document_title: Constantinople

question_text: why was constantinople an important center of european trade

question_tokens: why was constantinople an important center of european trade

text: Constantinople

text: Names[edit]

text: Before Constantinople[edit]

text: According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, the first known name of a settlement on the site of Constantinople was Lygos,[12] a settlement of likely Thracian origin founded between the 13th and 11th century BC.[13] The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion) in around 657 BC,[14] across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus.

text: The origins of the name of Byzantion, more commonly known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear, though some suggest it is of Thraco-Illyrian origin.[15][16] The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was more likely just a play on the word Byzantion.[17]

text: The city was briefly renamed Augusta Antonina in the early 3rd century by the Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), having razed the city to the ground in 196 AD for supporting a rival contender in the civil war and rebuilt, in honour of his son Antoninus, the later Emperor Caracalla.[18][19] The name appears to have been quickly forgotten and abandoned, and the city reverted to Byzantium/Byzantion after either the assassination of Caracalla in 217 or, at the latest, the fall of the Severan dynasty in 235.

text: Names of Constantinople[edit]

text: Byzantium took on the name of Konstantinoupolis ("city of Constantine", Constantinople) after its re-foundation under Roman emperor Constantine I, who transferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium in 330 AD and designated his new capital officially as Nova Roma (Νέα Ῥώμη) 'New Rome'. During this time, the city was also called 'Second Rome', 'Eastern Rome', and Roma Constantinopolitana.[20] As the city became the sole remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew, the city also came to have a multitude of nicknames.

text: As the largest and wealthiest city in Europe during the 4th–13th centuries and a centre of culture and education of the Mediterranean basin, Constantinople came to be known by prestigious titles such as Basileuousa (Queen of Cities) and Megalopolis (the Great City) and was, in colloquial speech, commonly referred to as just Polis (η πόλη) 'the City' by Constantinopolitans and provincial Byzantines alike.[21]

text: In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently. The medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe (Varangians) used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr (from mikill 'big' and garðr 'city'), and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra (Great City of the Romans) and in Persian as Takht-e Rum (Throne of the Romans).

text: In East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad (Царьград) or Carigrad, 'City of the Caesar (Emperor)', from the Slavonic words tsar ('Caesar' or 'King') and grad ('city'). This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις (Vasileos Polis), 'the city of the emperor [king]'.

text: Modern names of the city[edit]

text: The modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin (εἰς τὴν πόλιν), meaning "into the city" or "to the city".[22] This name was used in Turkish alongside Kostantiniyye, the more formal adaptation of the original Constantinople, during the period of Ottoman rule, while western languages mostly continued to refer to the city as Constantinople until the early 20th century. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script. After that, as part of the 1920s Turkification movement, Turkey started to urge other countries to use Turkish names for Turkish cities, instead of other transliterations to Latin script that had been used in the Ottoman times.[23][24][25][26] In time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages.

text: The name "Constantinople" is still used by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the title of one of their most important leaders, the Orthodox patriarch based in the city, referred to as "His Most Divine All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch." In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli (Κωνσταντινούπολη/Κωνσταντινούπολις) or simply just "the City" (Η Πόλη / Η Πόλις).

text: History[edit]

text: c. 657 BC–324 AD: Byzantium and earlier settlements[edit]

text: Constantinople was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine I (272–337 AD) in 324[5] on the site of an already-existing city, Byzantium, which was settled in the early days of Greek colonial expansion, in around 657 BC, by colonists of the city-state of Megara. This is the first major settlement that would develop on the site of later Constantinople, but the first known settlements was that of Lygos, referred to in Pliny's Natural Histories,[27] Apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion) in around 657 BC,[14] across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus.

text: The city maintained independence as a city-state until it was annexed by Darius I in 512 BC into the Persian Empire, who saw the site as the optimal location to construct a pontoon bridge crossing into Europe as Byzantium was situated at the narrowest point in the Bosphorus strait. Persian rule lasted until 478 BC when as part of the Greek counterattack to the Second Persian Invasion of Greece, a Greek army led by the Spartan general Pausanias captured the city which remained an independent, yet subordinate, city under the Athenians, and later to the Spartans after 411 BC.[28] A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed.[29] This treaty would pay dividends retrospectively as Byzantium would maintain this independent status, and prosper under peace and stability in the Pax Romana, for nearly three centuries until the late 2nd century AD.[30]

text: Byzantium was never a major influential city-state like that of Athens, Corinth, and Sparta, but the city enjoyed relative peace and steady growth as a prosperous trading city lent by its remarkable position. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. Already then, in Greek and early Roman times, Byzantium was famous for its strategic geographic position that made it difficult to besiege and capture, and its position at the crossroads of the Asiatic-European trade route over land and as the gateway between the Mediterranean and Black Seas made it too valuable a settlement to abandon, as Emperor Septimius Severus later realized when he razed the city to the ground for supporting Pescennius Niger's claimancy.[31] It was a move greatly criticized by the contemporary consul and historian Cassius Dio who said that Severus had destroyed "a strong Roman outpost and a base of operations against the barbarians from Pontus and Asia".[32] He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, the Severan Wall.

text: 324–337: Foundation of Constantinople[edit]

text: Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Having restored the unity of the Empire, and, being in the course of major governmental reforms as well as of sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church, he was well aware that Rome was an unsatisfactory capital. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, and it offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians. Yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the right place: a place where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by the wealthiest provinces of the Empire.

text: Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330.[5][33] Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis.[34] Yet, at first, Constantine's new Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. It possessed a proconsul, rather than an urban prefect. It had no praetors, tribunes, or quaestors. Although it did have senators, they held the title clarus, not clarissimus, like those of Rome. It also lacked the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts, or other public works. The new programme of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors, and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and moved to the new city. In similar fashion, many of the greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to the citizens. At the time, the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around the city.[35]

text: Constantine laid out a new square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the Augustaeum. The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the Emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke, and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne. Nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and the famed Baths of Zeuxippus. At the western entrance to the Augustaeum was the Milion, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Roman Empire.

text: From the Augustaeum led a great street, the Mese (Greek: Μέση [Οδός] lit. "Middle [Street]"), lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through the oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second Senate-house and a high column with a statue of Constantine himself in the guise of Helios, crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking toward the rising sun. From there, the Mese passed on and through the Forum Tauri and then the Forum Bovis, and finally up the Seventh Hill (or Xerolophus) and through to the Golden Gate in the Constantinian Wall. After the construction of the Theodosian Walls in the early 5th century, it was extended to the new Golden Gate, reaching a total length of seven Roman miles.[36]

text: 337–529: Constantinople during the Migration Period[edit]

text: The importance of Constantinople increased, but it was gradual. From the death of Constantine in 337 to the accession of Theodosius I, emperors had been resident only in the years 337-8, 347–51, 358–61, 368–69. Its status as a capital was recognized by the appointment of the first known Urban Prefect of the City Honoratus, who held office from 11 December 359 until 361. The urban prefects had concurrent jurisdiction over three provinces each in the adjacent dioceses of Thrace (in which the city was located), Pontus and Asia comparable to the 100-mile extraordinary jurisdiction of the prefect of Rome. The emperor Valens, who hated the city and spent only one year there, nevertheless built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of the Propontis near the Golden Gate, probably for use when reviewing troops. All the emperors up to Zeno and Basiliscus were crowned and acclaimed at the Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded the Church of John the Baptist to house the skull of the saint (today preserved at the Topkapı Palace), put up a memorial pillar to himself in the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coach house for the Praetorian Prefect; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese, near the walls of Constantine.

text: After the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 378, in which the emperor Valens with the flower of the Roman armies was destroyed by the Visigoths within a few days' march, the city looked to its defences, and in 413–414 Theodosius II built the 18-metre (60-foot)-tall triple-wall fortifications, which were not to be breached until the coming of gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University near the Forum of Taurus, on 27 February 425.

text: Uldin, a prince of the Huns, appeared on the Danube about this time and advanced into Thrace, but he was deserted by many of his followers, who joined with the Romans in driving their king back north of the river. Subsequent to this, new walls were built to defend the city and the fleet on the Danube improved.

