document_title: Native American religion

question_text: native american religions were closely linked to what

text: Native American religion

text: Overview[edit]

text: From the 1600s, European Catholic and Protestant denominations sent missionaries to convert the tribes to Christianity. Some of these conversions occurred through government and Christian church cooperative efforts, that forcibly removed Native American children from their families into a Christian/state government-operated system of American Indian boarding schools (aka The Residential Schools) where Native children were taught European Christian beliefs, the values of mainstream white culture, and the English language. This forcible conversion and suppression of Indigenous languages and cultures continued through the 1970s.[1][2][3]

text: As part of the US government's suppression of traditional Indigenous religions, most ceremonial ways were banned for over 80 years by a series of US Federal laws that banned traditional sweat lodge and sun dance ceremonies, among others.[4] This government persecution and prosecution continued until 1978 with the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA).[5]

text: Some non-Native anthropologists estimate membership in traditional Native American religions in the 21st century to be about 9000 people.[6][7] Since Native Americans practicing traditional ceremonies do not usually have public organizations or membership rolls, these "members" estimates are likely substantially lower than the actual numbers of people who participate in traditional ceremonies. Native American spiritual leaders also note that these academic estimates substantially underestimate the numbers of participants because a century of US Federal government persecution and prosecutions of traditional ceremonies caused believers to practice their religions in secrecy. Many adherents of traditional spiritual ways also attend Christian services, at least some of the time, which can also affect statistics. Since the 80 years of those prior legal persecutions ended with AIRFA, some sacred sites in the United States are now protected areas under law.[8]

text: Major Native American religions[edit]

text: Christianity[edit]

text: European Christian missionaries were very active and established missions and religious schools among Native peoples.[9] According to Jacob Neusner, Native American Christianity is often "fundamentalist in theology, conservative in their practice, and often revivalistic and evangelical."[10]

text: Christianity was seen by government officials as a tool in cultural assimilation;[11] many Native American Christians developed a syncretic combination of their traditional belief systems and Christianity, as with the Native American Church. For example, St. David Pendleton Oakerhater (Cheyenne), who was canonized as an Episcopal saint but was a Sun Dancer, as well. According to James Treat, Native American Christians "have constructed and maintained their ... religious identities with a variety of considerations in mind.... Many native Christians accomplish this identification without abandoning or rejecting native religious traditions."[11]

text: On August 15, 1986, at the General Synod of the United Church of Canada, Robert Jamieson, a former Mohawk chief, addressed the 375 delegates calling on the church to recognize “the authenticity of native spirituality.” In response, the Synod’s moderator Robert Smith offered an Apology. In part Smith said: “In our zeal to tell you of the good news of Jesus Christ, we were closed to the value of your spirituality. . . . We ask you to forgive us and to walk together with us in the Spirit of Christ, so our peoples may be blessed and God’s creation healed.”[12] The full Apology can be read at Smith’s Apology.

text: Two years after Smith’s Apology, the All Native Circle Conference (ANCC) was formed in 1988 as a conference of the United Church of Canada. It is “based on different Aboriginal cultural ways of life and languages.” It understands and honours “the cultural values, mission and ministry of Native Peoples.”[13]

text: Earth Lodge Religion[edit]

text: The Earth Lodge Religion was founded in northern California and southern Oregon tribes such as the Wintun. It spread to tribes such as the Achomawi, Shasta, and Siletz, to name a few. It was also known as the "Warm House Dance" among the Pomo. It predicted occurrences similar to those predicted by the Ghost Dance, such as the return of ancestors or the world's end. The Earth Lodge Religion impacted the later religious practice, the Dream Dance, belonging to the Klamath and the Modoc.[14]

text: Ghost Dances[edit]

text: "Ghost Dance" is a very general term that encompasses different religious revitalization movements in the Western United States. In 1870, a Ghost Dance was founded by the Paiute prophet Wodziwob, and in 1889–1890, a Ghost Dance Religion was founded by Wovoka (Jack Wilson), who was also a Northern Paiute. The Ghost Dance was meant to serve as a connection with traditional ways of life and to honor the dead while predicting their resurrection.[14]

text: In December 1888, Wovoka, who was thought to be the son of the medicine man Tavibo (Numu-tibo'o), fell sick with a fever during an eclipse of the sun, which occurred on January 1, 1889. Upon his recovery he claimed that he had visited the spirit world and the Supreme Being and predicted that the world would soon end, then be restored to a pure aboriginal state in the presence of the messiah. All Native Americans would inherit this world, including those who were already dead, in order to live eternally without suffering. In order to reach this reality, Wovoka stated that all Native Americans should live honestly, and shun the ways of whites (especially the consumption of alcohol). He called for meditation, prayer, singing, and dancing as an alternative to mourning the dead, for they would soon resurrect. Wovoka's followers saw him as a form of the messiah and he became known as the "Red Man's Christ."

text: Tavibo had participated in the Ghost Dance of 1870 and had a similar vision of the Great Spirit of Earth removing all white men, and then of an earthquake removing all human beings. Tavibo's vision concluded that Native Americans would return to live in a restored environment and that only believers in his revelations would be resurrected. This religion spread to many tribes on reservations in the West, including the Shoshone, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota). In fact, some bands of Lakota and Dakota were so desperate for hope during wartime that they strengthened their militancy after making a pilgrimage to Nevada in 1889–1890. They provided their own understanding to the Ghost Dance which included the prediction that the white people would disappear. A Ghost Dance gathering at Wounded Knee in December 1890 was invaded by the Seventh Cavalry, who massacred unarmed Lakota and Dakota people.[15]

text: The earliest Ghost Dance heavily influenced religions such as the Earth Lodge, Bole-Maru Religion, and the Dream Dance. The Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today.[16]

text: Indian Shaker Religion[edit]

text: Also known as Tschadam, the Indian Shaker Religion was influenced by the Waashat Religion and founded by John Slocum, a Squaxin Island member. The name comes from the shaking and twitching motions used by the participants to brush off their sins. The religion combines Christianity with traditional Indian teachings. This religion is still practiced today in the Indian Shaker Church.[14]

text: Longhouse Religion[edit]

text: The Longhouse Religion, founded in 1799 by Seneca Handsome Lake, revitalized Native American religion among the Iroquois. The doctrine of the Longhouse Religion, also called the Handsome Lake Religion is the Gaiwiio, or "Good Word".[17] Gaiwiio combines elements of Christianity with long-standing Iroquois beliefs. The Longhouse Religion is still practiced by Six Nations people today.

