle class is a major reason for its record consumption. The increasing materialism, even among such a highly educated class, is also often claimed to be connected to the notion of rugged individualism which gained popularity among the ranks of the professional middle class in the 1970s and 1980s.


title: American middle class

text: When middle-class workers lose their jobs, they tend to be rehired but for a lower rate of pay. More often than not, people seek out temporary employment to make ends meet. About 4 percent of workforce, 11.4 million workers, a year are temporary workers.


title: American middle class

text: According to Christopher B. Doob, outsourcing is companies' subcontracting of services to other companies instead of continuing to provide those services themselves. This takes away from jobs offered in the United States and makes it more difficult to maintain and get jobs. Outsourcing raises the unemployment rate, and while outsourcing has been steadily increasing since the 1990s, data on the subject is limited by the power elite. Companies like Apple and Nike outsource jobs overseas so they can have cheaper labor to make their products and keep from raising prices in the States.


title: American middle class

text: The deliberate reduction of permanent employees in an effort to provide an organization more efficient operations and to cut costs. Large firms like IBM, AT&T, and GM are reducing their heavily middle class workforce by 10 to 20 percent because of the advancement of technology and the closing of work facilities. Downsizing has grown significantly in the States, as rising debt has forced companies to downsize so they can remain open. According to Doob, between 2005 and 2007, 3.6 million workers with three or more years on the job lost their positions because of companies closing down, relocating, having insufficient work, or due to the elimination of their positions.


title: American middle class

text: Inequality and poverty rates are not always correlated. Poverty rates increased early in the 1980s until late in the 1990s when they started to go back down. From 2000-2010, the percentage of all people living in poverty rose from 11.3% to 15.1%. This statistical measure of the poverty rate takes into account only a household's current yearly income, while ignoring the net worth of the household.


title: American middle class

text: Income data indicate that the middle class, including the upper middle class, have seen far slower income growth than the top 1% since 1980. While its income increased as fast as that of the rich in the years following World War II, it has since experienced far slower income gains than the top. According to economist Janet Yellen "the growth [in real income] was heavily concentrated at the very tip of the top, that is, the top 1 percent". Between 1979 and 2005, the mean after-tax income of the top 1% increased by an inflation adjusted 176% versus 69% for the top 20% overall. The fourth quintile saw its mean net income increase by 29%, the middle income quintile by 21%, the second quintile by 17% and the bottom quintile by 6%, respectively.


title: American middle class

text: The share of gross annual household income of the top 1% has increased to 19.4%, the largest share since the late 1920s. As the U.S. is home to a progressive tax structure the share of net-income received by the top 1% is smaller, and the share of the middle class consequently larger, than their shares of gross pre-tax income. In 2004, the top percentile's share of net income was 14%, 27.8% less than its share of gross income, but nonetheless nearly twice as large as in 1979, when it was clocked at 7.5%.


title: American middle class

text: The reduced size of the share of aggregate share of income, both before and after tax, of the middle class has been attributed to the reduced bargaining power of wage earning employees, caused by the decline of unions; a lessening of government redistribution; and technological changes which have created opportunities for certain people to accumulate far greater relative wealth very quickly (including larger markets due to globalization and Information Age technologies allowing faster and wider distribution of work product).


title: American middle class

text: In 2006 households that earn between $25,000 and $75,000 represent approximately the middle half of the income distribution tables provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Over the past two decades, the number of households in those brackets decreased by 3.9%, from 48.2% to 44.3%. During the same time period, the number of households with incomes below $25,000 decreased 3.5%, from 28.7% to 25.2%, while the number of households with incomes above $75,000 increased over 7%, from 23.2% to 30.4%. A possible explanation for the increase in the higher earnings categories is that more households now have two wage earners. However, a closer analysis reveals all of the 7% increase can be found in households who earn over $100,000.


title: American middle class

text: A study by Brookings Institution in June 2006 revealed that Middle-income neighborhoods as a proportion of all metropolitan neighborhoods declined from 58 percent in 1970 to 41 percent in 2000. As housing costs increase, the middle class is squeezed and forced to live in less desirable areas making upward mobility more difficult. Safety, school systems, and even jobs are all linked to neighborhood types.


title: American middle class

text: The statistics used to track the share of income going to the top 1% have been criticized by Alan Reynolds. He points out that the Tax Reform Act of 1986 changed the way that income is defined on tax returns, which is the primary source of data utilized to compile income shares. Among these changes includes the fact that beginning in the 1980s, many C-Corporations switched to S-Corporations, which changed the way that their income is reported on income tax returns. S-Corporations report all income on the individual income tax returns of the owners, while C-Corporations file a separate tax return and corporate profits are not allocated to any individuals. Prior to 1986, approximately one fourth of all American corporations were S-Corporations, but by 1997 this share had risen to more than half. In addition, by 2001 S-Corporations were responsible for about 25% of before-tax profits.


