document_title: Costa Rica

question_text: is costa rica north or south of the equator

question_tokens: is costa rica north or south of the equator

root

text: Costa Rica

text: History

text: Pre-Columbian period

text: Historians have classified the indigenous people of Costa Rica as belonging to the Intermediate Area, where the peripheries of the Mesoamerican and Andean native cultures overlapped. More recently, pre-Columbian Costa Rica has also been described as part of the Isthmo-Colombian Area.

tag: p

text: Stone tools, the oldest evidence of human occupation in Costa Rica, are associated with the arrival of various groups of hunter-gatherers about 10,000 to 7,000 years BCE in the Turrialba Valley. The presence of Clovis culture type spearheads and arrows from South America opens the possibility that, in this area, two different cultures coexisted.[30]

text: Agriculture became evident in the populations that lived in Costa Rica about 5,000 years ago. They mainly grew tubers and roots. For the first and second millennia BCE there were already settled farming communities. These were small and scattered, although the timing of the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture as the main livelihood in the territory is still unknown.[31]

text: The earliest use of pottery appears around 2,000 to 3,000 BCE. Shards of pots, cylindrical vases, platters, gourds and other forms of vases decorated with grooves, prints, and some modelled after animals have been found.[32]

text: The impact of indigenous peoples on modern Costa Rican culture has been relatively small compared to other nations, since the country lacked a strong native civilization to begin with. Most of the native population was absorbed into the Spanish-speaking colonial society through inter-marriage, except for some small remnants, the most significant of which are the Bribri and Boruca tribes who still inhabit the mountains of the Cordillera de Talamanca, in the southeastern part of Costa Rica, near the frontier with Panama.

text: Spanish colonization

text: The name la costa rica, meaning "rich coast" in the Spanish language, was in some accounts first applied by Christopher Columbus, who sailed to the eastern shores of Costa Rica during his final voyage in 1502,[33] and reported vast quantities of gold jewelry worn by natives.[34] The name may also have come from conquistador Gil González Dávila, who landed on the west coast in 1522, encountered natives, and appropriated some of their gold.[35]

text: During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In practice, the captaincy general was a largely autonomous entity within the Spanish Empire. Costa Rica's distance from the capital of the captaincy in Guatemala, its legal prohibition under Spanish law from trade with its southern neighbor Panama, then part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (i.e. Colombia), and lack of resources such as gold and silver, made Costa Rica into a poor, isolated, and sparsely-inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.[36] Costa Rica was described as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America" by a Spanish governor in 1719.[37]

text: Another important factor behind Costa Rica's poverty was the lack of a significant indigenous population available for encomienda (forced labor), which meant most of the Costa Rican settlers had to work on their own land, preventing the establishment of large haciendas (plantations). For all these reasons, Costa Rica was, by and large, unappreciated and overlooked by the Spanish Crown and left to develop on its own. The circumstances during this period are believed to have led to many of the idiosyncrasies for which Costa Rica has become known, while concomitantly setting the stage for Costa Rica's development as a more egalitarian society than the rest of its neighbors. Costa Rica became a "rural democracy" with no oppressed mestizo or indigenous class. It was not long before Spanish settlers turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil and a milder climate than that of the lowlands.[38]

text: Independence

text: Like the rest of Central America, Costa Rica never fought for independence from Spain. On September 15, 1821, after the final Spanish defeat in the Mexican War of Independence (1810–21), the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. That date is still celebrated as Independence Day in Costa Rica even though, technically, under the Spanish Constitution of 1812 that had been readopted in 1820, Nicaragua and Costa Rica had become an autonomous province with its capital in León.

text: Upon independence, Costa Rican authorities faced the issue of officially deciding the future of the country. Two bands formed, the Imperialists, defended by Cartago and Heredia cities which were in favor of joining the Mexican Empire, and the Republicans, represented by the cities of San José and Alajuela who defended full independence. Because of the lack of agreement on these two possible outcomes, the first civil war of Costa Rica occurred. The battle of Ochomogo (es) took place on the Hill of Ochomogo, located in the Central Valley in 1823. The conflict was won by the Republicans and, as a consequence, the city of Cartago lost its status as the capital, which moved to San José.[39][40][41]

text: In 1838, long after the Federal Republic of Central America ceased to function in practice, Costa Rica formally withdrew and proclaimed itself sovereign. The considerable distance and poor communication routes between Guatemala City and the Central Plateau, where most of the Costa Rican population lived then and still lives now, meant the local population had little allegiance to the federal government in Guatemala. From colonial times to now, Costa Rica's reluctance to become economically tied with the rest of Central America has been a major obstacle to efforts for greater regional integration.[42]

text: Economic growth in the 19th Century

text: Coffee was first planted in Costa Rica in 1808,[43] and by the 1820s, it surpassed tobacco, sugar, and cacao as a primary export. Coffee production remained Costa Rica's principal source of wealth well into the 20th century, creating a wealthy class of growers, the so-called Coffee Barons.[44] The revenue helped to modernize the country.[45][46]

text: Most of the coffee exported was grown around the main centers of population in the Central Plateau and then transported by oxcart to the Pacific port of Puntarenas after the main road was built in 1846.[46] By the mid-1850s the main market for coffee was Britain.[47] It soon became a high priority to develop an effective transportation route from the Central Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean. For this purpose, in the 1870s, the Costa Rican government contracted with U.S. businessman Minor C. Keith to build a railroad from San José to the Caribbean port of Limón. Despite enormous difficulties with construction, disease, and financing, the railroad was completed in 1890.[48]

text: Most Afro-Costa Ricans descend from Jamaican immigrants who worked in the construction of that railway and now make up about 3% of Costa Rica's population.[49] U.S. convicts, Italians and Chinese immigrants also participated in the construction project. In exchange for completing the railroad, the Costa Rican government granted Keith large tracts of land and a lease on the train route, which he used to produce bananas and export them to the United States. As a result, bananas came to rival coffee as the principal Costa Rican export, while foreign-owned corporations (including the United Fruit Company later) began to hold a major role in the national economy and eventually became a symbol of the exploitative export economy.[50] The major labor dispute between the peasants and the United Fruit Company (The Great Banana Strike) was a major event in the country's history and was an important step that would eventually lead to the formation of effective trade unions in Costa Rica, as the company was required to sign a collective agreement with its workers in 1938.[51][52]

text: 20th century

text: Historically, Costa Rica has generally enjoyed greater peace and more consistent political stability than many of its fellow Latin American nations. Since the late 19th century, however, Costa Rica has experienced two significant periods of violence. In 1917–19, General Federico Tinoco Granados ruled as a military dictator until he was overthrown and forced into exile. The unpopularity of Tinoco's regime led, after he was overthrown, to a considerable decline in the size, wealth, and political influence of the Costa Rican military. In 1948, José Figueres Ferrer led an armed uprising in the wake of a disputed presidential election between Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (who had been president between 1940 and 1944) and Otilio Ulate Blanco.[53] With more than 2,000 dead, the resulting 44-day Costa Rican Civil War was the bloodiest event in Costa Rica during the 20th century.

text: The victorious rebels formed a government junta that abolished the military altogether, and oversaw the drafting of a new constitution by a democratically elected assembly.[54] Having enacted these reforms, the junta transferred power to Ulate on November 8, 1949. After the coup d'état, Figueres became a national hero, winning the country's first democratic election under the new constitution in 1953. Since then, Costa Rica has held 14 presidential elections, the latest in 2014. With uninterrupted democracy dating back to at least 1948, the country is the region's most stable.

text: Geography

text: Costa Rica is located on the Central American isthmus, lying between latitudes 8° and 12°N, and longitudes 82° and 86°W. It borders the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 kilometres (800 mi) of coastline, 212 km (132 mi) on the Caribbean coast and 1,016 km (631 mi) on the Pacific. Costa Rica also borders Nicaragua to the north (309 km or 192 mi of border) and Panama to the south-southeast (330 km or 210 mi of border). In total, Costa Rica comprises 51,100 square kilometres (19,700 sq mi) plus 589 square kilometres (227 sq mi) of territorial waters.

text: The highest point in the country is Cerro Chirripó, at 3,819 metres (12,530 ft); it is the fifth highest peak in Central America. The highest volcano in the country is the Irazú Volcano (3,431 m or 11,257 ft) and the largest lake is Lake Arenal. There are 14 known volcanoes in Costa Rica, and six of them have been active in the last 75 years.[55] The country has also experienced at least ten earthquakes of magnitude 5.7 or higher (3 of magnitude 7.0 or higher) in the last century.

text: Costa Rica also comprises several islands. Cocos Island (24 square kilometres or 9.3 square miles) stands out because of its distance from the continental landmass, 480 kilometres (300 mi) from Puntarenas, but Isla Calero is the largest island of the country (151.6 square kilometres or 58.5 square miles). Over 25% of Costa Rica's national territory is protected by SINAC (the National System of Conservation Areas), which oversees all of the country's protected areas. Costa Rica also possesses the greatest density of species in the world.[56]

text: Climate

text: Because Costa Rica is located between 8 and 12 degrees north of the Equator, the climate is tropical year round. However, the country has many microclimates depending on elevation, rainfall, topography, and by the geography of each particular region.

text: Costa Rica's seasons are defined by how much rain falls during a particular period. The year can be split into two periods, the dry season known to the residents as summer (verano), and the rainy season, known locally as winter (invierno). The "summer" or dry season goes from December to April, and "winter" or rainy season goes from May to November, which almost coincides with the Atlantic hurricane season, and during this time, it rains constantly in some regions.

text: The location receiving the most rain is the Caribbean slopes of the Cordillera Central mountains, with an annual rainfall of over 5,000 mm (196.9 in). Humidity is also higher on the Caribbean side than on the Pacific side. The mean annual temperature on the coastal lowlands is around 27 °C (81 °F), 20 °C (68 °F) in the main populated areas of the Cordillera Central, and below 10 °C (50 °F) on the summits of the highest mountains.[57]

text:
[hide]Climate data for Costa Rica

Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year

Average high °C (°F)
27
(81)
27
(81)
28
(82)
28
(82)
27
(81)
27
(81)
27
(81)
27
(81)
26
(79)
26
(79)
26
(79)
26
(79)
26.8
(80.5)

Average low °C (°F)
17
(63)
18
(64)
18
(64)
18
(64)
18
(64)
18
(64)
18
(64)
18
(64)
17
(63)
18
(64)
18
(64)
18
(64)
17.8
(63.8)

Average precipitation mm (inches)
6.3
(0.248)
10.2
(0.402)
13.8
(0.543)
79.9
(3.146)
267.6
(10.535)
280.1
(11.028)
181.5
(7.146)
276.9
(10.902)
355.1
(13.98)
330.6
(13.016)
135.5
(5.335)
33.5
(1.319)
1,971
(77.6)