text: Mexicayotl[edit]

text: Mexicayoal (Nahuatl word meaning "Essence of the Mexican", "Mexicanity"; Spanish: Mexicanidad; see -yotl) is a movement reviving the indigenous religion, philosophy and traditions of ancient Mexico (Aztec religion and Aztec philosophy) amongst the Mexican people.[18]

text: The movement came to light in the 1950s, led by Mexico City intellectuals, but has grown significantly on a grassroots level only in more recent times, also spreading to the Chicanos of North America.[19] Their rituals involve the mitotiliztli.[20] The followers, called Mexicatl (singular) and Mexicah (plural), or simply Mexica, are mostly urban and suburban people.[19]

text: The Mexicayotl movement started in the 1950s with the founding of the group Nueva Mexicanidad by Antonio Velasco Piña. In the same years Rodolfo Nieva López founded the Movimiento Confederado Restaurador de la Cultura del Anáhuac,[21] the co-founder of which was Francisco Jimenez Sanchez who in later decades became a spiritual leader of the Mexicayotl movement, endowed with the honorific Tlacaelel. He had a deep influence in shaping the movement, founding the In Kaltonal ("House of the Sun", also called Native Mexican Church) in the 1970s.[22]

text: From the 1970s onwards Mexcayotl has grown developing in a web of local worship and community groups (called calpulli or kalpulli)[19] and spreading to the Mexican Americans or Chicanos in the United States. It has also developed strong ties with Mexican national identity movements and Chicano nationalism.[23] Sanchez's Native Mexican Church (which is a confederation of calpullis) was officially recognised by the government of Mexico in 2007.[24]

text: Native American Church[edit]

text: The Peyote Religion legally termed and more properly known as the Native American Church has also been called the "Peyote Road" or the "Peyote Way", is a religious tradition involving the ceremonial and sacred use of Lophophora williamsii (peyote).[25] Use of peyote for religious purposes is thousands of years old and some have thought it to have originated within one of the following tribes: the Carrizo, the Lipan Apache, the Mescalero Apache, the Tonkawa, the Karankawa, or the Caddo, with the Plains Cree, Carrizo and the Lipan Apache being the three most likely sources. In Mexico the Huichol, Tepehuán, and other Native Mexicans use peyote.[26] Since then, despite several efforts to make peyote ceremonies illegal, ceremonial peyote use has spread from the Mexico area to Oklahoma and other western parts of the United States.[27] Notable Native American Church (NAC) members include Quannah Parker, the founder of the NAC, and Big Moon of the Kiowa tribe.

text: Waashat Religion[edit]

text: The Waashat Religion is also called the Washani Religion, Longhouse Religion, Seven Drum Religion, Sunday Dance Religion, Prophet Dance, and Dreamer Faith. The Wanapam Indian Smohalla (c. 1815–1895) used wáashat rituals to build the religion in the Pacific Northwest. Smohalla claimed that visions came to him through dreams and that he had visited the spirit world and had been sent back to teach his people. The name waasaní spoke to what the religion was about; it meant both dancing and worship.[28] He led a return to the original way of life before white influences and established ceremonial music and dancing. Smohalla's speaking was called Yuyunipitqana for "Shouting Mountain".[14]

text: The Dreamer Faith, and its elements of dancing, foreshadowed the later Ghost Dances of the plains peoples.[28][28] It was a back–to–our–heritage religion.[28] Believers thought that white people would disappear and nature would return to the way it was before they came.[28] To achieve this, the Natives must do the things required by the spirits, like a Weyekin.[28] What the spirits wanted was to throw off violent ways, cast off white culture, and not buy, sell or disrespect the Earth.[28] They must also dance the Prophet Dance (wáashat).[28]

text: The religion combined elements of Christianity with Native beliefs, but it rejected white-American culture.[28] This made it difficult to assimilate or control the tribes by the United States.[28] The U.S. was trying to convert the Plains tribes from hunter-gatherers to farmers, in the European-American tradition.[28] They wanted to remake the Natives, but found a problem with those who followed the Dreamer Cult: "Their model of a man is an Indian ...They aspire to be Indian and nothing else."[28]

text: Prophets of the movement included Smohalla (of the Wanapam people), Kotiakan (of the Yakama nation) and Homli (of the Walla Walla).[28] Their messages were carried along the Columbia River to other communities.[28] It is unclear exactly how it started or when Christianity influenced the earlier form, but it is thought to have something to do with the arrival of non-Indians or an epidemic and a prophet with an apocalyptic vision. The Waashat Dance involves seven drummers, a salmon feast, use of eagle and swan feathers and a sacred song sung every seventh day.[14]

text: Ceremonies[edit]

text: Sun Dance[edit]

text: The sun dance is a religious ceremony practiced by a number of Native American and First Nations Peoples, primarily those of the Plains Nations. Each tribe that has some type of sun dance ceremony has their own distinct practices and ceremonial protocols. In many cases, the ceremony is held in a private and is not open to the public. Most details of the ceremony are kept from public knowledge out of great respect for, and the desire for protection of, the traditional ways. Many of the ceremonies have features in common, such as specific dances and songs passed down through many generations, the use of traditional drums, the sacred pipe, praying, fasting and, in some cases, the piercing of skin.