title: American middle class

text: This shift to S-Corporations means that income previously not included on personal income tax returns appeared there during this change, as S-Corporation investors directly pay taxes on corporate profit regardless of whether it is distributed or not. Furthermore, Reynolds points out in the same literature that tax-deferred savings accounts grew substantially from the 1980s onward, so that investment income to these accounts was not included as personal income in the years which it accrued. The CBO noted that at the end of 2002, $10.1 trillion was in tax-deferred retirement plans, and that $9 trillion of that was taxable upon withdrawal. These numbers amount to potentially large amounts of investment income to middle-class families that are no longer reported on tax returns each year, but were reported prior to the widespread growth of tax-deferred retirement plans.


title: American middle class

text: Panel data that track the same individuals over time are much more informative than statistical categories that do not correspond to specific people. The Treasury did a study in 2007 that tracked the same individual taxpayers over the age of 25 from 1996 to 2005 and found differing results from what the graph above shows. The results showed that during those years, half of taxpayers moved to a different income quintile, with half of those in the bottom quintile moving to a higher one. About 60% of taxpayers in the top 1% in 1996 no longer stayed in that category by 2005.


title: American middle class

text: On an absolute scale, the lowest incomes saw the greatest gains in percentage terms and the highest incomes actually declined. Half of those in the bottom 20% in 1996 saw their incomes at least double during these years, while the median income of the top 1% declined by 25.8%. The reason that the results are so inconsistent with household income statistics is that household statistics do not track the same people over time; it is important to specify how many of the households in the top 1% in a given year were still there when looking at that category years later and gauging income gains.


title: American middle class

text: After the financial crisis of 2007–2008, inequality between social classes has further increased. As William Lazonick puts it:


title: Sacred Valley

text: The Sacred Valley of the Incas (; ), or the Urubamba Valley, is a valley in the Andes of Peru, north of the Inca capital of Cusco. It is located in the present-day Peruvian region of Cusco. In colonial documents it was referred to as the "Valley of Yucay." The Sacred Valley was incorporated slowly into the incipient Inca Empire during the period from 1000 to 1400 CE.


title: Sacred Valley

text: The Sacred Valley is a major tourist destination. In 2013, 1.2 million people, 800,000 of them non-Peruvians, are estimated to have visited Machu Picchu, its most famous archaeological site. Many of the same tourists also visited other archaeological sites and modern towns in the Sacred Valley.


title: Sacred Valley

text: Stretching from Pisac to Ollantaytambo, this fertile valley is irrigated by the Urubamba River. The Chanapata civilization first utilized this area starting at around 800 BCE because of the rich soil used for agriculture. The Qotacalla civilization lived in the Sacred Valley from 500 to 900 CE The Killke civilization then lived in the Sacred Valley from 900 CE until the Incan Empire took over the region in 1420. The Incan Empire ruled this area until the arrival of the Spanish.


title: Sacred Valley

text: The valley, running generally west to east, is understood to include everything along the Urubamba River between the town and Inca ruins at Písac and Machu Picchu, distant. The Sacred Valley has elevations above sea level along the river ranging from at Pisac to at the Urubamba River below the citadel of Machu Picchu. On both sides of the river, the mountains rise to much higher elevations, especially to the south where two prominent mountains overlook the valley: Sahuasiray, and Veronica, in elevation. The intensely cultivated valley floor is about wide on average. Side valleys and agricultural terraces (andenes) expand the cultivatable area.


title: Sacred Valley

text: The valley was formed by the Urubamba river, also known as the Vilcanota River, Willkanuta River (Aymara, "house of the sun") or Willkamayu (Quechua). The latter, in Quechua, the still spoken "lingua franca" of the Inca Empire, means the "sacred river". It is fed by numerous tributaries which descend through adjoining valleys and gorges and contains numerous archaeological remains and villages. The Sacred Valley was the most important area for maize production in the heartland of the Inca Empire and access through the valley to tropical areas facilitated the import of products such as coca leaf and chile peppers to Cuzco.


title: Sacred Valley

text: The climate of Urubamba is typical of the valley. Precipitation, concentrated in October through April, totals annually and monthly average temperatures range between in November, the warmest month, to in July, the coldest month. The Incas built extensive irrigation works throughout the valley to counter deficiencies and seasonality in precipitation.


title: Sacred Valley

text: The early Incas lived in the Cuzco area. By conquest or diplomacy, during the period 1000 to 1400 CE, the Inca achieved administrative control over the various ethnic groups living in or near the Sacred Valley.


title: Sacred Valley

text: The attraction of the Sacred Valley to the Inca, in addition to its proximity to Cuzco, was probably that it was lower in elevation and therefore warmer than any other nearby area. The lower elevation permitted maize to be grown in the Sacred Valley. Maize was a prestige crop for the Incas, especially to make chicha, a fermented maize drink the Incas and their subjects consumed in large quantities at their many ceremonial feasts and religious festivals.