Percent possible sunshine
40
37
39
33
25
20
21
22
20
22
25
34
28.2

Source: [58]

tag: table

text: Flora and fauna

text: Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.03% of the world's landmass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity.[59][60] Around 25% of the country's land area is in protected national parks and protected areas,[61][62] the largest percentage of protected areas in the world (developing world average 13%, developed world average 8%).[63][64][65] Costa Rica has successfully managed to diminish deforestation from some of the worst rates in the world from 1973 to 1989, to almost zero by 2005.[63]

text: One national park, the Corcovado National Park, is internationally renowned among ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats and tapirs) and is where visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife.[66][67] Corcovado is the one park in Costa Rica where all four Costa Rican monkey species can be found.[68] These include the white-headed capuchin, the mantled howler, the endangered Geoffroy's spider monkey,[68][69] and the Central American squirrel monkey, found only on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and a small part of Panama, and considered endangered until 2008, when its status was upgraded to vulnerable. Deforestation, illegal pet-trading, and hunting are the main reasons for its threatened status.[70]

text: Tortuguero National Park – the name Tortuguero can be translated as "Full of Turtles" – is home to spider, howler, and white-throated capuchin monkeys; the three-toed sloth and two-toed sloth; 320 species of birds; and a variety of reptiles. The park is recognized for the annual nesting of the endangered green turtle, and is the most important nesting site for the species. Giant leatherback, hawksbill, and loggerhead turtles also nest there. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is home to about 2,000 plant species,[71] including numerous orchids. Over 400 types of birds and more than 100 species of mammals can be found there.[71]

text: Over 840 species of birds have been identified in Costa Rica. As is the case in much of Central America, the avian species in Costa Rica are a mix of North and South American species. The country's abundant fruit trees, many of which bear fruit year round, are hugely important to the birds, some of whom survive on diets that consist only of one or two types of fruit. Some of the country's most notable avian species include the resplendent quetzal, scarlet macaw, three-wattled bellbird, bare-necked umbrellabird, and the keel-billed toucan.[72] The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad is allowed to collect royalties on any biological discoveries of medical importance. Costa Rica is a center of biological diversity for reptiles and amphibians, including the world's fastest running lizard, the spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura similis).[73]

text: Rivers

text: Economy

text: The country has been considered economically stable with moderate inflation, estimated at 2.6% in 2017,[74] and moderately high growth in GDP, which increased from US$41.3 billion in 2011 to US$52.6 billion in 2015.[75] The estimated GDP for 2017 is US$61.5 billion and the estimated GDP per capita (purchasing power parity) is US$12,382.[74] The growing debt and budget deficit are the country's primary concerns.[10]

text: That is a primary reason why the major credit rating agencies – Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch – have downgraded Costa Rica’s risk ratings. For example, Moody's Investors Service in early 2017 reduced the rating to Ba2 from Ba1, with a negative outlook due to the "rising government debt burden and persistently high fiscal deficit, which was 5.2% of GDP in 2016" and the "lack of political consensus to implement measures to reduce the fiscal deficit [which] will result in further pressure on the government's debt ratios".[76] The country is currently debating major fiscal reform legislation to cut the budget deficits and stop the growth in debt,[2] one of the highest in Latin America.

text: Many foreign companies (manufacturing and services) operate in Costa Rica's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives.[9] Well over half of that type of investment has come from the U.S.[77] According to the government, the zones supported over 82 thousand direct jobs and 43 thousand indirect jobs in 2015.[78] Companies with facilities in the America Free Zone in Heredia, for example, include Intel, Dell, HP, Bayer, Bosch, DHL, IBM and Okay Industries.[79][80]

text: Of the GDP, 5.5% is generated by agriculture, 18.6% by industry and 75.9% by services.(2016)[74] Agriculture employs 12.9% of the labor force, industry 18.57%, services 69.02% (2016)[81] For the region, its unemployment level is moderately high (8.2% in 2016, according to the IMF).[74] Although 20.5% of the population lives below the poverty line (2017),[82] Costa Rica has one of the highest standards of living in Central America.[83]

text: High quality health care is provided by the government at low cost to the users.[84] Housing is also very affordable. Costa Rica is recognized in Latin America for the quality of its educational system. Because of its educational system, Costa Rica has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America, 97%.[85] General Basic Education is mandatory and provided without cost to the user.[86] A US government report confirms that the country has "historically placed a high priority on education and the creation of a skilled work force" but notes that the high school drop-out rate is increasing. As well, Costa Rica would benefit from more courses in languages such as English, Portuguese, Mandarin and French and also in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).[85]

text: Debt and deficit issues

text: The International Monetary Fund stated in June 2017 that annual growth in the economy was just over 4% and that the financial system was sound.[87][88] The IMF expressed concern however, about increasing deficits and public debt as well as the heavy dollarization of bank assets and liabilities. Costa Rica's public debt is problematic, especially as a percentage of the GDP, increasing from 29.8% in 2011 to 40.8% in 2015.[75] Of the proposed 2017 budget (US$15.9 billion), debt payments account for one-third of the total and a full 46% of the budget will require financing. That will increase the deficit and the debt owed to foreign entities.[89] The value of the Costa Rican colone per US$1 was 526.46₡ on March 27, 2015. At the end of July 2017, the value was 563₡.[90] [91][92]

text: A 2017 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned that reducing the foreign debt must be a very high priority for the government. Other fiscal reforms were also recommended to moderate the budget deficit.[13] The IMF also recommended debt reduction, with specific suggestions.[88]

text: Liquidity crisis

text: In early August 2017, President Luis Guillermo Solís admitted that the country was facing a "liquidity crisis" and promised that a higher VAT tax and higher income tax rates were being considered by his government. Such steps are essential, Luis Guillermo Solís told the nation, because it was facing difficulties in paying its obligations and guaranteeing the provision of services."[93] Solís explained that the Treasury will prioritize payments on the public debt first, then salaries, and then pensions. The subsequent priorities include transfers to institutions “according to their social urgency.” All other payments will be made only if funds are available.[12]

text: Trade and foreign investment

text: Costa Rica has free trade agreements with many countries, including the US. There are no significant trade barriers that would affect imports and the country has been lowering its tariffs in accordance with other Central American countries.[94] The country's Free Trade Zones provide incentives for manufacturing and service industries to operate in Costa Rica. In 2015, the zones supported over 82 thousand direct jobs and 43 thousand indirect jobs in 2015 and average wages in the FTZ were 1.8 times greater than the average for private enterprise work in the rest of the country.[78] In 2016, Amazon.com for example, had some 3,500 employees in Costa Rica and planned to increase that by 1,500 in 2017, making it an important employer.[8]

text: The central location provides access to American markets and direct ocean access to Europe and Asia. The most important exports in 2015 (in order of dollar value) were medical instruments, bananas, tropical fruits, integrated circuits and orthopedic appliances.[95] Total imports in that year were US$15 billion. The most significant products imported in 2015 (in order of dollar value) were refined petroleum, automobiles, packaged medications, broadcasting equipment and computers. The total exports were US$12.6 billion for a trade deficit of US$2.39 billion in 2015.[95]

text: Pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism have become the prime industries in Costa Rica's economy. High levels of education among its residents make the country an attractive investing location. Since 1999, tourism earns more foreign exchange than the combined exports of the country's three main cash crops: bananas and pineapples especially,[96] but also other crops, including coffee.[97] Coffee production played a key role in Costa Rica's history and in 2006, was the third cash crop export.[97] As a small country, Costa Rica now provides under 1% of the world’s coffee production.[46] In 2015, the value of coffee exports was US$305.9 million, a small part of the total agricultural exports of US$2.7 billion.[96] Coffee production increased by 13.7% percent in 2015-16, declined by 17.5% in 2016-17, but was expected to increase by about 15% in the subsequent year.[98]

text: Costa Rica has developed a system of payments for environmental services.[63] Similarly, Costa Rica has a tax on water pollution to penalize businesses and homeowners that dump sewage, agricultural chemicals, and other pollutants into waterways.[99] In May 2007, the Costa Rican government announced its intentions to become 100% carbon neutral by 2021.[100] By 2015, 93 percent of the country's electricity came from renewable sources.[101] In 2016, the country produced 98% of its electricity from renewable sources and ran completely on renewable sources for 110 continuous days.[102]

text: In 1996, the Forest Law was enacted to provide direct financial incentives to landowners for the provision of environmental services.[63] This helped reorient the forestry sector away from commercial timber production and the resulting deforestation, and helped create awareness of the services it provides for the economy and society (i.e., carbon fixation, hydrological services such as producing fresh drinking water, biodiversity protection, and provision of scenic beauty).[63]

text: A 2016 report by the U.S. government report identifies other challenges facing Costa Rica as it works to expand its economy by working with companies from the US (and probably from other countries).[85] The major concerns identified were as follows:

text:
The ports, roads, railways and water delivery systems would benefit from major upgrading, a concern voiced by other reports too.[103] Attempts by China to invest in upgrading such aspects were "stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns".
The bureaucracy is "often slow and cumbersome".