text: In Canada, the Plains Cree call this ceremony the Thirst Dance; the Saulteaux (Plains Ojibwe) call it the Rain Dance; and the Blackfoot (Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani) call it the Medicine Dance. It is also practiced by the Canadian Dakota and Nakoda, and the Dene.

text: Religious leaders[edit]

text: Leaders in Native religions include Popé, who led the Pueblo revolt in 1675, Quautlatas, who inspired the Tepehuan Revolt against the Spanish in 1616, Neolin, Tenskwatawa, Kenekuk, Smohalla, John Slocum, Wovoka, Black Elk and many others.

text: From time to time important religious leaders organized revivals. In Indiana in 1805, Tenskwatawa (called the Shawnee Prophet by Americans) led a religious revival following a smallpox epidemic and a series of witch-hunts. His beliefs were based on the earlier teachings of the Lenape prophets, Scattamek and Neolin, who predicted a coming apocalypse that would destroy the European-American settlers.[29] Tenskwatawa urged the tribes to reject the ways of the Americans: to give up firearms, liquor, American style clothing, to pay traders only half the value of their debts, and to refrain from ceding any more lands to the United States. The revival led to warfare led by his brother Tecumseh against the white settlers.[30]

text: Congressional legislation affecting Native American religion[edit]

text: American Indian Religious Freedom Act[edit]

text: The American Indian Religious Freedom Act is a United States Federal Law and a joint resolution of Congress that provides protection for tribal culture and traditional religious rights such as access to sacred sites, freedom to worship through traditional ceremony, and use and possession of sacred objects for American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians. It was passed on August 11, 1978.

text: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act[edit]

text: The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Pub.L. 101-601, 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law passed on 16 November 1990 requiring federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding[1] to return Native American cultural items and human remains to their respective peoples. Cultural items include funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.

text: Religious Freedom Restoration Act[edit]

text: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (also known as RFRA), is a 1993 United States federal law aimed at preventing laws that substantially burden a person's free exercise of religion. It was held unconstitutional as applied to the states in the City of Boerne v. Flores decision in 1997, which ruled that the RFRA is not a proper exercise of Congress's enforcement power. However, it continues to be applied to the federal government - for instance, in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal - because Congress has broad authority to carve out exemptions from federal laws and regulations that it itself has authorized. In response to City of Boerne v. Flores, some individual states passed State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts that apply to state governments and local municipalities.

text: Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples[edit]

text: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly during its 61st session at UN Headquarters in New York City on 13 September 2007. Article 31 in particular emphasises that Indigenous Peoples have the right to their cultural heritage, including ceremonial knowledge, as protected intellectual property.


document_title: Captain America's shield

question_text: where did captain america get his shield from

root

text: Captain America's shield

text: Abilities[edit]

text: Vibranium Steel alloy[edit]

text: Captain America's shield is virtually indestructible under normal conditions;[1] while cosmic and magical or godly opponents have broken the shield, the shield proves strong enough to absorb Hulk's strength, and repel an attack from Thor's mystical hammer Mjölnir without any visible damage. As it is made of vibranium, it is able to absorb all kinetic energy and transfers very little energy from each impact, meaning Captain America does not feel recoil or transferred impact forces from blocking attacks. These physical properties also means the shield can bounce off of most smooth surfaces, ricocheting multiple times with minimal loss in aerodynamic stability or velocity. The shield can also absorb the kinetic impact of a fall, allowing Captain America to land safely even when jumping off of several stories, as can be seen in Captain America: Winter Soldier movie when he escaped from the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s STRIKE squad by jumping off an elevator.[volume & issue needed]

tag: p

text: Ricochet ballistics[edit]

text: A common misconception is that the shield can "magically" return to Captain America[citation needed]. The "superhuman serum" that enhanced Captain America's physical attributes also improved his mental faculties—such as cognition, perception, balance, aim, and reflexes—to near genius-level. This allows him to instantly calculate ballistic-physics and predict the probable trajectory of objects in motion. This makes him a perfect shot. He can dodge or deflect bullets with his shield without collateral ricochet to civilians, to calculate where or how the shield will bounce and when it will return to his location, or trip a running person to cause them to fall into a specific position.[citation needed] In Avengers: Age of Ultron, he pulls the shield back to him after it is stuck, but this is through an electromagnet fastened on his arm. After his memories are altered to make him believe that he is a Hydra sleeper agent, Rogers uses his precise knowledge of the shield to put Sam Wilson, its current wielder, in a position where he will fail to save a senator from Flag-Smasher by arranging for Wilson to be forced to throw the shield in a manner that Rogers knows from his own experience will miss its target by mere millimetres, as part of his agenda to undermine Sam's status as Captain America.[2]

text: Original shield[edit]

text: In his debut, Captain America (secretly U.S. Army Private Steve Rogers) is equipped with a triangular, badge-shaped shield made from vibranium. After complaints by rival comic-book publisher MLJ that the design was too similar to that of its own patriotic hero the Shield,[3] Timely Comics replaced the triangular shield with a disc-shaped one.

text: While the origin and fate of the original shield were not described in the original comics from the 1940s, the shield's fate was revealed decades later in 2001 through a retconned story. According to the tale, King T'Chaka of the African nation Wakanda met Captain America in early 1941 and gave him a second sample of vibranium, an alien metal with unique vibration absorption properties and found only in Wakanda and the Savage Land.[4] The new Vibranium sample was used to make Captain America's circular shield and his triangular one was retired.