text: After the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople became the indisputable capital city of the Roman Empire. Emperors were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces. They remained in their palace in the Great City and sent generals to command their armies. The wealth of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia flowed into Constantinople.

text: 527–565: Constantinople in the Age of Justinian[edit]

text: The emperor Justinian I (527–565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the reconquest of the former Diocese of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. Before their departure, the ship of the commander Belisarius was anchored in front of the Imperial palace, and the Patriarch offered prayers for the success of the enterprise. After the victory, in 534, the Temple treasure of Jerusalem, looted by the Romans in 70 AD and taken to Carthage by the Vandals after their sack of Rome in 455, was brought to Constantinople and deposited for a time, perhaps in the Church of St. Polyeuctus, before being returned to Jerusalem in either the Church of the Resurrection or the New Church.[38]

text: Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of political significance. It was where (as a shadow of the popular elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed their approval of a new emperor, and also where they openly criticized the government, or clamoured for the removal of unpopular ministers. In the time of Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political issue.

text: Throughout the late Roman and early Byzantine periods, Christianity was resolving fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between the orthodox and the monophysites became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance to the horse-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens. The partisans of the Blues and the Greens were said[39] to affect untrimmed facial hair, head hair shaved at the front and grown long at the back, and wide-sleeved tunics tight at the wrist; and to form gangs to engage in night-time muggings and street violence. At last these disorders took the form of a major rebellion of 532, known as the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Victory!" of those involved).

text: Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed Constantine's basilica of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), the city's principal church, which lay to the north of the Augustaeum. Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with a new and incomparable Hagia Sophia. This was the great cathedral of the Orthodox Church, whose dome was said to be held aloft by God alone, and which was directly connected to the palace so that the imperial family could attend services without passing through the streets.[40] The dedication took place on 26 December 537 in the presence of the emperor, who exclaimed, "O Solomon, I have outdone thee!"[41] Hagia Sophia was served by 600 people including 80 priests, and cost 20,000 pounds of gold to build.[42]

text: Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the original Church of the Holy Apostles built by Constantine with a new church under the same dedication. This was designed in the form of an equal-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful mosaics. This church was to remain the burial place of the Emperors from Constantine himself until the 11th century. When the city fell to the Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror. Justinian was also concerned with other aspects of the city's built environment, legislating against the abuse of laws prohibiting building within 100 feet (30 m) of the sea front, in order to protect the view.[43]

text: During Justinian I's reign, the city's population reached about 500,000 people.[44] However, the social fabric of Constantinople was also damaged by the onset of the Plague of Justinian between 541–542 AD. It killed perhaps 40% of the city's inhabitants.[45]

text: Survival, 565–717: Constantinople during the Byzantine Dark Ages[edit]

text: In the early 7th century, the Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans, threatening Constantinople with attack from the west. Simultaneously, the Persian Sassanids overwhelmed the Prefecture of the East and penetrated deep into Anatolia. Heraclius, son of the exarch of Africa, set sail for the city and assumed the purple. He found the military situation so dire that he is said to have contemplated withdrawing the imperial capital to Carthage, but relented after the people of Constantinople begged him to stay. The citizens lost their right to free grain in 618 when Heraclius realised that the city could no longer be supplied from Egypt as a result of the Persian wars: the population fell substantially as a result.[46]

text: While the city withstood a siege by the Sassanids and Avars in 626, Heraclius campaigned deep into Persian territory and briefly restored the status quo in 628, when the Persians surrendered all their conquests. However, further sieges followed the Arab conquests, first from 674 to 678 and then in 717 to 718. The Theodosian Walls kept the city impregnable from the land, while a newly discovered incendiary substance known as Greek Fire allowed the Byzantine navy to destroy the Arab fleets and keep the city supplied. In the second siege, the second ruler of Bulgaria, Khan Tervel, rendered decisive help. He was called Saviour of Europe.[47]

text: 717–1025: Constantinople during the Macedonian Renaissance[edit]

text: In the 730s Leo III carried out extensive repairs of the Theodosian walls, which had been damaged by frequent and violent attacks; this work was financed by a special tax on all the subjects of the Empire.[48]

text: Theodora, widow of the Emperor Theophilus (died 842), acted as regent during the minority of her son Michael III, who was said to have been introduced to dissolute habits by her brother Bardas. When Michael assumed power in 856, he became known for excessive drunkenness, appeared in the hippodrome as a charioteer and burlesqued the religious processions of the clergy. He removed Theodora from the Great Palace to the Carian Palace and later to the monastery of Gastria, but, after the death of Bardas, she was released to live in the palace of St Mamas; she also had a rural residence at the Anthemian Palace, where Michael was assassinated in 867.[49]

text: In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier at Kiev by Askold and Dir, two Varangian chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed through the Bosporus and plundered the monasteries and other properties on the suburban Prince's Islands. Oryphas, the admiral of the Byzantine fleet, alerted the emperor Michael, who promptly put the invaders to flight; but the suddenness and savagery of the onslaught made a deep impression on the citizens.[50]

text: In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kiev: 6,000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into a new bodyguard known as the Varangian Guard. They were known for their ferocity, honour, and loyalty. It is said that, in 1038, they were dispersed in winter quarters in the Thracesian theme when one of their number attempted to violate a countrywoman, but in the struggle she seized his sword and killed him; instead of taking revenge, however, his comrades applauded her conduct, compensated her with all his possessions, and exposed his body without burial as if he had committed suicide.[51] However, following the death of an Emperor, they became known also for plunder in the Imperial palaces.[52] Later in the 11th Century the Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to subjugation by the new Norman kings of England.[53]

text: The Book of the Eparch, which dates to the 10th century, gives a detailed picture of the city's commercial life and its organization at that time. The corporations in which the tradesmen of Constantinople were organised were supervised by the Eparch, who regulated such matters as production, prices, import, and export. Each guild had its own monopoly, and tradesmen might not belong to more than one. It is an impressive testament to the strength of tradition how little these arrangements had changed since the office, then known by the Latin version of its title, had been set up in 330 to mirror the urban prefecture of Rome.[54]

text: In the 9th and 10th centuries, Constantinople had a population of between 500,000 and 800,000.[55]

text: Iconoclast controversy in Constantinople[edit]

text: In the 8th and 9th centuries, the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of a statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act that was fiercely resisted by the citizens.[56] Constantine V convoked a church council in 754, which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were broken, burned, or painted over with depictions of trees, birds or animals: One source refers to the church of the Holy Virgin at Blachernae as having been transformed into a "fruit store and aviary".[57] Following the death of her son Leo IV in 780, the empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

text: The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to be resolved once more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora, who restored the icons. These controversies contributed to the deterioration of relations between the Western and the Eastern Churches.

text: 1025–1081: Constantinople after Basil II[edit]

text: In the late 11th century catastrophe struck with the unexpected and calamitous defeat of the imperial armies at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia in 1071. The Emperor Romanus Diogenes was captured. The peace terms demanded by Alp Arslan, sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted them. On his release, however, Romanus found that enemies had placed their own candidate on the throne in his absence; he surrendered to them and suffered death by torture, and the new ruler, Michael VII Ducas, refused to honour the treaty. In response, the Turks began to move into Anatolia in 1073. The collapse of the old defensive system meant that they met no opposition, and the empire's resources were distracted and squandered in a series of civil wars. Thousands of Turkoman tribesmen crossed the unguarded frontier and moved into Anatolia. By 1080, a huge area had been lost to the Empire, and the Turks were within striking distance of Constantinople.