tag: ul

text: Tourism

text: Costa Rica stands as the most visited nation in the Central American region,[104] with 2.9 million foreign visitors in 2016, up 10% from 2015.[105] In 2015, the tourism sector was responsible for 5.8% of the country's GDP, or $3.4 billion.[106] The lead country of origin to enter Costa Rica in 2016 was the United States with 1,000,000 visitors, followed by Europe with 434,884 arrivals.[107] According to Costa Rica Vacations, once tourists arrive in the country, 22% go to Tamarindo, 18% go to Arenal, 17% pass through Liberia (where the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport is located), 16% go to San José, the country’s capital (also passing through Juan Santamaria Airport), while 18% chose Manuel Antonio and 7% Monteverde.[108]

text: By 2004, tourism was generating more revenue and foreign exchange than bananas and coffee combined.[97][109] In 2016, the World Travel & Tourism Council's estimates indicated a direct contribution to the GDP of 5.1% and 110,000 direct jobs in Costa Rica; the total number of jobs indirectly supported by tourism was 271,000.[110]

text: A pioneer of ecotourism, Costa Rica draws many tourists to its extensive series of national parks and other protected areas.[111] In the 2011 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Costa Rica ranked 44th in the world and second among Latin American countries after Mexico in 2011.[112] By the time of the 2017 report, the country had reached 38th place, slightly behind Panama.[113] The Ethical Traveler group's ten countries on their 2017 list of The World’s Ten Best Ethical Destinations includes Costa Rica. The country scored highest in environmental protection among the winners.[114]

text: Governance

text: Administrative divisions

text: Costa Rica is composed of seven provinces, which in turn are divided into 81 cantons (Spanish: cantón, plural cantones), each of which is directed by a mayor. Mayors are chosen democratically every four years by each canton. There are no provincial legislatures. The cantons are further divided into 473 districts (distritos). The provinces are:

text:
Alajuela
Cartago
Guanacaste
Heredia
Limón
Puntarenas
San José

text: Foreign relations

text: Costa Rica is an active member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the United Nations University of Peace are based in Costa Rica. It is also a member of many other international organizations related to human rights and democracy, such as the Community of Democracies. A main foreign policy objective of Costa Rica is to foster human rights and sustainable development as a way to secure stability and growth.[115]

text: Costa Rica is a member of the International Criminal Court, without a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the United States military (as covered under Article 98). Costa Rica is an observer of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

text: On September 10, 1961, some months after Fidel Castro declared Cuba a socialist state, Costa Rican President Mario Echandi ended diplomatic relations with Cuba through Executive Decree Number 2. This freeze lasted 47 years until President Óscar Arias Sánchez re-established normal relations on 18 March 2009, saying, "If we have been able to turn the page with regimes as profoundly different to our reality as occurred with the USSR or, more recently, with the Republic of China, how would we not do it with a country that is geographically and culturally much nearer to Costa Rica?" Arias announced that both countries would exchange ambassadors.[116]

text: Costa Rica has a long-term disagreement with Nicaragua over the San Juan River, which defines the border between the two countries, and Costa Rica's rights of navigation on the river.[117] In 2010, there was also a dispute around Isla Calero, and the impact of Nicaraguan dredging of the river in that area.[118]

text: On July 14, 2009, the International Court of Justice in the Hague upheld Costa Rica's navigation rights for commercial purposes to subsistence fishing on their side of the river. An 1858 treaty extended navigation rights to Costa Rica, but Nicaragua denied passenger travel and fishing were part of the deal; the court ruled Costa Ricans on the river were not required to have Nicaraguan tourist cards or visas as Nicaragua argued, but, in a nod to the Nicaraguans, ruled that Costa Rican boats and passengers must stop at the first and last Nicaraguan port along their route. They must also have an identity document or passport. Nicaragua can also impose timetables on Costa Rican traffic. Nicaragua may require Costa Rican boats to display the flag of Nicaragua, but may not charge them for departure clearance from its ports. These were all specific items of contention brought to the court in the 2005 filing.[119]

text: On June 1, 2007, Costa Rica broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan, switching recognition to the People's Republic of China. Costa Rica was the first of the Central American nations to do so. President Óscar Arias Sánchez admitted the action was a response to economic exigency.[120] In response, the PRC built a new, $100 million, state-of-the-art football stadium in Parque la Sabana, in the province of San José. Approximately 600 Chinese engineers and laborers took part in this project, and it was inaugurated in March 2011, with a match between the national teams of Costa Rica and China.

text: Costa Rica finished a term on the United Nations Security Council, having been elected for a nonrenewable, two-year term in the 2007 election. Its term expired on December 31, 2009; this was Costa Rica's third time on the Security Council. Elayne Whyte Gómez is the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN Office at Geneva (2017) and President of the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.[121]

text: Demographics

text:
[show]Costa Rican Censuses

Year
Population
 %±

1864
120,499
—

1883
182,073
51.1

1892
243,205
33.6

1927
471,524
93.9

1950
800,875
69.8

1963
1,336,274
66.9

1973
1,871,780
40.1

1984
2,416,809
29.1

2000
3,810,179
57.7

2011
4,301,712
12.9

text: The 2011 census counted a population of 4.3 million people[122] distributed among the following groups: 83.6% whites or mestizos, 6.7% mulattoes, 2.4% Native American, 1.1% black or Afro-Caribbean; the census showed 1.1% as Other, 2.9% (141,304 people) as None, and 2.2% (107,196 people) as unspecified.[1] By 2016, the UN estimation for the population was around 4.9 million.[3]

text: In 2011, there were over 104,000 Native American or indigenous inhabitants, representing 2.4% of the population. Most of them live in secluded reservations, distributed among eight ethnic groups: Quitirrisí (es) (in the Central Valley), Matambú or Chorotega (Guanacaste), Maleku (northern Alajuela), Bribri (southern Atlantic), Cabécar (Cordillera de Talamanca), [[]] (southern Costa Rica, along the Panamá border), Boruca (southern Costa Rica) and Térraba (es) (southern Costa Rica).

text: The population includes European Costa Ricans (of European ancestry), primarily of Spanish descent,[2] with significant numbers of Italian, German, English, Dutch, French, Irish, Portuguese, and Polish families, as well a sizable Jewish community. The majority of the Afro-Costa Ricans are Creole English-speaking descendants of 19th century black Jamaican immigrant workers.

text: The 2011 census classified 83.6% of the population as white or Mestizo; the latter are persons of combined European and Amerindian descent. The Mulatto segment (mix of white and black) represented 6.7% and indigenous people made up 2.4% of the population.[2] Native and European mixed blood populations are far less than in other Latin American countries. Exceptions are Guanacaste, where almost half the population is visibly mestizo, a legacy of the more pervasive unions between Spanish colonists and Chorotega Amerindians through several generations, and Limón, where the vast majority of the Afro-Costa Rican community lives.

text: Costa Rica hosts many refugees, mainly from Colombia and Nicaragua. As a result of that and illegal immigration, an estimated 10–15% (400,000–600,000) of the Costa Rican population is made up of Nicaraguans.[123][124] Some Nicaraguans migrate for seasonal work opportunities and then return to their country. Costa Rica took in many refugees from a range of other Latin American countries fleeing civil wars and dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s, notably from Chile and Argentina, as well as people from El Salvador who fled from guerrillas and government death squads.[125]

text: According to the World Bank, in 2010 about 489,200 immigrants lived in the country, many from Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize, while 125,306 Costa Ricans live abroad in the United States, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador.[126] The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica[127] and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000, a fivefold increase from 2012.[128] In 2016, the country was called a "magnet" for migrants from South and Central America and other countries who were hoping to reach the U.S.[129][130]

text: Largest cities

text:
v
t
e

Largest cities or towns in Costa Rica
Census 2000

Rank
Name
Province
Pop.

San José

Puerto Limón
1
San José
San José
333 980 (2015)

Alajuela

Heredia

2
Puerto Limón
Limón
55 667

3
Alajuela
Alajuela
42 889

4
Heredia
Heredia
40 840

5
Cinco Esquinas
San José
36 627

6
Desamparados
San José
36 437

7
Liberia
Guanacaste
34 469

8
Puntarenas
Puntarenas
32 460

9
San Vicente
San José
31 693

10
Barranca
Puntarenas
31 386

text: Religion

text: Religion in Costa Rica[131][132]

text: Christianity is Costa Rica's predominant religion, with Roman Catholicism being the official state religion according to the 1949 Constitution, which at the same time guarantees freedom of religion. It is the only state in the Americas which established Roman Catholicism as its state religion; other such countries are microstates in Europe: Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Vatican City and Malta.

text: According to the most recent nationwide survey of religion, conducted in 2007 by the University of Costa Rica, 70.5% of Costa Ricans are Roman Catholics (44.9% practicing Catholics), 13.8% are Evangelical Protestants (almost all are practicing), 11.3% report that they do not have a religion, and 4.3% belong to another religion. The rate of secularism is high by Latin American standards.

text: Due to small, but continuous, immigration from Asia and the Middle East, other religions have grown, the most popular being Buddhism, with about 100,000 practitioners (over 2% of the population).[132] Most Buddhists are members of the Han Chinese community of about 40,000 with some new local converts. There is also a small Muslim community of about 500 families, or 0.001% of the population.[133]

text: The Sinagoga Shaarei Zion synagogue[134] is near La Sabana Metropolitan Park in San José. Several homes in the neighborhood east of the park display the Star of David and other Jewish symbols.[135]

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims more than 35,000 members, and has a temple in San José that served as a regional worship center for Costa Rica.[136] However, they represent less than 1% of the population.[137][138]

text: Languages

text: The primary language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish, which features characteristics distinct to the country, a form of Central American Spanish. Costa Rica is a linguistically diverse country and home to at least five living local indigenous languages spoken by the descendants of pre-Columbian peoples: Maléku, Cabécar, Bribri, Guaymí, and Buglere.

text: Of native languages still spoken, primarily in indigenous reservations, the most numerically important are the Bribri, Maléku, Cabécar and Ngäbere languages; some of these have several thousand speakers in Costa Rica while others have a few hundred. Some languages, such as Teribe and Boruca, have fewer than a thousand speakers. The Buglere language and the closely related Guaymí are spoken by some in southeast Puntarenas.[139]

text: A Creole-English language, Jamaican patois (also known as Mekatelyu), is an English-based Creole language spoken by the Afro-Carib immigrants who have settled primarily in Limón Province along the Caribbean coast.[139]

text: About 10.7% of Costa Rica's adult population (18 or older) also speaks English, 0.7% French, and 0.3% speaks Portuguese or German as a second language.[140]

text: Culture

text: Costa Rica was the point where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures met. The northwest of the country, the Nicoya peninsula, was the southernmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors (conquistadores) came in the 16th century. The central and southern portions of the country had Chibcha influences. The Atlantic coast, meanwhile, was populated with African workers during the 17th and 18th centuries.

text: As a result of the immigration of Spaniards, their 16th-century Spanish culture and its evolution marked everyday life and culture until today, with Spanish language and the Catholic religion as primary influences.

text: The Department of Culture, Youth, and Sports is in charge of the promotion and coordination of cultural life. The work of the department is divided into Direction of Culture, Visual Arts, Scenic Arts, Music, Patrimony and the System of Libraries. Permanent programs, such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and the Youth Symphony Orchestra, are conjunctions of two areas of work: Culture and Youth.[citation needed]

text: Dance-oriented genres, such as soca, salsa, bachata, merengue, cumbia and Costa Rican swing are enjoyed increasingly by older rather than younger people. The guitar is popular, especially as an accompaniment to folk dances; however, the marimba was made the national instrument.