text: Captain America received a second triangular shield that he used until given his disc-shaped shield, which was personally presented to him by President Franklin Roosevelt.[5] This second triangular shield would be kept in storage with Rogers' other personal effects after the war. It was recovered at some point after Rogers joined the superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers #4, and was kept at Avengers Mansion. It was destroyed by the supervillain Mr. Hyde during a raid on the mansion by Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil, and later "plucked from time" and restored by Zemo in Thunderbolts #105 (Oct. 2006). The shield (along with other sentimental items thought destroyed) was returned to Captain America. A third triangular shield is kept in the Smithsonian Institution. It was used by Captain America when he foiled a terrorist attack on the museum itself after the loss of his usual shield; it was then given to him in gratitude. This shield is destroyed several issues later by a Kree alien warrior.

text: The shield destroyed by Hydra and restored by Zemo was eventually passed on to Elijah Bradley, the teenage hero known as the Patriot and leader of the Young Avengers.

text: Revised history[edit]

text: In 2010, the history of the original shield was revised. In the limited series Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers, Captain America, Sergeant Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos meet Azzari (grandfather of T'Challa) -- the Black Panther and king of Wakanda during World War II. Aided by Wakandan military forces, they successfully repel a series of Nazi assaults led by the Red Skull and Baron Strucker. During the battle, the Red Skull (wearing a battle-suit) crushes the triangular shield, and Captain America uses a circular vibranium shield provided by T'Chaka to incapacitate the Skull. The weapon serves as the inspiration for the circular shield that the super-soldier begins using upon his return to America, and the encounter marks the beginning of friendly relations between the United States and Wakanda.[6]

text: Circular shield[edit]

text: The circular shield most associated with Captain America made its debut in Captain America Comics #2 (April 1941). A concavo-convex metal disc approximately 2.5 feet (0.76 m) in diameter, is indestructible and has remained his most constant shield over the decades.[citation needed]

text: In Captain America #255 (March 1981), it is established that the shield was presented to Rogers by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[7] The shield is created by a fictional American metallurgist named Myron MacLain, who had been commissioned by the US government to create an indestructible armor material to aid the war effort. MacLain experiments with the indestructible vibration-absorbing metal vibranium.[4]

text: During one of his experiments to fuse vibranium with an experimental iron alloy [8] MacLain falls asleep and awakens to find that the resulting alloy had set in a tank hatch mold. It was then painted to become Captain America's symbol. MacLain would later attempt to recreate the shield's metal to no avail, his experiments instead eventually yielding the super-metal adamantium.[citation needed]

text: Rogers' indestructible shield is more durable than regular adamantium and one of the most indestructible objects in The Marvel Universe. Carl "Crusher" Creel, The Absorbing Man, once absorbed the properties the shield while battling The Avengers. The vibranium grants the shield unusual properties, allowing it to absorb all of the kinetic impact and vibrations from any blows that the shield receives without injuring Rogers in the process. The vibranium is also a factor in the way Rogers throws his shield: he often uses it to ricochet and strike multiple opponents or stationary objects with little loss of velocity in its forward movement after each impact.[citation needed]

text: When Rogers returns from suspended animation, Tony Stark "improves" the shield by incorporating electronic and magnetic components in it so that Rogers can even control it in flight. Rogers soon discards the additional components because he finds that it upsets the balance of the shield when thrown.[citation needed]

text: After Rogers' death, Stark takes over custody of the shield, with one replica on display in a museum, and another replica buried with Rogers. The real one is kept by Stark to be used by the new Captain America, whenever they deem it appropriate to train a new one. After failing to find a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent capable of throwing it properly, Stark offers the shield to Clint Barton (known at that time as Ronin), who does manage to throw it. During a confrontation involving the Young Avengers, he scolds Kate Bishop for using the Hawkeye name. She tells him that the "Real Cap" gave her that name in honor of his at the time dead friend, so this leads Barton to refuse to be Captain America.[9] The shield is subsequently stolen by the Winter Soldier, who did not want anyone else to carry the shield. Inevitably, in an effort to honor Rogers' last wishes, Stark offers to let the Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes) keep the shield, and to serve as the new Captain America. Bucky accepts. This offer is made "off the books", and only the two of them, the Black Widow, and the Falcon, are aware of the situation.[10]

text: Although Bucky attempted to return the shield to Rogers after his resurrection, Rogers let Bucky keep it as he felt that he could do more good in his new role as Commander Steve Rogers rather than Captain America, using a photonic shield in its place when circumstances called for him to go into combat. He reclaimed the shield for good after Bucky was apparently killed during the Fear Itself event- Bucky really going underground after his past as the Winter Soldier was exposed-, which also resulted in the shield being broken and reassembled by Asgardian blacksmiths, who add some of the mystical metal Uru to the reconstructed shield, making it even stronger than before, although it is left with a noticeable scar that Rogers decided to keep to give the shield character.[11] This premise was not observed in subsequent storylines, or considered canon, as artists have not continued depicting the shield with the scar.[12]

text: JLA/Avengers[edit]

text: In the 2003-2004 Marvel Comics/DC Comics inter-company crossover limited series JLA/Avengers, Superman is given the shield by Captain America to wield in battle in the final confrontation with Krona, and is impressed with its might. When he asks where he could get one just like it while battling foes, Thor replies, "Enjoy it while thou canst, Superman. There is none other like it in all the worlds". Throughout the final battle, the shield changes forms between the pointed shield and the circular shield due to various temporal ripples caused by Krona's equipment, and Superman even loses the shield altogether at one point when he morphs into his energy form while Cap reacquires the photonic shield, although the metal shield reappears on Superman's arm after he morphs back into his regular form.