text: 1081–1185: Constantinople under the Comneni[edit]

text: Under the Comnenian dynasty (1081–1185), Byzantium staged a remarkable recovery. In 1090–91, the nomadic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army.[58] In response to a call for aid from Alexius, the First Crusade assembled at Constantinople in 1096, but declining to put itself under Byzantine command set out for Jerusalem on its own account.[59] John II built the monastery of the Pantocrator (Almighty) with a hospital for the poor of 50 beds.[60]

text: With the restoration of firm central government, the empire became fabulously wealthy. The population was rising (estimates for Constantinople in the 12th century vary from some 100,000 to 500,000), and towns and cities across the realm flourished. Meanwhile, the volume of money in circulation dramatically increased. This was reflected in Constantinople by the construction of the Blachernae palace, the creation of brilliant new works of art, and general prosperity at this time: an increase in trade, made possible by the growth of the Italian city-states, may have helped the growth of the economy. It is certain that the Venetians and others were active traders in Constantinople, making a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer and the West, while also trading extensively with Byzantium and Egypt. The Venetians had factories on the north side of the Golden Horn, and large numbers of westerners were present in the city throughout the 12th century. Toward the end of Manuel I Komnenos's reign, the number of foreigners in the city reached about 60,000–80,000 people out of a total population of about 400,000 people.[61] In 1171, Constantinople also contained a small community of 2,500 Jews.[62] In 1182, all Latin (Western European) inhabitants of Constantinople were massacred.[63]

text: In artistic terms, the 12th century was a very productive period. There was a revival in the mosaic art, for example: Mosaics became more realistic and vivid, with an increased emphasis on depicting three-dimensional forms. There was an increased demand for art, with more people having access to the necessary wealth to commission and pay for such work. According to N.H. Baynes (Byzantium, An Introduction to East Roman Civilization):

text: 1185–1261: Constantinople during the Imperial Exile[edit]

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text: On 25 July 1197, Constantinople was struck by a severe fire which burned the Latin Quarter and the area around the Gate of the Droungarios (Turkish: Odun Kapısı) on the Golden Horn.[64][65] Nevertheless, the destruction wrought by the 1197 fire paled in comparison with that brought by the Crusaders. In the course of a plot between Philip of Swabia, Boniface of Montferrat and the Doge of Venice, the Fourth Crusade was, despite papal excommunication, diverted in 1203 against Constantinople, ostensibly promoting the claims of Alexius, son of the deposed emperor Isaac. The reigning emperor Alexius III had made no preparation. The Crusaders occupied Galata, broke the defensive chain protecting the Golden Horn and entered the harbour, where on 27 July they breached the sea walls: Alexius III fled. But the new Alexius IV found the Treasury inadequate, and was unable to make good the rewards he had promised to his western allies. Tension between the citizens and the Latin soldiers increased. In January 1204, the protovestiarius Alexius Murzuphlus provoked a riot, it is presumed, to intimidate Alexius IV, but whose only result was the destruction of the great statue of Athena, the work of Phidias, which stood in the principal forum facing west.

text: In February, the people rose again: Alexius IV was imprisoned and executed, and Murzuphlus took the purple as Alexius V. He made some attempt to repair the walls and organise the citizenry, but there had been no opportunity to bring in troops from the provinces and the guards were demoralised by the revolution. An attack by the Crusaders on 6 April failed, but a second from the Golden Horn on 12 April succeeded, and the invaders poured in. Alexius V fled. The Senate met in Hagia Sophia and offered the crown to Theodore Lascaris, who had married into the Angelid family, but it was too late. He came out with the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone before the Great Palace and addressed the Varangian Guard. Then the two of them slipped away with many of the nobility and embarked for Asia. By the next day the Doge and the leading Franks were installed in the Great Palace, and the city was given over to pillage for three days.

text: Sir Steven Runciman, historian of the Crusades, wrote that the sack of Constantinople is “unparalleled in history”.

text: “For nine centuries,” he goes on, “the great city had been the capital of Christian civilisation. It was filled with works of art that had survived from ancient Greece and with the masterpieces of its own exquisite craftsmen. The Venetians ... seized treasures and carried them off to adorn ... their town. But the Frenchmen and Flemings were filled with a lust for destruction. They rushed in a howling mob down the streets and through the houses, snatching up everything that glittered and destroying whatever they could not carry, pausing only to murder or to rape, or to break open the wine-cellars ... . Neither monasteries nor churches nor libraries were spared. In Hagia Sophia itself, drunken soldiers could be seen tearing down the silken hangings and pulling the great silver iconostasis to pieces, while sacred books and icons were trampled under foot. While they drank merrily from the altar-vessels a prostitute set herself on the Patriarch’s throne and began to sing a ribald French song. Nuns were ravished in their convents. Palaces and hovels alike were entered and wrecked. Wounded women and children lay dying in the streets. For three days the ghastly scenes ... continued, till the huge and beautiful city was a shambles. ... When ... order was restored, ... citizens were tortured to make them reveal the goods that they had contrived to hide.[66]

text: For the next half-century, Constantinople was the seat of the Latin Empire. Under the rulers of the Latin Empire, the city declined, both in population and the condition of its buildings. Alice-Mary Talbot cites an estimated population for Constantinople of 400,000 inhabitants; after the destruction wrought by the Crusaders on the city, about one third were homeless, and numerous courtiers, nobility, and higher clergy, followed various leading personages into exile. "As a result Constantinople became seriously depopulated," Talbot concludes.[67]

text: The Latins took over at least 20 churches and 13 monasteries, most prominently the Hagia Sophia, which became the cathedral of the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. It is to these that E.H. Swift attributed the construction of a series of flying buttresses to shore up the walls of the church, which had been weakened over the centuries by earthquake tremors.[68] However, this act of maintenance is an exception: for the most part, the Latin occupiers were too few to maintain all of the buildings, either secular and sacred, and many became targets for vandalism or dismantling. Bronze and lead were removed from the roofs of abandoned buildings and melted down and sold to provide money to the chronically under-funded Empire for defense and to support the court; Deno John Geanokoplos writes that "it may well be that a division is suggested here: Latin laymen stripped secular buildings, ecclesiastics, the churches."[69] Buildings were not the only targets of officials looking to raise funds for the impoverished Latin Empire: the monumental sculptures which adorned the Hippodrome and fora of the city were pulled down and melted for coinage. "Among the masterpieces destroyed, writes Talbot, "were a Herakles attributed to the fourth-century B.C. sculptor Lysippos, and monumental figures of Hera, Paris, and Helen."[70]

text: The Nicaean emperor John III Vatatzes reportedly saved several churches from being dismantled for their valuable building materials; by sending money to the Latins "to buy them off" (exonesamenos), he prevented the destruction of several churches.[71] According to Talbot, these included the churches of Blachernae, Rouphinianai, and St. Michael at Anaplous. He also granted funds for the restoration of the Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been seriously damaged in an earthquake.[70]

text: The Byzantine nobility scattered, many going to Nicaea, where Theodore Lascaris set up an imperial court, or to Epirus, where Theodore Angelus did the same; others fled to Trebizond, where one of the Comneni had already with Georgian support established an independent seat of empire.[72] Nicaea and Epirus both vied for the imperial title, and tried to recover Constantinople. In 1261, Constantinople was captured from its last Latin ruler, Baldwin II, by the forces of the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

text: 1261–1453: Palaiologan Era and the Fall of Constantinople[edit]

text: Although Constantinople was retaken by Michael VIII Palaiologos, the Empire had lost many of its key economic resources, and struggled to survive. The palace of Blachernae in the north-west of the city became the main Imperial residence, with the old Great Palace on the shores of the Bosporus going into decline. When Michael VIII captured the city, its population was 35,000 people, but, by the end of his reign, he had succeeded in increasing the population to about 70,000 people.[73] The Emperor achieved this by summoning former residents who had fled the city when the crusaders captured it, and by relocating Greeks from the recently reconquered Peloponnese to the capital.[74] In 1347, the Black Death spread to Constantinople.[75] In 1453, when the Ottoman Turks captured the city, it contained approximately 50,000 people.[76]

text: Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453. The Ottomans were commanded by 22-year-old Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. The conquest of Constantinople followed a seven-week siege that had begun on 6 April 1453.