title: Sacred Valley

text: Chicha has had a long historical significance. In times of warfare, the Incas would take the decapitated skull of their enemies and turn them into a drinking vessels for Chicha. This ceremonial process of drinking Chicha from the head of a foe symbolized the successful transformation from the disorder of warfare to the order of the Incan Empire.


title: Sacred Valley

text: Large scale maize production in the Sacred Valley was apparently facilitated by varieties bred in nearby Moray, either a governmental crop laboratory or a seedling nursery of the Incas.


title: Sacred Valley

text: The Inca customarily divided conquered lands into three more-or-less equal parts. One part was for the emperor (the Sapa Inca), one part for the religious establishment, and one part for the communities of farmers themselves. In the 1400s, the Sacred Valley became an area of royal estates and country homes. Once a royal estate was created by an emperor it continued to be owned by descendants of the emperor after his death. The estate of the emperor Yawar Waqaq (c. 1380) was located at Paullu and Lamay (a few kilometers downstream from Pisac); Huchuy Qosqo, the estate of the emperor Viracocha Inca (c. 1410–1438), overlooks the Sacred Valley; the estate of Pachacuti (1438–1471) was at Pisac, and the sparse ruins of Quispiguanca. the estate of the emperor Huayna Capac (1493–1527), is in the town of Urubamba. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for Pachacuti.


title: Sacred Valley

text: Agricultural terraces, called andenes, were built up hillsides flanking the valley floor and are today the most visible and widespread signs of the Inca civilization in the Sacred Valley.


title: Sacred Valley

text: In 1537, the Inca Emperor Manco Inca Yupanqui fought and won the Battle of Ollantaytambo against a Spanish army headed by Hernando Pizarro. Nevertheless, Manco soon withdrew from the Sacred Valley and the area came under the control of the Spanish colonialists.


title: Sacred Valley

text: Oral histories in the Quechua language suggest that the ancient Inca married Pachamama (Mother Earth) and produced human offspring. The Incas are renowned for their precision in stone masonry. The architecture was a means of bringing order to untamed areas and the people of the Andes region. Machu Picchu, located in the Sacred Valley, is an example of the Incas adapting building strategies that acknowledge the topography of the area. While other Pre-Columbian cultures constructed man-made mountains, the Incas emphasized the natural forms of the topography around them. The Sacred Rock, located in the Sacred Valley, is an example of a stone that draws attention to the horizon of the mountain range.


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: "Human" is a song by British singer and songwriter Rag'n'Bone Man, co-written by Jamie Hartman, and produced by Two Inch Punch. It was released as a digital download on 21 July 2016, through Sony Music and Columbia Records. The song is included on his debut studio album of the same name, released in February 2017. It was later used as a theme song for the American web television series "Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan", which was released in 2018.


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: The song is written in the key of B minor (tuned 1/4 step flat, most probably using the scientific pitch where A is set to 432Hz instead of standard pitch of 440Hz) with a common time tempo of 75 beats per minute. The vocals span from A to B in the song.


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: Cameron Adams of "The Daily Telegraph" compared the song to "Take Me to Church" by Hozier for both having an "instant impact, honest lyrics and throwback to ‘real’ music in a time of corporate pop."


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: Rag'n'Bone Man performed "Human" on "Later... with Jools Holland" on 20 September 2016. He also performed the song on Australian talk show "The Morning Show" on 28 October 2016. Another live performance of "Human" took place on "The Graham Norton Show" on 10 February 2017. He appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on 16 February 2017.


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: On 23 December 2016, the song reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, scoring the Christmas number two of 2016. Still, the song was the most downloaded and top-selling single throughout the week, with the lack of streams influencing the overall chart position to be lower, denying the song the coveted Christmas number one. The song was certified Platinum on 17 February 2017 and 2× Platinum 21 July 2017 by the BPI. It has sold 1,269,000 combined units in the UK as of September 2017, which comprises 522,000 copies in actual sales and 75 million in streams.


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: In the United States, the song reached at number one on the "Billboard" Alternative Songs Chart and number two on Rock Airplay. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on 7 July 2017, and has sold 324,000 copies in the US as of September 2017. It is also Rag'n'Bone Man's only entry in the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, as of 2022, and reached number 74 on a chart dated 27 May 2017.