text: Destruction of the shield[edit]

text: Over time the shield has been damaged or destroyed several times within the confines of the Earth-616 continuity, though they are not considered canon:

text: In The Avengers #215–216, the Molecule Man used his total control over matter to disintegrate the shield, along with Thor's hammer, Iron Man's armor, and the Silver Surfer's board. After he does so, he comments that the board's molecules are "weird", and while there are "odd forces interweaving" among the hammer's molecules, the shield is "weirdest of all". He later reassembles these items, with the exception of the armor, as the electronic circuits are too complicated for him to understand at that time.[13]

text: During the 1984-1985 Secret Wars limited series, the shield is partially destroyed by Doctor Doom, who has stolen the power of the godlike being known as the Beyonder. Even broken, Rogers is able to wield what is left as an effective weapon, with the shield largely retaining its balance when thrown. When the Beyonder reclaims its power, the heroes are temporarily granted the ability to realize their wishes. Rogers uses this to reconstruct the shield.[14]

text: During the 1991 miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos, who possesses near-omnipotence via the Infinity Gauntlet, shatters the shield with a blow of his fist while in combat with Captain America. The shield is soon restored by Thanos' alleged granddaughter, Nebula, when she obtains the Gauntlet and uses it to undo the events of Thanos's temporary godhood, resulting in her erasing the death and destruction that Thanos had caused over the previous 24 hours.[15]

text: Due to a stray molecule being out of place when Rogers reconstructed the shield using the Beyonder's residual power, a vibranium 'cancer' was introduced to the shield, spreading with each subsequent impact until it finally shattered after it was retrieved from the bottom of the ocean. Learning that the vibranium cancer would require the destruction of the shield in order to cure it, Rogers took the shield to the main vibranium deposit in Wakanda so that he could use a device created by Tony Stark to halt the 'cancer' before it could contaminate the Wakandan vibranium and destroy the world, only to be intercepted by the villain Klaw, who sought to absorb the power and become stronger. Fortunately, the amount of energy Klaw had absorbed was released when he struck the shattered shield with full force after Rogers picked it up on reflex, resulting in Klaw unintentionally restoring the shield to its original state, realigning its molecules and destroying the cancer.[16]

text: In Avengers Vol. 3 #63 (March 2003), an enraged Thor, wielding the Odinforce, scrapes the shield. Thor later repairs it.[17]

text: In Thor Vol. 2 #73 (January 2004) an enraged King Thor with Rune Magic, destroyed the shield, killing Steve Rogers with it.[18] This timeline was later erased in Thor Vol. 2 #79.[19]

text: During the 2011 miniseries Fear Itself, the Serpent, the Asgardian god of fear and brother to Odin, breaks it in half with his bare hands.[20] After the battle, the shield is repaired by Asgardian dwarves and Tony Stark with added Asgardian uru-infused enhancements and Stark's own technology to make it stronger, though a scar is left, and the dwarves are unable to repair it. Stark offers a solution to the scar, but Rogers declines, saying that it "gave the old girl a little bit of character". This premise was not observed in subsequent storylines, or considered canon, as artists have not continued depicting the shield with the scar.

text: Other shields[edit]

text:
While Rogers was asleep in suspended animation, three other men used the identity of Captain America, all using steel replicas of the discus shield. The 1950s Captain America was placed in suspended animation after becoming mentally unstable. By the time he was revived years later, Rogers had returned. When the two clashed, the 1950s Captain America's shield was broken.[volume & issue needed]
In the 1980s, in a story written by Mark Gruenwald, Rogers chose to resign his identity rather than submit to the orders of the United States government and took the alias of "The Captain" instead. During this period, the role of Captain America was assumed by John Walker, the former Super-Patriot, who used both the costume and the indestructible shield.[21] In his new identity of "The Captain", Rogers initially used a pure adamantium shield provided by Tony Stark, but a falling out between the two as a result of the "Armor Wars" storyline led Rogers to return it. He then began to use a pure vibranium shield provided by the Black Panther. When Rogers returned to his Captain America identity, Walker became the U.S. Agent and returned the shield to him. Walker would go on to have his own array of different shields over the years, the first of which appeared to be the last vibranium shield Rogers was using as the Captain. The U.S. Agent used shields with an eagle motif and one in the shape of a star, as well as a photonic energy shield.[volume & issue needed]
At one point, when Rogers was exiled from the United States and was briefly unable to use his shield, Sharon Carter provided him with a photonic energy shield designed to mimic a vibranium matrix. This shield was also able to turn into an energy staff that could be used as a weapon.[volume & issue needed]
During the time when the shield was lost in the Atlantic, Rogers tried using a pure adamantium shield, but was unable to get used to the balance. He also tried fighting without a shield but also found it awkward. While up against HYDRA agents in the Smithsonian, he picked up the triangular shield that was being exhibited there and used it for a time before it was crushed by a Kree warrior.[volume & issue needed]
Sharon Carter next provided him with another photonic shield, but one whose shape could be controlled to morph the energy field into a wider force field, a bo staff or even fire a projection of the shield. While he enjoyed the versatility, Rogers noticed a number of drawbacks, particularly its inability to ricochet. Rogers gave one of the energy shield gloves to a freedom fighter in an oppressive future he traveled to and received a replacement from S.H.I.E.L.D. when he got back to his own time. The photonic shield was eventually lost again in a confrontation with Ultron when Hank Pym's use of vibranium resulted in the destruction of the generator that created the shield,[22] leading to Rogers finally reacquiring his original shield.[volume & issue needed]
In Secret Avengers, he uses a new energy shield which could be generated on either arm, or both, and was able to be thrown and ricochet off surfaces to hit targets before it dissipates, preventing enemies from using it against him. A new shield would be generated moments later. Moon Knight, who had acquired a copy of the technology, had it described to him as a "zero point energy shield".[23]
A British analogue, Captain Midlands, wields a golden circular shield in the design of the traditional lion symbol of Britain and coated in an Anti-Magic nanominium gloss.[24]
In Captain America: Steve Rogers, Steve wields a new version of the triangular shield that can deploy an energy blade on its pointy end and can be divided in two, allowing him to use both halves in combat.[25]

