Worldwide events newspaper; 208 issue; 28 dec 2014 03 jan 2015

Holy Innocents' Day Mexico - D e c 2 8

Also known as Innocents' Day or Childermas, this day commemorates the massacre of all the male children two years and under in Bethlehem as ordered by King Herod, who hoped that the infant Jesus would be among them. Not surprisingly, this day has long been regarded as unlucky—particularly for getting married or undertaking any important task. Edward IV of England went so far as to change the day of his coronation when he realized it would fall on December 28.

In ancient times, the "Massacre of the Innocents" was reenacted by whipping the younger members of a family. But over the years the tables turned, and in some countries it has become a day when children play pranks on their elders. In Mexico, Childermas is the equivalent of April Fool's Day.

Rizal day Philippines - D e c 3 0

Rizal Day is a Philippine national holiday commemorating the life and works of José Rizal, one of the Philippines' national heroes. It is celebrated every December 30, the day of Rizal's execution at Bagumbayan, now known as Rizal Park, in 1896.

History Rizal Day was first instituted with a decree

from President Emilio Aguinaldo dated December 30, 1898 as a national day of mourning for Rizal and all victims of the Spanish government during their rule in the Philippines. Daet, Camarines Norte was the first town to follow the decree, building a monument designed by Lt. Col. Antonio Sanz, led

by Sanz and Lt. Col. Ildefonso Alegre, and financed by the townfolk at Camarines Norte and the rest of the Bicol Region. Finished on February 1899, the three-tiered stone pylon inscribing Rizal's novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, and Morga, for Antonio de Morga, author of Sucesos de las islas Filipinas, a book about the early days of the Spanish colonization in the Philippines.

With the victory of the Americans against the Spaniards in the Spanish-American War, the Americans took control of the Philippines. To make it appear that they were more pro-Filipino than the Spaniards, the American governorgeneral William Howard Taft in 1901 named Rizal as the Philippine national hero. A year later, on February 1, 1902, thePhilippine Commission enacted Act No. 345, which made December 30 a public holiday.

To underscore the solemnity of the event, President Elpidio Quirino signed into law Republic Act No. 229 on June 9, 1948 that prohibits cockfighting, horse racing and jai-alai every December 30.

Days in history Rizal On his Rizal Day address on December 30, 1937, President Manuel L. Quezon declared through Commonwealth

Act No. 184 the adoption of Tagalog as the national language. Under Japanese occupation during World War II, the Rizal Day program of 1942 attended by Benigno Aquino, Sr., and President José P. Laurel included the recital of Rizal's final poem Mi último adiós in Japanese and the inauguration of the KALIBAPI. Starting in 1936, Rizal Day was also the inauguration day of the incoming president. Presidents usually chose Independence Grandstand (now known as Quirino Grandstand) as the inauguration venue because it faces the spot where Rizal was buried, and also the site of the independence ceremony in 1946, according to historian Manuel L. Quezon III. In the inauguration of Ramon Magsaysayafter winning the 1953 presidential election via a landslide, around 300,000 to 500,000 people attended the ceremonies.

In the centenary of Rizal's death on December 30, 1996, the program included retracing Rizal's footsteps from his cell at Fort Santiagoto the spot where he was executed, followed by the reenactment of his execution and flagraising at Rizal Park.

On December 30, 2000, in what was subsequently called as the "Rizal Day bombings," Muslim separatists bombed five areas in Metro Manila that caused 22 deaths and about a hundred injured.

Hogmanay Scotland - D e c 3 1

Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of theNew Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. It is, however, normally only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January which is a Scottish Bank Holiday.

Etymology The etymology of the word is obscure. The three main

theories derive it either from a French,Norse or a Goidelic root. The word is first recorded in 1604 in the Elgin Records as hagmonay(delatit to haue been singand hagmonayis on Satirday) and again in 1692 in an entry of the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence It is ordinary among some plebeians in the South of Scotland to go about from door to door upon New-years Eve, crying Hagmane.

Although Hogmanay is currently the predominant spelling and pronunciation, a number of variant spellings and pronunciations have been recorded, including: Hoghmanay • Hagman(a)e • Hagmonay • Hagmonick • Hanginay (Roxburghshire) • Hangmanay • Hogernoany (Shetland) • Hogminay/Hogmenay/Hogmynae • Hoguemennay • Huggeranohni (Shetland) • Hu(i)gmanay • with the first syllable variously being /hɔg/, /hog/, /hʌg/, /hʌug/ or /haŋ/.

Possible French etymologies:

It may have been introduced to Middle Scots through the Auld Alliance. The most commonly cited explanation is a derivation from the Northern French dialect word hoguinané, or variants such as hoginane, hoginono and hoguinettes, those being derived from 16th centuryOld French aguillanneuf meaning either a gift given at New Year, a children's cry for such a gift, or New Year's Eve itself. This explanation is supported by a children's tradition, observed up to the 1960s in some parts of Scotland at least, of visiting houses in their locality on New Year's Eve and requesting and receiving small treats such as sweets or fruit. The second element would appear to bel'an neuf i.e. the New Year, with some sources suggesting a druidical origin of the practice overall. Compare those to Normanhoguinané and the obsolete customs in Jersey of crying ma hodgîngnole, and in Guernsey of asking for an oguinane, for a New Year gift (see also La Guiannee). In Québec, "la guignolée" was a door-to-door collection for the poor.

Other suggestions include au gui mener ('lead to the mistletoe'), a gueux mener ('bring to the beggars'), au gui l'an neuf ('to the mistletoe the new year'), or (l')homme est né ('(the) man is born').

Possible Goidelic etymologies:

Fraser and Kelley report a Manx new-year song which begins with the line To-night is New Year's Night, Hogunnaa but did not record the full text in Manx. Other sources parse this as hog-un-naa and give the modern Manx form as Hob dy naa. Manx dictionaries though give Hop-tu-Naa, generally glossing it as "Hallowe'en", same as many of the more Manx-specific folklore collections.

In this context it is also recorded that in the south of Scotland, for example Roxburghshire, there is no <m>, the word thus beingHunganay, which could suggest the <m> is intrusive. However, in spite of these recorded Manx forms, no satisfactory etymology has been proposed for Hop-tu-Naa within Goidelic.

Another theory occasionally encountered is a derivation from the phrase thog mi an èigh/eugh "I raised the cry", which in pronunciation bears a certain resemblance to Hogmanay, as part of the rhymes traditionally recited at New Year but it is unclear if this is simply a case of folk etymology.

Overall, Gaelic consistently refers to the New Year's Eve as Oidhche na Bliadhn(a) Ùir(e) "The Night of the New Year" and Oidhche Challainn "The Night of the Calends".

Possible Norse etymologies:

Some authors reject both the French and Goidelic theories and instead suggest that the ultimate source both for the Norman French, Scots and Goidelic variants of this word are to be found in a common Norse root. It is suggested that the full forms Hoginanaye-Trollalay/Hogman aye, Troll a lay (with a Manx cognate Hop-tu-Naa, Trolla-laa) • Hogmanay, Trollolay, give us of your white bread and none of your gray • invoke the hill-men (Icelandic haugmenn, cf Anglo-Saxon hoghmen) or "elves" and banishes the trolls into the sea (Norse á læ "into the sea"). Repp furthermore makes a link between Trollalay/Trolla-laa and the rhyme recorded in Percy's Relics Trolle on away, trolle on awaye. Synge heave and howe rombelowe trolle on away which he reads as a straightforward invocation of troll-banning.

Origins Changing the day of commemoration The roots of Hogmanay perhaps reach back to the celebration of the winter solstice among the Norse, as well as inBeing that December 30 is sandwiched between Christmas and New Year's Day, National Historical Commission chairperson Ambeth Ocampo pushed for the moving of Rizal Day from December 30 to June 19, Rizal's birth. This would allow students to participate in commemoration activities as opposed to it being held on December 30 which is in the middle of the Christmas vacation. The House of Representatives approved on its third reading a bill that would have changed it to June 19 on December 10, 2008, but was not acted in time by the Senate after the 14th Congress ended its session and was thus not enacted.

On April 29, 2011, President Benigno Aquino III officially declared June 20, 2011 a special non-working holiday in commemoration of Rizal's 150th Birthday. It is unknown, though, whether the move will be permanent.

Commemoration of the Restoration, St Sylvester Switzerland - D e c 3 1

Pope Sylvester I served as pope from 31 January 314 to 31 December 335, succeeding Pope Miltiades. He filled the See of Rome at an important era in the history of the Catholic Church, yet very little is known of him. The accounts of his papacy preserved in the Liber Pontificalis (7th or 8th century) are little else than a record of the gifts said to have been conferred on the Church by Constantine I, but it does say that he was the son of a Roman named Rufinus.

During his pontificate were built the great churches founded at Rome by Constantine, e.g. the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, St. Peter's Basilica, and several cemeterial churches over the graves of martyrs.

Sylvester did not himself attend the First Council of Nicaea in 325, but he was represented by two legates, Vitus and Vincentius, and he approved the council's decision.

Part of the Symmachean forgeries, the Vita beati Sylvestri (c. 501–508), which has been preserved in Greek and Syriac (and in Latin in the Constitutum Sylvestri), is an apocryphal account of an alleged Roman council, including legends of Sylvester's close relationship with the first Christian emperor. These also appear in the Donation of Constantine.

Legacy

Long after his death, the figure of Sylvester was embroidered upon in a fictional account of his relationship to Constantine, which successfully seemed to support the later Gelasian doctrine of papal supremacy, papal auctoritas("authority") guiding imperial potestas ("power"), the doctrine that is embodied in the forged "Donation of Constantine" of the eighth century. In the fiction, of which an early version is represented in the early sixth-century "Symmachean forgeries" emanating from the curia of Pope Symmachus (died 514), the Emperor Constantine was cured of leprosy by the virtue of the baptismal water administered by Sylvester. The Emperor, abjectly grateful, not only confirmed the bishop of Rome as the primate above all other bishops, he resigned his imperial insignia and walked before Sylvester's horse holding the pope's bridle as the papal groom. The generous pope, in return, offered the crown of his own good will to Constantine, who abandoned Rome to the pope and took up residence in Constantinople. "The doctrine behind this charming story is a radical one," Norman F. Cantor observes: "The pope is supreme over all rulers, even the Roman emperor, who owes his crown to the pope and therefore may be deposed by papal decree".

Such a useful legend quickly gained wide circulation; Gregory of Tours referred to this political legend in his history of the Franks, written in the 580s.

Pope Sylvester II, himself a close associate of Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, chose the name Sylvester in imitation of Sylvester I. In the West, the liturgical feast of Saint Sylvester is on 31 December, the day of his burial in the Catacomb of Priscilla.

This is the last day in the year and, accordingly, in German-speaking countries and in some others close to them, New Year's Eve is known asSilvester. In other countries too, the day is usually referred to as Saint Sylvester's Day or the Feast of Saint Sylvester. In Brazil, the long-distance running event Corrida Internacional de São Silvestre (Saint Silvester Road Race) occurs every year on 31 December.

Legendary:

The Donation of Constantine is a document fabricated in the second half of the eighth century, purporting to be a record by the emperor himself of his conversion, the profession of his new faith, and the privileges he conferred on Pope Sylvester I, his clergy, and their successors. According to it, Pope Sylvester was even offered the imperial crown, which, however, he refused.

"Lu Santu Papa Silvestru", a story in Giuseppe Pitrè's collection of Sicilian fables, recounts the legend as follows: Constantine the king wants to take a second wife, and asks Sylvester. Sylvester denies him permission, calling on heaven as witness; Constantine threatens him and Sylvester, rather than give in, escapes into the woods. Not long after Constantine falls ill; when he is desperate of ever regaining his health he sees a dream which commands him to send for Sylvester. He obeys, and Sylvester receives his posse in his cave and swiftly baptizes them, whereafter (having shown them several miracles) they lead him back to Constantine, whom he baptizes also. In this story Constantine and his posse are not pagans but Jews.

Another legend has Sylvester slaying a dragon. He is often depicted with the dying beast.

Day of Azeri Solidarity Azerbaijan - D e c 3 1

Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis was first announced on December 16 1991 , Heydar Aliyev , at the time served as chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic , after which he became a national holiday of the Azerbaijani people. Celebrated on December 31 .

31 December 1989 on the territory of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic crowds destroyed the Soviet-Iranian border. Thousands of Azerbaijanis crossed the river Arax , inspired the first for many decades of uniting with their compatriots in Iran . On the same day in Istanbul, opened the first in the history of the World Azerbaijanis Congress . These two events were the reason for the announcement on December 31 Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis.

The number of Azerbaijanis in the world is estimated at tens of millions , most of whom live outside the Republic of Azerbaijan , in such states in other countries of the CIS , Scandinavia . But the biggest Azerbaijani Diaspora - 30 million - live in Iran.

Foundation of the Congolese Labour Party

Congo (Republic of) - D e c 3 1

The Congolese Party of Labour (French: Parti congolais du travail, PCT), founded in 1969 by Marien Ngouabi, is the ruling political party of the Republic of the Congo. It was originally a Marxist-Leninist pro-Soviet party, which founded the People's Republic of the Congo, but moved towards a moderate left wing stance in the early 1990s. Denis Sassou Nguesso is President of the PCT Central Committee, and Pierre Ngolo is the PCT's Secretary-General.

Single-party rule The PCT was founded by President Ngouabi in De-

cember 1969 and was Congo-Brazzaville's sole ruling party from the moment of its creation. From the outset, it was heavily dominated by military officers from the sparsely populated north of Congo-Brazzaville. Although the PCT regime was designed as a Sovietstyle socialist party-state, it was essentially a military regime with a strongly ethno-regional character. Members of the southern ethnic groups, who were far more numerous than northerners, were included in the power structure, but the top leaders were consistently northerners.