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: The song had widespread chart success internationally, with it reaching the #1 spot on charts in more than 15 countries. As of March 2022, the music video has received 1.5 billion YouTube views.


title: Human (Rag'n'Bone Man song)

text: In December 2017, Australians hip hop beat boxer Tom Thum and vocalist Ruel released a cover version with the backing track constructed exclusively from layers of Tom's vocal technique and Ruel singing over top.


title: Naoto Kan

text: Kan was born in Ube, Yamaguchi, the eldest son of Hisao Kan, the executive director of the glass manufacturing company Central Glass. He graduated in 1970 from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and became a licensed "benrishi" (patent agent/attorney) in 1971.


title: Naoto Kan

text: After graduating from college, Kan worked at a patent office for four years. He actively engaged in civic grassroots movements for years and also served on election campaign staff for Fusae Ichikawa, a women's rights activist.


title: Naoto Kan

text: After having lost in the 1976 and 1979 general elections and 1977 Upper House election, Kan achieved a seat in the lower house in 1980 as a member of the Socialist Democratic Federation. He gained national popularity in 1996, when serving as the Minister of Health and Welfare, admitting the government's responsibility for the spread of HIV-tainted blood in the 1980s and directly apologized to victims. At that time, he was a member of a small party forming the ruling coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). His frank action was completely unprecedented and was applauded by the media and the public.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In 1998, his image was affected by allegations of an affair, vigorously denied by both parties, with a television newscaster and media consultant, Yūko Tonomoto. After Yukio Hatoyama resigned as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Kan again took over the position. In July 2003, the DPJ and the Liberal Party led by Ichirō Ozawa agreed to form a united opposition party to prepare for the general election that was anticipated to take place in the fall.


title: Naoto Kan

text: During the campaign of the election of 2003, the DPJ called the election as the choice of the government between the ruling LDP-bloc and the DPJ, with Kan being presented as the alternative candidate to then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. His face was used as the trademark of the campaign against the LDP.


title: Naoto Kan

text: However, in 2004 Kan was accused of unpaid annuities and again resigned the position of leader. On 10 May 2004, he officially announced his resignation and made the Shikoku Pilgrimage. Later, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare spokesman apologized, saying the unpaid record was due to an administrative error.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In mid-October 2005, Kan, who turned 60 in 2006, proposed the creation of a new political party to be called the "Dankai (baby boomer) Party". The initial intent of the party was to offer places of activity for the Japanese baby boomers – of whom began to retire "en masse" in 2007.


title: Naoto Kan

text: He believes the Japan Self-Defense Forces should play a more prominent role on the international stage.


title: Naoto Kan

text: On 6 January 2010, he was picked by Yukio Hatoyama to be the new finance minister, assuming the post in addition to deputy prime minister. He replaced Hirohisa Fujii as finance minister.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In his first news conference, Kan announced his priority was stimulating growth and took the unusual step of naming a specific dollar-yen level as optimal to help exporters and stimulate the economy: "There are a lot of voices in the business world saying that (the dollar) around ¥95 is appropriate in terms of trade". Hatoyama appeared to rebuke Kan. "When it comes to foreign exchange, stability is desirable and rapid moves are undesirable. The government basically shouldn't comment on foreign exchange," he told reporters.


title: Naoto Kan

text: On 2 June 2010, Yukio Hatoyama announced his intention to resign as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and as prime minister, also saying that he had urged his backer in the party, Ichirō Ozawa, to resign as secretary general. The Cabinet resigned "en masse" on 4 June. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Land and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, though once considered to be possible successors to Hatoyama, announced their support for Naoto Kan. Kan, at his age of 63, won the leadership of the DPJ with 291 votes to 129, defeating a relatively unknown Ozawa-backed legislator Shinji Tarutoko, 50, who was leading the environmental policy committee in the lower house of the Diet.


title: Naoto Kan

text: Subsequently, on 4 June, Kan was designated prime minister by the Diet. On 8 June, Emperor Akihito formally appointed Kan as the country's 94th prime minister, and the 29th postwar prime minister. His cabinet was formed later on the day.


title: Naoto Kan

text: Kan's approval ratings fell in the month of June after he proposed an increase in the sales tax rate from 5% to 10%. His sales tax increase proposal was opposed by Ichirō Ozawa, amongst others in the DPJ, and the proposal was quickly scaled back by Kan. The botched sales tax increase proposal was partially blamed for the DPJ's disappointing results in the July House of Councillors election, where the DPJ lost its majority and was forced to work with smaller, unaffiliated parties (such as Your Party, the JCP, and the SDP) in order to secure passage of bills in the House of Councillors.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In August, Kan apologised to the Republic of Korea on the 100th anniversary of the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty.


title: Naoto Kan

text: Ozawa challenged Kan's leadership of the DPJ in September. Although it was initially believed that Ozawa had a slight edge among DPJ members of parliament, in the final vote Kan garnered the support of 206 DPJ lawmakers to Ozawa's 200. Local rank-and-file party members and activists overwhelmingly supported Kan, and according to opinion polls the wider Japanese public preferred Kan to Ozawa by as much as a 4:1 ratio.


title: Naoto Kan

text: After the leadership challenge, Kan reshuffled his cabinet, which left many prominent members of the pro-Ozawa faction of the DPJ without important posts in the new cabinet. The cabinet reshuffle also resulted in the promotion of long-time Kan ally Yoshito Sengoku to Chief Cabinet Secretary. Sengoku was labeled by the opposition LDP as the "second" Prime Minister of the Kan cabinet.