tag: ul

text: Other versions[edit]

text:
In the 1998-1999 time travel mini-series Avengers Forever, various future and alternate versions of Captain America are shown with many different variations of the shield.[26]
Cable claims to have borne the shield into battle many times during his early adulthood, far in the future. In another version, Cable claims that the origin of his techno-organic arm was because his original one was lost when he attempted to retrieve the shield as a symbol for morale in the future war against Apocalypse.[27]
In the future timeline of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the shield is used by Major Victory in battle.[28]
In the Future Imperfect setting, where the Hulk becomes the Maestro and is both the last surviving superbeing and a despotic ruler, an ancient Rick Jones assembles a trophy room as a tribute to the fallen heroes, with the shield among them. Jones uses the shield to defend against one of the Maestro's blows, but the wheelchair used by the disabled Jones was not sturdy enough for such an impact. Jones is sent flying back and is impaled on Wolverine's skeleton. When the Hulk, plucked from the past, throws the shield to attack his future self, he manages to injure the Maestro, causing a large gash on his chest as he attempts to cut the Maestro in half. Throwing the Hulk off, the Maestro attempts to hit Hulk with the shield himself, commenting that Rogers could never throw the shield hard enough to do him any damage, but the Hulk deflects it with the Silver Surfer's old board. After the battle, Jones is cremated and the Hulk poured Jones' ashes over the shield, affixing it with an epoxy. The Hulk then throws it into space, hoping that it will land somewhere exciting.[29]
In the Marvel manga stories, Captain America uses a photonic shield before his death in Volumes 1 and 2, and his bodyguards use shields of metal. The shield also appears in the Rings of Fate mini-series, having been acquired by Carol Danvers after Elektra stole it from Avengers Mansion when she uses the costume of Captain America.
In the Colonel America reality of Marvel Zombies, the shield is held by the last humans, who have formed a new society. As part of a self-defense program, the shield is used by the semi-sentient body/mind configuration of Colonel America's body and the son of Black Panther. It is also used by Forge, who is fighting in Iron Man's old armor. The shield and many zombie allies of the humans are lost in the dimensions due to a traitor.[30]
Captain Mexical is an alternate world version of Captain America from a dimension where the Aztec empire never fell. He is kept in the mainstream Marvel universe. His shield is used by Machine Man as a weapon during a zombie incursion; Mexical himself is slain.[31]
In Mark Millar's 2008-2009 "Old Man Logan" storyline in Wolverine, the Red Skull has a trophy room filled with artifacts belonging to the heroes of the Marvel Universe. Captain America's shield is at the center of the trophy room, and is later used by Wolverine to decapitate the Red Skull.[32]
Within the third and fourth issues of Avengers and Power Pack Assemble! miniseries, the Power Pack were thrown ten years into the future and met older versions of themselves, including a 25-year-old Alex Power. In those issues he shows greater control over his powers, (such as being able to deconstruct an enemy powered-armor suit), and now wields Captain America's shield.[33]
In the Age of Ultron story, Captain America is shown sitting in a storeroom in the base of the last remaining active heroes, with the shattered fragments of his shield around him.[34]

text: In issue #7 of the Marvel series Strikeforce: Morituri the shield is stored in a trophy room belonging to the alien "Horde" invaders.[35]

text:
Ultimate Captain America uses a shield of pure adamantium, although that metal may not possess the same properties in the Ultimate Marvel universe as it does in the mainstream Marvel Universe.[36] The shield was destroyed when Gregory Stark smashed it with Thor's hammer, though Captain America would wield another later.[37]

In Ultimate Nightmare, Ultimate Captain America encounters his Russian counterpart, who has been driven mad due to being trapped in an underground complex for many years. He has created a "replica" of the shield, which turns out to be made out of scrap metal and human remains and grafted directly onto his forearm, and which proves far less powerful than Captain America's own shield.[38]

In the alternate reality shown in What If...? #114, where the heroes and villains are unable to leave Battleworld at the conclusion of the Secret Wars, the shield is passed on to the daughter of Captain America and Rogue.[39]

text: In other media[edit]

text: Television[edit]