text: 1453–1922: Ottoman Kostantiniyye[edit]

text: The Christian Orthodox city of Constantinople was now under Ottoman control. When Mehmed II finally entered Constantinople through what is now known as the Topkapi Gate, he immediately rode his horse to the Hagia Sophia, where he ordered his soldiers to stop hacking at the marbles and 'be satisfied with the booty and captives; as for all the buildings, they belonged to him'.[77] He ordered that an imam meet him there in order to chant the adhan thus transforming the Orthodox cathedral into a Muslim mosque,[77][78] solidifying Islamic rule in Constantinople.

text: Mehmed’s main concern with Constantinople had to do with rebuilding the city’s defenses and population. Building projects were commenced immediately after the conquest, which included the repair of the walls, construction of the citadel, and building a new palace.[79] Mehmed issued orders across his empire that Muslims, Christians, and Jews should resettle the city; he demanded that five thousand households needed to be transferred to Constantinople by September.[79] From all over the Islamic empire, prisoners of war and deported people were sent to the city: these people were called "Sürgün" in Turkish (Greek: σουργούνιδες).[10] Two centuries later, Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi gave a list of groups introduced into the city with their respective origins. Even today, many quarters of Istanbul, such as Aksaray, Çarşamba, bear the names of the places of origin of their inhabitants.[10] However, many people escaped again from the city, and there were several outbreaks of plague, so that in 1459 Mehmet allowed the deported Greeks to come back to the city.[10]

text: Importance[edit]

text: Culture[edit]

text: Constantinople was the largest and richest urban center in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the late Eastern Roman Empire, mostly as a result of its strategic position commanding the trade routes between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. It would remain the capital of the eastern, Greek-speaking empire for over a thousand years. At its peak, roughly corresponding to the Middle Ages, it was the richest and largest European city, exerting a powerful cultural pull and dominating economic life in the Mediterranean. Visitors and merchants were especially struck by the beautiful monasteries and churches of the city, in particular, Hagia Sophia, or the Church of Holy Wisdom: A Russian 14th-century traveler, Stephen of Novgorod, wrote, "As for Hagia Sophia, the human mind can neither tell it nor make description of it."

text: It was especially important for preserving in its libraries manuscripts of Greek and Latin authors throughout a period when instability and disorder caused their mass-destruction in western Europe and north Africa: On the city's fall, thousands of these were brought by refugees to Italy, and played a key part in stimulating the Renaissance, and the transition to the modern world. The cumulative influence of the city on the west, over the many centuries of its existence, is incalculable. In terms of technology, art and culture, as well as sheer size, Constantinople was without parallel anywhere in Europe for a thousand years.

text: Armenians, Syrians, Slavs and Georgians were part of the Byzantine social hierarchy.[80]

text: International status[edit]

text: The city provided a defence for the eastern provinces of the old Roman Empire against the barbarian invasions of the 5th century. The 18-meter-tall walls built by Theodosius II were, in essence, impregnable to the barbarians coming from south of the Danube river, who found easier targets to the west rather than the richer provinces to the east in Asia. From the 5th century, the city was also protected by the Anastasian Wall, a 60-kilometer chain of walls across the Thracian peninsula. Many scholars[who?] argue that these sophisticated fortifications allowed the east to develop relatively unmolested while Ancient Rome and the west collapsed.

text: Constantinople's fame was such that it was described even in contemporary Chinese histories, the Old and New Book of Tang, which mentioned its massive walls and gates as well as a purported clepsydra mounted with a golden statue of a man.[81][82][83] The Chinese histories even related how the city had been besieged in the 7th century by Muawiyah I and how he exacted tribute in a peace settlement.[82][84]

text: Architecture[edit]

text: The Byzantine Empire used Roman and Greek architectural models and styles to create its own unique type of architecture. The influence of Byzantine architecture and art can be seen in the copies taken from it throughout Europe. Particular examples include St Mark's Basilica in Venice, the basilicas of Ravenna, and many churches throughout the Slavic East. Also, alone in Europe until the 13th-century Italian florin, the Empire continued to produce sound gold coinage, the solidus of Diocletian becoming the bezant prized throughout the Middle Ages. Its city walls were much imitated (for example, see Caernarfon Castle) and its urban infrastructure was moreover a marvel throughout the Middle Ages, keeping alive the art, skill and technical expertise of the Roman Empire. In the Ottoman period Islamic architecture and symbolism were used.

text: Religion[edit]

text: Constantine's foundation gave prestige to the Bishop of Constantinople, who eventually came to be known as the Ecumenical Patriarch, and made it a prime center of Christianity alongside Rome. This contributed to cultural and theological differences between Eastern and Western Christianity eventually leading to the Great Schism that divided Western Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy from 1054 onwards. Constantinople is also of great religious importance to Islam, as the conquest of Constantinople is one of the signs of the End time in Islam.

text: Popular culture[edit]

text:
Constantinople appears as a city of wondrous majesty, beauty, remoteness, and nostalgia in William Butler Yeats' 1928 poem "Sailing to Byzantium."
Constantinople, as seen under the Byzantine emperor Theodosius II, makes several on-screen appearances in the television miniseries "Attila" as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Finnish author Mika Waltari wrote one of his most-acclaimed historical novels, Johannes Angelos (published in English by name "The Dark Angel") on the fall of Constantinople.
Robert Graves, author of I, Claudius, also wrote Count Belisarius, a historical novel about Belisarius. Graves set much of the novel in the Constantinople of Justinian I.
Constantinople provides the setting of much of the action in Umberto Eco's 2000 novel Baudolino.
The name Constantinople was made easy to spell thanks to a novelty song, "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E," written by Harry Carlton and performed by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, in the 1920s.
Constantinople's change of name was the theme for a song made famous by The Four Lads and later covered by They Might Be Giants and many others, titled "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)."
"Constantinople" was one of the "big words" the Father knows toward the end of Dr. Seuss's book, Hop on Pop. (The other was Timbuktu.)
"Constantinople" was also the title of the opening edit of The Residents' EP Duck Stab!, released in 1978.
Queen's Roger Meddows Taylor included the track "Interlude in Constantinople" on Side 2 of his debut album Fun in Space.
A Montreal-based folk/classical/fusion band calls itself "Constantinople."
Constantinople under Justinian is the scene of the book A Flame in Byzantium (ISBN 0-312-93026-7) by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, released in 1987.
"Constantinople" is the title of a song by The Decemberists.
Stephen Lawhead's novel Byzantium (1996) is set in 9th-century Constantinople.
Folk Metal band Turisas makes multiple references to Constantinople in their song "Miklagard Overture," referring to it as "Konstantinopolis," "Tsargrad," and "Miklagard."
Constantinople makes an appearance in the MMORPG game Silkroad as a major capital, along with a major Chinese capital.
Constantinople makes an appearance in the "Rome Total War" expansion "Barbarian Invasion" belonging to the Eastern Roman Empire. It would reappear in the same role for the spiritual sequel, Total War: Attila.
Constantinople also makes an appearance in "Medieval Total War." It is a starting province and city of the Byzantines.
Constantinople makes an appearance in the game "Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings" in the fifth scenario of the Barbarossa campaign and again in the third scenario of the Attila the Hun campaign in the expansion pack "Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion."
Constantinople is the main setting of the game "Assassin's Creed: Revelations," the fourth major title in the best-selling "Assassin's Creed" series.[85]
Constantinople is also a setting of the Vampire: The Dark Ages role playing game by White Wolf.[86]
Constantinople is one of the territories featured in the Board Game Diplomacy. It is one of the default territories of Turkey.


question_text: name the president of china who will serve a second five year term this time

root

text: Qualifications and election[edit]

text: According to the current Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the President must be a Chinese citizen with full electoral rights who has reached the age of 45.

tag: p

text: The President is elected by the National People's Congress (NPC), China's highest state body, which also has the power to remove the President and other state officers from office. Elections and removals are decided by a simple majority vote.[6]

text: According to the Organic Law of the NPC, the President is nominated by the NPC Presidium, the Congress's executive organ.[7] In practice, however, the ruling Communist Party of China reserves the post of President for its current General Secretary. Like all officers of state elected by the NPC, the President is elected from a one name ballot.

