question_text: where is three billboards outside of ebbing missouri filmed

text: Plot[edit]

text: In the town of Ebbing, Missouri, Mildred Hayes is grieving the rape and murder of her teenage daughter, Angela, seven months earlier. Angry over the lack of progress in the investigation, Mildred rents three abandoned billboards near her home, and posts on them: "Raped While Dying", "Still No Arrests?", and "How Come, Chief Willoughby?" The billboards upset the townspeople, including Chief Bill Willoughby and Officer Jason Dixon, the latter being a racist and a violent alcoholic. The open secret that Willoughby suffers from terminal pancreatic cancer adds to everyone's disapproval. Mildred and her son Robbie are harassed and threatened, but to Robbie's chagrin, she stays firm about keeping the billboards up.

text: While Willoughby is sympathetic to Mildred's frustration, he finds the billboards an unfair attack on his character. Angered by Mildred's lack of respect for his authority, Dixon threatens businessman Red Welby, who rented Mildred the billboards, and he arrests her friend and coworker, Denise, on trivial marijuana possession charges. Mildred is also visited by her abusive ex-husband Charlie, who blames her for their daughter's death.

text: Willoughby brings Mildred in for questioning after she drills a hole in her dentist's thumb when he threatens her. During the interview, Willoughby coughs up blood. He leaves the hospital against medical advice and spends an idyllic day with his wife Anne and their two daughters, then commits suicide due to his illness. He leaves suicide notes for several people, including Mildred, in which he explains that she was not a factor in his suicide and that he secretly paid to keep the billboards up for another month, amused at the trouble this will bring her and hope that they will keep attention on the murder. Dixon reacts to the news of Willoughby's death by assaulting Welby and throwing him out of a window. This is witnessed by Willoughby's replacement, Abercrombie, who fires Dixon. In the meanwhile, Mildred is threatened by a crop-haired stranger in her store.

text: The billboards are destroyed by arson. Mildred retaliates by tossing Molotov cocktails at the police station, which she believes is unoccupied for the night. However, Dixon is there to read Willoughby's letter to him, which advises him to let go of hate and learn to love, as the only way to realize his wish to become a detective. Dixon escapes with Angela's case file but suffers severe burns. Mildred's acquaintance James witnesses the incident and provides Mildred with an alibi, claiming they were on a date. Dixon is treated for his burns, and he is temporarily confined in the same hospital room as Welby, to whom he apologizes.

text: Discharged from the hospital, Dixon overhears the man who threatened Mildred bragging in a bar of an incident similar to Angela's murder. He notes the Idaho license plate number of the man's vehicle, then provokes a fight by scratching the man's face. At home later, he removes a sample of the man's DNA from under his fingernails. Meanwhile, Mildred goes on a date with James to thank him for the alibi. Charlie enters with his 19-year-old girlfriend Penelope and admits to burning the billboards while intoxicated. After accidentally causing James to leave, Mildred tells Charlie to treat Penelope well and leaves.

text: Though commending him, Abercrombie informs Dixon that the DNA sample does not match DNA found on Angela's body, and that the man was overseas on military duty at the time of the murder. Dixon concludes that the man must be guilty of some other rape, and joins Mildred on a trip to Idaho in order to kill him. On the way, Mildred confesses to Dixon that she set the police station on fire. He indicates that he knew already. They express reservations about their mission but agree to decide what to do along the way.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes
Woody Harrelson as William 'Bill' Willoughby
Sam Rockwell as Jason Dixon
Abbie Cornish as Anne Willoughby
John Hawkes as Charlie Hayes
Peter Dinklage as James
Caleb Landry Jones as Red Welby
Kerry Condon as Pamela
Darrell Britt-Gibson as Jerome
Lucas Hedges as Robbie Hayes
Željko Ivanek as Desk Sergeant
Amanda Warren as Denise
Kathryn Newton as Angela Hayes
Samara Weaving as Penelope
Clarke Peters as Chief Abercrombie

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: While traveling through the Southern United States in around 1998, Martin McDonagh came across a couple of accusatory billboards about an unsolved crime, which he described as "raging and painful and tragic [sic]". The billboards highlighted the incompetence of police work and deeply affected McDonagh; he said that the image "stayed in my mind [...] kept gnawing at me" and presumed that they were put up by the victim's mother.[5][a] This incident, combined with his desire to create strong female characters, inspired him to write the story for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.[5] McDonagh discussed the creative process, saying that it took him about ten years to "[decide] that it was a mother who had taken these things out. It all became fiction [...] based on a couple of actual billboards".[7][8]

text: Casting and filming[edit]

text: The character of Mildred was written with Frances McDormand in mind, and likewise the character of Dixon was written specifically for Rockwell.[9] McDormand initially felt that she was older than the character as it was written, and suggested that Mildred instead be Angela's grandmother; McDonagh disagreed, feeling that it would change the story too much.[9][10] McDormand's husband Joel Coen persuaded her to take the part regardless.[9] McDormand took inspiration for her character from John Wayne; and Rockwell, wanting to make his character "the exact opposite" of Mildred, took inspiration for his character in part from Wayne's co-star in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Lee Marvin.[9]

text: Principal photography began on May 2, 2016, in Sylva, North Carolina,[11] and ran for 33 days.[12] Allison Outdoor Advertising of Sylva built the actual billboards, which were put in a pasture near Black Mountain, North Carolina because that location was better. Most of the time the billboards were covered because people in the area found them upsetting. David Penix of Arden, North Carolina bought the billboards and used the wood for a roof in Douglas Lake in Tennessee, though the messages are no longer in order.[13] Town Pump Tavern in Black Mountain, which had appeared in The World Made Straight, was used as a set and was closed for three days during filming. A pool table and booths were added. The bar's actual sign appeared in the movie.[14]

text: Music[edit]

text: The musical score was written by Carter Burwell, who had also supplied the score for McDonagh's films In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. As well as Burwell's score, the film features songs by ABBA, Joan Baez, The Felice Brothers, the Four Tops, Monsters of Folk and Townes Van Zandt. [15]

text: Release[edit]

text: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri premiered in competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2017.[16] It also had screenings at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival,[17] the 2017 San Sebastián International Film Festival (where it won the Audience Award),[18] the BFI London Film Festival,[19] and the 2017 Zurich Film Festival.[20] It was also screened at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival.[21]

text: In the United States, the film was released, by Fox Searchlight Pictures, on November 10, 2017, beginning with a limited release, before "going wide" on December 1.[4] The film was released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on February 27, 2018.[22] Six Shooter, McDonagh's Academy Award-winning short film, is included as a bonus.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri grossed $54.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $104.1 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $158.6 million.[4]

text: In its limited opening weekend, the film made $322,168 from four theaters for a per-theater average of $80,542, the fourth best of 2017.[23] The film made $1.1 million from 53 theaters in its second weekend and $4.4 million from 614 in its third, finishing a respective 9th and 10th at the box office.[24] In the weekend following its four Golden Globe wins the film was added to 712 theaters (for a total of 1,022) and grossed $2.3 million, and increase of 226% from the previous week's $706,188.[25] The weekend of January 27, 2018, following the announcement of the film's seven Oscar nominations, it made $3.6 million (an increase of 87% over the previous week's $1.9 million), finishing 13th.[26] The weekend of March 9–11, following its two Oscar wins, the film made $705,000, down 45% from the previous week's $1.3 million.[27]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2018)

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 317 reviews, and an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri deftly balances black comedy against searing drama – and draws unforgettable performances from its veteran cast along the way."[28] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film had a weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[30]

text: Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised the film's performances, stating "It's Mildred's glowering refusal to back down that defines her, and McDormand brilliantly spotlights the conflicted humanity beneath the stony façade," and called Rockwell's performance a "revelation."[31] Steve Pond, writing for TheWrap, praised McDonagh's writing, calling it "Very funny, very violent and surprisingly moving."[32]

text: Some criticized the script for McDonagh's insincere or incorrect portrayal of small town America. The New York Times columnist Wesley Morris called McDonagh's portrayal of America a caricature: "a set of postcards from a Martian lured to America by a cable news ticker and by rumors of how easily flattered and provoked we are."[33] Tim Parks in The New Yorker praised the “magnificently photographed images” but wrote that the plot contained “a thousand cheap coincidences”. He concluded that the film is "empty of emotional intelligence" and "devoid of any remotely honest observation of the society it purports to serve." [34] In her review for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote "[McDonagh's] jokes can be uninterestingly glib with tiny, bloodless pricks that are less about challenging the audience than about obscuring the material's clichés and overriding theatricality."[35]

text: The film was also controversial for its insensitive handling of racial themes, particularly surrounding the redemptive arc of Officer Dixon. In The Daily Beast, blogger Ira Madison III called the treatment of Rockwell's character "altogether offensive...McDonagh's attempts to script the black experience in America are often fumbling and backward and full of outdated tropes."[36] Alyssa Rosenberg noted in The Washington Post that "[Dixon's] redemption doesn’t merely defang his previous venomous bigotry; it softens Mildred’s character development."[37]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actress – Drama (McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Rockwell), and Best Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Score.[38] At the 71st British Academy Film Awards, it received nine nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress in a Leading Role (McDormand), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for both Rockwell and Harrelson.[39][40] It won five awards, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film (making it the only film along with The King's Speech to win both awards since the latter category was reintroduced in 1992)[41] while both McDormand and Rockwell won the Lead Actress and Supporting Actor awards respectively.[42] It was nominated for four awards at the 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning three, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. At the 90th Academy Awards it received seven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Frances McDormand, Best Original Screenplay for Martin McDonagh and two Best Supporting Actor nominations for both Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. McDormand and Rockwell took home their respective awards.