title: Naoto Kan

text: On 7 September, a Chinese fishing boat captain was arrested by the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) after his trawler had collided with JCG patrol boats in disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands. China protested the arrest, as it claims the islands as part of its sovereign territory, and demanded the unconditional release of the captain. The captain was released on 24 September, after China had cut off all ministerial-level contacts with Japan and threatened further action. The incident brought Sino-Japanese relations to its lowest point since the Koizumi administration.


title: Naoto Kan

text: The Kan government intervened in mid-September to weaken the surging yen by buying U.S. dollars, a move which temporarily relieved Japan's exporters. The move proved popular with stock brokers, Japanese exporters, and the Japanese public. It was the first such move by a Japanese government since 2004. Later, in October, after the yen had offset the intervention and had reached a 15-year high, the Kan cabinet approved a stimulus package worth about 5.1 trillion yen ($62 billion) in order to weaken the yen and fight deflation.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In November, Kan spoke out forcefully in support of South Korea and in harsh criticism of North Korea in the wake of the latter's bombardment of Yeonpyeong, meanwhile ignoring China's public comments which had not yet included denunciation of the North.


title: Naoto Kan

text: On 12 March 2011, after the earthquake and tsunami in the northeast Japan, Kan flew in a helicopter to observe the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and was heavily involved in efforts to effectively respond to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Naoto Kan took an increasingly anti-nuclear stance in the months following the Fukushima disaster. In May, he ordered that the aging Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant be closed over earthquake and tsunami fears, and he said he would freeze plans to build new reactors.


title: Naoto Kan

text: Despite falling popularity, Kan rejected calls to step down while the country continued to suffer from the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crises of spring 2011. One year into his premiership on 2 June 2011, Kan proposed his resignation, hours before the Diet put forward a vote of no-confidence. The motion was defeated by 293 to 152, bolstering the Prime Minister's position.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In July 2011, Kan said that Japan must reduce its dependence on nuclear energy, breaking with a decades-old Japanese government drive to build more nuclear power plants in the country. "We must scrap the plan to have nuclear power contribute 53 percent (of electricity supply) by 2030 and reduce the degree of reliance on nuclear power," Kan told a government panel. Kan said Japan should abandon plans to build 14 new reactors by 2030. He wants to "pass a bill to promote renewable energy and questioned whether private companies should be running atomic plants". In August, Kan removed three of Japan's top nuclear energy officials in effort to break ties between government and the atomic industry. In 2012, Kan said the Fukushima disaster made it clear to him that "Japan needs to dramatically reduce its dependence on nuclear power, which supplied 30 percent of its electricity before the crisis, and has turned him into a believer of renewable energy".


title: Naoto Kan

text: Kan announced his intention to resign on 10 August 2011. On 26 August, with passage of a debt bill and the renewable energy bill as final conditions, Kan expected "to see his successor in office [within the] week, according to a Kyodo news report, which cited cabinet ministers". At the same time, Seiji Maehara, who had supported Kan in 2010, was reported to have announced his intention to run to succeed Kan. Maehara is seen as the potential DPJ candidate most popular with the voters at the time. Several other cabinet members joined the race, and the election of the DPJ successor was scheduled for 29 August. At that time, Yoshihiko Noda, most recently finance minister, was elected as the new DPJ leader and, as leader of the largest party in the Diet, became prime minister as well.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In 2012, Kan was interviewed about the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and has said that at one point Japan faced a situation where there was a chance that people might not be able to live in the capital zone including Tokyo and would have to evacuate. He says he is haunted by the specter of an even bigger nuclear crisis forcing tens of millions of people to flee Tokyo and threatening the nation's existence. "If things had reached that level, not only would the public have had to face hardships but Japan's very existence would have been in peril". That convinced Kan to "declare the need for Japan to end its reliance on atomic power and promote renewable sources of energy such solar [sic] that have long taken a back seat in the resource-poor country's energy mix". He told a parliamentary investigation in 2012 that the nuclear industry had "shown no remorse" for the disaster, and was trying to push Japan back to nuclear power.


title: Naoto Kan

text: During 16 December 2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election, called due to the resignation of incumbent Governor Shintaro Ishihara, the Democratic Party of Japan itself did not endorse any candidate, but Kan supported Kenji Utsunomiya, who shared Kan's anti-nuclear stance. Ultimately Utsunomiya came second in the election, losing to Naoki Inose who had been vice-governor under Ishihara from 2007 to 2012, and then acting governor after Ishihara's abrupt resignation.


title: Naoto Kan

text: In the 2012 general election called by Kan's successor Noda, Kan lost his seat in the Tokyo 18th district, but retained a seat in the diet through the proportional representation system. In the 2014 general election, Kan lost his district seat but was again elected through the proportional block. He joined the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan along with the liberal-leaning members of the Democratic Party following the party split prior to the 2017 general election. In the election, he regained his district seat, defeating the LDP incumbent Masatada Tsuchiya with a margin of 1,046 votes.