text: In the event that the office of President falls vacant, the Vice-President succeeds to the office. In the event that both offices fall vacant, the Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee temporarily acts as President until the NPC can elect a new President and Vice-President.[8]

text: Prior to March 2018, the President and Vice President were limited to two consecutive terms. However these limits were removed at the 2018 National People's Congress.[9]

text: Powers and duties[edit]

text: Under the current constitution, instated in 1982 with minor revisions in later years, the President has the power to promulgate laws, select and dismiss the Premier (prime minister) as well as the ministers of the State Council, grant presidential pardons, declares a state of emergency, issue mass mobilization orders, and issue state honours. In addition, the President names and dismisses ambassadors to foreign countries, signs and annuls treaties with foreign entities. According to the Constitution, all of these powers require the approval or confirmation of the National People's Congress. The President also conducts state visits on behalf of the People's Republic. Under the constitution the "state visit" clause is the only presidential power that does not stipulate any form of oversight from the National People's Congress. As the vast majority of presidential powers are dependent on the ratification of the NPC, the President is, in essence, a symbolic post without any direct say in the governance of state.  It is therefore conceived to mainly function as an symbolic institution of the state rather than an office with true executive powers.[10]

text: In theory, the President has discretion over the selection of the Premier, though in practice the Premier has historically been selected through the top-level discussions of the Communist Party of China. Upon the nomination of the Premier, the NPC convenes to confirm the nomination, but since only one name is on the ballot, it can only approve or reject. To date, it has never rejected a personnel nomination.[11] Since the Premier, the head of government in China, is the most important political appointment in the Chinese government, the nomination power, under some circumstances, may give the President real political influence.[12]

text: Political ranking[edit]

text: For President Liu Shaoqi, he was also the first Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China, ranked second in the Communist Party of China, behind Chairman Mao Zedong.[13] For President Li Xiannian, he was also the 5th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee, after CPC General Secretary and Premier.[14] For President Yang Shangkun, he was not a member of Politburo Standing Committee, but he ranked third after General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and Deng Xiaoping.[15] Since Jiang Zemin, the President is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, ranking first in Party and State.[16]

text: History[edit]

text: Establishment in 1954[edit]

text: The office of State Chairman (the original English translation, as noted above) was first established under China's 1954 Constitution. The ceremonial powers of the office were largely identical to those in the current Constitution.[17]

text: The powers of the 1954 office differed from those of the current office in two areas: military and governmental. The State Chairman's military powers were defined in the 1954 Constitution as follows: "The Chairman of the People's Republic of China commands the armed forces of the state, and is Chairman of the National Defence Council (Chinese: 国防委员会)."[18] The National Defence Council was unique to the 1954 Constitution, and was mandated as the civil command for the People's Liberation Army.  It was abolished under the 1975 Constitution.

text: The State Chairman's governmental powers were defined in the 1954 Constitution as follows: "The Chairman of the People's Republic of China, whenever necessary, convenes a Supreme State Conference (Chinese: 最高国务会议) and acts as its chairman."  The members of the Supreme State Conference included the main officers of state, and its views were to be presented to the main organs of state and government, including the National People's Congress and the State and National Defense Councils.[19] The Supreme State Conference was also unique to the 1954 Constitution. It was abolished under the 1975 Constitution and later Constitutions have not included a similar body.

text: History up to 1974[edit]

text: Mao Zedong was the first to hold the office of State Chairman. He was elected at the founding session of the National People's Congress in 1955. At the 2nd NPC in 1959, Mao was succeeded by Liu Shaoqi, first Vice Chairman of the Communist Party. Liu was reelected as State Chairman at the 3rd NPC in Jan 1965. However, in 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution and by August 1966 Mao and his supporters succeeding in removing Liu from his position as party Vice Chairman. A few months later Liu was apparently placed under house arrest, and after a prolonged power struggle the 12th Plenum of the 8th Communist Party Congress stripped Liu Shaoqi of all his party and non-party positions on October 31, 1968, including the post of State Chairman.  This was in violation of the Constitution, which required a vote by the NPC to remove the State Chairman.

text: After Liu's removal in 1968, the office of State Chairman was vacant. From 1972 to 1975, however, state media referred to Vice State Chairman Dong Biwu as "acting State Chairman."

text: Abolition in 1975[edit]

text: When the 4th NPC was convened in 1975, its main act was to adopt a new Constitution which eliminated the office of State Chairman and emphasized instead the leadership of the Communist Party over the state, including an article that made the Party Chairman Supreme Commander of the PLA in concurrence as Chairman of the Party CMC.[20] The 5th NPC was convened two years early, in 1978, and a third Constitution was adopted, which also lacked the office of State Chairman. The office was finally reinstated in the fourth Constitution, adopted by the 5th Session of the 5th NPC in 1982.  The title of the office (guojia zhuxi) was unchanged in the Chinese text, but a new English translation of "President of the People's Republic of China" was adopted.

text: Restoration in 1982[edit]

text: In the 1982 Constitution, the President was conceived of as a figurehead of state with actual state power resting in the hands of the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Premier of the State Council and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and all four posts were designed to be held by separate people. The President therefore held minor responsibilities such as greeting foreign dignitaries and signing the appointment of embassy staff, and did not intervene in the affairs of the State Council or the Party. In the original 1982 Constitution plan, the Party would develop policy, the state would execute it, and the power would be divided to prevent a cult of personality from forming as it did with the case of Mao Zedong. Thus in 1982, China perceivably had four main leaders: Hu Yaobang, the Party General Secretary; Zhao Ziyang, the Premier; Li Xiannian, the President; and Deng Xiaoping, the "Paramount Leader", holding title of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission and was overall commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The current political structure of Vietnam is similar to the structure China followed in the 1980s.

text: In the 1990s, the experiment of separating party and state posts, which led to conflict during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, was terminated. In 1993, the post of President was taken by Jiang Zemin, who as General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, became the undisputed top leader of the party and the state. When Jiang Zemin stepped down in 2003, the offices of General Secretary and President were once again both given to one man, then Vice-President Hu Jintao, the first Vice President to assume the office.  In turn, Hu vacated both offices for Xi Jinping in 2012 and 2013. Under Xi, the term limits for the President were removed.[9] This was widely interpreted as part of an expansion of Xi's power, effectively extending his tenure as China's paramount leader indefinitely.[9] Xi explained the decision in terms of needing to align two more powerful posts — General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission which are no term limits.[21]

text: List of heads of state[edit]

text: Timeline[edit]

text: Chairmen/presidents[edit]

text:
Mao ZedongChairman(27 September 1954 - 27 April 1959)

Liu ShaoqiChairman(27 April 1959 – 31 October 1968)

Dong BiwuActing Chairman(24 February 1972 - 17 January 1975)

Song QinglingHonorary President(16–28 May 1981)

Li XiannianPresident(18 June 1983 - 8 April 1988)

Yang ShangkunPresident(8 April 1988 – 27 March 1993)

Jiang ZeminPresident(27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003)

Hu JintaoPresident(15 March 2003 – 14 March 2013)

Xi JinpingPresident(14 March 2013 – present)

tag: ul

text: Other heads of state[edit]

text:
Mao ZedongChairmanChairman of the Central People's Government (1949-1954)

Zhu DeChairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1975–1976)

Song QinglingActing Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1976–1978)

Ye JianyingChairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1978–1983)

text: Statistics[edit]

text:
#

President

Date of birth

Age at ascension(first term)

Time in office(total)

Age at retirement(last term)

Date of death

Longevity

1

Zedong, MaoMao Zedong

18931226December 26, 1893(December 26, 1893)

60 27560 years, 275 days

04 2124 years, 212 days

64 12264 years, 122 days

19760909September 9, 1976

7004302070000000000♠30,20782 years, 258 days

2

Shaoqi, LiuLiu Shaoqi

18981124November 24, 1898(November 24, 1898)

60 15460 years, 154 days

09 1879 years, 187 days

69 34269 years, 342 days

19691112November 12, 1969

7004259200000000000♠25,92070 years, 353 days

Presidency vacant

acting

Biwu, DongDong Biwu

18860305March 5, 1886(March 5, 1886)