text: In November 2017, National Geographic magazine named Costa Rica as the happiest country in the world.[141] The article included this summary: "Costa Ricans enjoy the pleasure of living daily life to the fullest in a place that mitigates stress and maximizes joy".[142] It is not surprising then that one of the most recognizable phrases among "Ticos" is "Pura Vida", pure life in a literal translation. It reflects the inhabitant's philosophy of life,[143] denoting a simple life, free of stress, a positive, relaxed feeling.[144] The expression is used in various contexts in conversation.[145] Often, people walking down the streets, or buying food at shops say hello by saying Pura Vida. It can be phrased as a question or as an acknowledgement of one's presence. A recommended response to "How are you?" would be "Pura Vida."[146] In that usage, it might be translated as "awesome", indicating that all is very well[147]. When used as a question, the connotation would be "everything is going well?" or "how are you?".[143]

text: Costa Rica rates 12th on the 2017 Happy Planet Index in the World Happiness Report by the UN[148] but the country is said to be the happiest in Latin America. Reasons include the high level of social services, the caring nature of its inhabitants, long life expectancy and relatively low corruption.[149][150]

text: Cuisine

text: Costa Rican cuisine is a blend of Native American, Spanish, African and many other cuisine origins. Dishes such as the very traditional tamale and many others made of corn are the most representative of its indigenous inhabitants, and similar to other neighboring Mesoamerican countries. Spaniards brought many new ingredients to the country from other lands, especially spices and domestic animals. And later in the 19th century, the African flavor lent its presence with influence from other Caribbean mixed flavors. This is how Costa Rican cuisine today is very varied, with every new ethnic group who had recently become part of the country's population influencing the country's cuisine.[151][unreliable source?]

text: Sports

text: Costa Rica entered the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1936 with the fencer Bernardo de la Guardia and the Winter Olympics for the first time in 1980 with the skier Arturo Kinch. All four of Costa Rica's Olympic medals were won by the sisters Silvia and Claudia Poll in swimming, with Claudia winning the only gold medal in 1996.

text: Football is the most popular sport in Costa Rica. The national team has played in four FIFA World Cup tournaments and reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 2014.[152][153] Its best performance in the regional CONCACAF Gold Cup was runner-up in 2002. Paulo Wanchope, a forward who played for three clubs in England's Premier League in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is credited with enhancing foreign recognition of Costa Rican football.[citation needed]

text: Education

text: The literacy rate in Costa Rica is approximately 97 percent and English is widely spoken primarily due to Costa Rica’s tourism industry.[85] When the army was abolished in 1949, it was said that the "army would be replaced with an army of teachers".[154] Universal public education is guaranteed in the constitution; primary education is obligatory, and both preschool and high school are free. Students who finish 11th grade receive a Costa Rican Bachillerato Diploma accredited by the Costa Rican Ministry of Education.

text: There are both state and private universities. The University of Costa Rica has been awarded the title "Meritorious Institution of Costa Rican Education and Culture".

text: A 2016 report by the U.S. government report identifies the current challenges facing the education system, including the high dropout rate among high school students. The country needs even more workers who are fluent in English and languages such as Portuguese, Mandarin and French. It would also benefit from more graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs, according to the report.[85]

text: Health

text: According to the UNDP, in 2010 the life expectancy at birth for Costa Ricans was 79.3 years.[155] The Nicoya Peninsula is considered one of the Blue Zones in the world, where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years.[156][157] The New Economics Foundation (NEF) ranked Costa Rica first in its 2009 Happy Planet Index, and once again in 2012. The index measures the health and happiness they produce per unit of environmental input.[22][23] According to NEF, Costa Rica's lead is due to its very high life expectancy which is second highest in the Americas, and higher than the United States. The country also experienced well-being higher than many richer nations and a per capita ecological footprint one-third the size of the United States.[158]

text: In 2002, there were 0.58 new general practitioner (medical) consultations and 0.33 new specialist consultations per capita, and a hospital admission rate of 8.1%. Preventive health care is also successful. In 2002, 96% of Costa Rican women used some form of contraception, and antenatal care services were provided to 87% of all pregnant women. All children under one have access to well-baby clinics, and the immunization coverage rate in 2002 was above 91% for all antigens.[citation needed] Costa Rica has a very low malaria incidence of 48 per 100,000 in 2000 and no reported cases of measles in 2002. The perinatal mortality rate dropped from 12.0 per 1000 in 1972 to 5.4 per 1000 in 2001.[159]

text: Costa Rica has been cited in various journals as Central America's great health success story.[citation needed] Its healthcare system is ranked higher than that of the United States, despite having a fraction of its GDP.[160] Prior to 1940, government hospitals and charities provided most health care. But since the 1941 creation of the Social Insurance Administration (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS), Costa Rica has provided universal health care to its wage-earning residents, with coverage extended to dependants over time. In 1973, the CCSS took over administration of all 29 of the country's public hospitals and all health care, also launching a Rural Health Program (Programa de Salud Rural) for primary care to rural areas, later extended to primary care services nationwide. In 1993, laws were passed to enable elected health boards that represented health consumers, social insurance representatives, employers, and social organizations. By the year 2000, social health insurance coverage was available to 82% of the Costa Rican population. Each health committee manages an area equivalent to one of the 83 administrative cantons of Costa Rica. There is limited use of private, for-profit services (around 14.4% of the national total health expenditure). About 7% of GDP is allocated to the health sector, and over 70% is government funded.

text: Primary health care facilities in Costa Rica include health clinics, with a general practitioner, nurse, clerk, pharmacist and a primary health technician. In 2008, there were five specialty national hospitals, three general national hospitals, seven regional hospitals, 13 peripheral hospitals, and 10 major clinics serving as referral centers for primary care clinics, which also deliver biopsychosocial services, family and community medical services and promotion and prevention programs. Patients can choose private health care to avoid waiting lists.[citation needed]

text: Costa Rica is among the Latin America countries that have become popular destinations for medical tourism.[161][162] In 2006, Costa Rica received 150,000 foreigners that came for medical treatment.[161][162][163] Costa Rica is particularly attractive to Americans due to geographic proximity, high quality of medical services, and lower medical costs.[162]

text: Since 2012, smoking in Costa Rica is subject to some of the most restrictive regulations in the world.


document_title: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

question_text: who are the characters in how the grinch stole christmas

text: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

text: Plot[edit]

text: The Grinch is a bitter, grumpy, cave-dwelling creature with a heart "two sizes too small" who is living as a hermit on the snowy Mount Crumpit, a steep high mountain just north of the town of Whoville, home of the merry and warm-hearted Whos. His only companion is his unloved, but loyal dog, Max. From his cave, the Grinch can hear the noisy Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville. Continuously annoyed, he decides to devise a wicked scheme by stealing their presents, trees, and food for their Christmas feast. He crudely disguises himself as Santa Claus, and forces Max, disguised as a reindeer, to drag a sleigh down the mountain towards Whoville. Once at Whoville, the Grinch slides down the chimney of one house and steals all of the Whos' Christmas presents, the Christmas tree, and the log for their fire. He is briefly interrupted in his burglary by Cindy Lou, a little Who girl, but concocts a crafty lie to effect his escape from her home. After stealing from one house, he does the same thing to all the other houses in the village of Whoville.

text: After spending all night stealing stuff from the houses of Whoville, the Grinch prepares his journey back to Mount Crumpit, and intends to dump all of the Christmas stuff into the abyss, but Max, utilizing every last of his strength to pull the sleigh upward, causes the sleigh to get stuck on a cliff. As dawn arrives, the Grinch expects the people in Whoville to let out bitter and sorrowful cries, but is confused to hear them singing a joyous Christmas song instead. He puzzles for a moment until it dawns on him that "maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more" than just presents and feasting. The Grinch's shrunken heart suddenly grows three sizes. The reformed and liberated Grinch begins having second thoughts, and returns to the village to give back all of the Whos' Christmas stuff. The Grinch is warmly invited to the Whos' feast, where he has the honor of carving the Roast Beast.

text: Creation and publication[edit]

text: The Grinch first appeared in a 32-line illustrated poem by Dr. Seuss called "The Hoobub and the Grinch," which was originally published in the May 1955 edition of Redbook magazine.[3] Dr. Seuss began work on How the Grinch Stole Christmas! a couple years later, around the beginning of 1957. He had recently completed The Cat in the Hat and was in the midst of founding Beginner Books with Phyllis and Bennett Cerf and his wife, Helen Palmer Geisel. Helen, who had ongoing medical problems and had suffered a small stroke in April 1957, nevertheless acted as an unofficial editor, as she had with previous Dr. Seuss books.[4] Dr. Seuss wrote the book quickly and was mostly finished with it within a few weeks.[5] Biographers Judith and Neil Morgan wrote, "It was the easiest book of his career to write, except for its conclusion."[4] According to Dr. Seuss,

text: "I got hung up getting the Grinch out of the mess. I got into a situation where I sounded like a second-rate preacher or some biblical truisim... Finally in desperation... without making any statement whatever, I showed the Grinch and the Whos together at the table, and made a pun of the Grinch carving the 'roast beast.' ... I had gone through thousands of religious choices, and then after three months it came out like that."[4]

text: By mid-May 1957, the book was finished and in the mail to the Random House offices in New York. In June, the Dr. Seuss and his wife took a month-long vacation to Hawaii, where he checked and returned the book's galley proof.[4] The book debuted in December 1957, in both a book version published by Random House and in an issue of Redbook.[6] Dr. Seuss dedicated the book to Theodor "Teddy" Owens, the one-year-old son of his niece, Peggy Owens.[4]

text: Reception[edit]

text: M.S. Libby, writing in the New York Herald Tribune, compared the book favorably to Dr. Seuss's earlier works: "His peculiar and original genius in line and word is always the same, yet, so rich are the variations he plays on his themes, always fresh and amusing."[7] Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Youngsters will be in transports over the goofy gaiety of Dr. Seuss's first book about a villain."[7] The reviewer called the Grinch "easily the best Christmas-cad since Scrooge."[7] Ellen Lewis Buell, in her review in The New York Times, praised the book's handling of its moral, as well as its illustrations and verse. She wrote,

text: "Even if you prefer Dr. Seuss in a purely antic mood, you must admit that if there's a moral to be pointed out, no one can do it more gaily. The reader is swept along by the ebullient rhymes and the weirdly zany pictures until he is limp with relief when the Grinch reforms and, like the latter, mellow with good feelings."[7]

text: The review for The Saturday Review of Literature stated: "The inimitable Dr. Seuss has brought off a fresh triumph in his new picture book... The verse is as lively and the pages are as bright and colorful as anyone could wish."[7] The reviewer suggested that parents and older siblings reading the book to young children would also enjoy its moral and humor.[7] Charlotte Jackson of the San Francisco Chronicle called the book "wonderful fantasy, in the true Dr. Seuss manner, with pictures in the Christmas colors."[7]

text: Analysis[edit]