Ideologically, the party represented a spectrum of Marxist-Leninist views and suffered from internecine struggles in the 1970s, which sometimes turned violent. Some leaders on the left-wing of the party, such as Ange Diawara and Claude-Ernest Ndalla, favored a radicalpro-Chinese position; they unsuccessfully attempted a coup d'etat against Ngouabi in February 1972. The right-wing of the party, which was derided as having only a superficial commitment to Marxism-Leninism, was represented by Joachim Yhombi Opango; the 1972 plot was inspired by the left-wing's loathing for Yhombi Opango.

Ngouabi was assassinated under unclear circumstances in March 1977, and Yhombi Opango succeeded him. However, Yhombi Opango's opponents in the PCT were angered by his rightist "deviationism" and perceived marginalization of the party, and they ousted him in a February 1979 technical coup, installing Denis Sassou Nguesso—another career officer from the north—in power. The elevation of Sassou Nguesso, who represented the PCT's left-wing, marked a return to party orthodoxy. Nevertheless, Sassou Nguesso was neither a radical leftist nor an ideologue; his policies were generally marked by pragmatism, and he sought warm relations with the West as well as the Eastern Bloc.

As Sassou Nguesso consolidated power, PCT factionalism was less pronounced during the 1980s, although internal power struggles continued. Jean-Pierre Thystère Tchicaya, a leftist ideologue who was one of the PCT's top-ranking leaders, was accused of organizing a bomb plot and removed from the leadership at the 1984 party congress. A powerful faction in the party, led by François-Xavier Katali, favored a hard-line pro-Soviet position; Sassou Nguesso was able to marginalize the Katali faction at the 1984 congress. Katali was demoted to a minor government ministry, but suffered no further punishment; when he died of a heart attack in 1986, he was considered a national hero.

Serious unrest in 1990 resulted in the collapse of the PCT regime. Sassou Nguesso was forced to introduce multiparty politics in 1990 and then call a National Conference in 1991. The National Conference saw severe criticism of Sassou Nguesso and repudiated PCT rule; it set up a non-PCT transitional government and reduced Sassou Nguesso to figurehead status.

The multi-party era

The PCT was in opposition from 1992 to 1997, during the Presidency of Pascal Lissouba. Although Marxist-Leninist ideology was abandoned, the party remained loyal to Sassou Nguesso and it continued to be dominated by key figures from the single-party era. Sassou Nguesso ultimately returned to power in the June–October 1997 civil war.

The PCT is essentially non-ideological today and is simply based around support for President Sassou Nguesso and his development policies. Although it has varying levels of support across the country, its key support base remains the north; in some northern districts, support for the PCT is so overwhelming that its parliamentary candidates win "Soviet-style" scores approaching 100% of the vote.

Denis Sassou Nguesso, presidential candidate of both the PCT and the United Democratic Forces coalition, won the March 2002 presidential election with 89.4% of the vote; there were no serious opposition candidates. The PCT won 53 out of 137 seats in theNational Assembly in the May–June 2002 parliamentary election; together with smaller, allied parties, it held a parliamentary majority.

At the party's Fifth Extraordinary Congress in December 2006, Sassou-Nguesso was re-elected as President of the Central Committee of the PCT and Ambroise Noumazalaye was re-elected as Secretary-General of the PCT; the Central Committee elected at the 2006 congress included more than 500 members (there were previously less than 150 members), while the Political Bureau elected on the same occasion included more than 60 members and the Permanent Secretariat included 15 members.

The political landscape in Congo-Brazzaville has been highly fractured since the early 1990s. In an effort to consolidate support for Sassou Nguesso, an initiative to "refound" the PCT as a broader party was attempted in 2006. Although backed by Secretary-General Noumazalaye, the effort encountered firm opposition from PCT "conservatives", led by Justin Lekoundzou, who wanted to preserve the PCT as a distinct party.

Noumazalaye died in November 2007, and Prime Minister Isidore Mvouba became Interim Secretary-General of the PCT. In the parliamentary election held on June 24 and August 5, 2007, the PCT won 46 seats; although it was again the largest party, the fractionalization of the political landscape ensured that it fell well short of a parliamentary majority.

However, the combined parties of the Presidential Majority supporting Sassou Nguesso won an overwhelming majority: 125 out of 137 seats. After the election, a large grouping of parties, including the PCT, was launched in December 2007: the Rally of the Presidential Majority (RMP). While the member parties of the RMP preserved their distinct identities, the grouping provided for some degree of consolidation and improved organization among Sassou Nguesso's supporters. In the 2008 local elections, the RMP parties ran joint candidate lists.

corporating customs from the Gaelic celebration of Samhain. The Vikings celebrated Yule, which later contributed to the Twelve Days of Christmas, or the "Daft Days" as they were sometimes called in Scotland. The winter festival went underground with the Protestant Reformation and ensuing years (see Christmas in Scotland), but re-emerged near the end of the 17th century.

Customs

There are many customs, both national and local, associated with Hogmanay. The most widespread national custom is the practice of 'first-footing' which starts immediately after midnight. This involves being the first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbour and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as salt (less common today), coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun (a rich fruit cake) intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. Food and drink (as the gifts) are then given to the guests. This may go on throughout the early hours of the morning and well into the next day (although modern days see people visiting houses well into the middle of January). The first-foot is supposed to set the luck for the rest of the year. Traditionally, tall dark men are preferred as the first-foot.

Local customs:

Each area of Scotland often developed its own particular Hogmanay ritual. An example of a local Hogmanay custom is the fireball swinging that takes place in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland. This involves local people making up 'balls' of chicken wire filled with old newspaper, sticks, rags, and other dry flammable material up to a diameter of 2 feet, each attached to about 3 feet of wire, chain or nonflammable rope. As the Old Town House bell sounds to mark the new year, the balls are set alight and the swingers set off up the High Street from the Mercat Cross to the Cannon and back, swinging the burning balls around their heads as they go. At the end of the ceremony, any fireballs that are still burning are cast into the harbour. Many people enjoy this display, and large crowds flock to see it, with 12,000 attending the 2007/2008 event. In recent years, additional attractions have been added to entertain the crowds as they wait for midnight, such as fire poi, a pipe band, street drumming and a firework display after the last fireball is cast into the sea. The festivities are now streamed live over the Internet.

Another example of a pagan fire festival is the burning the clavie which takes place in the town of Burghead in Moray.

In the east coast fishing communities and Dundee, first-footers used to carry a decoratedherring while in Falkland in Fife, local men would go in torchlight procession to the top of theLomond Hills as midnight approached. Bakers in St Andrews would bake special cakes for their Hogmanay celebration (known as 'Cake Day') and distribute them to local children.

In Glasgow and the central areas of Scotland, the tradition is to hold Hogmanay parties involving singing, dancing, the eating of steak pie or stew, storytelling and drink; these usually extend into the daylight hours of 1 January.

Institutions also had their own traditions. For example, amongst the Scottish regiments, the officers had to wait on the men at special dinners while at the bells, the Old Year is piped out of barrack gates. The sentry then challenges the new escort outside the gates: 'Who goes there?' The answer is 'The New Year, all's well.'

An old custom in the Highlands, which has survived to a small extent and seen some degree of revival, is to celebrate Hogmanay with the saining (Scots for 'protecting, blessing') of the household and livestock. Early on New Year's morning, householders drink and then sprinkle 'magic water' from 'a dead and living ford' around the house (a 'dead and living ford' refers to a river ford that is routinely crossed by both the living and the dead). After the sprinkling of the water in every room, on the beds and all the inhabitants, the house is sealed up tight and branches of juniper are set on fire and carried throughout the house and byre. The juniper smoke is allowed to thoroughly fumigate the buildings until it causes sneezing and coughing among the inhabitants. Then all the doors and windows are flung open to let in the cold, fresh air of the new year. The woman of the house then administers 'a restorative' from the whisky bottle, and the household sits down to its New Year breakfast.

Major celebrations

As in much of the world, the largest Scottish cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen hold all-night celebrations, as do Stirling and Inverness. The Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations are among the largest in the world, although in 2003-4 most of the organised events were cancelled at short notice due to very high winds. The Stonehaven Fireballs went ahead as planned, however, with some 6000 people braving the stormy weather to watch 42 fireball swingers process along the High Street. Similarly, the 2006-07 celebrations in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling were all cancelled on the day, again due to high winds and heavy rain. The Aberdeen celebration, however, went ahead, and was opened by the pop music group, Wet Wet Wet.

Handsel Day

Historically, presents were given in Scotland on the first Monday of the New Year. This would be celebrated often by the employer giving his staff presents and parents giving children presents. Handsel Day is marked by teachers giving gifts to their students. A roast dinner would be eaten to celebrate the festival. Handsel was a word for gift box and hence Handsel Day. In modern Scotland this practice has died out.

Independence Day Cameroon - J a n 0 1

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun), is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west;Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala,Yaoundé and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. French and English are the official languages.

Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorersreached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões, the name from which Cameroon derives.

Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emiratein the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884.

After World War I, the territory was divided between France and Britain as League of Nations mandates. The Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) political party advocated independence, but was outlawed by France in the 1950s. It waged war on French and UPC militant forces until 1971. In 1960, the French-administered part of Cameroon became independent as the Republic of Cameroun under PresidentAhmadou Ahidjo. The southern part of British Cameroons merged with it in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and the Republic of Cameroon in 1984.

Compared to other African countries, Cameroon enjoys relatively high political and social stability. This has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, railways, and large petroleum and timber industries. Nevertheless, large numbers of Cameroonians live in poverty as subsistence farmers. Power lies firmly in the hands of the authoritarian president since 1982, Paul Biya, and his Cameroon People's Democratic Movement party. The English-speaking territories of Cameroon have grown increasingly alienated from the government, and politicians from those regions have called for greater decentralization and even secession (for example: the Southern Cameroons National Council) of the former British-governed territories.

History

The territory of present day Cameroon was first settled during the Neolithic. The longest continuous inhabitants are groups such as the Baka (Pygmies). From here, Bantu migrations into eastern, southern, and central Africa are believed to have originated about 2,000 years ago. The Sao culture arose around Lake Chad c. AD 500 and gave way to the Kanem and its successor state, the Bornu empire. Kingdoms, fondoms, and chiefdoms arose in the west.

Portuguese sailors reached the coast in 1472. They noted an abundance of the mud lobster Lepidophthalmus turneranus in the Wouri River and named it Rio dos Camarões, and the phrase from whichCameroon is derived. Over the following few centuries, European interests regularised trade with the coastal peoples, and Christian missionaries pushed inland. In the early 19th century, Modibo Adama led Fulanisoldiers on a jihad in the north against non-Muslim and partially Muslim peoples and established the Adamawa Emirate. Settled peoples who fled the Fulani caused a major redistribution of population. The northern part of Cameroon was an important part of the Muslim slave trade network.

The Bamum people have an indigenous writing system, known as Bamum script or Shu Mom. The script was developed by Sultan Ibrahim Njoya in 1896, and is taught in Cameroon by the Bamum Scripts and Archives Project.

The German Empire claimed the territory as the colony of Kamerun in 1884 and began a steady push inland. They initiated projects to improve the colony's infrastructure, relying on a harsh system of forced labour.With the defeat of Germany in World War I, Kamerun became a League of Nations mandateterritory and was split into French Cameroun and British Cameroons in 1919. France integrated the economy of Cameroun with that of France and improved the infrastructure with capital investments, skilled workers, and continued forced labour.

The British administered their territory from neighbouring Nigeria. Natives complained that this made them a neglected "colony of a colony". Nigerian migrant workers flocked to Southern Cameroons, ending forced labour but angering indigenous peoples. The League of Nations mandates were converted into United Nations Trusteeships in 1946, and the question of independence became a pressing issue in French Cameroun. France outlawed the most radical political party, the Union des Populations du Cameroun(UPC), on 13 July 1955. This prompted a long guerrilla war and the assassination of the party's leader, Ruben Um Nyobé, nearBoumnyébel, the village where he was born.

In British Cameroons, the question was whether to reunify with French Cameroun or join Nigeria.

On 1 January 1960 at 2:30 am, French Cameroun gained independence from France under President Ahmadou Ahidjo. On 1 October 1961, the formerly British Southern Cameroonsunited with French Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. Ahidjo used the ongoing war with the UPC to concentrate power in the presidency, continuing with this even after the suppression of the UPC in 1971.

His political party, the Cameroon National Union (CNU), became the sole legal political party on 1 September 1966 and in 1972, the federal system of government was abolished in favour of a United Republic of Cameroon, headed from Yaoundé. Ahidjo pursued an economic policy of planned liberalism, prioritising cash crops and petroleum exploitation. The government used oil money to create a national cash reserve, pay farmers, and finance major development projects; however, many initiatives failed when Ahidjo appointed unqualified allies to direct them.

Ahidjo stepped down on 4 November 1982 and left power to his constitutional successor, Paul Biya. However, Ahidjo remained in control of the CNU and tried to run the country from behind the scenes until Biya and his allies pressured him into resigning. Biya began his administration by moving toward a more democratic government, but a failed coup d'état nudged him toward the leadership style of his predecessor.

An economic crisis took effect in the mid-1980s to late 1990s as a result of international economic conditions, drought, falling petroleum prices, and years of corruption, mismanagement, and cronyism. Cameroon turned to foreign aid, cut government spending, andprivatised industries. With the reintroduction of multi-party politics in December 1990, the former British Cameroons pressure groups called for greater autonomy, with some (SCNC) advocating complete secession as the Republic of Ambazonia. In February 2008, Cameroon experienced its worst violence in 15 years when a transport union strike in Douala escalated into violent protests in 31 municipal areas.

Politics and government The President of Cameroon has broad, unilateral powers to create policy, administer government agencies, command

the armed forces, negotiate and ratify treaties, and declare a state of emergency. The president appoints government officials at all levels, from theprime minister (considered the official head of government), to the provincial governors, divisional officers, and urban-council members in large cities. The president is selected by popular vote every seven years. In smaller municipalities, the public elects mayors and councilors.