85 35685 years, 356 days

02 3272 years, 327 days

88 31888 years, 318 days

19750402April 2, 1975

7004325340000000000♠32,53489 years, 28 days

acting

Ching-ling, SoongSoong Ching-ling

18930127January 27, 1893(January 27, 1893)

83 16183 years, 161 days

01 2421 years, 242 days

85 03785 years, 37 days

19810529May 29, 1981

7004322630000000000♠32,26388 years, 122 days

Presidency abolished

3

Xiannian, LiLi Xiannian

19090623June 23, 1909(June 23, 1909)

73 36073 years, 360 days

04 2954 years, 295 days

78 29078 years, 290 days

19920621June 21, 1992

7004303140000000000♠30,31482 years, 364 days

4

Shangkun, YangYang Shangkun

19070803August 3, 1907(August 3, 1907)

80 25080 years, 250 days

04 3524 years, 352 days

85 23685 years, 236 days

19980914September 14, 1998

7004332800000000000♠33,28091 years, 42 days

5

Zemin, JiangJiang Zemin

19260817August 17, 1926(August 17, 1926)

66 22266 years, 222 days

09 3539 years, 353 days

76 21076 years, 210 days

Living

7004336150000000000♠33,6157004336150000000000♠92 years, 12 days (Living)

6

Jintao, HuHu Jintao

19421221December 21, 1942(December 21, 1942)

60 08460 years, 84 days

09 36410 years, 0 days

70 08470 years, 84 days

Living

7004276450000000000♠27,6457004276450000000000♠75 years, 251 days (Living)

7

Jinping, XiXi Jinping

19530615June 15, 1953(June 15, 1953)

59 years, 272 days

7003199400000000000♠5 years, 168 days (Ongoing)

Incumbent

Living

7004238160000000000♠23,8167004238160000000000♠65 years, 75 days (Living)

tag: table

text: Living former presidents[edit]

text: There are two living former presidents:

text:
Jiang Zemin(1993–2003) (1926-08-17) August 17, 1926 (age 92)

Hu Jintao(2003–2013) (1942-12-21) December 21, 1942 (age 75)

text: President's spouse[edit]

text: Since the first president, seven had a spouse during term of office.

text:
№

Spouse

President

Tenure

1

Jiang Qing

Mao Zedong

1 October 1949 – 27 April 1959

2

Wang Guangmei

Liu Shaoqi

27 April 1959 – 31 October 1968

3

Lin Jiamei

Li Xiannian

18 June 1983 – 8 April 1988

4

Li Bozhao

Yang Shangkun

8 April 1988 – 27 March 1993

5

Wang Yeping

Jiang Zemin

27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003

6

Liu Yongqing

Hu Jintao

15 March 2003 – 14 March 2013

7

Peng Liyuan

Xi Jinping

14 March 2013 – Incumbent


document_title: Jillian Harris

question_text: who was jillian harris engaged to on the bachelorette

text: Jillian Harris

text: Career[edit]

text: Harris began her interior design career while working at Caban, an interior goods store, which inspired her to begin giving design consultations.[2] She was then hired by Scott Morison, the co-founder of the Canadian restaurant chain Cactus Club Cafe, to design his restaurants.[2] She formalized her interior credentials with a 2006 certificate in interior design from The British Columbia Institute of Technology.[2] She was then re-hired by Morison as the designer for Browns Socialhouse, his new chain of restaurants.[2]

text: In early 2009, Harris was a contestant on the thirteenth season of the American TV show The Bachelor, where she competed against 24 other women to win the heart of Jason Mesnick and finished as second-runner-up.[1] In mid 2009, she was selected to be the star of the fifth season of The Bachelorette, making history as the franchise's first Canadian star.[1] She chose Ed Swiderski as the winner of her season, and the two became engaged but later broke up.

text: In 2010, she was a designer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.[1][3]

text: In 2011, she headlined the Calgary Home + Design Show, as part of the HGTV stand.[4] That same year, she hosted season one of the Canadian TV show Canada's Handyman Challenge, which aired in 2012.[1][5][6][7]

text: Since 2013, Harris has appeared on the Canadian TV series Love It or List It Vancouver, which airs on W Network in Canada and on HGTV in the United States under the title Love It or List It Too.[8] Harris is the show's designer, and competes against real estate agent Todd Talbot by redesigning a family's existing home in hopes that they will decide to stay in the home rather than choose to sell it. The show ran for four seasons.

text: Harris ran her own brand of interior decor goods, and on 8 July 2013, she launched her e-vintage webstore, Charlie Ford Vintage.[9] Harris closed the business in 2014 [10]

text: In 2016, she made a cameo appearance on the first season of The Bachelorette Canada.

text: In 2017, Jillian and her boyfriend Justin starred in their own four episode documentary series, 'Jillian and Justin', which was aired on W Network in Canada in June.[11] Additionally, she announced on instagram that she was working on a vegan cookbook.

text: Personal life[edit]

text: Harris is originally from Peace River, Alberta, Canada,[1] but was a longtime Vancouver resident before moving to her current home in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.[12]

text: In 2009, Harris became engaged to Ed Swiderski, who she chose as the winner of her season of The Bachelorette. They broke up in 2010.

text: On March 4, 2016, Harris announced that she was expecting her first child with longtime boyfriend Justin Pasutto.[13] On August 5, 2016 at 6:02 a.m. she gave birth to her first child - a baby boy named Leo.[14] On Christmas Day of 2016, Jillian announced her engagement to Justin Pasutto through social media.[15]


document_title: Eichhornia crassipes

question_text: in which part of the world is water hyacinth a native plant

text: Eichhornia crassipes

text: Description[edit]

text: Water hyacinth is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant (or hydrophyte) native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in height. The leaves are 10–20 cm across, and float above the water surface. They have long, spongy and bulbous stalks. The feathery, freely hanging roots are purple-black. An erect stalk supports a single spike of 8-15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour with six petals. When not in bloom, water hyacinth may be mistaken for frog's-bit (Limnobium spongia) or Amazon frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum).

text: One of the fastest growing plants known, water hyacinth reproduces primarily by way of runners or stolons, which eventually form daughter plants. Each plant additionally can produce thousands of seeds each year, and these seeds can remain viable for more than 28 years.[1] Some water hyacinths were found to grow between 2 and 5 metres a day in some sites in Southeast Asia.[2] The common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) are vigorous growers known to double their population in two weeks.

text: In their native range these flowers are pollinated by long tongued bees and they can reproduce both sexually and clonally. The invasiveness of the hyacinth is related to its ability to clone itself and large patches are likely to all be part of the same genetic form. There are three morphs of water hyacinth, long and medium and short. However, the short morph is restricted to the native range due to founder events during its distribution.

text: Habitat and ecology[edit]

text: Its habitat ranges from tropical desert to subtropical or warm temperate desert to rainforest zones. The temperature tolerance of the water hyacinth is the following; its minimum growth temperature is 12 °C (54 °F); its optimum growth temperature is 25-30 °C (77-86 °F); its maximum growth temperature is 33-35 °C (92-95 °F), and its pH tolerance is estimated at 5.0 to 7.5. It does not tolerate water temperatures >35 °C. Leaves are killed by frost and salt water, the latter trait being used to kill some of it by floating rafts of the cut weed to the sea. Water hyacinths do not grow when the average salinity is greater than 15% that of sea water. In brackish water, its leaves show epinasty and chlorosis, and eventually die.[3]

text: Because of E. crassipes invasiveness, several biological control agents have been released to control it, including two weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Neochetina bruchi Hustache and Neochetina eichhorniae Warner, and the moth Niphograpta albiguttalis (Warren) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae).[4] Neochetina eichhorniae causes "a substantial reduction in water hyacinth production" (in Louisiana); it reduces plant height, weight, root length, and makes the plant produce fewer daughter plants. N. eichhorniae was introduced from Argentina to Florida in 1972.[5] A semi-aquatic grasshopper, Cornops aquaticum, is being investigated in South Africa as an additional control agent.