title: Naoto Kan

text: Kan married his wife Nobuko in 1970. Nobuko, born in Okayama Prefecture, entered a relationship with the Tokyo-dwelling Kan after entering Tsuda College. As the two are first cousins, the engagement was met with parental opposition. They have two sons, Gentarō and Shinjirō. Gentarō is a civil rights activist and lost in elections for the Lower House in 2003 and 2005. Shinjiro is a veterinarian and works at an animal hospital in Nerima, Tokyo.


title: Naoto Kan

text: Kan is nicknamed "Ira-Kan" (Fretful Kan") due to his reputed short temper. His hobbies were go, shogi and origami. Kan built a machine to calculate the complicated mahjong point system and applied for a patent in 1973.


title: Tea egg

text: Tea egg is a typical Chinese savory food commonly sold as a snack, in which a boiled egg is cracked slightly and then boiled again in tea, and sauce or spices. It is also known as marble egg because cracks in the egg shell create darkened lines with marble-like patterns. Commonly sold by street vendors or in night markets in most Chinese communities throughout the world, it is also served in Asian restaurants. Although it originated from China and is traditionally associated with Chinese cuisine, other similar recipes and variations have been developed throughout Asia. Tea eggs originated in Zhejiang province as a way to preserve foods for a long time but is now found in all provinces.


title: Tea egg

text: Fragrant and flavorful tea eggs are a traditional Chinese food. The original recipe uses various spices, soy sauce, and black tea leaves. A commonly used spice for flavoring tea eggs is Chinese five-spice powder, which contains ground cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, cloves and Sichuan pepper. Some recipes do not use tea leaves, but they are still called "tea eggs". In the traditional method of preparation, eggs are boiled until they reach a hardened, cooked state. The boiled eggs are removed from the water, and the entire shell of each egg is gently cracked all around. The cracking method is the formal feature in this traditional egg recipe. Smaller cracks produce more marbling, visible when the egg is peeled for eating. The extra water from the boiling is allowed to seep out of the eggs on its own. After about ten minutes, the cracked eggs are ready to be put into the prepared spiced-tea liquid and simmered over medium heat. This simmering allows the spiced fluid to seep into the cracks and marinate the eggs inside their shells. After about twenty minutes, the eggs and liquid are transferred to a glass or ceramic container for further steeping in a refrigerator. For best results, the eggs are allowed to steep for at least several hours. The dark color of the spiced tea gives the egg a marbled effect when it is peeled to be eaten.


title: Tea egg

text: Another method of making tea eggs is to boil the eggs until fully cooked inside, then remove the hard-boiled eggs from their shells and let them steep in the spiced tea mixture at low heat for a little longer. The eggs and liquid are removed from the heat and transferred to a glass or ceramic container for further steeping. This method requires a shorter steeping time than the traditional method; however, the egg is less visually appealing without the marbled effect from the traditional cracked-shell method of preparation. The eggs can be eaten at any time. The longer they are allowed to steep, the richer the flavor will be. The ideal spiced tea egg has a balance between the egg's natural flavor and that of the spices.


title: Tea egg

text: When the shell is peeled off, the egg has regions of light and dark brown, with a mid-brownish tone along the cracks of the shell. The yolk is yellow all the way through, though overcooked eggs will have a thin, harmless greyish layer while the core is the usual yellow. The flavor depends on the tea (type and strength) and variety of spices used. Five-spice powder adds a savory, slightly salty tone to the egg white, and the tea brings out the yolk's flavor.


title: Tea egg

text: In China, tea eggs are a household treat. They are also sold in stores, restaurants, and from street vendors. It is deemed a popular street food that usually costs about 2 yuan.


title: Tea egg

text: In Taiwan, tea eggs are a fixture of convenience stores. Through 7-Eleven chains alone, an average of 40 million tea eggs are sold per year. In recent years, major producers of tea eggs have branched out into fruit and other flavored eggs, such as raspberry, blueberry and salted duck egg.


title: Tea egg

text: In Indonesia, tea eggs have been adopted into native Indonesian cuisine as "telur pindang" and the ingredients have also been slightly changed. The "telur pindang" is hard-boiled eggs boiled with spices, salt and soy sauce. However, instead of black tea, the Indonesian version uses leftover shallot skins, teak leaves, or guava leaves as dark brownish coloring agents. "Telur pindang" is commonly found in Indonesia, but it is more prevalent in Java and South Sumatra. The "telur pindang" is often served as part of tumpeng, nasi kuning, or nasi campur. In Yogyakarta, telur pindang is often served with nasi gudeg or just hot steamed rice.