Corruption is rife at all levels of government. In 1997, Cameroon established anti-corruption bureaus in 29 ministries, but only 25% became operational, and in 2011, Transparency International placed Cameroon at number 134 on a list of 183 countries ranked from least to most corrupt. On 18 January 2006, Biya initiated an anti-corruption drive under the direction of the National Anti-Corruption Observatory.

Cameroon's legal system is largely based on French civil law with common law influences. Although nominally independent, the judiciary falls under the authority of the executive's Ministry of Justice. The president appoints judges at all levels. The judiciary is officially divided into tribunals, the court of appeal, and the supreme court. The National Assembly elects the members of a nine-member High Court of Justice that judges high-ranking members of government in the event they are charged with high treason or harming national security.

Human rights organisations accuse police and military forces of mistreating and even torturing criminal suspects, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and political activists. Prisons are overcrowded with little access to adequate food and medical facilities, and prisons run by traditional rulers in the north are charged with holding political opponents at the behest of the government. However, since the first decade of the 21st century, an increasing number of police and gendarmes have been prosecuted for improper conduct.

The National Assembly makes legislation. The body consists of 180 members who are elected for five-year terms and meet three times per year. Laws are passed on a majority vote. Rarely has the assembly changed or blocked legislation proposed by the president. The 1996 constitution establishes a second house of parliament, the 100-seat Senate, but this body has never been put into practice. The government recognises the authority of traditional chiefs, fons, and lamibe to govern at the local level and to resolve disputes as long as such rulings do not conflict with national law.

President Paul Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) was the only legal political party until December 1990. Numerous regional political groups have since formed. The primary opposition is the Social Democratic Front (SDF), based largely in the Anglophone region of the country and headed by John Fru Ndi. Biya and his party have maintained control of the presidency and the National Assembly in national elections, but rivals contend that these have been unfair.Human rights organisations allege that the government suppresses the freedoms of opposition groups by preventing demonstrations, disrupting meetings, and arresting opposition leaders and journalists.

Freedom House ranks Cameroon as "not free" in terms of political rights and civil liberties. The last parliamentary elections were held on 22 July 2007.

Cameroon is a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie. Its foreign policy closely follows that of its main ally, France (the former colonial ruler). The country relies heavily on France for its defence, although military spending is high in comparison to other sectors of government. Biya has clashed with the government of Nigeria over possession of the Bakassipeninsula and with Gabon's president, El Hadj Omar Bongo, over personal rivalries.

Global Family Day Worldwide - J a n 0 1

Membership The party had about 70,000 members in 1990; by 2005, it had about 250,000 members.

New Year's Eve Worldwide - D e c 3 1

In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, the last day of the year, is on December 31. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some people attend a watchnight service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1 (New Year's Day).

Island nations of Kiribati and Samoa are the first to welcome the New Year while Honolulu, Hawaii is among the last places to welcome the New Year.

Omisoka Japan - D e c 3 1

Ōmisoka (大晦日), New Year's Eve, is the secondmost important day in Japanese tradition because it is the final day of the old year and the eve of New Year's Day, which is the most important day of the year.

Around 11:00 PM on Ōmisoka at home, people often gather for one last time in the old year to have a bowl of toshikoshi-soba (年越しそば) or toshikoshi-udon ( 年越しうどん) together—a tradition based on people's association of eating the long noodles with “crossing over from one year to the next,” which is the meaning of toshi-koshi. While the noodles are often eaten plain, or with chopped scallions, in some localities people top them with tempura. Traditionally, families make Osechi (おせち) for new year day because cooking during the first 3 days of the new year is considered unlucky. See The Kitchen god. Nowadays, most families buy Osechi or cook ordinary dishes.

At midnight, many visit a shrine or temple for Hatsumōde (初詣).

Another regular feature of Ōmisoka starts at 7:30 PM when public broadcaster NHK airs Kōhaku Uta Gassen ("Red vs. White singing contest"), one of the country's most-watched television programs. Popular singers (and singing groups) split into two teams, women in the red team and men in the white, which then alternate while competing for the audience's heart throughout the evening. At around 11:30 PM, the final singer (or group) sings, and the audience and a panel of judges are asked to cast their votes to decide which team sang better. The winning team gets a trophy and "the winners' flag." The program ends at about 11:45 PM. Programming then switches to coverage of midnight celebrations around the country.

Throughout Japan, Shinto shrines prepare amazake to pass out to crowds that gather as midnight approaches. Most Buddhist templeshave a large cast bell (see bonshō for photos) that is struck once for each of the 108 earthly desires believed to cause human suffering.

Greetings

When seeing someone for the last time before the new year, it is conventionally to say 良いお年を (yoi o-toshi wo), "Have a good New Year"; once the new year has started and one sees someone again for the first time, one instead says a greeting such as 明けましておめでとう (akemashite o-medetō) "Happiness on the opening (of a new year)".

Etymology Widely unknown even in Japan is the etymology of the word Ōmisoka. The kanji 晦 written as 三十 (mi-so) means

30, mi-so-ka (Kanji 晦日) refers to the 30th and last day of a month in the ancient lunar calendar. The prefix Ō (大) makes it a comparative, so it's the last of the last days of the month. The word miso itself derives from the original numeric system in Japanese: mi is the traditional word for 3, also still found in some counter word compounds such as mittsu (三つ), while the suffix -soused to be added to native numerals, thus 30 would be mi + so. In modern Japanese, Chinese loans are used instead, and 30 is pronounced san-jū (さんじゅう, "three-ten").

New Year's Day Worldwide - J a n 0 1

New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome. With most countries using the Gregorian calendar as their main calendar, New Year's Day is the closest thing to being the world's only truly global public holiday, often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts. January 1 on the Julian calendar currently corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year.

New Year's Day is a postal holiday in the United States.

History

The Romans dedicated New Year's Day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings for whom the first month of the year (January) is also named. After Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 46 BC and was subsequently murdered, the Roman Senate voted to deify him on the 1st January 42 BC in honor of his life and his institution of the new rationalized calendar. The month originally owes its name to the deity Janus, who had two faces, one looking forward and the other looking backward.

This suggests that New Year's celebrations are founded on pagan traditions. Some have suggested this occurred in 153 BC, when it was stipulated that the two annualconsuls (after whose names the years were identified) entered into office on that day, though no consensus exists on the matter.Dates in March, coinciding with the spring equinox, or commemorating the Annunciation of Jesus, along with a variety of Christian feast dates were used throughout the Middle Ages, though calendars often continued to display the months in columns running from January to December.

Among the 7th century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts at the New Year. This was a pagan custom deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemings and Dutchmen, "(Do not) make vetulas, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another Yule custom]." The quote is from the vita of Eligius written by his companion, Ouen.

Most countries in Western Europe officially adopted January 1 as New Year's Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. In England, the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, was the first day of the new year until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. The March 25 date was known as Annunciation Style; the January 1 date was known as Circumcision Style, because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, considered to be the eighth day of Christ's life, counting from December 25 when his birth is celebrated. This day was christened as the beginning of the New Year by Pope Gregory as he designed the Liturgical Calendar.

Junkanoo Bahamas - J a n 0 1

Junkanoo is a street parade with music which occurs in many towns across The Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26), New Year's Day and, more recently, in the summer on the island of Grand Bahama.

The largest Junkanoo parade happens in Nassau, the capital. There are also Junkanoo parades in Miami in June and Key West in October, where the local black American populations have their roots in the Bahamas.

History The origin of the word "junkanoo" is rather obscure.

Some people believe it comes from the French "L'inconnu" which means "the unknown," in reference to the masks worn by the paraders. Junkanoo may have West African origins, as the costumes and conduct of the masqueraders bear similarities with the Yoruba Egungun festivals.

It is believed that this festival began during the 16th and 17th centuries. The slaves in The Bahamas were given a special holiday around Christmas time when they would be able to leave the plantations to be with their family and celebrate the holidays with African dance, music, and costumes. After emancipation this tradition continued, and junkanoo has evolved from its simple origins to a formal, more organized parade with sophisticated, intricate costumes, themed music, and incentive prizes.

Parades in Nassau are judged in various categories; A (or Major) Category, the B Category, Individual costume, and fun groups. The A category groups involved in the Nassau Junkanoo include The Valley Boys, The Music Makers, Roots, Saxons, One Family and The Prodigal Sons (New). Groups of the past include The Vikings and Chippie and the Boys. In the B category, groups include One Love Soldiers, Clico Colours, Fancy Dancers, Fox Hill Congos, and Conquerors for Christ. Fun groups include The Pigs, Sting and Barabbas & The Tribe.

Liberation Day Cuba - J a n 0 1

Cuba celebrates Liberation Day on 1 January every year.

It actually qualifies as a liberation day (of sorts) on two counts.

First, at the tail end of the nineteenth century a series of independence wars between the Cubans and their Spanish colonial rulers culminated in the Spanish-American War of 1898, in which Spain was rapidly defeated. The Treaty of Paris which brought about peace between the two countries also saw Spain relinquish sovereignty over Cuba, effective as of 1 January 1899. Cuba became nominally independent three years later, although the United States retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations (and, incidentally, to establish a permanent lease of Guantanamo Bay).

Fast forward to the 1950s. Ex-President Fulgencio Batista – elected to office democratically in 1940 for four years – sought election again in 1952, but staged a coup with the support of a sympathetic army faction after it became clear he would lose the election. A counter-coup in 1956 failed.

At the end of that year a party of 82 led by Fidel Castro sailed to Cuba on the yacht Granma to set up an armed insurrection in the Sierra Maestra. Batista’s government failed to quash this rebellion and was increasingly harassed by the rebels, especially after the United States imposed an arms embargo from March 1958. On 1 January 1959, the day after the rebels defeated government forces at the city of Santa Clara, Batista fled into exile (first in the Dominican Republic, later in Portugal) and his forces capitulated shortly afterwards. It is this 1 January, rather than the 1899 date, which the present Cuban regime celebrates as its Liberation Day.

St. Basil's Day Bulgaria - J a n 0 1

Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great, (329 or 330 – January 1, 379) (Greek: Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας) was the Greek bishop of Caesarea Mazaca inCappadocia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church, fighting against both Arianism and the followers of Apollinaris of Laodicea.

His ability to balance his theological convictions with his political connections made Basil a powerful advocate for the Nicene position.

In addition to his work as a theologian, Basil was known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. Basil established guidelines for monastic life which focus on community life, liturgical prayer, and manual labour. Together with Pachomius he is remembered as a father of communal monasticism in Eastern Christianity. He is considered a saint by the traditions of both Eastern and Western Christianity.

Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa are collectively referred to as theCappadocian Fathers. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches have given him, together with Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom, the title of Great Hierarch. His is recognised as a Doctor of the Church in both Eastern Orthodoxy and in the Roman Catholic Church. He is sometimes referred to by the epithet "Ουρανοφαντωρ", "revealer of heavenly mysteries".

Global Family Day, (One Day of Peace and Sharing) is celebrated every January 1 in the United States and around the world as a global day of peace and sharing. It is a day where individuals and families share food with friends (especially the needy), make personal pledges of nonviolence, and spread a message of peace and sharing by ringing bells or beating a drum in hopes of making society and the world a safer place to live. Global Family Day grew out of the United Nations Millennium celebration, "One Day In Peace."

History Originally supported in the United States by Linda

Grover, the original idea itself is difficult to pin down because many grassroots efforts around the world had independently sprung up to target this date as a day for peace and had worked separately to prevail on local governments and the U.N. to establish such a day. These efforts included a 1996 children's book "One Day In Peace, January 1, 2000" by Steve Diamond and Robert Alan Silverstein, which was translated into 22 languages. As a result, nearly 140 nations were poised to respond to the November 1997 declaration of the U.N. General Assembly that the first year of the new millennium should launch an "International Decade for the Culture of Peace & Nonviolence for the Children of the World" which would be ushered in by "One Day of Peace." Finally, in November 1999, the U.N. issued a formal invitation for world participation. As the independent grassroots organizations around the world joined the effort, one notable outcome was a special ceremony initiated by Gerry Eitner between Israeliand Palestinian families, at a refugee camp in Nablus.

Later that year, the United States Congress followed the U.N. initiative and unanimously voted to establish the first day of every year as a special time of peace and sharing. (S.Con.Res. 138). In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly established this Observance as a recurring annual event, also recommending that all Member states recognize the new holiday (UNGA Res. 56/2) To date, more than 20 heads of state and many ambassadors have endorsed what has now become known as Global Family Day. Global Family Day has twice received the unanimous support of the U.S. Congress (S. Con. Res. 138, S. Res. 582, H. Con. Res. 317), the UN General Assembly (Resolutions 54/29 and 56/2), and more than 30 sitting heads of state and ambassadors representing more than two-thirds of the world's population.

Presently, interest in Global Family Day has been revitalized through U.S. Senate resolutions S. Res. 357 and S. Res. 387 urging the people of the United States to observe Global Family Day and One Day of Peace and Sharing, and by U.S. House of Representatives resolution H. Con. Res. 221, requesting that the President issue a proclamation annually calling upon the people of the United States to observe Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing, and for other purposes.

In 2005, Dr. Milton A. Reid and Cassandra West, Chairman and President respectively of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Life Institute, were invited to the United Nations for the support of Global Family Day for the International Day of Families. On September 26, 2006, President George W. Bush issued a Presidential Proclamation for Family Day, as special request, of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Life Institute, to the White House, Faith Based Initiatives office.

The organization's mission is to unite, inform, motivate, and connect people, institutions, and governments of the world through the celebration of this day of peace and sharing every January 1 and related year-around programs.

Bank Holiday Scotland, U.K. - J a n 0 2

A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or other commonwealth countries, or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although banks close and the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract. The first official bank holidays were the four days named in the Bank Holidays Act 1871, but today the term is colloquially (albeit incorrectly) used for public holidays which are not officially bank holidays, for example Good Friday and Christmas Day. Many large shops open on bank holidays, when most people have a day off for shopping, heavily advertising sales and bargains.