text: Some writers, including Dr. Seuss himself, have made a connection between the Grinch and Dr. Seuss. In the story, the Grinch laments that he has had to put up with the Whos' celebration of Christmas for 53 years. As both Thomas Fensch and Charles Cohen note, Dr. Seuss was 53 when he wrote and published the book.[8][9] Dr. Seuss himself asserted the connection in an article in the December 1957 edition of Redbook: "I was brushing my teeth on the morning of the 26th of last December when I noticed a very Grinch-ish countenance in the mirror. It was Seuss! So I wrote about my sour friend, the Grinch, to see if I could rediscover something about Christmas that obviously I'd lost."[10] Seuss's step-daughter, Lark Dimond-Cates, stated in a speech in 2003, "I always thought the Cat... was Ted on his good days, and the Grinch was Ted on his bad days."[11] Cohen notes that Seuss drove a car with a license plate that read "GRINCH".[9]

text: Thomas Fensch notes that the Grinch is the first adult and the first villain to be a main character in a Dr. Seuss book.[8]

text: Adaptations[edit]

text: The book has been adapted into a variety of media, including stage and film. Chuck Jones and Ben Washam (Co-Director) adapted the story as an animated special in 1966, featuring narration by Boris Karloff, who also provided the Grinch's voice. Thurl Ravenscroft sang "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" with lyrics written by Dr. Seuss himself.[12][13] A musical stage version was produced by the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, in 1998. It also was produced on Broadway and a limited-engagement US tour in 2008. The North American Tour began in the fall of 2010 and has subsequently toured every fall since. It will begin its 6th tour in October 2015.[14] In 2000, the book was adapted into a live-action film, directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch.[15] Illumination Entertainment is also developing a 3D animated feature film, titled The Grinch[16] with Peter Candeland and Yarrow Cheney set to direct it and Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the Grinch.[17] It was originally scheduled to be released on November 10, 2017,[18] but in June 2016, it was pushed back to November 9, 2018.[19]

text: Several audio recordings and audio-visual adaptations of the book have also been published. In 1975, Zero Mostel narrated an LP record of the story.[20] In 1992, Random House Home Video released an updated animated version of the book narrated by Walter Matthau.[21] In 2009, an interactive e-book version was released for the iPhone.[22] The book was adapted into a 13-minute song, performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra, arranged by Danny Troob, and featuring bassist Reid Burton and actor Will LeBow narrating it on the Boston Pops's 2013 CD, "A Boston Pops Christmas – Live from Symphony Hall with Keith Lockhart".

text: As of 2005, the book had been translated into nine languages,[23] including Latin as Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit: How the Grinch Stole Christmas in Latin by Jennifer Morrish Tunberg with the assistance of Terence O. Tunberg. The translation was published in October 1998 by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers Inc.[24]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named How the Grinch Stole Christmas! one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".[25] In 2012 it was ranked number 61 among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by School Library Journal – the fourth of five Dr. Seuss books on the list.[26]

text: The Grinch appears in the animated specials Halloween Is Grinch Night and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat and he and Max also appear in the puppet children's show The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. The Grinch, Cindy Lou Who, and Max, appear in Seussical, a musical which takes it plot from several Dr. Seuss books.

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Zielinski, Stan (2006-06-20). "Collecting Children's Picturebooks: Dr. Seuss – Redbook Magazine Original Stories". 1stedition.net. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
Jump up ^ Nel 2004, p. 130.
Jump up ^ Nel 2004, p. 117
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Morgan & Morgan 1995, pp. 157–58.
Jump up ^ MacDonald 1988, p. 92.
Jump up ^ Nel 2004, p. 118.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Fensch 2001, pp. 128–29.
^ Jump up to: a b Fensch 2001, p. 126.
^ Jump up to: a b Cohen 2004, p. 330.
Jump up ^ Hart, William B. (December 1957). "Between the Lines". Redbook.  |access-date= requires |url= (help) as quoted in Cohen 2004, p. 330
Jump up ^ Dimond-Cates, Lark (October 27, 2003). Speech by Lark Dimond-Cates (Speech). United States Postal Service's unveiling of Theodor Seuss Geisel stamp. Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, Springfield, Massachusetts.  as quoted in Cohen 2004, p. 321
Jump up ^ Lindemann 2005, p. 124
Jump up ^ Morgan & Morgan 1995, pp. 190–92
Jump up ^ http://www.grinchmusical.com/
Jump up ^ "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
Jump up ^ Kit, Borys (February 7, 2013). "'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' Remake in the Works at Universal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ Kroll, Justin (April 13, 2016). "Benedict Cumberbatch to Voice the Grinch in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'". Variety.
Jump up ^ "Universal Dates 'Despicable Me 3,' New 'Grinch Who Stole Christmas'". The Hollywood Reporter. 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
Jump up ^ Kroll, Justin (June 7, 2016). "Illumination's 'The Grinch' Pushed Back to 2018". Variety. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
Jump up ^ Lindemann 2005, p. 139
Jump up ^ Lindemann 2005, p. 125
Jump up ^ Broida, Rick. "'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' dazzles on iPhone". Cnet. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
Jump up ^ Lindemann 2005, pp. 31–33
Jump up ^ Reardon, Patrick (15 December 1998). "How the Grinch Went Latin". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
Jump up ^ National Education Association (2007). "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". Retrieved August 19, 2012.
Jump up ^ Bird, Elizabeth (July 6, 2012). "Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results". A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Retrieved August 19, 2012.

tag: ol

text: Sources[edit]

text:
Cohen, Charles (2004). The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel. Random House. ISBN 978-0375822483.
Fensch, Thomas (2001). The Man Who Was Dr. Seuss. Woodlands: New Century Books. ISBN 0-930751-11-6.
Lindemann, Richard (2005). The Dr. Seuss Catalog: An Annotated Guide to Works by Theodor Geisel in All Media, Writings About Him, and Appearances of Characters and Places in the Books, Stories and Films. McFarland & Company.
MacDonald, Ruth (1988). Dr. Seuss. Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7524-2.
Morgan, Neil; Morgan, Judith Giles (1996). Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel: a biography. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80736-7.
Nel, Philip (2004). Dr. Seuss: American Icon. Continuum Publishing. ISBN 0-8264-1434-6.
Pease, Donald E. (2010). Theodor Seuss Geisel. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532302-3.


document_title: Governors of British Ceylon

question_text: who is the first british governor of sri lanka

text: Governors of British Ceylon

text: Appointment[edit]

text: The Governor, appointed by the British monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for the Colonies), maintained executive power in Ceylon throughout British rule.

text: Functions[edit]

text: The Governor was the Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in Ceylon, except only during World War II, when Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon with power exceeding that of the Governor.

text: Ceremonial[edit]

text: In November each year, the Governor would receive the annual tribute from the Sultan of Maldives. The Governor was the ex-officio Chancellor of the University of Ceylon and patron of the Royal College Colombo.

text: Privileges[edit]

text: Residence[edit]

text: The Governor's main residence and office was the King's House in Colombo and secondary residence was the King's Pavilion in Kandy. The vacationing residence of the Governor, Queen's Cottage was located in the hill station of Nuwara Eliya.

text: Guard[edit]

text: The Governor's Bodyguard was a mounted guard that functioned as a ceremonial guard for the Governor when attending state functions.

text: List of Governors[edit]

text:
#
Portrait
Name
Birth
Death
Governor From
Governor Until
Sovereign

Military Governors (1795–1798)

1

Patrick Alexander Agnew
(in Trincomalee)
1765
1813
August 1795
1 March 1796
George III

2

James Stuart
1741
1815
1 March 1796
1 January 1797
George III

3

Welbore Ellis Doyle
1758
1797
1 January 1797
2 July 1797
George III

4

Peter Bonnevaux
c.1752
1797
2 July 1797
12 July 1797
George III

5

Pierre Frédéric de Meuron
1788
1813
12 July 1797
12 October 1798
George III

Resident and Superintendent (1796-1798)

1

Robert Andrews
-
-
12 February 1796
12 October 1798
George III

Governors (1798–1948)

1

Frederick North
7 February 1766
14 October 1827
12 October 1798
19 July 1805
George III

2

Thomas Maitland
1759
1824
19 July 1805
19 March 1811
George III

John Wilson
1780
1856
19 March 1811
11 March 1812
George III

3

Robert Brownrigg
1759
27 April 1833
11 March 1812
1 February 1820
George III

Edward Barnes
1776
19 March 1838
1 February 1820
2 February 1822
George III
George IV

4

Edward Paget
3 November 1775
13 May 1849
2 February 1822
6 November 1822
George IV

James Campbell
-
-
6 November 1822
18 January 1824
George IV

5

Edward Barnes
1776
19 March 1838
18 January 1824
13 October 1831
George IV
William IV

John Wilson
1780
1856
13 October 1831
23 October 1831
William IV

6

Robert Wilmot-Horton
21 December 1784
31 May 1841
23 October 1831
7 November 1837
William IV
Queen Victoria

7

James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie
23 September 1784
24 September 1843
7 November 1837
15 April 1841
Queen Victoria

8

Colin Campbell
1776
13 June 1847
15 April 1841
19 April 1847
Queen Victoria

James Emerson Tennent
7 April 1804
6 March 1869
19 April 1847
29 May 1847
Queen Victoria

9

The Viscount Torrington
9 September 1812
27 April 1884
29 May 1847
18 October 1850
Queen Victoria

Charles Justin MacCarthy
1820
1864
18 October 1850
27 November 1850
Queen Victoria

10

George William Anderson
1791
12 March 1857
27 November 1850
18 January 1855
Queen Victoria

Charles Justin MacCarthy
1820
1864
18 January 1855
11 May 1855
Queen Victoria

11

Henry George Ward
1797
1860
11 May 1855
30 June 1860
Queen Victoria

Henry Frederick Lockyer
1797
1860
30 June 1860
30 July 1860
Queen Victoria

Charles Edmund Wilkinson
1807
1870
30 July 1860
22 October 186
Queen Victoria

12

Charles Justin MacCarthy
1820
1864
22 October 1860
1 December 1863
Queen Victoria

Terence O'Brien
-
-
1 December 1863
21 March 1865
Queen Victoria

Hercules Robinson
19 December 1824
28 October 1897
21 March 1865
16 May 1865
Queen Victoria

13

Hercules Robinson
19 December 1824
28 October 1897
16 May 1865
4 January 1872
Queen Victoria

Henry Turner Irving
1833
1923
4 January 1872
4 March 1872
Queen Victoria

14

William Henry Gregory
12 July 1817
6 March 1892
4 March 1872
4 September 1877
Queen Victoria

15

James Robert Longden
1827
9 October 1891
4 September 1877
10 July 1883
Queen Victoria

John Douglas
1835
23 August 1885
10 July 1883
3 December 1883
Queen Victoria

16

Arthur Hamilton-Gordon
26 November 1829
30 January 1912
3 December 1883
28 May 1890
Queen Victoria

17

Arthur Elibank Havelock
21 February 1844
25 June 1908
28 May 1890
24 October 1895
Queen Victoria