title: Tea egg

text: Telur pindang (the Malaysian variation of the tea egg recipe) is said to have its roots in the state of Johor, where the cuisine is most popular, but it can also be found in other parts of the Malay Peninsula. The dish even has sub-variations of the traditional Johorean recipe in many other southern regions. Telur pindang is an occasional cuisine, requiring time and resource-consuming work, and would only be served on special occasions such as weddings. Today, however, there are many commercial telur pindang suppliers nationwide.


title: Inuit culture

text: The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America (parts of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland). The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat (northern Alaska), and Yupik (Siberia and western Alaska), and the Aleut who live in the Aleutian Islands of Siberia and Alaska. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn.


title: Inuit culture

text: The word "Eskimo" has been used to encompass the Inuit and Yupik, and other indigenous Alaskan and Siberian peoples, but this usage is in decline.


title: Inuit culture

text: Various groups of Inuit in Canada live throughout the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories, the territory of Nunavut, Nunavik in northern Quebec and Nunatsiavut in Labrador and the unrecognised area known as NunatuKavut. With the exception of NunatuKavut these areas are sometimes known as Inuit Nunangat.


title: Inuit culture

text: The traditional lifestyle of the Inuit is adapted to extreme climatic conditions; their essential skills for survival are hunting and trapping, as well as the construction of fur clothing for survival. Agriculture was never possible in the millions of square kilometres of tundra and icy coasts from Siberia to Northern America including Greenland. Therefore, hunting became the core of the culture and cultural history of the Inuit. They used harpoons and bows and arrows to take down animals of all sizes. Thus, the everyday life in modern Inuit settlements, established only some decades ago, still reflects the 5,000-year-long history of a hunting culture which allowed the Inuit and their ancestors to populate the Arctic.


title: Inuit culture

text: Europeans in North America used to refer to the Inuit as Eskimos, but the people consider that term pejorative. The primary reason some people consider "Eskimo" derogatory is the questionable but widespread perception that in Algonquian languages it means "eaters of raw meat." One Cree speaker suggested the original word that became corrupted to Eskimo might indeed have been (which means "he eats it raw"), and the Inuit are referred to in some Cree texts as (which means "eats something raw").


title: Inuit culture

text: The word "Inuit" is the autonym, the name which the people use for themselves and it means "the people." Its singular form is "Inuk."


title: Inuit culture

text: The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), formerly Inuit Circumpolar Conference, is a multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and indigenous peoples' organization (IPO) representing the 180,000 Inuit, Yupik, and Chukchi peoples (sometimes referred to as Eskimo) living in Alaska (United States), Canada, Greenland (Denmark), and Chukotka, Siberia (Russia).


title: Inuit culture

text: The Conference, which first met in June 1977, initially represented Native Peoples from Canada, Alaska and Greenland. In 1980 the charter and by-laws of ICC were adopted. The Conference agreed to replace the term Eskimo with the term Inuit. This has not however met with widespread acceptance by some groups, most pre-eminently the Yupik. The principal goals of the ICC are to strengthen unity among Inuit of the circumpolar region; to promote Inuit rights and interests on an international level; to develop and encourage long-term policies that safeguard the Arctic environment; and to seek full and active partnership in the political, economic, and social development of circumpolar regions., or in short: to strengthen ties between Arctic peoples and to promote human, cultural, political and environmental rights and polities at the international level.


title: Inuit culture

text: The common ancestors of the Inuit and related peoples are believed by anthropologists to have their origin in eastern Siberia, arriving in the Bering Sea area approximately 10,000 years ago.


title: Inuit culture

text: The Inuit in North America (including Greenland) are the descendants of what anthropologists call the Thule people, who emerged from western Alaska around 1000 CE. They had split from the related Aleut group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. They spread eastwards across the Arctic. They displaced the related Dorset culture (from 500 BCE to between CE 1000 and 1500), called the in Inuktitut, which was the last major Paleo-Eskimo culture.


title: Inuit culture

text: The first Inuit group, known as Paleo-Eskimos, crossed the Bering Strait in 3000 BCE presumably on winter ice, which was long after earlier migrations by the ancestors to the North American Indians. Archaeological finds have revealed that the Paleo-Eskimos moved to the northern Canadian Arctic in 2300 BCE, apparently because of a change in climate. From there they gradually followed the herds of game across the Arctic to Greenland, and dispersed into more distinct nomadic tribes.


title: Inuit culture

text: Pre-Dorset culture (c. 3200 to 850 BCE) is said to begin when the Paleo-Eskimos settled on the islands of the Canadian archipelago and northern Greenland. The descriptions "Dorset" and "Pre-Dorset" come from Cape Dorset on Baffin Island, the source of an assemblage which in 1925 anthropologist Diamond Jenness identified as originating from a hitherto unknown "Dorset culture." The Paleo-Eskimos weathered the winter of the high Arctic with much more difficulty than their later descendants because they lacked technologies such as boats, harpoon-tips, dog sleds, dwellings other than skin tents, and sources of warmth other than small fire pits and wood fuels. In the central Canadian Arctic, they mainly hunted muskoxen and caribou with bow and arrow, and fished with barbed devices. Groups living near the coastline hunted seals, walruses and smaller whales by throwing harpoons from the shore or from sea ice.