History

Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed about thirty-three saints' days and religious festivals as holidays, but in 1834 this was reduced to four: 1 May (May Day), 1 November (All Saints Day), Good Friday, and Christmas Day. In 1871, the first legislation relating to bank holidays was passed when Liberal politician and banker Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holidays Act 1871, which specified the days in the table set out below. The English people were so thankful that they called the first Bank Holidays St Lubbock's Days for a while. Scotland was treated separately because of its separate traditions; for example, New Year is a more important holiday there.

The act did not specify Good Friday and Christmas Day as bank holidays in England, Wales, and Ireland because they were already recognised as common law holidays, and because of common observance, they became customary holidays before records began.

In 1903, the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act added 17 March, Saint Patrick's Day, as a bank holiday for Ireland only. New Year's Day did not become a bank holiday in England until 1 January 1974.

In the United Kingdom

Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971:

A century after the 1871 Act, the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which currently regulates bank holidays in the UK, was passed. The majority of the current bank holidays were specified in the 1971 Act, but New Year's Day and May Day were introduced after 1971.

From 1965, the date of the August bank holiday was changed to the end of the month. Curiously, there were a few years (e.g., 1968) when this holiday fell in September, but this no longer occurs - presumably reflecting a change in the way of defining the relevant day. The Whitsun bank holiday (Whit Monday) was replaced by the Late Spring Bank Holiday - fixed as the last Monday in May - in 1971.In 1978 the first Monday in May in the UK, and the final Monday of May in Scotland, were designated as bank holidays.

In January 2007, the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007 was given royal assent, making 30 November (or the nearest Monday if a weekend) a bank holiday in Scotland.

Royal proclamation:

Under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, bank holidays are proclaimed each year by the legal device of a royal proclamation. Royal proclamation is also used to move bank holidays that would otherwise fall on a weekend. In this way, public holidays are not 'lost' in years when they coincide with weekends. These deferred bank holiday days are termed a 'bank holiday in lieu' of the typical anniversary date. In the legislation they are known as 'substitute days'. The movement of the St Andrew's Day Scottish holiday to the nearest Monday when 30 November is a weekend day is statutory and does not require a proclamation.

In Scotland:

A number of differences apply in Scotland relative to the rest of the United Kingdom. For example, Easter Monday is not a bank holiday. Also, although they share the same name, the Summer Bank Holiday falls on the first Monday of August in Scotland, as opposed to the last Monday in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Bank holidays do not, however, assume the same importance in Scotland as they do elsewhere. Whereas they have effectively become public holidays elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in Scotland there remains a tradition of public holidays based on local tradition and determined by local authorities (for example, the Glasgow Fair and the Dundee Fortnight). In 1996, Scottish banks made the business decision to harmonise their own holidays with the rest of the United Kingdom, with the result that 'bank holidays' in Scotland are neither public holidays nor the days on which banks are closed.

Berchtold's Day Switzerland - J a n 0 2

Berchtold Day (Berchtoldstag or Bärzelitag) on January 2 is an Alemannic tradition that is celebrated in some areas of Switzerland. The holiday's name does not refer to a Saint (there is no St. Berchtold) but is derived from the verb berchten – meaning “to walk around, asking for food”.

Kaapse Klopse South Africa - J a n 0 2

The Kaapse Klopse (or simply Klopse) is a minstrel festival that takes place annually on 2 January, in Cape Town, South Africa.

As many as 13,000 minstrels take to the streets garbed in bright colours, either carrying colourful umbrellas or playing an array of musical instruments. The minstrels are grouped into klopse ("clubs" in Cape Dutch, but more accurately translated as troupes in English). Participants are typically from Afrikaansspeaking working class "coloured" families who have preserved the custom since the mid-19th century.

Although it is called the Coon Carnival by Capetonians, local authorities have renamed the festival the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival as foreign tourists find the term "coon" derogatory.

History One story goes that the carnival was inspired by a group of

African-American minstrels who docked in Cape Town in the late 1800s and entertained the sailors with their spontaneous musical performances. The popular song "Daar kom die Alibama" (There comes the Alabama) refers to the ship that is believed to have brought them. Another story goes that the travelling minstrels were actually white and painted their faces black – hence the painted faces seen today.

Troupe organisation

The majority of the troupes (169) are represented by the Kaapse Klopse Karnaval Association which is one of the break away Associations from the Kaapse Karnaval ("Cape Carnival") Association. In addition,the other break away organisation,the Mitchell's Plain Youth Development Minstrel Board represent a minority of troupes.

The carnival today

The festival begins on New Year's Day and continues into January. Festivities include street parades with singing anddancing, costume competitions and marches through the streets. While many troupes now are supported by corporate sponsors, many refuse and remain sticklers for tradition. The 2005 carnival was nearly cancelled due to an alleged lack of funding, while the 2006 carnival was officially called off for the same reason. However, the troupe organisations subsequently decided to go ahead with the parade despite continued unhappiness over funding, and the festivities were opened by Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool on 2 January 2006.

Independence Day Haiti - J a n 0 1

Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti (République d'Haïti; Repiblik d'Ayiti), is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti (land of high mountains) was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at 2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its capital is Port-auPrince. Haitian Creole and French are the official languages.

Haiti's regional, historical, and ethno-linguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first black-led republic in the world, and the second republic in the Americas when it gained independence in 1804 as part of a successful slave revolution lasting nearly a decade.In 2012, Haiti announced its intention to seek associate membership status in the African Union. Haiti is the most populous of the predominantly Francophone independent nations in the Americas. It is one of only two independent nations in the Americas (along with Canada) to designate French as an official language; the other French-speaking areas are all overseas départements, or collectivités, of France.

Haiti is the most populous full member-state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-bloc. It is the poorest country in the Americas as per the Human Development Index. Political violence has occurred regularly throughout its history, leading to government instability. Most recently, in February 2004, a coup d'état originating in the north of the country forced the resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A provisional government took control with security provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Michel Martelly, the current president, was elected in the Haitian general election, 2011.

The island has had a history of destructive earthquakes. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 and devastated Port-au-Prince. The highest reliable death count was estimated at 220,000. Haitian government estimates were higher. The Presidential palace, Parliament and many other important structures were destroyed, along with countless homes and businesses, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless. The country has yet to recover from the 2010 earthquake (and subsequent incidents) due to both the severity of the damage Haiti endured in 2010, as well as a government that was ineffective well before the earthquake. United States aid organizations have donated $2 billion. Combined with other international donations, these funds are intended to contribute to the rebuilding of the country.

History

Precolonial and Spanish colonial periods:

The island of Hispaniola, of which Haiti occupies the western third, is one of many Caribbean islands inhabited at the time of European arrival by the Taíno Indians, speakers of an Arawakan language. The Taíno name for the entire island was either Ayiti or Kiskeya. In the Taíno societies of the Caribbean Islands, the largest unit of political organization was led by a cacique; the Europeans called these polities caciquedoms or chiefdoms (French caciquat, Spanishcacicazgo). Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the island of Hispaniola was divided among five or six long-established caciquedoms.

The caciquedoms were tributary kingdoms, with payment consisting of harvests.

Taíno cultural artifacts include cave paintings in several locations in the country, which have become national symbols of Haiti and tourist attractions. Modern-day Léogane, a town in the southwest, is at the site of Xaragua's former capital.

Spanish Hispaniola:

Christopher Columbus landed at Môle Saint-Nicolas on 5 December 1492, and claimed the island for Spain. Nineteen days later, his ship the Santa María ran aground near the present site of Cap-Haïtien; Columbus was forced to leave behind Portrait of J. B. Belley, for Saint39 men, who founded the settlement of La Navidad. Following the destruction of La Deputy Navidad by the local indigenous people, Columbus moved to the eastern side of the Domingue. island and established La Isabela. One of the earliest leaders to fight off Spanish conquest was Queen Anacaona, a princess ofXaragua who married Caonabo, the cacique of Maguana. The couple resisted Spanish rule in vain; she was captured by the Spanish and executed in front of her people. Queen Anacaona is revered in Haiti as one of the country's founders.

The Spanish exploited the island for its gold, and directed its mining by the labor of localAmerindians. Those refusing to work in the mines were killed or sold into slavery. Europeans brought with them infectious diseases that were new to the Caribbean, to which the indigenous population lacked immunity. These new diseases were the chief cause of the dying off of the Taíno, but ill treatment, malnutrition, and a drastic drop in the birthrate as a result of societal disruption also contributed. The first recorded smallpox outbreak in the Americas occurred on Hispaniola in 1507. Epidemics of the disease caused high fatalities among the Taíno.

The Spanish passed the Laws of Burgos, 1512–1513, the first nationally codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regards to native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, endorsed their conversion to Catholicism, and legalized the colonial practice of creating encomiendas, where Indians were grouped together to work under colonial masters. The Spanish crown found it difficult to enforce these laws in a distant colony.

With the decline in the Taíno population, the Spanish governors began importing enslaved Africans as laborers. In 1517, Charles V authorized the draft of slaves. The Taíno people became virtually, but not completely, extinct on the island of Hispaniola. Some who evaded capture fled to the mountains and established independent settlements. Survivors mixed with escaped African slaves (runaways calledmaroons) and produced a multiracial generation the Spanish called zambos. They used the termmestizo for those children born to native women and European – usually Spanish – men. The later French settlers called people of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry marabou. The children born of unions between African women and European men were called mulâtres. During the French colonial years, some white fathers sent their mixed-race sons to France to be educated and passed on social capital in other ways, freeing their slaves mistresses and their children. A class of gens de couleur libre(free people of color) developed on the island.

As a gateway to the Caribbean, Hispaniola became a haven for pirates. The western part of the island was settled by Frenchbuccaneers. Among them was Bertrand d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco. His success prompted many of the numerous buccaneers and freebooters to turn into settlers. This population did not submit to Spanish royal authority until the year 1660 and caused a number of conflicts. By 1640, the buccaneers of Tortuga were calling themselves the Brethren of the Coast.

17th-century settlement:

Bertrand d'Orgeron attracted many French colonial families from Martinique and Guadeloupe, such as those of Jean Roy, Jean Hebert, and Guillaume Barre. They and others were driven from their lands when more land was needed for the expansion of the sugarplantations, which produced the major commodity crop. From 1670 to 1690, a drop in the tobacco markets significantly reduced the number of settlers on the island.

The first windmill for processing sugar was built in 1685.

Treaty of Ryswick and French colony (1697):

France and Spain settled hostilities on the island by the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, which divided Hispaniola between them. France received the western third and subsequently named it Saint-Domingue. (The current Santo-Domingo is in the Dominican Republic and was part of the eastern side given to the Spanish through the treaty). Many French colonists soon arrived and established plantations in SaintDomingue due to high profit potential from agricultural development. They developed large sugar cane plantations, especially, but also devoted land to the cultivation of coffee and indigo. The colonists imported slaves from Africa to work in the labor-intensive cultivation and processing of the commodity crops, and Saint-Domingue became a "slave society," dependent on slavery as the basis of its economy, with the slaveholders comprising the ruling class.

By 1789, approximately 40,000 French colonists lived on the western part of the island. In contrast, by 1763 the French population of Canada, a much larger territory, numbered 65,000. There were ten times the number of imported slaves than there were ethnic French. The largest sugar plantations and concentrations of slaves were Jacques Jean in the north of the island, associated with the Plaine-du-Nord.

By about 1790, Saint-Domingue had overshadowed its eastern counterpart in terms Dessalines, leader of the of wealth and population. It became the richest French colony in the New World due Haitian Revolution slave to the profits from the sugar, coffee and indigo industries, all based on slave labor. revolt and the first ruler The French-enacted Code Noir ("Black Code"), prepared by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and ratified by Louis XIV, had established rules on slave treatment and permissible of an independent Haiti. freedoms. Saint-Domingue has been described as one of the most brutally efficient slave colonies; one-third of newly imported Africans died within a few years. Many slaves died quickly from tropical diseases, smallpox, and typhoid. Some women were suspected of abortions and infanticide to keep children from growing up in slavery.

Under these conditions, French colonists often took sexual advantage of African women. A population of mixed-race people resulted; in some cases, the French fathers provided for their children, especially boys, including sending them to France for education. They also sometimes freed their slave mistresses and the children, and gradually a class of free people of color (gens libres de couleur) developed, with certain political rights in the colony. They tended to become artisans, shopkeepers and tradesmen, and more often lived in the towns of the southwest, especially Port-au-Prince, the main city. They also lived in Cap-Français in the north, the major colonial city of the region. Generally growing up Catholic and speaking French, the gens du couleur libre became educated, adopted French styles, and struggled to become independent property owners. They developed as a class apart from the black slaves. Especially in the North, the continuing importation of slaves from Africa meant that they kept more distinctly African cultural traditions.

Revolution (1791):

Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 and principles of the rights of men, free people of colour and slaves in SaintDomingue and the French and West Indies pressed for freedom and more civil rights. Most important was the revolution of the slaves in Saint-Domingue, starting in the northern plains in 1791, where Africans greatly outnumbered the whites.

They massacred many planters and other whites, and thousands of refugees fled from Saint-Domingue through the next years, settling in United States cities of New York, Philadelphia, Charlestown and New Orleans.

In 1792, the French government sent three commissioners with troops to reestablish control. They began to build an alliance with the free people of colour who wanted more civil rights. In 1793, France and Great Britain went to war, and British troops invaded Saint-Domingue. The execution of Louis XVI heightened tensions in the colony, and refugees continued to leave. That year, 2,000 refugees emigrated to Philadelphia, where they were nearly 5% of the city's population.

To build an alliance with the gens de couleur and slaves, the French commissionersSonthonax and Polverel abolished slavery in the colony. Six months later, the National Convention, led by Robespierre and the Jacobins, endorsed abolition and extended it to all the French colonies.