Edward Noël Walker
1842
1908
24 October 1895
10 February 1896
Queen Victoria

18

Joseph West Ridgeway
16 May 1844
16 April 1930
10 February 1896
19 November 1903
Queen Victoria
Edward VII

Sir Everard im Thurn
1852
9 October 1932
19 November 1903
3 December 1903
Edward VII

19

Henry Arthur Blake
8 January 1840
13 February 1918
3 December 1903
11 July 1907
Edward VII

Hugh Clifford
5 March 1866
18 December 1941
11 July 1907
24 August 1907
Edward VII

20

Henry Edward McCallum
28 October 1852
24 November 1919
24 August 1907
24 January 1913
Edward VII
George V

Reginald Edward Stubbs
13 October 1876
7 December 1947
24 January 1913
18 October 1913
George V

21

Robert Chalmers
18 August 1858
17 November 1938

4 December 1915
George V

Reginald Edward Stubbs
13 October 1876
7 December 1947
4 December 1915
15 April 1916
George V

22

John Anderson
23 June 1858
24 March 1918
15 April 1916
24 March 1918
George V

Reginald Edward Stubbs
13 October 1876
7 December 1947
24 March 1918
10 September 1918
George V

23

William Henry Manning
19 July 1863
1 January 1932
10 September 1918
1 April 1925
George V

Cecil Clementi
1 September 1875
5 April 1947
1 April 1925
18 October 1925
George V

Edward Bruce Alexander
1872
1955
18 October 1925
30 November 1925
George V

24

Hugh Clifford
5 March 1866
18 December 1941
30 November 1925
June 1927
George V

Arthur George Murchison Fletcher
1878
1954
June 1927
20 August 1928
George V

25

Herbert Stanley
25 July 1872
5 June 1955
20 August 1928
11 February 1931
George V

Bernard Henry Bourdillon
3 December 1883
6 February 1948
11 February 1931
11 April 1931
George V

26

Graeme Thomson
1875
1933
11 April 1931
20 September 1933
George V

Graeme Tyrrell
1876
1964
20 September 1933
23 December 1933
George V

27

Reginald Edward Stubbs
13 October 1876
7 December 1947
23 December 1933
30 June 1937
George V
Edward VIII
George VI

Maxwell MacLagan Wedderburn
1883
1953
30 June 1937
16 October 1937
George VI

28

Andrew Caldecott
26 October 1884
14 July 1951
16 October 1937
19 September 1944
George VI

29

Henry Monck-Mason Moore
1887
1964
19 September 1944
4 February 1948
George VI


document_title: The Color Purple

question_text: who is celie sister in the color purple

question_tokens: who is celie sister in the color purple

text: The Color Purple

text: Plot summary[edit]

text: Celie is a poor, uneducated, 14-year-old girl living in the American South in the early 1900s. She writes letters to God because her father, Alphonso, beats her harshly and rapes her continually. Alphonso has already impregnated Celie once, a pregnancy that resulted in the birth of a boy she called Adam. Alphonso takes the baby away shortly after his birth. Celie has a second child, a girl she called Olivia whom Alphonso also abducts. Celie's ailing mother dies after cursing Celie on her deathbed.

text: Celie and her younger sister, 12-year-old Nettie, learn that a man identified only as Mister wants to marry Nettie. Alphonso refuses to let Nettie marry, instead arranging for Mister to marry Celie. Mister, needing someone to care for his children and keep his house, eventually accepts the offer. Mister and his children, whose mother was murdered by a jealous lover, all treat Celie badly. However, she eventually gets Mister's squalid living conditions and incorrigible children under control.

text: Shortly thereafter, Nettie runs away from Alphonso and takes refuge at Celie's house, where Mister makes sexual advances toward her. Celie then advises Nettie to seek assistance from a well-dressed black woman that she had seen in the general store a while back; the woman had unknowingly adopted Celie's daughter and was the only black woman that Celie had ever seen with money of her own. Nettie is forced to leave after promising to write. Celie, however, never receives any letters and concludes that her sister is dead.

text: Time passes and Mister's children begin to grow up and leave home. Harpo, Mister's son, falls in love with an assertive girl named Sofia, who becomes pregnant with Harpo's baby and, despite initial resistance from Mister, marries Harpo. Harpo and Sofia have five more children in short order.

text: Celie is amazed by Sofia's defiant refusal to submit to Harpo's attempts to control her. Kinder and gentler than his father, Harpo feels emasculated due to his inability to get Sofia to "mind." Celie advises Harpo not to try to dominate Sofia; she also tells Harpo that Sofia loves him, admitting that she, Celie, only obeys Mister out of fear. Harpo temporarily follows Celie's advice but falls back under Mister's sway. A momentarily jealous Celie then advises Harpo to beat Sofia. Sofia fights back, however, inflicting serious injuries on Harpo.

text: After Sofia confronts her, Celie, who was already feeling guilty about what she had done, apologizes and confides in her about all the abuse she suffers at Mister's hands. She also begins to consider Sofia's advice about defending herself against further abuse from Mister.

text: Glamorous Shug Avery, a jazz and blues singer and Mister's long-time mistress, falls ill, and Mister takes her into his house. Celie, who had been fascinated by photos of Shug she found in Mister's belongings, is thrilled to have her there. Mister's father expresses disapproval of the arrangement, reminding Mister that Shug has three out-of-wedlock children. Mister proudly states that he knows for certain that all the children have the same father, indirectly admitting to being their father. Mister's father leaves in disgust after drinking a glass of water into which Celie spit. While Shug is initially rude to Celie, who has taken charge of nursing her, the two women become friends, and Celie soon finds herself infatuated with Shug.

text: Frustrated by Harpo's domineering behavior, Sofia moves out, taking her children with her. Several months later, Harpo opens a juke joint where a fully recovered Shug performs nightly. Shug decides to stay when she learns that Mister beats Celie when she is away. Shug and Celie's relationship grows more intimate.

text: Sofia returns for a visit and promptly gets into a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, Squeak, knocking Squeak's teeth out. In town one day, while Sofia is enjoying a day out with her new beau, a prizefighter, and their respective children, the mayor's wife, Miss Millie, approaches the group. She begins to "finger" Sofia's children (physically examine them in a way reminiscent of slaves on an auction block) without bothering, at first, to speak to their mother or ask permission. At first, Sofia silently endures. Miss Millie then looks up and addresses Sofia, remarking on how clean the children are and bluntly asks Sofia if she would like to be her maid. Sofia, who does not work as a maid, straightforwardly refuses saying "Hell no." The mayor then pushes his wife aside, calling Sofia "girl" and daring her to repeat herself. When Sofia does so defiantly, the mayor slaps Sofia. Sofia responds by using her fist to knock the mayor, her assailant, onto the ground. The police quickly arrive at the scene and brutally beat Sofia as she pleads with the prizefighter not to intervene on her behalf and instead to take her children to safety. Sofia emerges from her ordeal with a cracked skull, broken ribs, her face rendered nearly unrecognizable, and blind in one eye. Sofia is subsequently sentenced to 12 years in jail.

text: Squeak, a mixed-race woman and Sheriff Hodges' illegitimate niece, attempts to blackmail the sheriff into releasing Sofia, resulting in her being raped by the sheriff. Squeak cares for Sofia's children while she is incarcerated, and the two women develop a friendship. Sofia is eventually released and begins working for Miss Millie, which she detests.

text: Despite being newly married to a person called Grady, Shug instigates a sexual relationship with Celie on her next visit. One night Shug asks Celie about her sister, and Shug helps Celie recover letters from Nettie that Mister has been hiding from her for decades.

text: The letters indicate that Nettie befriended a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, the well-dressed woman that Celie saw in the store, whom Nettie eventually accompanied to Africa to do missionary work. Samuel and Corrine have unwittingly adopted Celie's son and daughter (by Celie's father), Adam and Olivia. Corrine, noticing that her adopted children resemble Nettie, wonders if Samuel fathered the children with her. Increasingly suspicious, Corrine tries to limit Nettie's role in her family.

text: Through her letters, Nettie reveals that she has become disillusioned with her missionary work. Corrine becomes ill with a fever. Nettie asks Samuel to tell her how he adopted Olivia and Adam. Realizing that Adam and Olivia are Celie's children, Nettie then learns that Alphonso is her and Celie's stepfather. Their biological father was a store owner whom white men lynched because they resented his success. She also learns that their mother suffered a mental collapse after the death of her husband and that Alphonso exploited the situation in order to control their mother's considerable wealth.

text: Nettie confesses to Samuel and Corrine that she is in fact their children's biological aunt. The gravely ill Corrine refuses to believe her until Nettie reminds her of her previous encounter with Celie in the store. Later, Corrine dies, finally having accepted Nettie's story. Meanwhile, Celie visits Alphonso, who confirms Nettie's story. Celie begins to lose some of her faith in God, which she confides to Shug, who explains to Celie her own unique religious philosophy.

text: Celie, having had enough of her husband's abuse, decides to leave Mister along with Shug and Squeak, who is considering a singing career of her own. Celie puts a curse on Mister before leaving him for good.

text: Celie settles in Tennessee and supports herself as a seamstress. She learns that Mister, suffering from a considerable decline in fortunes after Celie left him, has changed dramatically; he gives Celie permission to call him by his first name, Albert. Albert proposes that they marry "in the spirit as well as in the flesh," but Celie declines.

text: Alphonso dies, Celie inherits his land, and moves back into her childhood home. Around this time, Shug falls in love with Germaine, a member of her band, and the news thereof crushes Celie. Shug travels with Germaine, all the while writing postcards to Celie. Celie pledges to love Shug even if Shug does not love her back.

text: Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel marry and prepare to return to America. Before they leave, Adam marries Tashi, an African girl. Following an African tradition, Tashi undergoes the painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. In solidarity, Adam undergoes the same facial scarring ritual.

text: Just after Celie realizes that she is content in her life without Shug, Shug returns, having ended things with Germaine. The end of the novel has Nettie, Samuel, Olivia, Adam, and Tashi arriving at Celie's house. Nettie and Celie embrace, having not seen each other for over 30 years. They introduce one another to their respective families as the novel ends.