text: Azotobacter chroococcum, a nitrogen-fixing bacteria, is probably concentrated around the bases of the petioles. But the bacteria do not fix nitrogen unless the plant is suffering extreme nitrogen-deficiency.[6]

text: Fresh plants contain prickly crystals.[3] This plant is reported to contain HCN, alkaloid, and triterpenoid, and may induce itching.[7] Plants sprayed with 2,4-D may accumulate lethal doses of nitrates,[8] and other harmful elements in polluted environments. See further down.

text: Invasive species[edit]

text: Water hyacinth has been widely introduced in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and New Zealand.[9] In many areas it has become an important and pernicious invasive species. In New Zealand it is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord which prevents it from being propagated, distributed or sold. In large water areas such as Louisiana, the Kerala Backwaters in India, Tonlé Sap in Cambodia and Lake Victoria it has become a serious pest. The common water hyacinth has become an invasive plant species on Lake Victoria in Africa after it was introduced into the area in the 1980s.[10]

text: When not controlled, water hyacinth will cover lakes and ponds entirely; this dramatically affects water flow, blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants, and starves the oxygen of water, often killing fish (or turtles). The plants also create a prime habitat for mosquitos[citation needed], the classic vectors of disease, and a species of snail known to host a parasitic flatworm which causes schistosomiasis (snail fever).[11] Directly blamed for starving subsistence farmers in Papua New Guinea[citation needed], water hyacinth remains a major problem where effective control programs are not in place. Water hyacinth is often problematic in man-made ponds if uncontrolled, but can also provide a food source for goldfish, keep water clean[12][13] and help to provide oxygen[citation needed] to man-made ponds.

text: Water hyacinth often invades bodies of water that have already been affected by human activities.[citation needed] For example, the plants can unbalance natural lifecycles in artificial reservoirs or in eutrophied lakes that receive large amounts of nutrients.

text: United States[edit]

text: The water hyacinth was introduced in 1884 at the World's Fair in New Orleans, also known as the World Cotton Centennial.[14] The plants had been given away as a gift by a group of visiting Japanese.[14] Soon after, the water hyacinth was choking rivers, killing fish and stopping shipping in Louisiana, and an estimated 50 kg/m2 choked Florida's waterways.[15] There were many attempts to eradicate the flower, including one by the U.S. War Department to pour oil over many of the flowers, but none worked.[14] In 1910, a bold solution was put forth by the New Foods Society. Their plan was to import and release hippopotamus from Africa into the rivers and bayous of Louisiana. The hippopotamus would then eat the water hyacinth and also produce meat to solve another serious problem at the time, the American meat crisis.[16]

text: Known as the American Hippo bill, H.R. 23621 was introduced by Louisiana Congressman Robert Broussard and debated by the Agricultural Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.[17] The chief collaborators in the New Foods Society and proponents of Broussard's bill were Major Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated American scout, and Captain Fritz Duquesne, a South African scout who later became a notorious spy for Germany. Presenting before the Agricultural Committee, Burnham made the point that none of the animals that Americans ate, chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, lambs, were native to the U.S., all had been imported by European settlers centuries before, so why should Americans hesitate to introduce hippopotamus and other large animals into the American diet? Duquesne, who was born and raised in South Africa, further noted that European settlers on that continent commonly included hippopotamus, ostrich, antelope, and other African wildlife in their diets and suffered no ill effects. The American Hippo bill nearly passed, but fell one vote short.[16]

text: Africa[edit]

text: The plant was introduced by Belgian colonists to Rwanda to beautify their holdings. It then advanced by natural means to Lake Victoria where it was first sighted in 1988.[18] There, without any natural enemies, it has become an ecological plague, suffocating the lake, diminishing the fish reservoir, and hurting the local economies. It impedes access to Kisumu and other harbors.

text: The water hyacinth has also appeared in Ethiopia, where it was first reported in 1965 at the Koka Reservoir and in the Awash River, where the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority has managed to bring it under moderate control at considerable cost of human labor. Other infestations in Ethiopia include many bodies of water in the Gambela Region, the Blue Nile from Lake Tana into Sudan, and Lake Ellen near Alem Tena.[19]

text: The water hyacinth is also present on the Shire River in the Liwonde National Park in Malawi.

text: The water hyacinth invaded Egypt in Muhammad Ali of Egypt's era.[20]

text: Asia[edit]

text: Water hyacinth has also invaded the Tonlé Sap lake in Cambodia. An Osmose project in Cambodia is trying to fight it by having local people make baskets from it. It was introduced in Bengal in India because of its beautiful flowers and shapes of leaves, but turned out to be an invasive weed draining oxygen from the water bodies and resulted in death of many fishes. Fish is a supplement food in Bengal, and because of the fish scarcity in Bengal caused by Eichhornia, the water hyacinth is also called "Terror of Bengal".[citation needed]

text: Europe[edit]

text: In August 2016, the European Union banned any sales of the water hyacinth in the EU.[21]

text: Control[edit]

text: The three commonly used control methods against water hyacinth infestations are physical, chemical, and biological controls. Each has advantages and drawbacks, although biological control is the best solution in the plant's native environment.[not in citation given] The optimum control depends on the specific conditions of each affected location such as the extent of water hyacinth infestation, regional climate, and proximity to human and wildlife.[22]

text: Chemical control[edit]

text: Chemical control is the least used out of the three controls of water hyacinth, because of its long-term effects on the environment and human health. The use of herbicides requires strict approval from governmental protection agencies of skilled technician to handle and spray the affected areas. The use of chemical herbicides is only used in case of severe infiltration of water hyacinth.[23] However, the most successful use of herbicides is when it is used for smaller areas of infestation of water hyacinth. This is because in larger areas, more mats of water hyacinths are likely to survive the herbicides and can fragment to further propagate a large area of water hyacinth mats. In addition, it is more cost-effective and less laborious than mechanical control. Yet, it can lead to environmental effects as it can penetrate into the ground water system and can affect not only the hydrological cycle within an ecosystem but also negatively affect the local water system and human health. It is also notable that the use of herbicides is not strictly selective of water hyacinths; keystone species and vital organisms such as microalgae can perish from the toxins and can disrupt fragile food webs.[22] The chemical regulation of water hyacinths can be done using common herbicides such as 2,4-D, glyphosate, and diquat. The herbicides are sprayed on the water hyacinth leaves and leads to direct changes to the physiology of the plant.[24] The use of the herbicide known as 2,4-D leads to the death of water hyacinth through inhibition of cell growth of new tissue and cellular apoptosis (Jimenez, 2005). It can take almost a two-week period before mats of water hyacinth are destroyed with 2,4-D. It has been found that up to 150,000 acres of water hyacinth are treated annually in Louisiana.[25] The herbicide known as diquat is a liquid bromide salt that can rapidly penetrate the leaves of the water hyacinth and lead to immediate inactivity of plant cells and cellular processes. For the herbicide glyphosate, it has a lower toxicity than the other herbicides; therefore, it takes longer for the water hyacinth mats to be destroyed (about three weeks). The symptoms include steady wilting of the plants and a yellow discoloration of the plant leaves that eventually leads to plant decay.[23]

text: Physical control[edit]

text: Physical control is performed by land based machines such as bucket cranes, draglines, or boom or by water based machinery such as aquatic weed harvester,[26] dredges, or vegetation shredder.[27] Mechanical removal is seen as the best short-term solution to the proliferation of the plant. A project on Lake Victoria in Africa used various pieces of equipment to chop, collect, and dispose of 1500 hectares of water hyacinth in a 12-month period. It is, however, costly and requires the use of both land and water vehicles, but it took many years for the lake to become in poor condition and reclamation will be a continual process. It can have an annual cost from $6 million to $20 million and is only considered a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Another disadvantage with mechanical harvesting is that it can lead to further fragmentation of water hyacinths when the plants are broken up by spinning cutters of the plant-harvesting machinery. The fragments of water hyacinth that are left behind in the water can easily reproduce asexually and cause another infestation.[24] However, transportation and disposal of the harvested water hyacinth is a challenge because the vegetation is heavy in weight. The harvested water hyacinth can pose a health risk to humans because of the plant’s propensity for absorbing contaminants, and it is considered toxic to humans. Furthermore, the practice of mechanical harvesting is not effective in large-scale infestations of the water hyacinth, because this aquatic invasive species grows much more rapidly than it can be eliminated. Only one or two acres of water hyacinth can be mechanically harvested daily because of the vast amounts of water hyacinths in the environment. Therefore, the process is very time-intensive.[28]