text: It was named one of the top 10 films of the year by the American Film Institute.[43] At the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival,[17] the film won its top prize, the People's Choice Award.[44] At the 2017 San Sebastián International Film Festival, it won the Audience Award.[18]

text: Impact[edit]

text: On February 15, 2018, Justice4Grenfell, an advocacy group created in response to the Grenfell Tower fire, hired three vans with electronic screens in a protest against perceived inaction in response to the fire.[45] The vans were driven around London, and displayed messages in the style of the billboards in the film: '71 Dead', 'And Still No Arrests?', 'How Come?'[46]

text: In response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that took place on February 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida, activist group Avaaz had three vans circle Florida senator Marco Rubio's offices displaying 'Slaughtered in School', 'And Still No Gun Control?', 'How Come, Marco Rubio?'[47][48]

text: On the night of February 15, 2018, the movement #OccupyJustice set up three billboards and a number of banners in Malta, marking the four-month anniversary of the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The billboards bore the text 'A Journalist Killed. No Justice.', 'A Country Robbed. No Justice.', and 'No Resignations. No Justice.'[49][50] The authorities removed the billboards the following day,[51] stating that they were illegal.[52] The government was criticized for this move,[53][54] and a day after their removal, activists laid down banners with similar text near Auberge de Castille, the Office of the Prime Minister.[52]

text: Outside the Bristol city centre on February 3, 2018, a mural was erected depicting three billboards reading 'Our NHS is dying', 'And still no more funding', and 'How come, Mrs May'. It was installed by the groups People’s Republic of Stokes Croft and Protect Our NHS in response to the alleged privatization of the National Health Service (NHS) and the death of a 15-year-old girl attributed by some to a purported lack of resources by the NHS.[55]

text: On February 22, 2018, the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, protesting the inaction of the UN's role within the Syrian Civil War, set up three billboards outside the United Nations building in New York that read '500,000 Dead in Syria', 'And still no action?', and 'How come, Security Council'.[56][57]

text: On or around March 1, around the time of the 2018 Oscars, three billboards were taken out in Los Angeles, stating "WE ALL KNEW AND STILL NO ARRESTS", "AND THE OSCAR FOR BIGGEST PEDOPHILE GOES TO..." and "NAME NAMES ON STAGE OR SHUT THE HELL UP!", as an attempt to protest both the Oscars and the #MeToo movement.[58]

text: On March 8, on International Women's Day, three billboards were put in downtown Pristina, Kosovo,[59] to protest the death of two women as a result of domestic violence.[60]

text: Both McDormand and McDonagh have responded positively to the protests, with McDonagh saying "You couldn't ask for anything more than for an angry film to be adopted by protests,"[61][62] and McDormand saying she is “thrilled that activists all over the world have been inspired by the set decoration of the three billboards in Martin’s film.”[63]

text: On March 24, 2018, signs inspired by Three Billboards appeared at March for Our Lives gun safety rallies across the US and around the world.[64][65]

text: Explanatory notes[edit]

text: Jump up ^ The billboards were later found along the Interstate 10, and had been put by James Fulton, whose daughter Kathy Page was assaulted and killed in 1991.[6]


document_title: Texas Legislature

question_text: the president of the texas senate also functions as the state’s

question_tokens: the president of the texas senate also functions as the state 's

root

text: Texas Legislature

text: Structure and operations[edit]

text: The Texas Legislature meets in regular session on the second Tuesday in January of each odd-numbered year.[1] The Texas Constitution limits the regular session to 140 calendar days. The lieutenant governor, elected statewide separately from the governor, presides over the Senate, while the Speaker of the House is elected from that body by its members. Both have wide latitude in choosing committee membership in their respective houses and have a large impact on lawmaking in the state.

tag: p

text: Only the governor may call the Legislature into special sessions, unlike other states where the legislature may call itself into session. The governor may call as many sessions as he or she desires. For example, Governor Rick Perry called three consecutive sessions to address the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting. The Texas Constitution limits the duration of each special session to 30 days; lawmakers may consider only those issues designated by the governor in his "call," or proclamation convening the special session (though other issues may be added by the Governor during a session).

text: Any bill passed by the Legislature takes effect 90 days after its passage unless two-thirds of each house votes to give the bill either immediate effect or earlier effect. The Legislature may provide for an effective date that is after the 90th day. Under current legislative practice, most bills are given an effective date of September 1 in odd-numbered years (September 1 is the start of the state's fiscal year).

text: Although members are elected on partisan ballots, both houses of the Legislature are officially organized on a nonpartisan basis, with members of both parties serving in leadership positions such as committee chairmanships.[citation needed] As of 2015, a majority of the members of each chamber are members of the Republican Party.

text: Qualification for service[edit]

text: The Texas Constitution sets the qualifications for election to each house as follows:[2]

text:
A senator must be at least 26 years of age, a citizen of Texas five years prior to election and a resident of the district from which elected one year prior to election. Each senator serves a four-year term and one-half of the Senate membership is elected every two years in even-numbered years, with the exception that all the Senate seats are up for election for the first legislature following the decennial census in order to reflect the newly redrawn districts. After the initial election, the Senate is divided by lot into two classes, with one class having a re-election after two years and the other having a re-election after four years.
A representative must be at least 21 years of age, a citizen of Texas for two years prior to election and a resident of the district from which elected one year prior to election. They are elected for two-year terms, running for re-election in even-numbered years.[3]

tag: ul

text: Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate has term limits.

text: Salary of legislative officials[edit]

text: State legislators in Texas make $600 per month, or $7,200 per year, plus a per diem of $190 for every day the Legislature is in session (also including any special sessions). That adds up to $33,800 a year for a regular session (140 days), with the total pay for a two-year term being $41,000.[4][5] Legislators receive a pension after eight years of service, starting at age 60.[6]

text: Makeup of the Texas Senate[edit]

text:
Affiliation
Members

Republican Party
20

Democratic Party
11

 Total
31

tag: table

text: Makeup of the Texas House of Representatives[edit]

text:
Affiliation
Members

Republican Party
95

Democratic Party
55

Vacant
0

 Total
150

text: Support agencies[edit]

text: The Texas Legislature has five support agencies that are within the legislative branch of state government.

text: Those five agencies are:

text:
Texas Legislative Budget Board;
Texas Legislative Council;
Texas Legislative Reference Library;
Texas State Auditor; and
Texas Sunset Advisory Commission

text: Scandals[edit]

text: On May 14, 2007, CBS Austin affiliate KEYE reported on the rampant multiple voting by members of the Texas House of Representatives during a voting session.[7] The report noted how representatives would race to the nearest empty seats to register votes for absent members on the legislature's automated voting machines. Each representative would vote for the nearest absent members, apparently regardless of party affiliation. This practice was in direct violation of a Rule of the Texas Legislature; however, no house member had ever been disciplined for the practice. The then-Speaker of the House Tom Craddick, responsible for enforcement of the rule, issued a statement that discipline for violations of the rule is left to the individual house members.[7] Subsequent similar violations under House Speaker Joe Straus have been unenforced.[8]


document_title: Federal Reserve Note

question_text: when was the first federal reserve note issued

text: Federal Reserve Note

text: History[edit]

text: Prior to centralized banking, each commercial bank issued its own notes. The first institution with responsibilities of a central bank in the U.S. was the First Bank of the United States, chartered in 1791 by Alexander Hamilton. Its charter was not renewed in 1811. In 1816, the Second Bank of the United States was chartered; its charter was not renewed in 1836, after President Andrew Jackson campaigned heavily for its disestablishment. From 1837 to 1862, in the Free Banking Era there was no formal central bank, and banks issued their own notes again. From 1862 to 1913, a system of national banks was instituted by the 1863 National Banking Act. The first printed notes were Series 1914.  In 1928, cost-cutting measures were taken to reduce the note to the size it is today.

text: Value[edit]

text: The authority of the Federal Reserve Banks to issue notes comes from the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Legally, they are liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks and obligations of the United States government. Although not issued by the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve Notes carry the (engraved) signature of the Treasurer of the United States and the United States Secretary of the Treasury.

text: At the time of the Federal Reserve's creation, the law provided for notes to be redeemed to the Treasury in gold or "lawful money." The latter category was not explicitly defined, but included United States Notes, National Bank Notes, and certain other notes held by banks to meet reserve requirements, such as clearing certificates.[8] The Emergency Banking Act of 1933 removed the gold obligation and authorized the Treasury to satisfy these redemption demands with current notes of equal face value (effectively making change). Under the Bretton Woods system, although citizens could not legally possess gold (except as rare coins, jewelry, for industrial purposes and the like), the federal government continued to maintain a stable international gold price. This system ended with the Nixon Shock of 1971. Present-day Federal Reserve Notes are not backed by convertibility to any specific commodity, but only by the collateral assets that Federal Reserve Banks post in order to obtain them.[9]

text: Large-size notes[edit]

text: Series 1914 FRN were the first of two large-size issues. Denominations were $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 printed first with a red seal and then continued with a blue seal.[10] Series 1918 notes were issued in $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 denominations. The latter two denominations exist only in institutional collections.[11] Series 1914 and 1918 notes in the following two tables are from the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution).

text: Large size notes represent the earlier types or series of U.S. banknotes. Their "average" dimension is 7 3⁄8 × 3 1⁄8 inches (187 × 79 mm). Small size notes (described as such due to their size relative to the earlier large size notes) are an "average" 6 1⁄8 × 2 5⁄8 inches (156 × 67 mm), the size of modern U.S. currency. "Each measurement is ± 0.08 inches (2 mm) to account for margins and cutting"

text: Series 1914[edit]

text:
Denomination type set of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes

Value

Fr.