Toussaint Louverture, a former slave and leader in the slave revolt — a man who rose in importance as a military commander because of his many skills — achieved peace in 1794 in Saint-Domingue after years of war against both external invaders and internal dissension. Having established a disciplined, flexible army, Louverture drove out not only the Spanish (from Santo Domingo) but also the British invaders who threatened the colony. He restored stability and prosperity by daring measures. These steps included inviting planters to return and insisting freed men work on plantations to renew revenues for the island. He also renewed trading ties with Great Britain and the United States. In the uncertain years of revolution, the United States played both sides, with its traders supplying both the French and the rebels.

Independence and Division (1804):

When the French government changed, new members of the national legislature – lobbied by planters – began to rethink their decisions on colonial slavery. After Toussaint Louverture created a separatist constitution, Napoléon Bonaparte sent an expedition of more than 20,000 men under the command of his brother-in-law, General Charles Leclerc in 1802 to retake the island. Leclerc's mission was to oust Louverture and restore slavery. The French achieved some victories, but within a few months, yellow fever had killed most of the French soldiers. More than 50,000 French troops died in an attempt to retake the colony, including 18 generals. Leclerc invited Toussaint Louverture to a parley, kidnapped him and sent him to France, where he was imprisoned at Fort de Joux. He died there in 1803 of exposure and tuberculosis or malnutrition and pneumonia.

Slaves, along with free gens de couleur and allies continued their fight for independence after the French transported Louverture to France. The native leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines – long an ally and general of Toussaint Louverture, brilliant strategist and soldier – defeated French troops led by Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau, at theBattle of Vertières. In late 1803, France withdrew its remaining 7,000 troops from the island and Napoleon gave up his idea of re-establishing a North American empire. With the war going badly, he sold Louisiana to the United States.

At the end of the double battle for emancipation and independence, former slaves proclaimed the independence of Saint-Domingue on 1 January 1804, declaring the new nation be named "Ayiti", both a Native American and African term, meaning "home or mother of the earth" in the Taíno-Arawak Native American language and "sacred earth or homeland" in the Fon African language, to honor one of the indigenous Taíno names for the island.

Haiti is the only contemporary nation born of a slave revolt. Historians have estimated the slave rebellion resulted in the deaths of 100,000 blacks and 24,000 of the 40,000 white colonists, as well as many free people of color. The United States President Thomas Jefferson continued an arms and goods embargo against the new country. Due to the pressure of southern Congressmen, who feared their slaves being encouraged by the revolt, the United States refused to recognize Haiti's new government until 1867. Americans feared potential slave rebellions incited by free blacks and, after 1810, reduced the number of manumissions in the South, which had increased markedly in the first two decades following its own Revolution.

In February 2010, the eight-page document containing the official Declaration of Independence, which was believed to have been destroyed or thrown out, was found by a Canadian graduate student from Duke University in Britain's National Archives. Coming as it did soon after the 2010 devastating earthquake, the discovery is seen by many to be providential.

The revolution in Saint-Domingue unleashed a massive multiracial exodus: French Créole colonists fled with those slaves they still held, as did numerous free people of color, some of whom were also slaveholders and transported slaves with them. In 1809, nearly 10,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue arrived through Cuba, where they had first fled, to settle en masse in New Orleans. They doubled that city's population and helped preserve its French language and culture for several generations. In addition, the newly arrived slaves added to the city's African and multiracial culture.

Dessalines was proclaimed "Emperor for Life" by his troops. He exiled or killed the remaining whites and ruled as a despot. In the continuing competition for power, he was assassinated on 17 October 1806. The country was then divided between a kingdom in the north directed by Henri I; and a republic in the south directed by Alexandre Pétion, an homme de couleur. Henri I is best known for constructing the Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere, to defend the island against the French. Despite opposition from the mulatto populace, Henri Christophe successfully united Northern Haiti for a period of time under a semi-feudalcorvée system, establishing a rigid education and economic code aimed at sustainable improvement for all Haitians.

In 1815, Simón Bolívar, the South American political leader who was instrumental in Latin America's struggle for independence from Spain, received military and financial assistance from Haiti. Bolívar had fled to Haiti after an attempt had been made on his life in Jamaica, where he had unsuccessfully sought support for his efforts. In 1817, on condition that Bolívar free any enslaved people he encountered in his fight for South American independence, Haitian president Pétion provided Bolívar with soldiers, weapons and financial assistance, which were critical in enabling him to liberate the Viceroyalty of New Granada (now Colombia, Ecuador, Panama andVenezuela).

Reunification:

Beginning in 1821, President Jean Pierre Boyer, also an homme de couleur and successor to Pétion, managed to reunify the two parts of St. Domingue and extend control over the western part of the island. In addition, after Santo Domingo declared its independence from Spain, Boyer sent forces in to take control. Boyer then ruled the entire island.

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, "During his presidency, Boyer tried to halt the downward trend of the economy – which had begun with the successful revolt of black slaves against their French masters in the 1790s – by passing the Code Rural. Its provisions sought to tie the peasant labourers to plantation land by denying them the right to leave the land, enter the towns, or start farms or shops of their own and by creating a rural constabulary to enforce the code."

During Boyer's administration, his government negotiated with Loring D. Dewey, an agent of theAmerican Colonization Society (ACS), to encourage free blacks from the United States to emigrate to Haiti. They hoped to gain people with skills to contribute to the independent nation. In the early 19th century, the ACS – an uneasy blend of abolitionists and slaveholders – proposed resettlement of American free blacks to other countries, primarily to a colony in Liberia, as a solution to problems of racism in the US. Starting in September 1824, more than 6,000 American free blacks migrated to Haiti, with transportation paid by the ACS. Due to the poverty and other difficult conditions there, many returned to the US within a short time.

In July 1825, King Charles X of France sent a fleet of 14 vessels and thousands of troops to reconquer the island.

Under pressure,President Boyer agreed to a treaty by which France formally recognized the independence of the nation in exchange for a payment of 150 million francs (reduced to 90 million in 1838) – an indemnity for profits lost from the slave trade. French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher wrote, "Imposing an indemnity on the victorious slaves was equivalent to making them pay with money that which they had already paid with their blood."

After losing the support of Haiti's elite, Boyer was ousted in 1843. A long succession of coups followed his departure to exile. National authority was disputed by factions of the army, the elite class, and the growing commercial class, increasingly made up of numerous immigrant businessmen: Germans, Americans, French and English.

In 1912, Syrians residing in Haiti participated in a plot in which the Presidential Palace was destroyed. On more than one occasion, French, US, German and British forces allegedly claimed large sums of money from the vaults of the National Bank of Haiti.Expatriates bankrolled and armed opposing groups.

In addition, national governments intervened in Haitian affairs. In 1892, the German government supported suppression of the reform movement of Anténor Firmin. In January 1914, British, German and US forces entered Haiti, ostensibly to protect their citizens from civil unrest.

United States occupation of Haiti (1915–1934):

In an expression of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, the United States occupied the island in 1915 and US Marines were stationed in the country until 1934. According to Monroe, treaties in 1915 and 1917 gave the U.S. State and Navy departments (and the Navy's Marine Corps) effective control over key government roles; the U.S. assumed responsibility for maintaining domestic peace and put down several small rebellions such as the "Cacos" uprising. Haiti had huge debts, which were refinanced by new loans from the National City Bank of New York, and paid off by American government officials who took control of customs and the national budget. The U.S. transformed the Garde into a modern police force and built up advanced public health, education, ports and roads.

According to Paul Farmer, the US administration dismantled the constitutional system, reinstituted virtual slavery for building roads, and established the National Guards that ran the country by violence and terror after the Marines left.

It also made massive improvements to infrastructure: 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi) of roads were made usable; 189 bridges were built; many irrigation canals were rehabilitated; hospitals, schools, and public buildings were constructed, and drinking water was brought to the main cities. Sisal was introduced to Haiti, and sugar and cotton became significant exports. The U.S. Marines supervised the operations of a client Haitian government, and emphasized Americanstyle modernization of the infrastructure and universal education. Haitian traditionalists were highly resistant to these changes while the urban elites wanted more control. Together they helped force an end to the occupation in 1934.

PresidentHerbert Hoover sent a commission that set up a plan of withdrawal that was achieved under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The first step was a gradual, systematic turnover of government functions to the Haitian government; in 1934 it took control of the Garde and the Marines departed. The debts were still outstanding and the American financial advisor-general receiver handled the budget until 1941.

In 1915, Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave was elected president. He was succeeded by Louis Borno in the 1922 elections.

Borno worked closely with the Americans. Aware that many Haitians did not speak French, he was the first president to authorize the use of Creole in the education system. Recognition of the distinctive traditionalism of the Haitian people had a sharp impact on black writers in the U.S. (as well as white writers exploring black themes), including Eugene O'Neill, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Orson Welles.

End of US occupation until election of Duvalier (1934–1956):

The US occupation forces established a boundary between Haiti and the Dominican Republic by taking disputed land from the latter. After the US left in 1934, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo – in an event known as the Parsley Massacre – ordered his Army to kill Haitians living on the Dominican side of the border. In a "three-day genocidal spree", he murdered between 10,000 and 20,000 Haitians. He then developed a uniquely Dominican policy of racial discrimination, Antihaitianismo ("anti-Haitianism"), targeting the mostly black inhabitants of his neighboring country.

Sténio Vincent was succeeded as President in 1941 by Élie Lescot. In 1949, Lescot tried to change the constitution to allow for his own reelection, but in 1950 this triggered another coup. General Paul Magloire led the country until December 1956, when he was forced to resign by a general strike. After a period of disorder, an election held in September 1957 saw Dr. François Duvalier elected President.

Duvalier family dictatorship (1957–1986):

From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was governed by the hereditary dictatorship of the Duvalier family.

Former minister of health and labor François Duvalier, known as "Papa Doc" and initially popular among the black population of the nation, was the President of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. A strong believer in the rights of the Haitian black majority, he advanced black interests in the public sector. He stayed in power by enlisting an organization known as Tontons Macoutes("Bogeymen"), which maintained order by terrorizing the populace.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Haiti's diaspora made vital contributions to the establishment of francophone Africa's newly independent countries as Haiti's university professors, medical doctors, administrators and development specialists emigrated to these countries.

"Papa Doc" was succeeded by his son (born 3 July 1951) Jean-Claude Duvalier – known also as "Bébé Doc" – who led the country from 1971 until his ouster in 1986. In 1986, protests against "Baby Doc" led him to seek exile in France.

Army leader General Henri Namphyheaded a new National Governing Council.

In March 1987, a new constitution was overwhelmingly approved by Haiti's population. General elections in November were aborted after dozens of inhabitants were shot in the capital by soldiers and Tontons Macoutes, and scores more were massacred around the country. Fraudulent military-controlled elections followed, boycotted by opposition candidates, and the elected President, Leslie Manigat, was overthrown some months later in the June 1988 Haitian coup d'état when he sought to assert his constitutional control over the military. The September 1988 Haitian coup d'état followed after the St Jean Bosco massacre brought to the fore the increasing prominence of former Tontons Macoutes, and General Prosper Avril led a military regime until March 1990. Throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s, leading members of the military, intelligence and police were involved in the illegal drug trade in Haiti, assisting Colombian drug traffickers smuggling drugs into the United States.

Independence Day of the Slovak Republic Slovakia - J a n 0 1

Independence Day Sudan - J a n 0 1

Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: ‫نادوسلا ةيروهمج‬‎, as-Sūdān) Jumhūrīyat and sometimes calledNorth Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest. Internally, the Nile divides the country into eastern and western halves.The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of the Nile Valleyand descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Arabisation has made Arab culture the norm and the overwhelming majority of the population today adheres toIslam. As a consequence, Sudan is also often considered to be part of the Middle East.

The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt.

Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arabs of Northern Sudan and the mostly animist and ChristianNilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodlesscoup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himselfPresident of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan.

A member of the United Nations, Sudan also maintains membership with the African Union, the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as serving as an observer in the World Trade Organization. Its capital is Khartoum, which serves as the political, cultural and commercial centre of the nation. Officially a federal presidential representative democratic republic, the politics of Sudan are widely considered by the international community to take place within anauthoritarian system due to the control of the National Congress Party (NCP) of thejudiciary, executive and legislative branches of government.

History

Prehistoric Sudan:

By the eighth millennium BC, people of a Neolithic culture had settled into a sedentary way of life there in fortified mud-brick villages, where they supplemented hunting and fishing on the Nile withgrain gathering and cattle herding. During the fifth millennium BC migrations from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into the Nile Valley along with agriculture, The population that resulted from this cultural and genetic mixing developed social hierarchy over the next centuries become the Kingdom of Kush (with the capital at Kerma) at 1700 BC Anthropological and archaeological research indicate that during the predynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were ethnically, and culturally nearly identical, and thus, simultaneously evolved systems of pharaonic kingship by 3300 BC. Nubian pyramids in Meroe.

Together with other countries lies on Red Sea, Sudan is considered the most likely location of the land known to the ancient Egyptians as Punt (or "Ta Netjeru", meaning "God's Land"), whose first mention dates to the 25th century BC.

Kingdom of Kush:

The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient Nubian state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara. It was established after theBronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt, centered at Napata in its early phase. After King Kashta ("the Kushite") invaded Egypt in the 8th century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as Pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt for a century before being defeated and driven out by theAssyrians. At the height of their glory, the Kushite conquered an empire that stretched from what is now known as South Kordofan all the way to The Sinai. King Piye attempted to expand the empire into the Near East, but was thwarted by the Assyrian king Sargon II. The Kingdom of Kush is mentioned in the Bible as having saved the Israelites from the wrath of the Assyrians, although disease among the beseigers was the main reason for failing to take the city. The war that took place between King Taharqa and the Assyrian King Sennacherib was a decisive event in western history, with the Nubians being defeated in their attempts to gain a foothold in the Near East by Assyria. Sennacherib's successor Esarhaddon went further, and invaded Egypt itself, deposing Taharqa and driving the Nubians from Egypt entirely. Taharqa fled back to his homeland where he died two years later. Egypt became an Assyrian colony, however king Tantamani, after succeeding Taharqa, made a final determined attempt to regain Egypt. Esarhaddon died whilst preparing to leave the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in order to eject him. However his successor Ashurbanipal sent a large army into southern Egypt and routed Tantamani, ending all hopes of a revival of the Nubian Empire. During Classical Antiquity, the Nubian capital was at Meroë. In earlyGreek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Ethiopia (a term also used earlier by the Assyrians when encountering the Nubians).