text: Biological control[edit]

text: As chemical and mechanical removal is often too expensive, polluting, and ineffective, researchers have turned to biological control agents to deal with water hyacinth. The effort began in the 1970s when USDA researchers released three species of weevil known to feed on water hyacinth into the United States, Neochetina bruchi, N. eichhorniae, and the water hyacinth borer Sameodes albiguttalis. The weevil species were introduced into the Gulf Coast states, such as Louisiana, Texas, and Florida, where there was thousands of acres of infestation from water hyacinth. It was found that a decade later in the 1980s that there was a decrease in water hyacinth mats by as much as 33%. However, because the life cycle of the weevils is ninety days, it puts a limitation on the use of biological predation to efficiently suppress water hyacinth growth.[25] These organisms regulate water hyacinth by limiting water hyacinth size, its vegetative propagation, and seed production. They also carry microorganisms that can be pathological to the water hyacinth. These weevils eat stem tissue, which results in a loss of buoyancy for the plant, which will eventually sink.[24] Although meeting with limited success, the weevils have since been released in more than 20 other countries.[citation needed] However, the most effective control method remains the control of excessive nutrients and prevention of the spread of this species.[citation needed]

text: In May 2010, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service released Megamelus scutellaris as an additional biological control insect for the invasive water hyacinth species. Megamelus scutellaris is a small planthopper insect native to Argentina. Researchers have been studying the effects of the biological control agent in extensive host-range studies since 2006 and concluded that the insect is highly host-specific and will not pose a threat to any other plant population other than the targeted water hyacinth. Researchers also hope that this biological control will be more resilient than existing biological controls and the herbicides that are already in place to combat the invasive water hyacinth.[29]

text: Another insect being considered as a biological control agent is the semi-aquatic grasshopper Cornops aquaticum. This insect is specific to the water hyacinth and its family, and besides feeding on the plant, it introduces a secondary pathogenic infestation. This grasshopper has been introduced into South Africa in controlled trials.[30]

text: Uses[edit]

text: Bioenergy[edit]

text: Because of its extremely high rate of development, Eichhornia crassipes is an excellent source of biomass. One hectare of standing crop thus produces more than 70,000 m3 of biogas.[31] According to Curtis and Duke, one kg of dry matter can yield 370 liters of biogas, giving a heating value of 22,000 kJ/m3 (580 Btu/ft3) compared to pure methane (895 Btu/ft3)[32]

text: Wolverton and McDonald report only 0.2 m3 methane per kg, indicating biomass requirements of 6000 MT/ha to attain the 70,000 m3 yield projected by the National Academy of Sciences (Washington).[33] Ueki and Kobayashi mention more than 200 MT/ha/yr.[34] Reddy and Tucker found an experimental maximum of more than a half ton per day.[35] Bengali farmers collect and pile up these plants to dry at the onset of the cold season; they then use the dry water hyacinths as fuel. The ashes are used as fertilizer. In India, a ton of dried water hyacinth yields circa 50 liters ethanol and 200 kg residual fiber (7,700 Btu). Bacterial fermentation of one ton yields 26,500 ft3 gas (600 Btu) with 51.6% methane, 25.4% hydrogen, 22.1% CO2, and 1.2% oxygen. Gasification of one ton dry matter by air and steam at high temperatures (800°) gives circa 40,000 ft3 (circa 1,100 m3) natural gas (143 Btu/ft3) containing 16.6% hydrogen, 4.8% methane, 21.7% CO, 4.1% CO2, and 52.8% N. The high moisture content of water hyacinth, adding so much to handling costs, tends to limit commercial ventures.,[33][36] A continuous, hydraulic production system could be designed, which would provide a better utilization of capital investments than in conventional agriculture, which is essentially a batch operation.,[3][37]

text: The labour involved in harvesting water hyacinth can be greatly reduced by locating collection sites and processors on impoundments that take advantage of prevailing winds. Wastewater treatment systems could also favourably be added to this operation. The harvested biomass would then be converted to ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen and/or gaseous nitrogen, and fertilizer. The resulting byproducts of water and fertilizer can both be used to irrigate nearby cropland.[3]

text: Phytoremediation, waste water treatment[edit]

text: The roots of Eichhornia crassipes naturally absorb pollutants, including lead, mercury, and strontium-90, as well as some organic compounds believed to be carcinogenic, in concentrations 10,000 times that in the surrounding water.[38] Water hyacinths can be cultivated for waste water treatment (especially dairy waste water).[3][not in citation given]

text: Water hyacinth is reported for its efficiency to remove about 60–80% nitrogen (Fox et al. 2008) and about 69% of potassium from water (Zhou et al. 2007). The roots of water hyacinth were found to remove particulate matter and nitrogen in a natural shallow eutrophicated wetland (Billore et al. 1998).[39]

text: Edibility[edit]

text: The plant is used as a carotene-rich table vegetable in Taiwan. Javanese sometimes cook and eat the green parts and inflorescence.[3]

text: Medicinal use[edit]

text: In Kedah (Malaysia), the flowers are used for medicating the skin of horses.[3] The species is a "tonic.",[40][41]

text: Potential as bioherbicidal agent[edit]

text: Water hyacinth leaf extract has been shown to exhibit phytotoxicity against another invasive weed Mimosa pigra. The extract inhibited the germination of Mimosa pigra seeds in addition to suppressing the root growth of the seedlings. Biochemical data suggested that the inhibitiory effects may be mediated by enhanced hydrogen peroxide production, inhibition of soluble peroxidase activity, and stimulation of cell wall-bound peroxidase activity in the root tissues of Mimosa pigra.[42]

text: Other uses[edit]

text: In East Africa, water hyacinths from Lake Victoria are used to make furniture, handbags and rope.[43] The plant is also used as animal feed and organic fertilizer although there is controversy stemming from the high alkaline pH value of the fertilizer.[44] Though a study found water hyacinths of very limited use for paper production,[45] they are nonetheless being used for paper production on a small scale.

text: American-Nigerian Achenyo Idachaba has won an award for showing how this plant can be exploited for profit in Nigeria.[46]

text: In places where water hyacinth is invasive, overabundant, and in need of clearing away, these traits make it free for the harvesting, which makes it very useful as a source of organic matter for composting in organic farming in those locales, provided that the composting method properly handles it. As an aquatic plant, it requires most of the same composting principles as the seaweed that is composted close to sea coasts.

text: Gallery[edit]

text:
Floating plant

Flowers

Close-up of flowers

Large pond covered with water hyacinth

Inflated petiole

Huge swamp field populated by Eichhornia crassipes


document_title: Posey (surname)

question_text: where does the last name posey come from

text: Posey (surname)

text: Posey is a surname that is heavily concentrated in North America beginning in the 1700s.  Its prevalence outside the United States is negligible. Notable people with the surname include:

text:
Brad Posey, American photographer and pornographer
Buster Posey, Major League Baseball player
Carnot Posey, Confederate general in the American Civil War
Darrell A. Posey, ethnobiologist
Francis B. Posey, Indiana lawyer and politician
James Posey, basketball player
John Posey (actor), actor
John Adams Posey, Indiana lawyer and politician
John Wesley Posey, Indiana abolitionist
Parker Posey, actress
Sam Posey, American racecar driver and sports broadcast journalist
Sandy Posey, American singer
Thomas Posey, 19th-century U.S. general and politician, namesake of Posey County, Indiana
Tyler Posey (born 1991) American actor

text: Surname listThis page lists people with the surname Posey. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

text: Surnames

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