Red Seal

Blue Seal

Portrait and engraving

5$5

832a848

Abraham Lincoln

10$10

894b919a

Andrew Jackson

20$20

958a1010

Grover Cleveland

50$50

1019a1053

Ulysses S. Grant

100$100

1074a1131

Benjamin Franklin

text: Series 1918[edit]

text:
Denomination type set of 1918 Federal Reserve Notes

Value

Fr.

Image

Portrait and engraving

500$500

1132d

John Marshall

1000$1,000

1133d

Alexander Hamilton

5000$5,000

1134d

James Madison

10000$10,000

1135d

Salmon P. Chase

text: Production and distribution[edit]

text: A commercial bank that maintains a reserve account with the Federal Reserve can obtain notes from the Federal Reserve Bank in its district whenever it wishes. The bank must pay the face value of the notes by debiting (drawing down) its reserve account. Smaller banks without a reserve account at the Federal Reserve can maintain their reserve accounts at larger "correspondent banks" which themselves maintain reserve accounts with the Federal Reserve.[12]

text: Federal Reserve Notes are printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.[13] When Federal Reserve Banks require additional notes for circulation, they must post collateral in the form of direct federal obligations, private bank obligations, or assets purchased through open market operations.[14] If the notes are newly printed, they also pay the BEP for the cost of printing (about 4¢ per note). This differs from the issue of coins, which are purchased for their face value.[12]

text: A Federal Reserve Bank can retire notes that return from circulation, which entitles it to recover collateral that it posted for an earlier issue. Retired notes in good condition are held in the bank's vault for future issues.[15] Notes in poor condition are destroyed[16] and replacements are ordered from the BEP. The Federal Reserve shreds 7,000 tons of worn out currency each year.[17]

text: Federal Reserve notes, on average, remain in circulation for the following periods of time:[18]

text:
Denomination

$1

$5

$10

$20

$50

$100

Years in circulation

5.8

5.5

4.5

7.9

8.5

15.0

text: The Federal Reserve does not publish an average life span for the $2 bill. This is likely due to its treatment as a collector's item by the general public; it is, therefore, not subjected to normal circulation.[19]

text: Starting with the Series 1996 $100 note, bills $5 and above have a special letter in addition to the prefix letters which range from A-L. The first letter is A for series 1996; the first letter is B for series 1999; the first letter is C for series 2001; the first letter is D for series 2003; the first letter is F for series 2003A; the first letter is H for series 2006; and the first letter is K for series 2006A.[20]

text: The Series 2004 $20, the first note in the second redesign, has kept the element of the special double prefix. The first letter is E for series 2004; the first letter is G for series 2004A; the first letter is I for series 2006; the first letter is J for series 2009; the first letter is L for series 2009A; and the first letter is M for series 2013.[20]

text: Federal Reserve Notes are made of 75% cotton and 25% linen fibers.[21]

text: Nicknames[edit]

text: U.S. paper currency has had many nicknames and slang terms. The notes themselves are generally referred to as bills (as in "five-dollar bill") and any combination of U.S. notes as bucks (as in "fifty bucks"), or, much less commonly, bones or beans. Notes can be referred to by the first or last name of the person on the portrait (George for One Dollar,[22] or even more popularly, "Benjamins" for $100 notes).

text:
Greenbacks, any amount in any denomination of Federal Reserve Note (from the green ink used on the back). The Demand Notes issued in 1861 had green-inked backs, and the Federal Reserve Note of 1914 copied this pattern.
"dead presidents", any amount in any denomination of Federal Reserve Note (from the portrait of a U.S. president on most denominations).
Toms for the picture of Thomas Jefferson on the two-dollar bill.
fin, finif (from the Yiddish word for five), or finski is a slang term for a five-dollar bill.
sawbuck is a slang term for a ten-dollar bill, from the image of the Roman numeral X.
double sawbuck is slang term for a twenty-dollar bill, from the image of the Roman numeral XX, and in some cases can be used to denote a pair of ten-dollar bills, which would be double sawbucks, depending on the situation and type and amount of currency on hand.
One hundred dollar bills are sometimes called "Benjamins" (in reference to their portrait of Benjamin Franklin) or C-Notes (the letter "C" is the Roman numeral 100).
One thousand dollars ($1000) can be referenced as "Large", "K" (short for "kilo"), "Grand" or "Stack", and as a "G" (short for "grand").
In Raymond Chandler's novel, The Long Goodbye, the protagonist Marlowe refers to a five thousand dollar bill as "a portrait of Madison", due to the president portrayed on the bill being James Madison.
Fed Shreds is the nickname for paper money that the United States government finds unfit for circulation and consequently shreds.[23]

text: Many more slang terms refer to money in general (green stamps, moolah, paper, bread, dough, do-re-mi, freight, loot, cheese, cake, stacks, greenmail, jack, rabbit, cabbage, pie, cheddar, scrilla, scratch, etc.).[citation needed]

text: Criticisms[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Security[edit]

text: Despite the relatively late addition of color and other anti-counterfeiting features to U.S. currency, critics hold that it is still a straightforward matter to counterfeit these bills.[24] They point out that the ability to reproduce color images is well within the capabilities of modern color printers, most of which are affordable to many consumers. These critics suggest that the Federal Reserve should incorporate holographic features, as are used in most other major currencies, such as the pound sterling, Canadian dollar and euro banknotes, which are more difficult and expensive to forge. Another robust technology, the polymer banknote, has been developed for the Australian dollar and adopted for the New Zealand dollar, Romanian leu, Papua New Guinea kina, Canadian dollar, and other circulating, as well as commemorative, banknotes of a number of other countries.  Polymer banknotes are a deterrent to the counterfeiter, as they are much more difficult and time consuming to reproduce. They are said to be more secure, cleaner and more durable than paper notes.[25] One major issue with implementing these or any new counterfeiting countermeasures, however, is that (other than under Executive Order 6102) the United States has never demonetized or required a mandatory exchange of existing currency. Consequently, would-be counterfeiters can easily circumvent any new security features simply by counterfeiting older designs.

text: U.S. currency does, however, bear several anti-counterfeiting features. Two of the most critical anti-counterfeiting features of U.S. currency are the paper and the ink. The composition of the paper is 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen.[21] The ink and paper combine to create a distinct texture, particularly as the currency is circulated. The paper and the ink alone have no effect on the value of the dollar until post print. These characteristics can be hard to duplicate without the proper equipment and materials. Furthermore, recent redesigns of the $5, $10, $20, and $50 notes have added EURion constellation patterns which can be used by scanning software to recognize banknotes and refuse to scan them.

text: The differing sizes of other nations' banknotes are a security feature that eliminates one form of counterfeiting to which U.S. currency is prone: Counterfeiters can simply bleach the ink off a low-denomination note, such as a $1 or $5 bill, and reprint it as a higher-value note, such as a $100 bill. To counter this, the U.S. government has included in all $5 and higher denominated notes since the 1990 series a vertical laminate strip imprinted with denomination information, which under ultraviolet light fluoresces a different color for each denomination ($5 note: blue; $10 note: orange; $20 note: green; $50 note: yellow; $100 note: red).[26]

text: According to the central banks, the number of counterfeited bank notes seized annually is about 10 in one million of real bank notes for the Swiss franc, of 50 in one million for the Euro, of 100 in one million for United States dollar and of 300 in one million for pound sterling.[27]

text: Differentiation[edit]

text: Critics, such as the American Council of the Blind, note that U.S. bills are relatively hard to tell apart: they use very similar designs, they are printed in the same colors (until the 2003 banknotes, in which a faint secondary color was added), and they are all the same size. The American Council of the Blind has argued[28] that American paper currency design should use increasing sizes according to value and/or raised or indented features to make the currency more usable by the vision-impaired, since the denominations cannot currently be distinguished from one another non-visually. Use of Braille codes on currency is not considered a desirable solution because (1) these markings would only be useful to people who know how to read Braille, and (2) one Braille symbol can become confused with another if even one bump is rubbed off. Though some blind individuals say that they have no problems keeping track of their currency because they fold their bills in different ways or keep them in different places in their wallets, they nevertheless must rely on sighted people or currency-reading machines to determine the value of each bill before filing it away using the system of their choice. This means that no matter how organized they are, blind people still have to trust sighted people or machines each time they receive US banknotes.

text: By contrast, other major currencies, such as the pound sterling and euro, feature notes of differing sizes: the size of the note increases with the denomination and different denominations are printed in different, contrasting colors. This is useful not only for the vision-impaired; they nearly eliminate the risk that, for example, someone might fail to notice a high-value note among low-value ones.