The civilization of Kush was among the first in the world to use iron smelting technology. The Nubian kingdom at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD. After the collapse of the Kushite empire several states emerged in its former territories, among them Nubia.

Christianity and Islam:

By the 6th century, fifty states had emerged as the political and cultural heirs of the Meroitic Kingdom. Nobatia in the north, also known as Ballanah, had its capital at Faras, in what is now Egypt; the central kingdom, Muqurra (Makuria), was centred at Dunqulah, about 13 kilometres (10 miles) south of modern Dunqulah; and Alawa (Alodia), in the heartland of old Meroe, which had its capital at Sawba (now a suburb of modern-day Khartoum). In all three kingdoms, warrior aristocracies ruled Meroitic populations from royal courts where functionaries bore Greek titles in emulation of the Byzantine court. A missionary sent by Byzantine empress Theodora arrived in Nobatia and started preaching Christianity about 540 AD. The Nubian kings became Monophysite Christians. However, Makuria was of the Melkite Christian faith, unlike Nobatia and Alodia.

After many attempts at military conquest failed, the Arab commander in Ruins of Old Dongola.

Egypt concluded the first in a series of regularly renewed treaties known as Albaqut al-sharim (pactum) with the Nubians that governed relations between the two peoples for more than 678 years. Islam progressed in the area over a long period of time through intermarriage and contacts with Arab merchants and settlers, particularly the Sufi nobles of Arabia. Additionally, exemption from taxation in regions under Muslim rule were also a powerful incentive for conversion. In 1093, a Muslim prince of Nubian royal blood ascended the throne of Dunqulah as king. The two most important Arab tribes to emerge in Nubia were the Jaali and the Juhayna. Today's northern Sudanese culture often combines Nubian and Arabic elements.

During the 16th century, a people called the Funj, under a leader named Amara Dunqus, appeared in southern Nubia and supplanted the remnants of the old Christian kingdom of Alwa, establishing As-Saltana az-Zarqa (the Blue Sultanate), also called the Sultanate of Sennar. The Blue Sultanate eventually became the keystone of the Funj Empire.

By the mid-16th century, Sennar controlled Al Jazirah and commanded the allegiance of vassal states and tribal districts north to the Third Cataract and south to the rainforests. The government was substantially weakened by a series of succession arguments and coups within the royal family. In 1820, Muhammad Ali of Egypt sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan. His forces accepted Sennar's surrender from the last Funj sultan, Badi VII.

Egyptian Turks Period:

In 1821, the Albanian-Ottoman ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, had invaded and conquered northern Sudan. Although technically the Wāli of Egypt under the Ottoman Sultan, Muhammad Ali styled himself as Khedive of a virtually independent Egypt. Seeking to add Sudan to his domains, he sent his third son Ismail (not to be confused with Ismail the Magnificent mentioned later) to conquer the country, and subsequently incorporate it into Egypt. This policy was expanded and intensified byIbrahim's son, Ismail I, under whose reign most of the remainder of modern-day Sudan was conquered. The Egyptian authorities made significant improvements to the Sudanese infrastructure (mainly in the north), especially with regard to irrigation and cotton production. In 1879, the Great Powers forced the removal of Ismail and established his son Tewfik I in his place. Tewfik's corruption and mismanagement resulted in the Orabi Revolt, which threatened the Khedive's survival. Tewfik appealed for help to the British, who subsequently occupied Egypt in 1882. Sudan was left in the hands of the Khedivial government, and the mismanagement and corruption of its officials.

During the 1870s, European initiatives against the slave trade caused an economic crisis in northern Sudan, precipitating the rise of Mahdist forces.

Eventually, a revolt broke out in Sudan, led by Muhammad Ahmad ibn Abd Allah, the Mahdi (Guided One), who sought to end foreign presence in Sudan.

Mahdi revolution succeed in January 1885. Later that year, the Mahdi's forces Ismail Pacha Sultan of attacked and entered Khartoum, which had been defended by the British Gov- Egypt & Sudan ernor-General, Charles George Gordon (also known as Gordon of Khartoum), who was killed. Egypt and Britain subsequently withdrew forces from Sudan leaving the Mahdi and his successor to form a 14 year rule of Sudan.

Mahdist Sudan:

Al Mahdi who set out from Aba Island with a few followers armed with sticks and spears ended by making himself master of almost all the territory formerly occupied by the Egyptian government. His main aim was to conquer Egypt and to follow his conquests by attacking Europe.

The Muslim religion was engrained in him. He offered to the ansars (his followers) and those who surrendered to him a choice between adopting Islam or be killed. The following proclamation was published by the Mahdi: Let all show penitence before God, and abandon all bad and forbidden habits, such as the use of wine and tobacco, lying, degrading acts of the flesh etc. All those who do not pay attention to these principles disobey God and his Prophet and they shall be punished in accordance with the law. These precepts were ferociously enforced. Flogging to death and the cutting off of the hands were the penalties enforced as according to Islamic law.

During the month of Ramadan when absolute austerity was enforced upon his followers, huge crowds awaited the master’s appearance at prayers but they had little notion on what was going on inside the Mahdi’s house. There were several different accounts of his death. Some say that he was poisoned while others assert that typhus or small pox were the cause of his death. He died on 22 June 1885 exactly 5 months after the killing of Gordon.

After a power struggle amongst his deputies, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, with the help primarily of the Baqqara Arabs of western Sudan, overcame the opposition of the others and emerged as unchallenged leader of the Mahdiyah.

After consolidating his power, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad assumed the title of Khalifa (successor) of the Mahdi, instituted an administration, and appointed Ansar (who were usually Baqqara) as emirs over each of the several provinces.

Regional relations remained tense throughout much of the Mahdiyah period, largely because of the Khalifa's brutal methods to extend his rule throughout the country. In 1887, a 60,000-man Ansar army invaded Ethiopia, penetrating as far as Gondar. In March 1889, kingYohannes IV of Ethiopia, marched on Metemma; however, after Yohannes fell in battle, the Ethiopian forces withdrew. Abd ar Rahman an Nujumi, the Khalifa's general, attempted an invasion of Egypt in 1889, but British-led Egyptian troops defeated the Ansar at Tushkah. The failure of the Egyptian invasion broke the spell of the Ansar's invincibility. The Belgians prevented the Mahdi's men from conqueringEquatoria, and in 1893, the Italians repelled an Ansar attack at Akordat (in Eritrea) and forced the Ansar to withdraw from Ethiopia.

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan:

In the 1890s, the British sought to re-establish their control over Sudan, once more officially in the name of the Egyptian Khedive, but in actuality treating the country as a British colony. By the early 1890s, British, French and Belgian claims had converged at the Nile headwaters. Britain feared that the other powers would take advantage of Sudan's instability to acquire territory previously annexed to Egypt. Apart from these political considerations, Britain wanted to establish control over the Nile to safeguard a planned irrigation dam at Aswan.

Lord Kitchener led military campaigns against the Mahdists from 1896 to 1898. Kitchener's campaigns culminated in a decisive victory in the Battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898. Following this, in 1899, Britain and Egypt reached an agreement under which Sudan was run by a governor-general appointed by Egypt with British consent.

In reality, much to the revulsion of Egyptian and Sudanese nationalists, Sudan was effectively administered as a British colony. The British were keen to reverse the process, started under Muhammad Ali Pasha, of uniting the Nile Valley under Egyptian leadership, and sought to frustrate all efforts aimed at further uniting the two countries. During World War II, Sudan was directly involved militarily in the East African Campaign. Formed in 1925, the Sudan Defence Force (SDF) played an active part in responding to the early incursions (occupation by Italian troops of Kassala and other border areas) into the Sudan from Italian East Africa during 1940. In 1942, the SDF also played a part in the invasion of the Italian colony by British and Commonwealth forces. From 1924 until independence in 1956, the British had a policy of running Sudan as two essentially separate territories, the north (Muslim) and south (Christian). The last British Governor-General was Sir Robert Howe.

Independence and National Rule:

The continued British occupation of Sudan fueled an increasingly strident nationalist backlash in Egypt, with Egyptian nationalist leaders determined to force Britain to recognise a single independent union of Egypt and Sudan. With the formal end of Ottoman rule in 1914, Hussein Kamel was declared Sultan of Egypt and Sudan, as was his brother and successor Fuad I. They continued their insistence of a single Egyptian-Sudanese state even when the Sultanate was retitled as the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan, but the British continued to frustrate such reaches for independence.

Muhammad Ahmad The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 finally heralded the beginning of the march towards al-Mahdi ruler of Sudanese independence. Having abolished the monarchy in 1953, Egypt's new leadSudan. ers, Muhammad Naguib, whose mother was Sudanese, and later Gamal AbdelNasser, believed the only way to end British domination in Sudan was for Egypt to officially abandon its claims of sovereignty over Sudan.

The British on the other hand continued their political and financial support for the Mahdi successor Sayyid Abdel Rahman who, they believed, could resist the Egyptian pressures for Sudanese independence. Rahman was able to resist the pressures, but his regime was plagued with political ineptitude, which garnered him a loss of support in northern and central Sudan. Egypt and Britain both sensed a great political instability forming, and opted to allow the Sudanese in the north and south to have a free vote on independence to see whether they wished for a British withdrawal.

A polling process was carried out resulting in composition of a democratic parliament andIsmail al-Azhari was elected first Prime Minister and led the first modern Sudanese government. On 1 January 1956, in a special ceremony held at the People's Palace, the Egyptian and British flags were lowered and the new Sudanese flag, composed of green, blue and white stripes, was raised in their place by the prime minister Ismail al-Azhari.

Coup d'état:

On 30 June 1989, Colonel Omar al-Bashir led a group of army officers in ousting the unstable coalition government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi in a bloodless military coup. Under al-Bashir's leadership, the new military government suspended political parties and introduced an Islamic legal code on the national level. He then became Chairman of theRevolutionary Command Council for National Salvation (a newly established body with legislative and executive powers for what was described as a transitional period), and assumed the posts of chief of state, prime minister, chief of the armed forces, and minister of defense. Subsequent to al-Bashir's accession as Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation, he allied himself with Hassan al-Turabi, the leader of the National Islamic Front (NIF), who, along with al-Bashir, began institutionalising Sharia law in the northern part of Sudan. Later al-Bashir carried out purges and executions in the upper ranks of the army, the banning of associations, political parties, and independent newspapers, and the imprisonment of leading political figures and journalists.

On 16 October 1993, al-Bashir's powers increased when he appointed himself "President" of the country, after which he disbanded the Revolutionary Command Council and all other rival political parties. The executive and legislative powers of the council were taken by al-Bashir. In the 1996 national election, where he was the only candidate by law to run for election, al-Bashir transformed Sudan into a single-party state and created the National Congress Party (NCP) with a new parliament and government consisting solely of members of the NCP. During the 1990s, Hassan al-Turabi, then Speaker of the National Assembly, reached out to Islamic fundamentalist groups, as well as allowing them to operate out of Sudan, even personally inviting Osama bin Laden to the country.

The United States subsequently listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism. The U.S bombed Sudan in 1998 and U.S. firms were barred from doing business in Sudan. Later, al-Turabi's influence and that of his party's "'internationalist' and ideological wing" waned, "in favor of the 'nationalist' or more pragmatic leaders who focus on trying to recover from Sudan's disastrous international isolation and economic damage that resulted from ideological adventurism." At the same time Sudan worked to appease the United States and other international critics by expelling members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and encouraging bin Laden to leave. Prior to the 2000 presidential election, al-Turabi introduced a bill to reduce the President's powers, prompting al-Bashir to dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency. When al-Turabi urged a boycott of the President's re-election campaign and signed an agreement with Sudan People's Liberation Army, al-Bashir suspected they were plotting to overthrow him and the government, which resulted in the jailing of Hassan al-Turabi that same year. Because of significant cultural, social, political, ethnic and economic changes occurring in a short period of time, conflicts evolved in western and eastern provinces of Sudan, in addition to an escalating conflict in Southern Sudan. Since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), several violent struggles between the Janjaweed militia and rebel groups such as the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in the form of guerilla warfare in the Darfur, Red Sea and Equatoria regions had occurred. These conflicts resulted in death tolls between 200,000 and 400,000, over 2.5 million people being displaced and diplomatic relations between Sudan and Chad being put under very great strain.

The Sudanese government supported the use of recruited Arab militias in guerrilla warfare, such as in the ongoing conflict in Darfur. Since then thousands of people have been displaced and killed, and the need for humanitarian care in Darfur has attracted worldwide attention. The conflict has since been described as a genocide, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued twoarrest warrants for al-Bashir, the current President of Sudan.

Sudan has also been the subject of severe sanctions due to alleged ties with Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda.

Sudan has scored medium in human development in the last few years, ranking number 150 in 2009, between Haiti and Tanzania. Statistics indicate that about seventeen percent of the population live on less than US $1.25 per day.

Among Sudan's population of 30 million people, nearly all follow Sunni Islam, while Arabic is the Lingua franca spoken by all Sudanese, and English is also an official language.

Sudan has achieved great economic growth by implementing macroeconomic reforms. Rich in natural resources such as petroleum, Sudan's economy is amongst the fastest growing in the world. The People's Republic of China and Japan are the main export partners of Sudan.