text:
In the 1970s Captain America TV movies, Steve Rogers is given a transparent plexiglass shield painted with concentric stripes (red and clear transparent) and a central star. The shield was designed to act as the windscreen for his motorcycle, but could be detached and used in its traditional offensive / defensive role when Rogers goes on foot. Furthermore, the shield can apparently return to Rogers in a smooth arc when thrown without needing to be ricocheted and with enough force to knock a man down in the return path.
In 2003, the company Factory X released a line of licensed prop replicas of items from the Marvel Universe. An aluminum replica of Captain America's shield was among their initial line up of props, and was limited to a production of 2,525 pieces.
In the closing of the March 12, 2007 episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert read a letter from Joe Quesada in response to Colbert's earlier comments toward Captain America. He was then presented with what was said to be Captain America's indestructible shield, reportedly willed to Colbert in the event of Cap's "death". The shield was originally credited to be one of the Factory X replicas, but this is not the case. The shield given to Colbert was originally acquired by the long-time writer and editor (and late) Mark Gruenwald, who either commissioned it or received it as a gift. It eventually found its way into the hands of Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort, and was kept in his office until being passed on to Colbert. In a pre-show conversation with a studio audience, Colbert, speaking out of character, said that when his wife saw the shield and the accompanying note, she started crying. He confessed he was a little bemused by her reaction to a fictional character sending a prop shield to a fictional version of himself. The shield was put on display hanging on the wall along with other trophies on The Colbert Report set for every episode afterwards. After The Colbert Report ended, the shield was moved to the set of Colbert's next talk show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where it was put on display since.
In the animated movie Ultimate Avengers, based loosely on The Ultimates, Captain America uses a shield made from vibranium and adamantium compound. Captain America used his triangular shield throughout World War II, only gaining the disc-shaped vibranium-bearing shield after he awoke in the present day. The composition of the triangular shield remains unrevealed. It did prove to be effective against the bullets of German soldiers, but was dented by the punch of a Chitauri taking the form of Herr Kleiser.
In the 2010 iOS game Infinity Blade, the player has the option to purchase a shield called The Patriot. The design of the shield, featuring three concentric rings, a star in the center, and what appears to be red, white, and blue paint all but completely worn off, closely resembles Captain America's shield.
In the video game Marvel Heroes, Captain America is a playable character and uses the shield defensively and offensively, blocking attacks and attacking with it as a bludgeoning and thrown weapon.
In the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "A Day Unlike Any Other", Loki uses his magic to shatter Captain America's shield while taunting him. In the episode "Behold... The Vision!", Captain America's shield is restored by the Black Panther and scientists in Wakanda using the Vibranium machine that fused the pieces back together.
The adamantium-vibranium alloy version of the shield becomes the main plot device for the story in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Not a Toy".

text: Film[edit]

text: Captain America's shield is a recurring image throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise:

text:
In the 2008 film Iron Man, a partially completed replica of Captain America’s shield appears approximately 1 hour 25 minutes into the movie at the point where Pepper Potts comes in on Tony Stark trying to get out of his damaged armor; the shield is visible in the distance below Tony's right arm. According to a tie-in comic, Tony's father Howard Stark created the shield. Tony subsequently used the alloy of a prototype to create his armor.[40]
In the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, a deleted opening scene features the shield and Captain America buried in ice. However, the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger reveals this scene, or at least the appearance of Captain America to be non-canon.
In the 2010 film Iron Man 2, Tony Stark is building a particle accelerator in his home to create a new element for his arc reactor when S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson finds the replica of Captain America's shield that was seen on Tony's work table in the first Iron Man film and asks if it is what he thinks it is. Stark ignores the question and asks him to hand the shield over, using it as a shim to level the accelerator.
In the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, the round shield (along with Rogers himself) is found by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the Arctic within a crashed aircraft in the present day. During World War II, Steve Rogers uses an ornamental version of the triangular shield during a musical tour promoting War Bonds, which he then uses in his first field mission and is rendered useless when Johann Schmidt punches a large dent in it. He later notices an unadorned vibranium shield among Howard Stark's proposed weapons, which Stark says is stronger than steel and weighs only one third as much. Although it is merely a prototype that Stark did not intend for one of Rogers' weapons, Rogers decides to use it after it is painted into the familiar red, white and blue pattern. The shield is later on board the Valkyrie when Rogers crashing the bomber, and becomes frozen along with him in the Arctic.
In the 2012 film The Avengers, Captain America wields the same shield as the one seen in Captain America: The First Avenger.[41] While described in the prequel film as being vibration-absorbent, it is shown here as being rather vibration-reflecting, as the kinetic force from Mjolnir striking the shield rebounds as a powerful shockwave, leveling a small section of heavily forested area in the process. It is also capable of deflecting Iron Man's repulsor blasts against a band of Chitauri invaders.
In the teaser trailer for the 2013 film Iron Man 3, Trevor Slattery has a tattoo resembling the shield on the back of his neck. Slattery's tattoo is visible in the Marvel One-Shot short film All Hail the King.
In the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rogers takes advantage of the vibranium's properties by jumping out of a building a few dozen stories up, and landing on the shield, thereby surviving without any serious injuries. During his street battle with the Winter Soldier, Rogers temporarily loses the shield to his adversary, with the Winter Soldier wielding it momentarily. Near the end of a confrontation with the Winter Soldier, the shield falls into the Potomac River, but appears again next to the Captain's bed as he is recovering in a hospital.
A 2014 promo for the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. features the show's logo superimposed over Captain America's shield.[42]
The shield appears in the season finale of Agent Carter when Howard Stark was being hypnotized by Johann Fennhoff and sees Peggy Carter holding Captain America's shield, asking him to bring Steve home.
In the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron, the handles of the shield have been replaced with magnetic elements, allowing Captain America to control the shield and call it back to his gauntlets. Its status as a vibranium construct is referenced when the Avengers determine that Ultron is heading to Wakanda, as vibranium is the only thing from Wakanda that Ultron could want. During his later fight with Ultron, Rogers briefly loses his shield when it is thrown from the top of the truck where he was fighting Ultron, but Black Widow grabs it and returns it to its owner. When Wanda Maximoff triggers a vision of Tony Stark's greatest fear, he sees all of the other Avengers dead and the shield broken next to Rogers.
In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "The Singularity", Coulson, now director of S.H.I.E.L.D. has an energy shield attached to his prosthetic hand, which is similar to Captain America's energy shield in the comics.[43]
In the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War, Captain America continues to use his shield, although it is confiscated when he is apprehended for aiding the Winter Soldier in violation of the Sokovia Accords. Sharon Carter returns the shield to him, and he uses it in combat with Iron Man and his allies. Black Panther, whose weapons feature vibranium as well, scratches the shield in combat with Captain America. During the final battle featuring Captain America and the Winter Soldier fighting Iron Man, Rogers uses the shield to severely damage Tony Stark's armor, breaking open the helmet and destroying the suit's arc reactor. Ultimately, Captain America leaves his shield behind when Stark berates him for not being deserving of it, since Rogers kept the knowledge of the Winter Soldier killing his parents from him.
In Avengers: Infinity War, T'Challa and Shuri present Rogers new dual-retractable vibranium shields in order to replace his traditional circular one he left behind at the conclusion of Civil War.