text: Multiple currency sizes were considered for U.S. currency, but makers of vending and change machines successfully argued that implementing such a wide range of sizes would greatly increase the cost and complexity of such machines. Similar arguments were unsuccessfully made in Europe prior to the introduction of multiple note sizes.

text: Alongside the contrasting colors and increasing sizes, many other countries' currencies contain tactile features missing from U.S. banknotes to assist the blind. For example, Canadian banknotes have a series of raised dots (not Braille) in the upper right corner to indicate denomination. Mexican peso banknotes also have raised patterns of dashed lines. The Indian rupee has raised patterns of different shapes printed for various denominations on the left of the watermark window (20: vertical rectangle; 50: square; 100: triangle; 500: circle; 1,000: diamond).

text: Suit by the blind over U.S. banknote design[edit]

text: Ruling on a lawsuit filed in 2002 (American Council of the Blind v. Paulson), on November 28, 2006, U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the American bills gave an undue burden to the blind and denied them "meaningful access" to the U.S. currency system. In his ruling, Robertson noted that the United States was the only nation out of 180 issuing paper currency that printed bills that were identical in size and color in all their denominations and that the successful use of such features as varying sizes, raised lettering and tiny perforations used by other nations is evidence that the ordered changes are feasible.[29][30] The plaintiff's attorney was quoted as saying "It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been given the correct change."[31]  Government attorneys estimated that the cost of such a change ranges from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes.[31]

text:
Robertson accepted the plaintiff's argument that current practice violates Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.[32]
The judge ordered the Treasury Department to begin working on a redesign within 30 days,[28][33][34][35]
but the Treasury appealed the decision.

text: On May 20, 2008, in a 2-to-1 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the earlier ruling, pointing out that the cost estimates were inflated and that the burdens on blind and visually impaired currency users had not been adequately addressed.[36]

text: On October 3, 2008, on remand from the D.C. Circuit, D.C. District Court Judge Robertson granted the injunction.[37]

text: As a result of the court's injunction, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to implement a raised tactile feature in the next redesign of each note, except the $1 bill (which is not allowed to be redesigned, Pub.L. 114–113, 129 Stat. 2431, enacted December 18, 2015[38][39]), though the version of the $100 bill already is in progress.  It also plans larger, higher-contrast numerals, more color differences, and distribution of currency readers to assist the visually impaired during the transition period. The Bureau received a comprehensive study on accessibility options in July 2009,[40] and solicited public comments from May to August 2010.[41][42]

text: Design regulations[edit]

text: There are a few regulations to which the U.S. Treasury must adhere when redesigning banknotes. The national motto "In God We Trust" must appear on all U.S. currency and coins.[43]  Though the motto had periodically appeared on coins since 1865, it did not appear on currency (other than interest-bearing notes in 1861) until a law passed in 1956 required it.[44]  It began to appear on Federal Reserve Notes delivered from 1964 to 1966, depending on denomination.[45]

text: The portraits appearing on the U.S. currency can feature only people who have died, whose names should be included below each of the portraits.[43] Since the standardization of the bills in 1928, the Department of the Treasury has chosen to feature the same portraits on the bills. These portraits were decided upon in 1929 by a committee appointed by the Treasury. Originally, the committee had decided to feature U.S. presidents because they were more familiar to the public than other potential candidates. The Treasury altered this decision, however, to include three statesmen who were also well-known to the public: Alexander Hamilton (the first Secretary of the Treasury who appears on the $10 bill), Salmon P. Chase (the Secretary of the Treasury during the American Civil War who appeared on the now obsolete $10,000 bill), and Benjamin Franklin (a signer of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution, who appears on the $100 bill).[46] In 2016, the Treasury announced a number of design changes to the $5, $10 and $20 bills; to be introduced over the next ten years. The redesigns include:[47][48]

text:
The back of the $5 bill will be changed to showcase historical events at the pictured Lincoln Memorial by adding portraits of Marian Anderson (due to her famous performance there after being barred from Constitution Hall because of her race), Martin Luther King Jr. (due to his famous I Have A Dream speech), and Eleanor Roosevelt (who arranged Anderson's performance).
The back of the $10 bill will be changed to show a 1913 march for women's suffrage in the United States, plus portraits of Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
On the $20 bill, Andrew Jackson will move to the back (reduced in size, alongside the White House) and Harriet Tubman will appear on the front.

text: After an unsuccessful attempt in the proposed Legal Tender Modernization Act of 2001,[49] the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 required that none of the funds set aside for either the Treasury or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing may be used to redesign the $1 bill.[50]  This is because any change would affect vending machines and the risk of counterfeiting is low for this small bill.[51]  This superseded the Federal Reserve Act (Section 16, Paragraph 8) which gives the Treasury permission to redesign any banknote to prevent counterfeiting.[52]

text: Series detail[edit]

text: Series overview[edit]

text:
Large-size notes

Series

Denominations

Obligation clause[53]

1914

$5, $10, $20, $50, $100

"This note is receivable by all national and member banks and Federal Reserve Banks and for all taxes, customs and other public dues. It is redeemable in gold on demand at the Treasury Department of the United States in the city of Washington, District of Columbia or in gold or lawful money at any Federal Reserve Bank."

1918

$500, $1000, $5000, $10,000

text:
Small-size notes

Series

Denominations

Obligation clause

Remarks

1928

$5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000

"Redeemable in gold on demand at the United States Treasury, or in gold or lawful money at any Federal Reserve Bank"

Branch ID in numerals

1934

"This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury, or at any Federal Reserve Bank"

Branch ID in letters; during the Great Depression

1950

$5, $10, $20, $50, $100

Slight design changes: branch logo; placements of signatures, "Series xxxx", and "Washington, D.C.",

1963, 1963A, 1963B, 1969, 1969A, 1969B, 1969C, 1974

$1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

"This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private"

First $1 FRN; "Will pay to the bearer on demand" removed; Seal in Latin replaced by seal in English in 1969[19]

1976

$2

First $2 FRN, Bicentennial

text:
Series
Denominations
Obligation clause

1977

$1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

"This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private"

1977A

$1, $5, $10, $20

1981, 1981A, 1985

$1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

1988

$1, $5, $50, $100

1988A

$1, $5, $10, $20

1990

$10, $20, $50, $100

1993

$1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

1995

$1, $2, $5, $10, $20

Large-portrait ($1 and $2 remain small-portrait)

1996

$20, $50, $100

1999

$1, $5, $10, $20, $100

2001

$1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

2003

$1, $2, $5, $10, $100

2003A

$1, $2, $5, $100

2006

$5, $100

2006A

$100

Color notes ($1 and $2 remain unchanged)

2004

$20, $50

2004A

$10, $20, $50

2006

$1, $5, $10, $20, $50

2009

$1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

2009A

$100

2013

$1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

2017

$1[54], $10[55], $20[56]

text: Series 1914 (District Seals)[edit]

text:
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

text: Series 1928–1995[edit]

text:
Small size notes

Image
Value
Description
Date of

Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
first series
last series

$1

George Washington

Great Seal of the United States

1963

current (2017)

$2

Thomas Jefferson

Trumbull's Declaration of Independence

1976

current (2013)

$5

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln Memorial

1928

1995

$10

Alexander Hamilton

Treasury Department Building

$20

Andrew Jackson

White House

$50

Ulysses S. Grant

United States Capitol

1993

$100

Benjamin Franklin

Independence Hall

$500

William McKinley

"Five Hundred Dollars"

1934

$1000

Grover Cleveland

"One Thousand Dollars"

$5000

James Madison

"Five Thousand Dollars"

$10,000

Salmon P. Chase

"Ten Thousand Dollars"

text: Series 1996–2003 (new currency design)[edit]

text:
Small size notes

Image
Value
Description
series

Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
first
last

$5

As small-size, small-portrait notes

1999

2006

$10

2003

$20

1996

2001

$50

$100

2006A (See Note, below)

text: Note: The series 2006A was produced from 2011 to 2013 due to issues with the printing process for the colorized (NextGen) $100 notes.

text: Post-2004 redesigned series (NextGen)[edit]

text: Beginning in 2003, the Federal Reserve introduced a new series of bills, featuring images of national symbols of freedom. The new $20 bill was first issued on October 9, 2003; the new $50 on September 28, 2004; the new $10 bill on March 2, 2006; the new $5 bill on March 13, 2008; the new $100 bill on October 8, 2013. The one and two dollar bills still remain small portrait, unchanged, and not watermarked.

text:
Color series

Images

Value
Background color
Fluorescent strip color
Description
Date of

Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
Watermark
first series
Issue

$5

Purple

Blue

President Abraham Lincoln; Great Seal of the United States

Lincoln Memorial

Two watermarks of the number "5"

2006

March 13, 2008

$10

Orange

Orange

Secretary Alexander Hamilton; The phrase "We the People" from the United States Constitution and the torch of the Statue of Liberty

Treasury Building

Alexander Hamilton

2004 A

March 2, 2006

$20

Green

Green

President Andrew Jackson; Eagle

White House

Andrew Jackson

2004

October 9, 2003

$50

Pink

Yellow

President Ulysses S. Grant; Flag of the United States

United States Capitol

Ulysses S. Grant

2004

September 28, 2004

$100

Teal

Pink

Benjamin Franklin; Declaration of Independence

Independence Hall

Benjamin Franklin

2009A (See Note, below)