Civil wars and secession of South Sudan:

In 1955, the year before independence, a civil war began between Northern and Southern Sudan. The southerners, anticipating independence, feared the new nation would be dominated by the north. Historically, the north of Sudan had closer ties with Egypt and was predominantly Arab or Arabized and Muslim while the south was predominantly non-Arabized and animist or Christian. These divisions had been further emphasized by the British policy of ruling the north and south under separate administrations. From 1924, it was illegal for people living north of the 10th parallel to go further south and for people south of the 8th parallel to go further north. The law was ostensibly enacted to prevent the spread of malaria and other tropical diseases that had ravaged British troops, as well as to facilitate spreading Christianity among the predominantly animist population while stopping the Arabic and Islamic influence from advancing south. The result was increased isolation between the already distinct north and south and arguably laid the seeds of conflict in the years to come.

The resulting conflict lasted from 1955 to 1972. The 1955 war began when Southern army officers mutinied and then formed the Anya-Nya guerilla movement. A few years later the first Sudanese military regime took power under Major-General Abboud. Military regimes continued into 1969 when General Gaafar Nimeiry led a successful coup.

In 1972, a cessation of the north-south conflict was agreed upon under the terms of the Addis Ababa Agreement, following talks which were sponsored by the World Council of Churches. This led to a ten-year hiatus in the national conflict with the south enjoying self-government through the formation of the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region.

In 1983, the civil war was reignited following President Nimeiry's decision to circumvent the Addis Ababa Agreement.

Nimeiry attempted to create a federated Sudan including states in southern Sudan, which violated the Addis Ababa Agreement that had granted the south considerable autonomy. He appointed a committee to undertake "a substantial review of the Addis Ababa Agreement, especially in the areas of security arrangements, border trade, language, culture and religion". Mansour Khalid, a former foreign minister, wrote: "Nimeiri had never been genuinely committed to the principles of the Addis Ababa Agreement". When asked about revisions he stated "The Addis Ababa agreement is myself and Joseph Lagu and we want it that way... I am 300 percent the constitution. I do not know of any plebiscite because I am mandated by the people as the President". Southern troops rebelled against the northern political offensive, and launched attacks in June 1983.

In September 1983, the situation was exacerbated when Nimeiry imposed new Islamic Shari'a laws on all of Sudan, including the non-Muslim south, followed by the imposition of martial law in May 1984.

In 1995, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter negotiated the longest ceasefire in the history of the war to allow humanitarian aid to enter Southern Sudan, which had been inaccessible owing to violence. This ceasefire, which lasted almost six months, has since been called the "Guinea Worm Ceasefire." Since 1983, a combination of civil war and famine has taken the lives of nearly 2 million people in Sudan. The war continued even after Nimeiry was ousted and a democratic government was elected with Al Sadiq Al Mahdi'sUmma Party having the majority in the parliament.

The leader of the SPLA John Garang refused to recognize the government and to negotiate with it as representative of Sudan but agreed to negotiate with government officials as representative of their political parties. The Sudanese Army successfully advanced in the south, reaching the southern borders with neighbouring Kenyaand Uganda. The campaign started in 1989 and ended in 1994. During the fight the situation worsened in the tribal south causing casualties among the Christian and animist minority. Rebel leader Riek Machar subsequently signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government and became Vice President of Sudan. His troops took part in the fight against the SPLA during the government offensive in the 1990s. After the Sudanese army took control of the entire south with the help of Machar, the situation improved. In time, however, the SPLA sought support in the West by using the northern Sudanese government's religious propaganda to portray the war as a campaign by the Arab Islamic government to impose Islam and the Arabic language on the animist and Christian south.

The war went on for more than twenty years, including the use of Russian-made combat helicopters and military cargo planes that were used as bombers to devastating effect on villages and tribal rebels alike. "Sudan's independent history has been dominated by chronic, exceptionally cruel warfare that has starkly divided the country on ethnic,racial, religious, and regional grounds; displaced an estimated four million people (of a total estimated population of thirty-two million); and killed an estimated two million people." It damaged Sudan's economy and led to food shortages, resulting in starvation and malnutrition. The lack of investment during this time, particularly in the south, meant a generation lost access to basic health services, education and jobs.

Peace talks between the southern rebels and the government made substantial progress in 2003 and early 2004.

The peace was consolidated with the official signing by both sides of the Nairobi Comprehensive Peace Agreement on 9 January 2005, granting Southern Sudan autonomy for six years, to be followed by a referendum about independence. It created a co-vice president position and allowed the north and south to split oil deposits equally, but also left both the north's and south's armies in place. John Garang, the south's peace agreement appointed co-vice president, died in a helicopter crash on 1 August 2005, three weeks after being sworn in. This resulted in riots, but peace was eventually restored. The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) was established under the UN Security Council Resolution 1590 of 24 March 2005. Its mandate is to support implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and to perform functions relating to humanitarian assistance, and protection and promotion of human rights. In October 2007 the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) withdrew from government in protest over slow implementation of a landmark 2005 peace deal which ended the civil war.

The referendum was negotiated under the auspices of Intergovernmental Organization Authority for Development IGAD, the regional organization of which Sudan is a member. Despite its role in finalizing the peace process, the debate around it increasingly became argumentative. According to a Wikileaks cable, the Khartoum Government along with the Egyptian government had been trying to delay or indefinitely adjourn the referendum. However, the southern leadership, the United Nations, and the whole region remained determined to hold vote as scheduled. As such, the vote continued. On 9 January 2011, the referendum was held worldwide; the South Sudanese diaspora who voted included those from the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Europe and East Africa. The result showed 98.9% in favour of secession.

The southern region became independent on 9 July 2011, with the name of South Sudan. Despite this result, many crucial issues are yet unresolved. The threats to people of South Sudan after referendum are numerous, with security topping the list. Other threats include disputes over the region of Abyei, control over oil fields, the borders, and the issue of citizenship.

As of 23 April 2012, Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, has declared he is unwilling to negotiate with officials in South Sudan. After South Sudan took control of the territorially contested Heglig for 10 days, Sudan forces pushed them out of the oil town, to the south. Even after South Sudan's withdrawal from Heglig, Sudanese MiG 29 fighter planes dropped three bombs in South Sudan. With Sudanese attacks as far as 10 km into South Sudan, South Sudanese officials cited this as both a "violation of the territory" and "clear provocation." Hostility is inflating as both nations scramble to bulk up their military forces. President Bashir stated: "We will not negotiate with the South's government, because they don't understand anything but the language of the gun and ammunition...Our talks with them were with guns and bullets."

Conflict in Abyei:

The issue of Abyei is a grave matter in terms of bringing lasting peace to the country. According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the region of Abyei must hold its own referendum, and decide whether to go with the south, or remain with Sudan. As such, the CPA set forth two referenda in Sudan, the South Sudan referendum as to whether to split from Sudan and the Abyei referendum as to whether to join South Sudan in its secession. Nevertheless, the voting in Abyei did not happen as stipulated largely because of the dispute over who has the right to vote in the region. Until now the referendum on Abyei is yet to be rescheduled, and the tension is rising in the region. The Government of Sudan is calling for all the residents of Abyei to take part in the referendum while the SPLA/M wants to exclude non-Dinka residents. Recently, the standing Abyei Committee has formed a new committee called the Joint Technical Committee to look at the case again, as well as the case of Kadugli.

Many humanitarian aid and relief services, such as the World Food Program, World Vision, Oxfam, Cordaid and Care International, have a presence in the area. Secession from Sudan will not necessarily solve the economic problems for Abyei. Further, the situation in Abyei is worsening in terms of security and disputes over land now that South Sudan has become independent.

War in Darfur:

Just as the long north-south civil war was reaching a resolution, some clashes occurred in the Muslim western region of Darfur in the early 1970s between the pastoral tribes. The rebels accused the central government of neglecting the Darfur region economically. Both the government and the rebels have been accused of atrocities in this war, although most of the blame has fallen on Arabic speaking nomads militias known as the Janjaweed, which are armed men appointed by the Al Saddiq Al Mahdi administration to stop the longstanding chaotic disputes between Darfur tribes. According to declarations by the U.S. government, these militias have been engaging in genocide, the UN and African Union does not agree with the genocide label; the fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many of them seeking refuge in neighbouring Chad. The government claimed victory over the rebels after capturing a town on the border with Chad in early 1994. However, the fighting resumed in 2003.

On 9 September 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell termed the Darfur conflict a genocide, claiming it as the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. There have been reports that the Janjaweed has been launching raids, bombings, and attacks on villages, killing civilians based on ethnicity, raping women, stealing land, goods, and herds of livestock. So far, over 2.5 million civilians have been displaced and the death toll is variously estimated from 200,000 to 400,000 killed. These figures have remained stagnant since initial UN reports of the conflict hinted at genocide in 2003/2004. Genocide has been considered a criminal offense under international humanitarian law since the 1948Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

On 5 May 2006, the Sudanese government and Darfur's largest rebel group, the SLM (Sudanese Liberation Movement), signed theDarfur Peace Agreement, which aimed at ending the three-year-long conflict. The agreement specified the disarmament of the Janjaweed and the disbandment of the rebel forces, and aimed at establishing a temporal government in which the rebels could take part. The agreement, which was brokered by the African Union, however, was not signed by all of the rebel groups. Only one rebel group, the SLA, led by Minni Arko Minnawi, signed the agreement.

Since the agreement was signed, however, there have been reports of widespread violence throughout the region.

A new rebel group has emerged called the National Redemption Front, which is made up of the four main rebel groups that refused to sign the May peace agreement. Recently, both the Sudanese government and governmentsponsored militias have launched large offensives against the rebel groups, resulting in more deaths and more displacements. Clashes among the rebel groups have also contributed to the violence. Recent fighting along the Chad border has left hundreds of soldiers and rebel forces dead and nearly a quarter of a million refugees cut off from aid.

In addition, villages have been bombed and more civilians have been killed. UNICEF recently reported that around eighty infants die each day in Darfur as a result of malnutrition. The hunger in the Darfur region is still concerning many developed countries in the world.

The people in Darfur are predominantly non-Arabized members of the Darfur tribe who adhere to Islam. While the Janjaweed/Baggaramilitia is made up of Arabized indigenous Africans and few Arab Bedouin; the majority of other Arab groups in Darfur remain uninvolved in the conflict.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun and alleged Muslim Janjaweed militia leader Ali Mohammed Ali, also known as Ali Kosheib, in relation to the atrocities in the region. Ahmed Haroun belongs to the Bargou tribe, one of the non-Arab tribes of Darfur, and is alleged to have incited attacks on specific non-Arab ethnic groups. Ali Kosheib is a former soldier and a leader of the popular defense forces, and is alleged to be one of the key leaders responsible for attacks on villages in west Darfur.

The ICC's chief prosecutor on Darfur, Luis Moreno Ocampo, announced on 14 July 2008 ten criminal charges against Bashir, accusing him of sponsoring war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC's prosecutors have claimed that al-Bashir "masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part" three tribal groups in Darfur because of their ethnicity The Arab League, African Union, and France support Sudan's efforts to suspend the ICC investigation. They are willing to consider Article 16 of the ICC's Rome Statute, which states ICC investigations can be suspended for one year if the investigation endangers the peace process.

Conflict with Chad:

The Chad-Sudan Conflict (2005–2007) officially started on 23 December 2005, when the government of Chad declared a state of war with Sudan and called for the citizens of Chad to mobilize themselves against the "common enemy"—the United Front for Democratic Change, a coalition of rebel factions dedicated to overthrowing Chadian President Idriss Déby (and who the Chadians believe are backed by the Sudanese government), and Sudanese janjawid, who have been raiding refugee camps and certain tribes in eastern Chad. Déby accuses Sudanese President Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir of trying to "destabilize our country, to drive our people into misery, to create disorder and export the war from Darfur to Chad."

The problem prompting the declaration of war was an attack on the Chadian town of Adré near the Sudanese border that led to the deaths of either one hundred rebels (as most news sources reported) or three hundred rebels. The Sudanese government was blamed for the attack, which was the second in the region in three days, but Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim denied any Sudanese involvement, "We are not for any escalation with Chad. We technically deny involvement in Chadian internal affairs." The Battle of Adré led to the declaration of war by Chad and the alleged deployment of the Chadian air force into Sudanese airspace, which the Chadian government denies. The leaders of Sudan and Chad signed an agreement in Saudi Arabia on 3 May 2007 to stop fighting from the Darfur conflict along their countries' 1,000-kilometre (600 mi) border.

Eastern Front:

The Eastern Front, whose chairman is the current presidential adviser Mr. Musa Mohamed Ahmed, was a coalition of rebel groups operating in eastern Sudan along the border with Eritrea, particularly the states of Red Sea and Kassala. While the Sudan People's Liberation Army(SPLA) was the primary member of the Eastern Front, the SPLA was obliged to leave by the January 2005 agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. Their place was taken in February 2004 after the merger of the largerHausa and Beja Congress with the smallerRashaida Free Lions, two tribal-based groups of the Arabized Beja and the Arab Rashaida people, respectively.

Both the Free Lions and the Beja Congress stated that government inequity in the distribution of oil profits, and for the Beja the often uncompromising Arabization campaign of the central government, was the cause of their rebellion.

They demanded to have a greater say in the composition of the national government, which has been seen as a destabilizing influence on the agreement ending the conflict in Southern Sudan.

The Eritrean government in mid-2006 dramatically changed its position on the conflict. From being the main supporter of the Eastern Front, it decided that bringing the Sudanese government around the negotiating table for a possible agreement with the rebels would be in its best interests. It was successful in its attempts and on 19 June 2006, the two sides signed an agreement on declaration of principles. This was the start of four months of Eritrean-mediated negotiations for a comprehensive peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Eastern Front, which culminated in signing of a peace agreement on 14 October 2006, in Asmara. The agreement covers security issues, power sharing at a federal and regional level, and wealth sharing in regards to the three Eastern states Kassala, Red Sea and Al Qadarif. One of the agreements made between the Khartoum government and the Eastern Front was that Khartoum would push for international arbitration to solve the situation in the disputed Hala'ib Triangle which has been under Egyptian military annexation since 1995.