title: Inuit culture

text: Northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic between 2400 and 1000 BCE. This Paleo-Eskimo culture was named after Independence Fjord, where traces of a large settlement were found. Their lodgings were erected on elliptical foundations centred upon box-shaped hearths made of flat stones set on end. These they filled with driftwood, musk ox dung, and bones. They might have started fires with the help of a bow drill operated by sinews, which was in general use some centuries later.


title: Inuit culture

text: In the western and southern parts of the eastern coast of Greenland, the Saqqaq culture developed around 2300 BCE and lasted 1500 years. The centre of their settlements was Disko Bay near the place Saqqaq, which lent its name to the culture. The people extended their culture along the fjords and coastlines in the area. The culture of the Saqqaq people shows marked similarity to the culture that in the Canadian Arctic is described as "Pre-Dorset", and the two cultures developed around the same time. Scholars believe that the people of the Saqqaq split off from the Pre-Dorset culture, migrated into Greenland from Ellesmere Island in the north, and later migrated to the southern coast.


title: Inuit culture

text: Northern and northeastern Greenland from around, north and south of the Independence Fjord. Presumably for climatic reasons, northern Greenland was not populated for about 500 years afterward. Archaeological evidence has shown that before the disappearance of the Saqqaq culture from southern Greenland, a new culture arrived from the Canadian archipelago. The newer people showed a more developed culture from an archaeological standpoint. That culture is called Independence II culture, and it seems to have developed from the Canadian Pre-Dorset cultures. Possibly, they came in close contact with the Saqqaq culture.


title: Inuit culture

text: The range of distribution of the Independence II people approximately corresponds to that of the Independence I people. The oldest finds have been dated to 1400 BCE, and the most recent to 400 BCE. Researchers have not confirmed whether the farthest northern regions of Greenland were constantly settled during this 1000-year period, because only about 10 dwellings are extant. The climate of that time steadily worsened; the warmest temperature of the Independence II period approximately matches the coldest temperature of the Independence I period.


title: Inuit culture

text: Archaeological research has focused its fieldwork on areas of Greenland below 83 degrees latitude north for traces of the Independence II culture. In 1987 the remains of a larger Independence II settlement was discovered on the Île-de-France (at about 78 degrees north). The Independence II people hunted the same animals as earlier cultures (seals and muskoxen), but for the first time also walruses. The houses of the Independence II period were similar to those of the Independence I period, only more complex. So far no connection between the two cultures has been proven. Independence II tools are more reminiscent of the Pre-Dorset and the later Dorset culture. The fate of the Independence II culture is unknown; it is possible that they migrated south along the east coast of Greenland and merged into the Dorset Culture.


title: Inuit culture

text: Archaeological evidence shows that between 500 BCE and 500 CE, remarkable technological and cultural advances took place in the area of northern Canada and Greenland known as the Dorset region. Today this period is known as Dorset I. The Dorset people are probably identical to the "Tuniit" (singular Tuniq, also Tornit or Tunirjuat), who are described in Inuit mythology as powerful giants who dwelt in stone houses. They were believed to have been capable of enormous feats of strength, such as carrying walruses or moving enormous boulders.


title: Inuit culture

text: Their hunting methods were greatly improved over previous Arctic cultures. They probably invented the igloo, which is difficult to determine because such ephemeral structures leave no archaeological evidence. They spent the winters in relatively permanent dwellings constructed of stone and pieces of grass; these were the precursors of the later qarmaqs. They were also the first culture to carve seal-oil lamps ("qulliq", also spelled "kudlik") from soapstone.


title: Inuit culture

text: In the next 500 years, known as the Dorset II period, the Dorset culture expanded to occupy the region between Victoria Island in the west to Greenland in the east to Newfoundland in the south. A shift in climate, which enabled them to settle high-Arctic regions, probably contributed to this. It is remarkable that the Dorset II culture uniformly maintained the stylistic attributes of the Dorset I culture despite this rapid territorial expansion.


title: Inuit culture

text: Ivory carvings date to as early as the Dorset I period, but artistic activity appears to have greatly increased in the Dorset II period. The presence of tiny human masks that subtly suggest animal features, carvings of bears with incised spirit lines indicating skeletal structures, and enigmatic tubes that may have been used to suck spirits out of the possessed; indicate the shamanistic, ritual character of this art. This cultural trend probably results from socio-economic pressures exerted upon the Dorset by the presence of new ethnic groups in the region.


title: Inuit culture

text: This period's climate was responsible for the Vikings' naming of Iceland and Greenland, labels that in our times sound paradoxical.


title: Inuit culture

text: The relatively temperate climate of the Alaska had allowed much greater cultural advances among the peoples there during the 3,000 years since the Pre-Dorset had left the region.