October 8, 2013

These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimeter. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

text: All small-sized bills measure 6.14 in × 2.61 in (156 mm × 66 mm), with thickness of 0.0043 in (0.11 mm).

text: Note: While the series 2009A was the first series of these $100 bills released for circulation, the first printing was series 2009 printed in 2010 and 2011.  These were withheld from circulation due to issues with the printing process and none were released until 2016.


document_title: English Channel

question_text: where does the english channel end and the north sea begin

question_tokens: where does the english channel end and the north sea begin

text: English Channel

text: Geography[edit]

text: The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows:[3]

text: The IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as "a line joining the Walde Lighthouse (France, 1°55'E) and Leathercoat Point (England, 51°10'N)".[3] The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais (50°59′06″N 1°55′00″E / 50.98500°N 1.91667°E / 50.98500; 1.91667), and Leathercoat Point is at the north end of St Margaret's Bay, Kent (51°10′00″N 1°24′00″E / 51.16667°N 1.40000°E / 51.16667; 1.40000).

text: The Strait of Dover (French: Pas de Calais), at the Channel's eastern end, is its narrowest point, while its widest point lies between Lyme Bay and the Gulf of Saint Malo near its midpoint.[1] It is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m (390 ft) at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m (148 ft) between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m (85 ft) in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the former land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a maximum depth of 180 m (590 ft) in the submerged valley of Hurd's Deep, 48 km (30 mi) west-northwest of Guernsey.[4]  The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine (French: Baie de Seine).[5]

text: There are several major islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast, and the Channel Islands, British Crown Dependencies off the coast of France. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is deeply indented; several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey and Mont Saint-Michel, are within French jurisdiction. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a small parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel.

text: The Channel acts as a funnel that amplifies the tidal range from less than a metre as observed at sea to more than 6 metres as observed in the Channel Islands, the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula and the north coast of Britanny. The time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance.[6]

text: For the UK Shipping Forecast the Channel is divided into the following areas, from the west:

text:
Plymouth
Portland
Wight
Dover

text: Name[edit]

text: Ancient references[edit]

text:
Mare Britannicum Roman time;
Mare Gallicum Roman time;
"Sea near Gaul" Roman time;
Oceanus Gallicus 6th - 7th century (Isidore of Sevilla);
Sūð-sǣ 11th century (Ælfric);[8]
mare anglicum 12th century (Suger);[9]
Gallico mari 12th century (William of Newburgh);[10]
"arm of the sea south of the country that allows to sail to Gaul" around 1100 - 1155 (Geoffrey of Monmouth);[11]
"Beyond the sea" End 14th century (Jean Froissart);
Oceanus Britannicus in 1477 (Taddeo Crivelli);
Oceanus Britannicus in 1482 (Nicolaus Germanus);
Britannico Oceano in 1482 (Francesco Berlinghieri);
Mare Anglica in 1540 (Sebastian Münster);[12]
Mer Oceane or mare oceanum in the 16th century on various maps;
Britannicus Oceanus et La Grand Mer Occeane in 1570;[13]
Oceanus Britannicus 16th century;
Mer de France & d’Angleterre in 1587;[14]
Mare Britannicum 16th century (Jean Jolivet);
British Ocean in 1595 (John Norden);[15]
Channel in 1593 (Shakespeare);[16]
mare normandicum, ocean de bretaigne, mer de France 16th to 17th century
The British or Narrow Sea to the 17th century;
British Sea or the Chanell 17th century;
le Manche (masculine) in 1639 (Nicolas Sanson);[17]
la manche d’Angleterre in 1611 (Cotgrave)[18]
La Mer Britannique, vulgairement la Manche in 1623;[19]
British Channel in 1745 (John Renshaw);[20]
English Channel 18th century;

text: History and etymology[edit]

text: Throughout the centuries until the 18th, the English Channel did not have any fixed name in English and in French. It was never defined as a political border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation. Strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as "Gaulish" (Gallicum in Latin) and French scholars as "British" or "English".[21] The name English Channel has been widely used since the early 18th century, possibly originating from the designation Engelse Kanaal in Dutch sea maps from the 16th century onwards. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal (with no reference to the word "English").[22] Later, it has also been known as the British Channel[23] or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, which gives the alternative name of canalites Anglie—possibly the first recorded use of the Channel designation.[24] The Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ ("South Sea") as opposed to Norð-sǣ ("North Sea" = Bristol Channel). The common word channel was first recorded in Middle English in the 13th century and was borrowed from Old French chanel, variant form of chenel "canal".

text: The French name la Manche has been in use since at least the 17th century.[2] The name is usually said to refer to the Channel's sleeve (French: la manche) shape. Folk etymology has derived it from a Celtic word meaning channel that is also the source of the name for the Minch in Scotland,[25] but this name was never mentioned before the 17th century, and French and British sources of that time are perfectly clear about its etymology.[26] The name in Breton (Mor Breizh) means "Breton Sea", and its Cornish name (Mor Bretannek) means "British Sea".

text: Geological origins; giant waterfalls and catastrophic floods[edit]

text: The Channel is of geologically recent origins, having been dry land for most of the Pleistocene period.[27] Before the Devensian glaciation (the most recent ice age that ended around 10,000 years ago), Britain and Ireland were part of continental Europe, linked by an unbroken Weald-Artois Anticline, a ridge that acted as a natural dam holding back a large freshwater pro-glacial lake in the Doggerland region, now submerged under the North Sea. During this period the North Sea and almost all of the British Isles were covered by ice. The lake was fed by meltwater from the Baltic and from the Caledonian and Scandinavian ice sheets that joined to the north, blocking its exit. The sea level was about 120 m (390 ft) lower than it is today. Then, between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago, at least two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods breached the Weald–Artois anticline.

text: The first flood would have lasted for several months, releasing as much as one million cubic metres of water per second.[28][29] The flood started with large but localized waterfalls over the ridge, which excavated depressions now known as the Fosses Dangeard. The flow eroded the retaining ridge, causing the rock dam to fail and releasing lake water into the Atlantic. After multiple episodes of changing sea level, during which the Fosses Dangeard were largely infilled by various layers of sediment, another catastrophic flood carved a large bedrock-floored valley, the Lobourg Channel, some 500 m wide and 25 m deep, from the southern North Sea basin through the centre of the Straits of Dover and into the English Channel. It left streamlined islands, longitudinal erosional grooves, and other features characteristic of catastrophic megaflood events, still present on the sea floor and now revealed by high-resolution sonar.[30][31][32] Through the scoured channel passed a river, which drained the combined Rhine and Thames westwards to the Atlantic.

text: The flooding destroyed the ridge that connected Britain to continental Europe, although a land connection across the southern North Sea would have existed intermittently at later times when periods of glaciation resulted in lowering of sea levels.[33] At the end of the last glacial period, rising sea levels finally severed the last land connection.

text: Human geography[edit]

text:
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands.

William Shakespeare, Richard II (Act II, Scene 1)

tag: div

text: The channel, which delayed human reoccupation of Great Britain for more than 100,000 years,[34] has in historic times been both an easy entry for seafaring people and a key natural defence, halting invading armies while in conjunction with control of the North Sea allowing Britain to blockade the continent.[citation needed] The most significant failed invasion threats came when the Dutch and Belgian ports were held by a major continental power, e.g. from the Spanish Armada in 1588, Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars, and Nazi Germany during World War II. Successful invasions include the Roman conquest of Britain, the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the invasion by the Dutch in 1688, while the concentration of excellent harbours in the Western Channel on Britain's south coast made possible the largest invasion of all time, the Normandy Landings in 1944. Channel naval battles include the Battle of the Downs (1639), Battle of Goodwin Sands (1652), the Battle of Portland (1653), the Battle of La Hougue (1692) and the engagement between USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama (1864).

text: In more peaceful times the Channel served as a link joining shared cultures and political structures, particularly the huge Angevin Empire from 1135 to 1217. For nearly a thousand years, the Channel also provided a link between the Modern Celtic regions and languages of Cornwall and Brittany. Brittany was founded by Britons who fled Cornwall and Devon after Anglo-Saxon encroachment. In Brittany, there is a region known as "Cornouaille" (Cornwall) in French and "Kernev" in Breton[35] In ancient times there was also a "Domnonia" (Devon) in Brittany as well.

text: In February 1684, ice formed on the sea in a belt 3 miles (4.8 km) wide off the coast of Kent and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide on the French side.[36][37]

text: Route to the British Isles[edit]

text: Remnants of a mesolithic boatyard have been found on the Isle of Wight. Wheat was traded across the Channel about 8,000 years ago.[38][39] "... Sophisticated social networks linked the Neolithic front in southern Europe to the Mesolithic peoples of northern Europe." The Ferriby Boats, Hanson Log Boats and the later Dover Bronze Age Boat could carry a substantial cross-Channel cargo.[40]

text: Diodorus Siculus and Pliny[41] both suggest trade between the rebel Celtic tribes of Armorica and Iron Age Britain flourished. In 55 BC Julius Caesar invaded, claiming that the Britons had aided the Veneti against him the previous year. He was more successful in 54 BC, but Britain was not fully established as part of the Roman Empire until completion of the invasion by Aulus Plautius in 43 AD. A brisk and regular trade began between ports in Roman Gaul and those in Britain. This traffic continued until the end of Roman rule in Britain in 410 AD, after which the early Anglo-Saxons left less clear historical records.