In July 2007, many areas in the western and southern parts of the country were devastated by flooding, prompting an immediate humanitarian response by the United Nations and partners, under the leadership of acting United Nations Resident Coordinators David Gressly and Oluseyi Bajulaiye. Over 400,000 people were directly affected, with over 3.5 million at risk of epidemics. The United Nations allocated US$ 13.5 million for the response from its pooled funds, and launched an appeal to the international community to cover the gap. The humanitarian crisis is in danger of worsening. Following attacks in Darfur, the U.N. World Food Programmeannounced it could stop food aid to some parts of Darfur. Banditry against truck convoys is one of the biggest problems, as it impedes the delivery of food assistance to war-stricken areas and forces a cut in monthly rations.

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked statein Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republicand Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD andWTO among others. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.

The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra(as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom),Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1944.

From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peacefuldissolution of Czechoslovakia.

Slovakia is a high-income advanced economy with one of the fastest growth rates in the European Union and the OECD. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009. Slovakia together with Slovenia andEstonia are the only former Communist nations to be part of the European Union, Eurozone, Schengen Area and NATO simultaneously.

History

Before the 5th century:

Radiocarbon dating puts the oldest surviving archaeological artifacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC, in the Early Paleolithic era. These ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia.

Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era (200,000 – 80,000 BC) come from the Prévôt (Prepoštská) cave near Bojnice and from other nearby sites. The most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium (c. 200,000 BC), discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia.

Archaeologists have found prehistoric Homo sapiens skeletons in the region, as well as numerous objects and vestiges of the Gravettian culture, principally in the river valleys ofNitra, Hron, Ipeľ, Váh and as far as the city of Žilina, and near the foot of the Vihorlat, Inovec, and Tribeč mountains, as well as in the Myjava A Venus from Moravany nad Váhom, Mountains. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone (22,800 BC), the famous Venus which dates back to 22,800 BC of Moravany. The statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina, and Radošinare. These findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between theMediterranean and Central Europe.

The Bronze Age in Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC. Major cultural, economic, and political development can be attributed to the significant growth in production of copper, especially in central Slovakia (for example inŠpania Dolina) and northwest Slovakia. Copper became a stable source of prosperity for the local population.

After the disappearance of the Čakany and Velatice cultures, the Lusatian people expanded building of strong and complex fortifications, with the large permanent buildings and administrative centers. Excavations of Lusatian hill forts document the substantial development of trade and agriculture at that period. The richness and the diversity of tombs increased considerably. The inhabitants of the area manufactured arms, shields, jewelry, dishes, and statues.

The arrival of tribes from Thrace disrupted the people of the Calenderberg culture, who lived in the hamlets located on the plain (Sereď), and also in the hill forts located on the summits (Smolenice, Molpí). The local power of the "Princes" of the Hallstatt culture disappeared in Slovakia during the last period of the Iron Age after strife between the Scytho-Thracian people and the Celtic tribes, who advanced from the south towards the north, following the Slovak rivers.

From around 500 BC, the territory of modern-day Slovakia was settled by Celts, who built powerful oppida on the sites of moderndayBratislava and Havránok. Biatecs, silver coins with the names of Celtic Kings, represent the first known use of writing in Slovakia.

From 2 AD, the expanding Roman Empire established and maintained a series of outposts around and just north of the Danube, the largest of which were known as Carnuntum (whose remains are on the main road halfway between Vienna and Bratislava) and Brigetio (present-day Szöny at the Slovak-Hungarian border). Ľudovít Štúr Radiocarbon dating Near the northernmost line of the Roman hinterlands, the Limes Romanus, there existed the winter camp of Laugaricio (modern-day Trenčín) where the Auxiliary of Legion II fought and prevailed in a decisive battle over the Germanic Quadi tribe in 179 AD during the Marcomannic Wars. The Kingdom of Vannius, a kingdom founded by theGermanic Suebian tribes of Quadi and Marcomanni, as well as several small Germanic andCeltic tribes, including the Osi and Cotini, existed in Western and Central Slovakia from 8–6 BC to 179 AD.

Great invasions from the 4th to 7th century:

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD the Huns began to leave the Central Asian steppes. They crossed the Danube in 377 AD and occupied Pannonia, which they used for 75 years as their base for launching looting-raids into Western Europe. However, Attila's death in 453 brought about the disappearance of the Hun tribe. In 568 a Turko-Mongol tribal confederacy, the Avars, conducted their own invasion into the Middle Danube region. The Avars occupied the lowlands of the Pannonian Plain, established an empire dominating the Carpathian Basin. In 623, the Slavic population living in the western parts of Pannonia seceded from their empire after a revolution led by Samo, a Frankish merchant. After 626 the Avar power started to gradually decline but their reign lasted to 804.

Slavic states:

The Slavic tribes settled in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th century. Western Slovakia was the centre of Samo's empire in the 7th century. A Slavic state known as the Principality of Nitra arose in the 8th century and its ruler Pribina had the first known Christian church of Slovakia consecrated by 828. Together with neighboring Moravia, the principality formed the core of the Great Moravian Empire from 833. The high point of this Slavonic empire came with the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863, during the reign of Prince Rastislav, and the territorial expansion under King Svätopluk I.

Great Moravia, 830–896 AD:

Great Moravia arose around 830 when Moimír I unified the Slavic tribes settled north of theDanube and extended the Moravian supremacy over them. When Mojmír I endeavoured to secede from the supremacy of the king of East Francia in 846, King Louis the Germandeposed him and assisted Moimír's nephew, Rastislav (846–870) in acquiring the throne.The new monarch pursued an independent policy: after stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also sought to weaken influence of Frankish priests preaching in his realm. Rastislav asked the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send teachers who would interpret Christianity in the Slavic vernacular.

Upon Rastislav's request, two brothers, Byzantine officials and missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius came in 863. Cyril developed the first Slavic alphabet and translated the Gospel into the Old Church Slavonic language.

Rastislav was also preoccupied with the security and administration of his state. Numerous fortified castles built throughout the country are dated to his reign and some of them (e.g., Dowina, sometimes identified with Devín Castle)are also mentioned in connection with Rastislav by Frankish chronicles.

During Rastislav's reign, the Principality of Nitra was given to his nephew Svatopluk as anappanage. The rebellious prince allied himself with the Franks and overthrew his uncle in 870. Similarly to his predecessor, Svatopluk I (871– 894) assumed the title of the king (rex). During his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, when not only present-day Moravia and Slovakia but also present-day northern and central Hungary, Lower Austria,Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, southern Poland andnorthern Serbia belonged to the empire, but the exact borders of his domains are still disputed by modern authors. Svatopluk also withstood attacks of the semi-nomadic Magyar tribes and the Bulgarian Empire, although sometimes it was he who hired the Magyars when waging war against East Francia.

In 880, Pope John VIII set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its head. He also named the German cleric Wiching the Bishop ofNitra.

After the death of King Svatopluk in 894, his sons Mojmír II (894–906?) and Svatopluk IIsucceeded him as the King of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra respectively.However, they started to quarrel for domination of the whole empire. Weakened by an internal conflict as well as by constant warfare with Eastern Francia, Great Moravia lost most of its peripheral territories.

In the meantime, the semi-nomadic Magyar tribes, possibly having suffered defeat from the similarly nomadic Pechenegs, left their territories east of the Carpathian Mountains, invaded the Carpathian Basin and started to occupy the territory gradually around 896. Their armies' advance may have been promoted by continuous wars among the countries of the region whose rulers still hired them occasionally to intervene in their struggles.

We do not know what happened with both Mojmír II and Svatopluk II because they are not mentioned in written sources after 906. Inthree battles (4–5 July and 9 August 907) near Bratislava, the Magyars routed Bavarian armies.

Some historians put this year as the date of the breakup of the Great Moravian Empire, due to the Hungarian conquest; other historians take the date a little bit earlier (to 902).

Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. The Glagolitic script and its successor Cyrillic were disseminated to other Slavic countries, charting a new path in their sociocultural development. The administrative system of Great Moravia may have influenced the development of the administration of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Kingdom of Hungary, 1000–1919:

Following the disintegration of the Great Moravian Empire at the turn of the 10th century, the Hungarians annexed the territory comprising modern Slovakia. From the 11th century, when the territory inhabited by the Slovak-speaking population of Danubian Basin was incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary, until 1918, when the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed, the territory of modern Slovakia was an integral part of the Hungarian state. The ethnic composition became more diverse with the arrival of the Carpathian Germans in the 13th century, and the Jews in the 14th century.

A significant decline in the population resulted from the invasion of the Mongols in 1241 and the subsequent famine.

However, in medieval times the area of the present-day Slovakia was characterized rather by burgeoning towns, construction of numerous stone castles, and the cultivation of the arts. In 1465, King Matthias Corvinus founded the Hungarian Kingdom's third university, in Pozsony (Bratislava), but it was closed in 1490 after his death.

Before the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Hungary and the occupation of Buda in 1541, the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary (under the name of Royal Hungary) moved to Pozsony (in Slovak: Prespork at that time, currently Bratislava). Pozsony became the capital city of the Royal Hungary in 1536. But the Ottoman wars and frequent insurrections against the Habsburg Monarchy also inflicted a great deal of devastation, especially in the rural areas.

As the Turks withdrew from Hungary in the late 17th century, the importance of the territory comprising modern Slovakia decreased, although Pozsony retained its status as the capital of Hungary until 1848, when it was transferred toBuda.

During the revolution of 1848–49 the Slovaks supported the Austrian Emperor, hoping for independence from the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy, but they failed to achieve their aim. Thereafter relations between the nationalities deteriorated (seeMagyarization), culminating in the secession of Slovakia from Hungary after World War I.

Czechoslovakia:

In 1918, Slovakia and the regions of Bohemia, Moravia,Silesia and Carpathian Ruthenia formed a common state,Czechoslovakia, with the borders confirmed by the Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Trianon. In 1919, during the chaos following the breakup of AustriaHungary, Czechoslovakia was formed with numerous Germans and Hungarians within the newly set borders. A Slovak patriot Milan Church in Kopčany, is the only reRastislav Štefánik (1880–1919), who helped organize Czechoslovak maining Great Moravian building regiments against Austria-Hungary during the First World War, died in a plane crash. In the peace following the World War, Czechoslova- in Slovakia kia emerged as a sovereign European state. It provided what were at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities and remained the only democracy in this part of Europe in the interwar period.

During the Interwar period, democratic Czechoslovakia was allied with France, and also with Romaniaand Yugoslavia (Little Entente); however, the Locarno Treaties of 1925 left East European security open. Both Czechs and Slovaks enjoyed a period of relative prosperity. Not only was there progress in the development of the country's economy, but in culture and in educational opportunities as well. The minority Germans came to accept their role in the new country and relations with Austria were good. Yet the Great Depression caused a sharp economic downturn, followed by political disruption and insecurity in Europe.

Thereafter Czechoslovakia came under continuous pressure from the revisionist governments of Germany and Hungary. Eventually this led to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, which allowed Nazi Germany to partially dismember the country by occupying what was called the Sudetenland, a region with a German-speaking majority and bordering Germany and Austria.

The remainder of "rump" Czechoslovakia was renamed Czecho-Slovakia and included a greater degree of Slovak political autonomy. Southern and eastern Slovakia, however, was claimed back by Hungary at the First Vienna Award of November 1938.

World War II:

After the Munich Agreement and its Vienna Award, Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia and allow the remaining regions to be partitioned

by Hungary or Poland unless independence was declared. Thus, Slovakia seceded from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and allied itself, as demanded

by Germany, with Hitler's coalition. The government of theFirst Slovak Republic, led by Jozef Tiso and Vojtech Tuka, was strongly influenced by Ger- In 863, Saints Cyril and many and gradually became a puppet regime in many respects.

Methodius introduced Most Jews were deported from the country and taken to German labour Christianity in present-day camps. Thousands of Jews, however, remained to labor in Slovak work Slovakia camps in Sereď, Vyhne, and Nováky.Tiso, through the granting of presidential exceptions, has been credited with saving as many as 40,000 Jews during the war, although other estimates place the figure closer to 4,000 or even 1,000. Nevertheless, under Tiso's government, 83% of Slovakia's Jewish population, a total of 75,000 individuals, were murdered, though new estimates show increasing numbers of Jewish casualties, approximately 105,000 people. Tiso became the only European leader to actually pay Nazi authorities to deport his country's Jews.

After it became clear that the Soviet Red Army was going to push the Nazis out of eastern and central Europe, an anti-Nazi resistance movement launched a fierce armed insurrection, known as the Slovak National Uprising, near the end of summer 1944. A bloody German occupation and a guerilla war followed. The territory of Slovakia was liberated by Soviet and Romanian forces by the end of April 1945.

Communist party rule:

After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and Jozef Tiso was hanged in 1947 for collaboration with the Nazis. More than80,000 Hungarians and 32,000 Germans were forced to leave Slovakia, in a series of population transfers initiated by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference. This expulsion is still a source of tension between Slovakia and Hungary. Out of about 130,000 Carpathian Germans in Slovakia in 1938, by 1947 only some 20,000 remained.

Czechoslovakia came under the influence of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact after a coup in 1948. The country was occupied by the Warsaw Pact forces (with the exception of Romania) in 1968, ending a period of liberalization under the leadership of Alexander Dubček. In 1969 Czechoslovakia became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic.

Establishment of the Slovak Republic:

The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peaceful Velvet Revolution, was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states. In July 1992 Slovakia, led by Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, declared itself a sovereign state, meaning that its laws took precedence over those of the federal government. Throughout the Autumn of 1992, Mečiar and Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus negotiated the details for disbanding the federation. In November the federal parliament voted to dissolve the country officially on 31 December 1992.

The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic went their separate ways after 1 January 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce. Slovakia has remained a close partner with the Czech Republic. Both countries cooperate with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrád Group. Slovakia became a member of NATO on 29 March 2004 and of the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2009, Slovakia adopted the Euro as its national currency.