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, making Walker the first black woman to win the prize.[5][6] Walker also won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983.[7] Mel Watkins of the New York Times Book Review wrote that it is a "striking and consummately well-written novel," praising its powerful emotional impact and epistolary structure.[8]

text: Though the novel has garnered critical acclaim, it has also been the subject of controversy. It is 17th on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged or banned books.[9] Commonly cited justications for banning the book include sexual explicitness, explicit language, violence, and homosexuality.[10] The book received greater scrutiny amidst controversy surrounding the release of the film adaptation in 1985.[11] The controversy centered around the depiction of black men, which some critics saw as feeding stereotypical narratives of black male violence, while others found the representation compelling and relatable.[12]

text: Character analysis[edit]

text: Celie[edit]

text: Celie is the main character of the novel. She is shown to have experienced abuse at the hands of men for most of her life: she is routinely beaten and raped by her supposed father, with whom she has two children during her adolescence and whom he gives away. He later gives her away to be married to Mister, who is in love with Shug Avery, a blues singer. When Shug comes to recover from an illness in Mister and Celie's home, it leads to an intimate relationship between Celie and Shug. Celie and Shug's relationship later develops a romantic and sexual dimension culminating in their sleeping together; this being Celie's first positive sexual experience. Shug has a significant influence on Celie, who begins to draw inspiration from Shug's independence, leading her ultimately to her own independent attitude. Shug not only influences the way that Celie allows Mister to treat her, but also shows Celie that actions deemed sinful by others may not truly be evil or transgressive and that they do not prevent one from believing in and living for God, thereby broadening Celie's views on religion and ethics. It is also Shug who frees Celie from Mister's bondage, first by loving her, then by helping her to start a custom sewing business. From Shug, Celie learns that Mister [now revealed as Albert] has been hiding letters written to her from Africa by her sister Nettie, a missionary. These letters, full of educated, firsthand observation of African life, form a moving counterpoint to Celie's life. They reveal that in Africa, just as in America, women are persistently oppressed by men.[13]

text: Nettie[edit]

text: Nettie is Celie's younger sister, whom Celie loves and saves from living the tragic life that she had to endure. Because Nettie is prettier than Celie, who has been deemed ugly, Mister is originally interested in Nettie as a wife, but settles for Celie. Nettie runs away from home to be with Celie, but is unable to stay with Celie as Mister tries to assault her sexually. As a result, Nettie leaves home and before leaving, promises to write to Celie and tells her that only death can keep them apart. Nettie is eventually taken in by Samuel and Corrine, a missionary couple, with whom she travels to Africa as a missionary. While in Africa, Nettie becomes the caregiver of Samuel and Corrine's children and faithfully writes to Celie for decades. Nettie marries Samuel after Corrine's death and moves back to America with what are revealed to be Celie's biological children. Through explaining her experiences to Celie, Nettie encourages Celie to be more enthusiastic and optimistic about life. Nettie finds that while there is not racial disparity in Africa, gender disparity exists. The women of the tribe are not treated as equals, and are not permitted to attend school.

text: Shug Avery[edit]

text: A sultry blues singer who first appears as Mister's mistress, Shug becomes Celie's friend and eventually her lover. Shug remains a gentle mentor who helps Celie evolve into an independent and assertive woman. At first, Shug doesn't appear to be the mothering and nurturing kind, yet she nurtures Celie physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Shug helps Celie discover the letters from her sister Nettie that Mister had been hiding for decades. In allowing Celie to view these letters, Shug supplies her with even more hope and inspiration, letting Celie see that in the end, everything works out for the best.

text: Albert (known as Mister)[edit]

text: Mister is the man to whom Celie is married. Originally, he seeks a relationship with Nettie but settles for Celie. Mister mistreats Celie just as her stepfather had, although Celie does not understand that she doesn't have to tolerate the abuse. Mister uses Celie to help raise his children, who give her a hard time because she is not their biological mother. When Shug Avery comes to town, Mister falls for her and makes her his mistress. Through Shug's seductive and manipulative influence, Albert begins to treat Celie better. In the end, Albert realizes that he has mistreated Celie and seeks a friendship with her.

text: Film, theatrical, and radio adaptations[edit]

text: The novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 1985. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Whoopi Goldberg as Celie, Danny Glover as Albert, and Oprah Winfrey as Sofia. Though nominated for eleven Academy Awards, it won none. This perceived snubbing ignited controversy because many critics considered it the best picture that year,[14] including Roger Ebert.[15]

text: On December 1, 2005, a musical adaptation of the novel (based on the film) opened at The Broadway Theatre in New York City. The show was produced by Scott Sanders, Quincy Jones, Harvey Weinstein, and Oprah Winfrey, who was also an investor.[16] It garnered five 2006 Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, including Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding New Score. That same year, the show was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score Written for the Theater, and Best Leading Actress in a Musical (LaChanze). LaChanze did win the Tony Award, though the show itself won no other awards. LaChanze's win was attributed to the variety of roles for which she had garnered positive attention, as well as for a powerful backstory. In April 2007, Fantasia Barrino took over the role. The Broadway production ended its run on February 24, 2008.[17]

text: In 2008 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio adaptation of the novel in ten 15-minute episodes as a Woman's Hour serial, with Nadine Marshall as Celie. The script was by Patricia Cumper, and in 2009 the production received the Sony Radio Academy Awards Silver Drama Award.[18]

text: Boycotting Israel[edit]

text: As part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), the author declined publication of the book in Israel[19] in 2012. Walker, an ardent pro-Palestinian activist, said in a letter to Yediot Books that Israel practices "apartheid" and must change its policies before her works can be published there.[20][20] This decision was criticized by Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, who argued that Walker "resorted to bigotry and censorship against Hebrew-speaking readers of her writings".[21]

text: Editions[edit]

text:
ISBN 0-15-119153-0 (First Edition, 1982)
ISBN 0-606-00587-0 (prebound, 1985)
ISBN 0-671-61702-8 (mass market paperback, 1985)
ISBN 0-671-64745-8 (mass market paperback, 1987)
ISBN 0-671-66878-1 (paperback, 1988)
ISBN 0-15-119154-9 (hardcover, 1992, Anniversary Edition)
ISBN 1-56849-628-1 (library binding, 1995, reprint)
ISBN 0-671-01907-4 (paperback, 1998)
ISBN 0-7641-2064-6 (paperback, 2002)
ISBN 0-15-602835-2 (paperback, 2003)
ISBN 0-671-72779-6
ISBN 0-7043-3905-6
ISBN 978-0-7538-1892-3 (paperback, United Kingdom, 2004)
ISBN 9781453223970 (ebook, 2011)


document_title: Ross Lynch

question_text: who does ross lynch play in muppets most wanted

text: Ross Lynch

text: Early life[edit]

text: Lynch was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado. He is the second youngest of five siblings (sister Rydel and brothers Riker, Rocky, and Ryland). He was educated at home starting in the fourth grade when he learned to sing and play the guitar and piano.[5] Lynch is a second cousin of entertainers Derek Hough and Julianne Hough, their maternal grandmothers being sisters.[6][7][8] Lynch and his family moved to Los Angeles in 2007.[9]

text: Career[edit]

text: Solo music[edit]

text: Lynch plays piano, drums, and bass; he specializes in guitar. He has danced for the Rage Boyz Crew, a group founded by a dance company in Southern California.[10]

text: His debut single, "A Billion Hits", was released on April 2, 2012.[11] On July 13, 2012, Lynch released his second soundtrack single, "Heard It on the Radio",[12] which reached number 196 on UK Singles Chart. Lynch has recorded a multitude of songs for Austin & Ally. He sang all 14 songs for the TV show's soundtrack, which was released on September 12, 2012.[13] These songs include "Can't Do It Without You" (the theme song for the series), "A Billion Hits", "Heard It On the Radio", and two songs with his band R5.[14] The album peaked at twenty-seven on the Billboard 200, one on the Billboard's Top Soundtracks and one on the Billboard's Kid Albums.[13]

text: Lynch also sang most of the songs from Austin & Ally: Turn It Up, the show's second soundtrack.[15] He recorded songs for his film Teen Beach Movie, which was the fourth best-selling soundtrack of 2013 in the United States with 407,000 copies sold for the year.[16] He also sang two songs on the Austin & Ally: Take It from the Top EP.[17] In 2015, Lynch recorded songs for his film Teen Beach 2, which debuted at number 10 on the Billboard Top 200.[18]

text: In 2016, Lynch contributed vocals to Tritonal's song "I Feel the Love" from their forthcoming album Painting With Dreams.[19]

text: With R5[edit]

text: In March 2010, R5 self-released an EP, Ready Set Rock and in September 2010 they signed with Hollywood Records.[20] Their second EP, Loud, was released on February 19, 2013, which featured the lead single and title track "Loud". The band's first full-length album, Louder, was released on September 24, 2013, and the album includes the four songs from Loud as well as seven new songs. The second single from the album, "Pass Me By", premiered on Radio Disney on August 16, 2013. The music video premiered on August 29 on Disney Channel and is available for public viewing on the band's Vevo channel. The third single, "(I Can't) Forget About You", was released on December 25, 2013, and reached number 47 on Billboard Digital Pop Songs, and the fourth single "One Last Dance" on May 29, 2014. The third extended play, Heart Made Up on You, was released on July 22, 2014, and the self-titled single was released on August 1, 2014.[21]

text: On November 16, 2014, the band released the first single from second album, "Smile". "Let's Not Be Alone Tonight", the second single, was released on February 13, 2015.[22] "All Night" was released as the third single on June 2, 2015, along with the album's iTunes pre-order.[23] The band released their second full-length album on July 10, 2015, titled Sometime Last Night and debuted at number 6 on Billboard 200, number 1 on Billboard Top Pop Albums, number 3 on Billboard Top Digital Albums, and number 4 on the Billboard Top Album Sales.[22]

text: On May 12, 2017, R5 released their fifth EP New Addictions.[23]

text: Television[edit]

text: Lynch has appeared on the television shows So You Think You Can Dance and Moises Rules!, and in the 2010 short film Grapple.[10] He was in Kidz Bop, appearing in a 2009 Kidz Bop video.[24] He was also in Cymphonique's music video for "Lil' Miss Swagger".