text: In the power vacuum left by the retreating Romans, the Germanic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes began the next great migration across the North Sea. Having already been used as mercenaries in Britain by the Romans, many people from these tribes crossed during the Migration Period, conquering and perhaps displacing the native Celtic populations.[42]

text: Norsemen and Normans[edit]

text: The attack on Lindisfarne in 793 is generally considered the beginning of the Viking Age. For the next 250 years the Scandinavian raiders of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark dominated the North Sea, raiding monasteries, homes, and towns along the coast and along the rivers that ran inland. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle they began to settle in Britain in 851. They continued to settle in the British Isles and the continent until around 1050.[43]

text: The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Viking leader Rollo (also known as Robert of Normandy). Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks Charles the Simple through the Treaty of St.-Claire-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory he and his Viking allies had previously conquered. The name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Viking (i.e. "Northman") origins.

text: The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and intermarried with the area's inhabitants and became the Normans – a Norman French-speaking mixture of Scandinavians, Hiberno-Norse, Orcadians, Anglo-Danish, and indigenous Franks and Gauls.

text: Rollo's descendant William, Duke of Normandy became king of England in 1066 in the Norman Conquest beginning with the Battle of Hastings, while retaining the fiefdom of Normandy for himself and his descendants. In 1204, during the reign of King John, mainland Normandy was taken from England by France under Philip II, while insular Normandy (the Channel Islands) remained under English control. In 1259, Henry III of England recognised the legality of French possession of mainland Normandy under the Treaty of Paris. His successors, however, often fought to regain control of mainland Normandy.

text: With the rise of William the Conqueror the North Sea and Channel began to lose some of their importance. The new order oriented most of England and Scandinavia's trade south, toward the Mediterranean and the Orient.

text: Although the British surrendered claims to mainland Normandy and other French possessions in 1801, the monarch of the United Kingdom retains the title Duke of Normandy in respect to the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands (except for Chausey) are Crown dependencies of the British Crown. Thus the Loyal toast in the Channel Islands is La Reine, notre Duc ("The Queen, our Duke"). The British monarch is understood to not be the Duke of Normandy in regards of the French region of Normandy described herein, by virtue of the Treaty of Paris of 1259, the surrender of French possessions in 1801, and the belief that the rights of succession to that title are subject to Salic Law which excludes inheritance through female heirs.

text: French Normandy was occupied by English forces during the Hundred Years' War in 1346–1360 and again in 1415–1450.

text: England and Britain: Naval superpower[edit]

text: From the reign of Elizabeth I, English foreign policy concentrated on preventing invasion across the Channel by ensuring no major European power controlled the potential Dutch and Flemish invasion ports. Her climb to the pre-eminent sea power of the world began in 1588 as the attempted invasion of the Spanish Armada was defeated by the combination of outstanding naval tactics by the English and the Dutch under command of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham with Sir Francis Drake second in command, and the following stormy weather. Over the centuries the Royal Navy slowly grew to be the most powerful in the world.[44]

text: The building of the British Empire was possible only because the Royal Navy eventually managed to exercise unquestioned control over the seas around Europe, especially the Channel and the North Sea. During the Seven Years' War, France attempted to launch an invasion of Britain. To achieve this France needed to gain control of the Channel for several weeks, but was thwarted following the British naval victory at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759.

text: Another significant challenge to British domination of the seas came during the Napoleonic Wars. The Battle of Trafalgar took place off the coast of Spain against a combined French and Spanish fleet and was won by Admiral Horatio Nelson, ending Napoleon's plans for a cross-Channel invasion and securing British dominance of the seas for over a century.

text: First World War[edit]

text: The exceptional strategic importance of the Channel as a tool for blockade was recognised by the First Sea Lord Admiral Fisher in the years before World War I. "Five keys lock up the world! Singapore, the Cape, Alexandria, Gibraltar, Dover."[45] However, on 25 July 1909 Louis Blériot made the first Channel crossing from Calais to Dover in an aeroplane. Blériot's crossing signalled the end of the Channel as a barrier-moat for England against foreign enemies.

text: Because the Kaiserliche Marine surface fleet could not match the British Grand Fleet, the Germans developed submarine warfare, which was to become a far greater threat to Britain. The Dover Patrol was set up just before the war started to escort cross-Channel troopships and to prevent submarines from sailing in the Channel, obliging them to travel to the Atlantic via the much longer route around Scotland.

text: On land, the German army attempted to capture Channel ports in the Race to the Sea but although the trenches are often said to have stretched "from the frontier of Switzerland to the English Channel", they reached the coast at the North Sea. Much of the British war effort in Flanders was a bloody but successful strategy to prevent the Germans reaching the Channel coast.

text: At the outset of the war, an attempt was made to block the path of U-boats through the Dover Strait with naval minefields. By February 1915, this had been augmented by a 25 kilometres (16 mi) stretch of light steel netting called the Dover Barrage, which it was hoped would ensnare submerged submarines. After initial success, the Germans learned how to pass through the barrage, aided by the unreliability of British mines.[46] On 31 January 1917, the Germans restarted unrestricted submarine warfare leading to dire Admiralty predictions that submarines would defeat Britain by November,[47] the most dangerous situation Britain faced in either world war.

text: The Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 was fought to reduce the threat by capturing the submarine bases on the Belgian coast, though it was the introduction of convoys and not capture of the bases that averted defeat. In April 1918 the Dover Patrol carried out the famous Zeebrugge Raid against the U-boat bases. During 1917, the Dover Barrage was re-sited with improved mines and more effective nets, aided by regular patrols by small warships equipped with powerful searchlights. A German attack on these vessels resulted in the Battle of Dover Strait in 1917.[48] A much more ambitious attempt to improve the barrage, by installing eight massive concrete towers across the strait was called the Admiralty M-N Scheme but only two towers were nearing completion at the end of the war and the project was abandoned.[49]

text: The naval blockade in the Channel and North Sea was one of the decisive factors in the German defeat in 1918.[50]

text: Second World War[edit]

text: During the Second World War, naval activity in the European theatre was primarily limited to the Atlantic. During the Battle of France in May 1940, the German forces succeeded in capturing both Boulogne and Calais, thereby threatening the line of retreat for the British Expeditionary Force. By a combination of hard fighting and German indecision, the port of Dunkirk was kept open allowing 338,000 Allied troops to be evacuated in Operation Dynamo. More than 11,000 were evacuated from Le Havre during Operation Cycle[51] and a further 192,000 were evacuated from ports further down the coast in Operation Ariel in June 1940.[52] The early stages of the Battle of Britain[53] featured air attacks on Channel shipping and ports, and until the Normandy Landings (with the exception of the Channel Dash) the narrow waters were too dangerous for major warships. Despite these early successes against shipping, the Germans did not win the air supremacy necessary for Operation Sealion, the projected cross-Channel invasion.

text: The Channel subsequently became the stage for an intensive coastal war, featuring submarines, minesweepers, and Fast Attack Craft.[54]

text: Dieppe was the site of an ill-fated Dieppe Raid by Canadian and British armed forces. More successful was the later Operation Overlord (D-Day), a massive invasion of German-occupied France by Allied troops. Caen, Cherbourg, Carentan, Falaise and other Norman towns endured many casualties in the fight for the province, which continued until the closing of the so-called Falaise gap between Chambois and Montormel, then liberation of Le Havre.

text: The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Commonwealth occupied by Germany (excepting the part of Egypt occupied by the Afrika Korps at the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein, which was a protectorate and not part of the Commonwealth). The German occupation of 1940–1945 was harsh, with some island residents being taken for slave labour on the Continent; native Jews sent to concentration camps; partisan resistance and retribution; accusations of collaboration; and slave labour (primarily Russians and eastern Europeans) being brought to the islands to build fortifications.[citation needed] The Royal Navy blockaded the islands from time to time, particularly following the liberation of mainland Normandy in 1944. Intense negotiations resulted in some Red Cross humanitarian aid, but there was considerable hunger and privation during the occupation, particularly in the final months, when the population was close to starvation. The German troops on the islands surrendered on 9 May 1945, a day after the final surrender in mainland Europe.

text: Population[edit]

text: The English Channel is far more densely populated on the English shore. The most significant towns and cities along both the English and French sides of the Channel (each with more than 20,000 inhabitants, ranked in descending order; populations are the urban area populations from the 1999 French census, 2001 UK census, and 2001 Jersey census) are as follows:

text: England[edit]

text:
Brighton–Worthing–Littlehampton: 461,181 inhabitants, made up of:

Brighton: 155,919
Worthing: 96,964
Hove: 72,335
Littlehampton: 55,716
Lancing–Sompting: 30,360