document_title: Ecotone

question_text: why is the greatest number of species found in the ecotone

text: Ecotone

text: Features[edit]

text:
There are several distinguishing features of an ecotone. First, an ecotone can have a sharp vegetation transition, with a distinct line between two communities.[4]  For example,
a change in colors of grasses or plant life can indicate an ecotone. Second, a change in physiognomy (physical appearance of a plant species) can be a key indicator. Water bodies, such as estuaries, can also have a region of transition, and the boundary is characterized by the differences in heights of the  macrophytes or plant species present in the areas because this distinguishes the two areas' accessibility to light.[5] Scientists look at color variations and changes in plant height. Third, a change of species can signal an ecotone. There will be specific organisms on one side of an ecotone or the other.

text: Other factors can illustrate or obscure an ecotone, for example, migration and the establishment of new plants. These are known as spatial mass effects, which are noticeable because some organisms will not be able to form self-sustaining populations if they cross the ecotone. If different species can survive in both communities of the two biomes, then the ecotone is considered to have species richness; ecologists measure this when studying the food chain and success of organisms. Lastly, the abundance of exotic species in an ecotone can reveal the type of biome or efficiency of the two communities sharing space.[6] Because an ecotone is the zone in which two communities integrate, many different forms of life have to live together and compete for space. Therefore, an ecotone can create a diverse ecosystem.

text: Formation[edit]

text: Changes in the physical environment may produce a sharp boundary, as in the example of the interface between areas of forest and cleared land. Elsewhere, a more gradually blended interface area will be found, where species from each community will be found together as well as unique local species. Mountain ranges often create such ecotones, due to the wide variety of climatic conditions experienced on their slopes. They may also provide a boundary between species due to the obstructive nature of their terrain. Mont Ventoux in France is a good example, marking the boundary between the flora and fauna of northern and southern France.[7] Most wetlands are ecotones. The spatial variation of ecotones often form due to disturbances, creating patches that separate patches of vegetation. Different intensity of disturbances can cause landslides, land shifts, or movement of sediment that can create these vegetation patches and ecotones.[8]

text: Plants in competition extend themselves on one side of the ecotone as far as their ability to maintain themselves allows. Beyond this competitors of the adjacent community take over. As a result, the ecotone represents a shift in dominance. Ecotones are particularly significant for mobile animals, as they can exploit more than one set of habitats within a short distance. The ecotone contains not only species common to the communities on both sides; it may also include a number of highly adaptable species that tend to colonize such transitional areas.[3] The phenomenon of increased variety of plants as well as animals at the community junction is called the edge effect and is essentially due to a locally broader range of suitable environmental conditions or ecological niches.

text: Ecotones and ecoclines[edit]

text: An ecotone is often associated with an ecocline: a "physical transition zone" between two systems. The ecotone and ecocline concepts are sometimes confused: an ecocline can signal an ecotone chemically (ex: pH or salinity gradient), or microclimatically (hydrothermal gradient) between two ecosystems.

text: In contrast:

text:
an ecocline is a variation of the physicochemical environment dependent of one or two physico-chemical factors of life, and thus presence/absence of certain species.[9] An ecocline can be a thermocline, chemocline (chemical gradient), halocline (salinity gradient) or pycnocline (variations in density of water induced by temperature or salinity).
ecocline transitions are less distinct (less clear-cut), have more stable conditions within, hence a higher plant species richness.[10]
an ecotone describes a variation in species prevalence and is often not strictly dependent on a major physical factor separating one ecosystem from another, with resulting habitat variability. An ecotone is often unobtrusive and harder to measure.
an ecotone is the area where two communities interact. Ecotones can be easily identified by distinct change in soil gradient and soil composition between two communities.[11]
ecotone transitions are more clear-cut (distinct), conditions are less stable, hence they have a low species richness.[10]

text: Examples[edit]

text:
The Kra ecotone between 11°N and 13°N latitude just north of the Kra Isthmus that connects the Thai-Malay Peninsula with mainland Asia is an example of a regional scale ecotone.[12] It marks the transition zone between the moist deciduous forest in the mainland Southeast Asia biogeographical region in the north and the wet seasonal dipterocarp forest in the Sundaland region in the south.[12] It has been shown to be the biogeographical transition between Indochinese and Sundaic faunas.[13] Approximately 152 species of bird were found to have northern or southern range limits between these latitudes.[13] Population genetics studies have also found that the Kra ecotone is the major physical barrier that limits gene flow in the honeybees Apis cerana and Apis dorsata and the stingless bees Trigona collina and Trigona pagdeni.[14]
The Wallace Line running through the Lombok Strait between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok is a faunal boundary that separates the Indomalaya ecozone from that of Wallacea.[15] It is named for Alfred Russel Wallace, who first observed the abrupt boundary between the two biomes in 1859. Biologists believe it was the depth of the Lombok Strait itself that kept the animals on either side isolated from one another.  However, it has been found that some flightless animals such as certain weevil species have, in the past, been involved in several transgression events in which species from land east of the Wallace Line relocated to Bali.[16] When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, the islands of Bali, Java and Sumatra were all connected to one another and to the mainland of Asia.  They shared the Asian fauna.  The Lombok Strait's deep water kept Lombok and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated from the Asian mainland.  These islands were, instead, colonized by Australasian fauna.
Mbam Djerem National Park's ecotone in Cameroon is up to 1,000 km wide in places and differences within species are believed to be precursors to speciation.[17]
General examples of ecotones include salt marshes and riparian zones.