text: In early 2011, Lynch was cast in the pilot for the Disney Channel sitcom Austin & Ally, playing the lead male role of Austin Moon, a teenage singer who becomes an overnight sensation after a music video featuring a performance by him is uploaded to the Internet. He later forms a partnership with Ally, played by Laura Marano. The pilot was later picked up for a full season's production; the show debuted in December 2011, and was renewed for a second season in March 2012.[25] After four seasons, the series ended on January 10, 2016.[26] Lynch guest starred with the Austin & Ally cast in a crossover with Jessie (TV series), and also he guest starred with his co-star Laura Marano on Girl Meets World, where he reprised his role as Austin Moon.[27]

text: In early 2012, Lynch began working on the Disney Channel Original Movie Teen Beach Movie, playing Brady, the male lead role. The film was directed by Jeffrey Hornaday and premiered July 19, 2013, earning around 8.4 million viewers.[28] Lynch also starred in the sequel, Teen Beach 2,[16][29] which premiered on the Disney Channel on June 26, 2015, earning 7.5 million total viewers.[30]

text: Film and theater[edit]

text: Lynch made a cameo appearance in the 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted.[31] In 2016, he voiced the role of Piers in the English dub of the animated French adventure film Snowtime! The film centers around group of children who plan and stage a giant snowball fight during the Christmas holiday.[32]

text: Lynch starred as Mark Anthony in the Hollywood Bowl's production of A Chorus Line, which ran for three performances over the weekend of July 29, 2016.[33] The musical, about dancers auditioning for a Broadway musical, was directed and choreographed by Baayork Lee, who starred in the original Broadway production.[34][35]

text: In May 2016, it was announced that Lynch would be starring in his feature film debut, Status Update, a comedy that began filming in Vancouver in June and wrapped in July 2016.[36][37] Lynch stars as a teenager who stumbles upon a magical app that causes his social media status updates to come true.[37] In July, he was cast as a teenage Jeffrey Dahmer in My Friend Dahmer, a film based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by Derf.[4][38]

text: Filmography[edit]

text:
Film roles

Year
Title
Role
Notes

2010
Grapple!
Aaron
Short film

2011
A Day as Holly's Kids
Holly's Actual Kid 1
Short film

2014
Muppets Most Wanted
Young Florist/Nerd Teenage Kid
Cameo[39]

2016
Snowtime!
Piers
Voice role (English dub of 2015 French film)

2017
My Friend Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer

2017
Status Update
Kyle
Post-production[40]

text:
Television roles

Year
Title
Role
Notes

2009
Moises Rules!
Ross "The Boss"
Episode: "Mad B-Ball shootout"

2011–16
Austin & Ally
Austin Moon
Lead role

2012
Jessie
Austin Moon
Crossover episode: "Austin & Jessie & Ally All Star New Year"

2013
Teen Beach Movie
Brady
Disney Channel Original Movie

2013
Ultimate Spider-Man
Jack Russell/Werewolf by Night
Episode: "The Howling Commandos"

2015
Violetta
Himself
Episodes: "Una Visita, Una canción", "Una Explicación, Una Canción"[41]

2015
Teen Beach 2
Brady
Disney Channel Original Movie

2015
Girl Meets World
Austin Moon
Episode: "Girl Meets World of Terror 2"

text: Theater[edit]

text: A Chorus Line at the Hollywood Bowl (2016), as Mark Anthony

text: Discography[edit]

text: Soundtrack albums[edit]

text:
List of albums, with selected chart positions

Title
Album details
Peak chart positions

US
[13]
US
OST
[13]
BEL
[42]
CAN
[13]
FRA
[43]
NL
[44]
NZ
[45]
SPA
[46]
UK
[47]

Austin & Ally

Released: September 11, 2012
Formats: CD, digital download
Label: Walt Disney

27
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—

Teen Beach Movie

Released: July 16, 2013
Formats: CD, digital download
Label: Walt Disney

3
1
176
14
76
56
30
15
36

Austin & Ally: Turn It Up

Released: December 17, 2013
Formats: CD, digital download
Label: Walt Disney

89
6
—
—
—
—
—
—
—

Austin & Ally: Take It from the Top

Released: April 17, 2015
Formats: CD, digital download
Label: Walt Disney

—
23
—
—
—
—
—
—
—

Teen Beach 2

Released: June 23, 2015
Formats: CD, digital download
Label: Walt Disney

10
1
—
—
129
—
—
67
—

"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

text: Singles[edit]

text:
Title
Year
Peak chart
positions
Album

US KDS
[48]

"A Billion Hits"
2012
1
Austin & Ally

"Heard It on the Radio"
2

"Can You Feel It"
1
N/A

text: Promotional singles[edit]

text:
Title
Year
Album

"I Love Christmas"[49]
(with Laura Marano)
2013
Disney Holidays Unwrapped

"Perfect Christmas"
(with Laura Marano)
2015

text: Other charted songs[edit]

text:
List of singles, with selected chart positions

Title
Year
Peak chart positions
Album

US
[50]
US
Holiday
[51]
IRL
[52]
UK
[53]

"Christmas Soul"
2012
—
6
—
—
Disney Channel Holiday Playlist

"Christmas Is Coming"
—
14
—
—

"Cruisin' for a Bruisin'"
(with Grace Phipps and Jason Evigan)
2013
82
—
90
117
Teen Beach Movie

"Like Me"
(with Maia Mitchell, Grace Phipps and Spencer Lee)
101
—
—
177

"Can't Stop Singing"
(with Maia Mitchell)
—
—
—
200

"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

text: Other appearances[edit]

text:
Song
Year
Other(s) artist(s)
Album

"Christmas Soul"
2012
N/A
Disney Channel Holiday Playlist

"Christmas Is Coming"
R5

"Can't Do It Without You"
N/A
Make Your Mark: Ultimate Playlist

"I Love Christmas"
2013
Laura Marano
Disney Holidays Unwrapped

"Timeless"
2014
N/A
Disney Channel Play It Loud

"I Got That Rock and Roll"

"You Can Come to Me"
Laura Marano

"I Feel the Love"
2016
Tritonal
Painting With Dreams

text: Music videos[edit]

text:
List of music videos, showing year released and director

Title
Year
Director
Notes

"Little Miss Swagger"
2009
N/A
Guest appearance; Cymphonique Miller's music video[54]

"Ordinary Girl"
2010
Shane Drake[55]
Guest appearance; Hannah Montana's music video

"Double Take"[56]
2012
N/A

"Better Together"[57]

"Heard It on the Radio"
Matt Stawski[58]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominated work
Result
Refs

2013
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite TV Actor
Austin & Ally
Won

Radio Disney Music Awards
Funniest Celebrity Take
Himself
Nominated

Best Music Video
Heard It On The Radio
Won

2014
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite TV Actor
Austin & Ally
Won

Teen Choice Awards
Choice TV Actor: Comedy
Austin & Ally
Won

2015
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite TV Actor
Austin & Ally
Won

Teen Choice Awards
Choice TV Actor: Comedy
Austin & Ally
Won

Choice TV: Chemistry: shared with Laura Marano
Austin & Ally
Nominated

Choice Music: Song from a Movie or TV Show: shared with cast of Teen Beach 2
Teen Beach 2
Nominated

Choice Summer TV Star: Male
Teen Beach 2
Nominated

2016
Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards
Favorite Male TV Star: Kid's Show
Austin & Ally
Won

Teen Choice Awards
Choice TV Actor: Comedy
Austin & Ally
Won


document_title: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs 2017

question_text: sa re ga ma lil champs 2017 finalist

question_tokens: sa re ga ma lil champs 2017 finalist

text: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs 2017

text: Format[edit]

text: Children aged 5 - 14 years participate in a singing competition. In the auditions round, they have 100 seconds to impress the three judges and the 30-members of the grand jury. If two of the three judges say YES and they secure at least 50 per cent of the support of the Grand Jury, then the contestant progresses to the next round.

text: In the Gala round, the judges select the 'Student of the Week' who is the best performer according to them. The contestant gets to sit on a 'flying sofa', which indicates that the contestant is safe from next week's elimination.

text: The audience vote will come in later in the competition. The contestant with the highest votes in the final round will win the competition.[2]

text: Grand Jury[edit]

text: The show has a panel of 30 jury members who are experts from the music industry. They closely assess the contestants from the audition stage wherein they help the mentors in the selection process and are present in the show during the studio rounds too.[3]

text: Some of them are:

text:
Pandit Ajay Pohankar (Classical maestro)
Ami Mishra (singer, composer)
Amit Mishra (singer)
Aneek Dhar (singer, winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007)
Arpita Mukherjee (singer), winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa: Golden Voice Hunt)
Arvinder Singh (singer)
Asees Kaur (singer)
Bhavya Pandit (singer)
Chintu Singh (guitarist)
Debojit Saha (singer, winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005)
Earl Edgar URL (rapper, singer)
Eric Pillai (mixing engineer & music producer)
Ghanshyam Vaswani (singer)
Hamsika Iyer (singer)
Hrishikesh Chury (singer)
Jalees Sherwani (lyricist)
Jasraj Jayant Joshi (singer, winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2012)
Jolly Mukherjee (singer)
Kamal Khan (singer, winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar)
Kiran Kamath (music producer, DJ)
Manasi Scott (singer, songwriter)
Murtaza Khan (singer)
Nandini Srikar (singer)
Nikhil Paul George (singer, record producer & composer)
Padma Wadkar (singer, winner of the first series of Sa Re Ga Ma in 1995)
DJ Paroma (celebrity DJ)
Pavni Pandey (singer)
Prashant Ingole (lyricist)
Raja Hasan (singer, contestant on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007)
Ram Shankar (singer & composer)
Raman Mahadevan (singer)
Ranjeet Rajwada (singer, contestant on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar)
Ronu Majumdar (flautist)
Sachin Kumar Valmiki (singer)
Sandeep Batraa (singer, contestant on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005 and Fame Gurukul)
Sarfraz Ahmed Khan (Sufi maestro)
Shabbir Ahmed (lyricist)
Shamsher Singh (composer, brother of Daler Mehndi and Mika Singh)
Shashi Suman (singer & composer)
Shibani Kashyap (singer)
Shriram Iyer (singer)
Sumedha Karmahe (singer, contestant on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007)
Suzanne D'Mello (singer)
Vaishali Made (singer, winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009)
Dr. Vinod Hasal (Kathak exponent)
Vipin Aneja (singer)
Yashita Yashpal Sharma (singer, contestant on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009)

text: Top 15 Contestants[edit]

text:
Contestant
Age (in years)
From
[hide]Result

Adnan Hussain Sabri
12
Mumbai Maharashtra
Eliminated

Dhroon Tickoo
11
Amritsar Punjab
Runner-up

Jasu Khan Mir
13
Rajasthan
Eliminated

Rajashree Bag
14
Kolkata West Bengal
Eliminated

Riya Biswas
13
Kolkata West Bengal
Runner-up

Saimann Sewa
13
Siliguri
Eliminated

Satyajeet Jena
12
Bhubaneshwar Odisha
Quits on June 24, 2017

Shaktiswaroopa Panda
9
Odisha
Eliminated

Shanmukhapriya
14
Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh
Runner-up

Shreyan Bhattacharya[4][5]
11
Midnapur West Bengal
Winner

Sonakshi Kar
13
Kolkata West Bengal
Runner-up

Tanya Tiwari
13
Varanasi Uttar Pradesh
Eliminated

Utkarsh Wankhede
11
Nagpur Maharashtra
Eliminated

Yumna Ajin
11
Kerala
Runner-up

Jayas Kumar
5
Delhi
Runner-up

Anjali Gaikwad
11
Ahmednagar , Maharashtra
Winner