Portsmouth: 442,252, including

Gosport: 79,200

Bournemouth & Poole: 383,713
Southampton: 304,400
Plymouth: 258,700
Torbay (Torquay): 129,702
Hastings–Bexhill: 126,386
Exeter: 119,600
Eastbourne: 106,562
Bognor Regis: 62,141
Folkestone–Hythe: 60,039
Weymouth: 56,043
Dover: 39,078
Walmer–Deal: 35,941
Exmouth: 32,972
Falmouth–Penryn: 28,801
Ryde: 22,806
St Austell: 22,658
Seaford: 21,851
Falmouth: 21,635
Penzance: 20,255

text: France[edit]

text:
Le Havre: 248,547 inhabitants
Calais: 104,852
Boulogne-sur-Mer: 92,704
Cherbourg: 42,318
Saint-Brieuc: 45,879
Saint-Malo: 50,675
Lannion–Perros-Guirec: 48,990
Dieppe: 42,202
Morlaix: 35,996
Dinard: 25,006
Étaples–Le Touquet-Paris-Plage: 23,994
Fécamp: 22,717
Eu–Le Tréport: 22,019
Trouville-sur-Mer–Deauville: 20,406

text: Channel Islands[edit]

text:
Saint Helier, Jersey: 28,310 inhabitants
Saint Peter Port, Guernsey: 16,488 inhabitants
Saint Anne, Alderney: 2,200 inhabitants
Sark: 600 inhabitants
Herm: 60 inhabitants

text: Shipping[edit]

text: The Channel has traffic on both the UK-Europe and North Sea-Atlantic routes, and is the world's busiest seaway, with over 500 ships per day.[55] Following an accident in January 1971 and a series of disastrous collisions with wreckage in February,[56] the Dover TSS[57] the world's first radar-controlled Traffic Separation Scheme was set up by the International Maritime Organization. The scheme mandates that vessels travelling north must use the French side, travelling south the English side. There is a separation zone between the two lanes.[58]

text: In December 2002 the MV Tricolor, carrying £30m of luxury cars sank 32 km (20 mi) northwest of Dunkirk after collision in fog with the container ship Kariba. The cargo ship Nicola ran into the wreckage the next day. There was no loss of life.[citation needed]

text: The shore-based long range traffic control system was updated in 2003 and there is a series of Traffic Separation Systems in operation.[59] Though the system is inherently incapable of reaching the levels of safety obtained from aviation systems such as the Traffic Collision Avoidance System, it has reduced accidents to one or two per year.[citation needed]

text: Marine GPS systems allow ships to be preprogrammed to follow navigational channels accurately and automatically, further avoiding risk of running aground, but following the fatal collision between Dutch Aquamarine and Ash in October 2001, Britain's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) issued a safety bulletin saying it believed that in these most unusual circumstances GPS use had actually contributed to the collision.[60] The ships were maintaining a very precise automated course, one directly behind the other, rather than making use of the full width of the traffic lanes as a human navigator would.

text: A combination of radar difficulties in monitoring areas near cliffs, a failure of a CCTV system, incorrect operation of the anchor, the inability of the crew to follow standard procedures of using a GPS to provide early warning of the ship dragging the anchor and reluctance to admit the mistake and start the engine led to the MV Willy running aground in Cawsand bay, Cornwall in January 2002. The MAIB report makes it clear that the harbour controllers were informed of impending disaster by shore observers before the crew were themselves aware.[61] The village of Kingsand was evacuated for three days because of the risk of explosion, and the ship was stranded for 11 days.[62][63][64]

text: Ecology[edit]

text: As a busy shipping lane, the Channel experiences environmental problems following accidents involving ships with toxic cargo and oil spills.[65] Indeed, over 40% of the UK incidents threatening pollution occur in or very near the Channel.[66] One of the recent occurrences was the MSC Napoli, which on 18 January 2007 was beached with nearly 1700 tonnes of dangerous cargo in Lyme Bay, a protected World Heritage Site coastline.[67] The ship had been damaged and was en route to Portland Harbour.

text: Transport[edit]

text: Ferry[edit]

text: The number of ferry routes crossing the Strait of Dover has reduced since the Channel Tunnel opened. Current cross-channel ferry routes are:

text:
Dover–Calais
Dover–Dunkirk
Newhaven–Dieppe
Plymouth–Roscoff
Poole–Cherbourg
Poole–Saint Malo
Portsmouth–Cherbourg
Portsmouth–Jersey and Guernsey
Portsmouth–Le Havre
Portsmouth–Ouistreham
Portsmouth–Saint Malo
Rosslare–Cherbourg
Rosslare–Roscoff
Weymouth–Saint Malo

text: Channel Tunnel[edit]

text: Many travellers cross beneath the Channel using the Channel Tunnel, first proposed in the early 19th century and finally opened in 1994, connecting the UK and France by rail. It is now routine to travel between Paris or Brussels and London on the Eurostar train. Freight trains also use the tunnel. Cars, coaches and lorries are carried on Eurotunnel Shuttle trains between Folkestone and Calais.

text: Economy[edit]

text: Tourism[edit]

text: The coastal resorts of the Channel, such as Brighton and Deauville, inaugurated an era of aristocratic tourism in the early 19th century, which developed into the seaside tourism that has shaped resorts around the world.[citation needed] Short trips across the Channel for leisure purposes are often referred to as Channel Hopping.

text: Culture and languages[edit]

text: The two dominant cultures are English on the north shore of the Channel, French on the south. However, there are also a number of minority languages that are or were found on the shores and islands of the English Channel, which are listed here, with the Channel's name following them.

text:
Breton – "Mor Breizh" (Sea of Brittany)
Cornish – "Mor Bretannek"
Irish: Muir nIocht – "Merciful Sea"

text:
English
Dutch – "het Kanaal" (the Channel)

text: Dutch previously had a larger range, and extended into parts of modern-day France. For more information, please see French Flemish.

text:
French – "La Manche"
Gallo – "Manche", "Grand-Mè", "Mè Bertone"[68]
Norman, including the Channel Island vernaculars:

Anglo-Norman (extinct, but fossilised in certain English law phrases)
Auregnais (extinct)
Cotentinais – "Maunche"
Guernesiais – "Ch'nal"
Jèrriais – "Ch'na"
Sercquais

Picard

text: Most other languages tend towards variants of the French and English forms, but notably Welsh has "Môr Udd".

text: Channel crossings[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: As one of the narrowest and most well-known international waterways lacking dangerous currents, the Channel has been the first objective of numerous innovative sea, air, and human powered crossing technologies.[citation needed] Pre-historic people sailed from the mainland to England for millennia. At the end of the last Ice Age, lower sea levels even permitted walking across.[69][70]

text: By boat[edit]

text:
Date
Crossing
Participant(s)
Notes

March 1816
the French paddle steamer Élise (ex Scottish-built Margery or Margory) was the first steamer to cross the Channel.

9 May 1816
Paddle steamer Defiance, Captain William Wager, was the first steamer to cross the Channel to Holland[71]

10 June 1821
Paddle steamer Rob Roy, first passenger ferry to cross channel

The steamer was purchased subsequently by the French postal administration and renamed Henri IV.

June 1843
First ferry connection through Folkestone-Boulogne

Commanding officer Captain Hayward

25 July 1959
Hovercraft crossing (Calais to Dover, 2 hours 3 minutes)
SR-N1
Sir Christopher Cockerell was on board

22 August 1972
First solo hovercraft crossing (same route as SR-N1; 2 hours 20 minutes)[72]
Nigel Beale (UK)

1974
Coracle (13 and a half hours)
Bernard Thomas (UK)
As part of a publicity stunt, the journey was undertaken to demonstrate how the Bull Boats of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota could have been copied from Welsh coracles introduced by Prince Madog in the 12th century.[73]

14 September 1995
Fastest crossing by hovercraft, 22 minutes by "Princess Anne"
MCH SR-N4 MkIII
Craft was designed as a ferry

1997
First vessel to complete a solar-powered crossing using photovoltaic cells
SB Collinda
—

14 June 2004
New record time for crossing in amphibious vehicle (the Gibbs Aquada, three-seater open-top sports car)
Richard Branson (UK)
Completed crossing in 1 hour 40 minutes 6 seconds – previous record was 6 hours.[citation needed]

26 July 2006
New record time for crossing in hydrofoil car (the Rinspeed Splash, two-seater open-top sports car)
Frank M. Rinderknecht (Switzerland)
Completed crossing in 3 hours 14 minutes[74]

25 September 2006
First crossing on a towed inflatable object (not a powered inflatable boat)
Stephen Preston (UK)
Completed crossing in 180 min[75]

July 2007
BBC Top Gear presenters "drive" to France in amphibious cars
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May (UK)
Completed the crossing in a 1996 Nissan D21 pick-up (the "Nissank"), fitted with a Honda outboard engine.[76]

1960's
First crossing by water ski.

An annual Cross Channel Ski Race was run from the Varne Boat Club from the 1960s onwards. The race was from the Varne club in Greatstone on Sea to Cap Gris Nez / Boulogne (latter years) and back. Many waterskiers have made this return crossing non stop since this time.[citation needed] Youngest known waterskier to cross the Channel was John Clements aged 10, from the Varne Boat Club on 22 August 1974 who made the crossing from Littlestone to Boulogne and back without falling.[citation needed]

20 August 2011
First Crossing by Sea Scooters
A four-man relay team from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, headed by Heath Samples, crossed from Shakespeare Beach to Wissant.[citation needed]
It took 12 hours 26 minutes 39 seconds and set a new Guinness World Record.

text: Pierre Andriel crossed the English Channel aboard the Élise, ex the Scottish p.s. "Margery" in March 1816, one of the earliest seagoing voyages by steam ship.

text: The paddle steamer Defiance, Captain William Wager, was the first steamer to cross the Channel to Holland, arriving there on 9 May 1816.[71]

text: On 10 June 1821, English-built paddle steamer Rob Roy was the first passenger ferry to cross channel. The steamer was purchased subsequently by the French postal administration and renamed Henri IV and put into regular passenger service a year later. It was able to make the journey across the Straits of Dover in around three hours.[77]

text: In June 1843, because of difficulties with Dover harbour, the South Eastern Railway company developed the Boulogne-sur-Mer-Folkestone route as an alternative to Calais-Dover. The first ferry crossed under the command of Captain Hayward.[78]

text: In 1974 a Welsh coracle piloted by Bernard Thomas of Llechryd crossed the English Channel to France in 13½ hours. The journey was undertaken to demonstrate how the Bull Boats of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota could have been copied from coracles introduced by Prince Madog in the 12th century.[79][80]

text: The Mountbatten class hovercraft (MCH) entered commercial service in August 1968, initially between Dover and Boulogne but later also Ramsgate (Pegwell Bay) to Calais. The journey time Dover to Boulogne was roughly 35 minutes, with six trips per day at peak times. The fastest crossing of the English Channel by a commercial car-carrying hovercraft was 22 minutes, recorded by the Princess Anne MCH SR-N4 Mk3 on 14 September 1995,[81]

text: By air[edit]

text: The first aircraft to cross the Channel was a balloon in 1785, piloted by Jean Pierre François Blanchard (France) and John Jeffries (US).[82]

text: Louis Blériot (France) piloted the first airplane to cross in 1909.

text: By swimming[edit]

text: The sport of Channel swimming traces its origins to the latter part of the 19th century when Captain Matthew Webb made the first observed and unassisted swim across the Strait of Dover, swimming from England to France on 24–25 August 1875 in 21 hours 45 minutes.

text: In 1927, at a time when fewer than ten swimmers (including the first woman, Gertrude Ederle in 1926) had managed to emulate the feat and many dubious claims were being made, the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) was founded to authenticate and ratify swimmers' claims to have swum the Channel and to verify crossing times. The CSA was dissolved in 1999 and was succeeded by two separate organisations: CSA (Ltd) and the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CSPF). Both observe and authenticate cross-Channel swims in the Strait of Dover. The Channel Crossing Association was set up at about this time to cater for unorthodox crossings.

text: The team with the most number of Channel swims to its credit is the Serpentine Swimming Club in London,[83] followed by the International Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team.[84]

text: By the end of 2005, 811 people had completed 1,185 verified crossings under the rules of the CSA, the CSA (Ltd), the CSPF and Butlins.

text: The number of swims conducted under and ratified by the Channel Swimming Association to 2005 was 982 by 665 people. This includes 24 two-way crossings and three three-way crossings.

text: The number of ratified swims to 2004 was 948 by 675 people (456 men, 214 women). There have been 16 two-way crossings (9 by men and 7 by women). There have been three three-way crossings (2 by men and 1 by a woman). (It is unclear whether this last set of data is comprehensive or CSA only.)

text: The Strait of Dover is the busiest stretch of water in the world. It is governed by International Law as described in Unorthodox Crossing of the Dover Strait Traffic Separation Scheme.[85] It states: "[In] exceptional cases the French Maritime Authorities may grant authority for unorthodox craft to cross French territorial waters within the Traffic Separation Scheme when these craft set off from the British coast, on condition that the request for authorisation is sent to them with the opinion of the British Maritime Authorities."

text: The CCA, CSA, and CS&PF are the organisations escorting channel swims, because their pilots have the experience, qualifications, and equipment to guarantee the safety of the swimmers they escort.

text: The fastest verified swim of the Channel was by the Australian Trent Grimsey on 8 September 2012, in 6 hours 55 minutes,[86][87] beating the previous record set in 2007 by Bulgarian swimmer Petar Stoychev.

text: There may have been some unreported swims of the Channel, by people intent on entering Britain in circumvention of immigration controls. A failed attempt to cross the Channel by two Syrian refugees in October 2014 only came to light when their bodies were later discovered on the shores of the North Sea in Norway and the Netherlands.[88]

text: By car[edit]

text: On 16 September 1965, two Amphicars crossed from Dover to Calais.[89]

text: Other types[edit]

text:
Date
Crossing
Participant(s)
Notes

27 March 1899
First radio transmission across the Channel (from Wimereux to South Foreland Lighthouse)
Guglielmo Marconi (Italy)


document_title: The Clan of the Cave Bear

question_text: when is clan of the cave bear set

question_tokens: when is clan of the cave bear set

text: The Clan of the Cave Bear

text: Setting[edit]

text: The novel references the advance of the polar ice sheets, setting the story before 18,000 years Before Present (BP), when the farthest southern encroachment of the last glacial period of the current ice age occurred. Auel's time-frame, somewhere between 28,000 and 25,000 years BP, corresponds generally with archaeological estimates of the Neanderthal branch of mankind disappearing.

text: Plot summary[edit]

text: A five-year-old girl, who readers come to understand is Cro-Magnon, is orphaned and left homeless by an earthquake that destroys her family's camp. She wanders aimlessly, naked and unable to feed herself, for several days.  Having been attacked and nearly killed by a cave lion and suffering from starvation, exhaustion, and infection of her wounds, she collapses, on the verge of death.

text: The narrative switches to a group of people who call themselves "The Clan" and who we come to understand are Neanderthal, whose cave was destroyed in the earthquake and who are searching for a new home. The medicine woman of the group, Iza, discovers the girl and asks permission from Brun, the head of the Clan, to help the ailing child, despite the child being clearly a member of "the Others", the distrusted antagonists of the Clan. The child is adopted by Iza and her brother Creb. Creb is this group's "Mog-ur" or shaman, despite being deformed as a result of the difficult birth resulting from his abnormally large head and the later loss of an arm and eye after being attacked by a cave bear. The clan call her Ayla, the closest they can come to saying her "strange" name. After traveling with them for a while and starting to heal, Ayla wanders away from the group when they stop to discuss what they should do since they haven't found a new home and she discovers a huge, beautiful cave, perfect for them; many of the people begin to regard Ayla as lucky, especially since good fortune continues to come their way as she lives among them.

text: In Auel's books, the Neanderthal possess only limited vocal apparatus and rarely speak, but have a highly developed sign language. They do not laugh or even smile, and they do not cry; when Ayla weeps, Iza thinks she has an eye disease.

text: Ayla's different thought processes lead her to break important Clan customs, particularly the taboo against females handling weapons. She is self-willed and spirited, but tries hard to fit in with the Neanderthals, although she has to learn everything first-hand; she does not possess the ancestral memories of the Clan which enable them to do certain tasks after being shown only once.

text: Iza trains Ayla as a medicine woman "of her line", the most prestigious line of medicine women out of all of the Clans. It takes her much longer to train Ayla than it will her own daughter, Uba, since Ayla does not possess the memories of the Clan. When Ayla grows up, Iza is concerned she will never find a mate and no one will want her, making her a burden to the Clan, so she trains her to be a highly respected medicine woman so she will have her own "status" and will not have to rely on the status of a possibly lowly mate.

text: Ayla's main antagonist is Broud, son of the leader, an egomaniac who feels that she takes credit and attention away from him. As the two mature, the hatred between them festers. When they are young adults, Broud rapes Ayla, but she becomes pregnant, and rejoices in the birth of a son. Her son is almost taken away from her because he seems deformed to the Clan, since he does not look like them and, in the beginning, cannot hold up his head.

text: The book ends with Creb's death, Broud's succession to the leadership, and his banishment of Ayla, who sets off to find other people of her own kind. She is not allowed to take her son with her.

text: Sequels[edit]

text: The sequel, The Valley of Horses, continues Ayla's story, which is further developed in other books of the Earth's Children series, which include The Mammoth Hunters; The Plains of Passage; The Shelters of Stone; and the sixth and final installment in the series, The Land of Painted Caves.

text: Background[edit]

text:
The archaeological and paleontological research for this book was carried out by Auel from her public library, by attending archaeological conventions, and touring extensively on sites with briefings by working field archaeologists.[2] Some of the descriptions are based on the first adult Neanderthal skeletons found in Iraq from the cave burial at Shanidar, dating between 60-80,000 years BP. Other data is clearly linked to the widespread
Aurignacian culture and Gravettian culture, and their tell-tale Venus figurines which Auel uses as one center of her Cro-Magnon religious practices.[3]

text: Film and television adaptations[edit]

text: In 1986, the novel was adapted into a film directed by Michael Chapman and starring Daryl Hannah.

text: In 2014, the Lifetime television network ordered a pilot episode, based on the series of novels. Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Jean M. Auel, and Linda Woolverton are executive producers, with Woolverton writing the teleplay. The launch was slated for some time in 2015.[4] The Pilot was canceled by Lifetime and has been shopped around to various networks with no luck, and presumed to be dead, as of March 2016.

text: The filming of a pilot for a series is due to start in 2016, with Ireland as one location.[citation needed]