document_title: Common toad

question_text: what is the name of a small toad

question_tokens: what is the name of a small toad

root

text: Common toad

text: Taxonomy[edit]

text: The common toad was first given the name Rana bufo by the Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758.[3] In this work, he placed all the frogs and toads in the single genus Rana. It later became apparent that this genus should be divided, and in 1768, the Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti placed the common toad in the genus Bufo, naming it Bufo bufo.[4][5] The toads in this genus are included in the family Bufonidae, the true toads.[2]

tag: p

text: Various subspecies of B. bufo have been recognized over the years. The Caucasian toad is found in the mountainous regions of the Caucasus and was at one time classified as B. b. verrucosissima. It has a larger genome and differs from B. bufo morphologically[6] and is now accepted as Bufo verrucosissimus.[7] The spiny toad was classified as B. b. spinosus. It is found in the Mediterranean area and grows to a larger size and has a spinier skin than its more northern counterparts with which it intergrades.[8] It is now accepted as Bufo spinosus.[9] The Gredos toad, B. b. gredosicola, is restricted to the Sierra de Gredos, a mountain range in central Spain. It has exceptionally large paratoid glands and its colour tends to be blotched rather than uniform.[10] It is now considered to be a synonym of Bufo spinosus.[11]

text: B. bufo is part of a species complex, a group of closely related species which cannot be clearly demarcated.[1] Several modern species are believed to form an ancient group of related taxa from preglacial times. These are the spiny toad (B. spinosus), the Caucasian toad (B. verrucosissimus) and the Japanese common toad (B. japonicus). The European common toad (Bufo bufo) seems to have arisen more recently.[6] It is believed that the range of the ancestral form extended into Asia but that isolation between the eastern and western species complexes occurred as a result of the development of the Central Asian Deserts during the Middle Miocene.[12] The exact taxonomic relationships between these species remains unclear.[6] A serological investigation into toad populations in Turkey undertaken in 2001 examined the blood serum proteins of Bufo verrucosissimus and Bufo spinosus. It found that the differences between the two were not significant and that therefore the former should be synonymized with the latter.[13]

text: A study published in 2012 examined the phylogenetic relationships between the Eurasian and North African species in the Bufo bufo group and indicated a long evolutionary history for the group.  Nine to thirteen million years ago, Bufo eichwaldi, a recently described species from south Azerbaijan and Iran, split from the main lineage. Further divisions occurred with Bufo spinosus splitting off about five million years ago when the Pyrenees were being uplifted, an event which isolated the populations in the Iberian Peninsula from those in the rest of Europe. The remaining European lineage split into Bufo bufo and Bufo verrucosissimus less than three million years ago during the Pleistocene.[14] Very occasionally the common toad hybridizes with the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) or the European green toad (Bufo viridis).[15]

text: Description[edit]

text: The common toad can reach about 15 cm (6 in) in length. Females are normally stouter than males and southern specimens tend to be larger than northern ones. The head is broad with a wide mouth below the terminal snout which has two small nostrils. There are no teeth. The bulbous, protruding eyes have yellow or copper coloured irises and horizontal slit-shaped pupils. Just behind the eyes are two bulging regions, the paratoid glands, which are positioned obliquely. They contain a noxious substance, bufotoxin, which is used to deter potential predators. The head joins the body without a noticeable neck and there is no external vocal sac. The body is broad and squat and positioned close to the ground. The fore limbs are short with the toes of the fore feet turning inwards. At breeding time, the male develops nuptial pads on the first three fingers. He uses these to grasp the female when mating. The hind legs are short relative to other frogs' legs and the hind feet have long, unwebbed toes. There is no tail. The skin is dry and covered with small wart-like lumps. The colour is a fairly uniform shade of brown, olive-brown or greyish-brown, sometimes partly blotched or banded with a darker shade. The common toad tends to be sexually dimorphic with the females being browner and the males greyer.[16] The underside is a dirty white speckled with grey and black patches.[15][17]

text: Other species with which the common toad could be confused include the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) and the European green toad (Bufo viridis). The former is usually smaller and has a yellow band running down its back while the latter has a distinctive mottled pattern. The paratoid glands of both are parallel rather than slanting as in the common toad.[15] The common frog (Rana temporaria) is also similar in appearance but it has a less rounded snout, damp smooth skin, and usually moves by leaping.[18]

text: Common toads can live for many years and have survived for fifty years in captivity.[19] In the wild, common toads are thought to live for about ten to twelve years. Their age can be determined by counting the number of annual growth rings in the bones of their phalanges.[20]

text:
Swimming, Otmoor, Oxfordshire

Play media

In a pond Burgwald, Germany

tag: ul

text: Distribution and habitat[edit]

text: After the common frog (Rana temporaria), the edible frog (Pelophylax esculentus) and the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris), the common toad is the fourth most common amphibian in Europe.[15]  It is found throughout the continent with the exception of Iceland, the cold northern parts of Scandinavia, Ireland and a number of Mediterranean islands. These include Malta, Crete, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands. Its easterly range extends to Irkutsk in Siberia and its southerly range includes parts of northwestern Africa in the northern mountain ranges of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. A closely related variant lives in eastern Asia including Japan.[15] The common toad is found at altitudes of up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in the southern part of its range. It is largely found in forested areas with coniferous, deciduous and mixed woodland, especially in wet locations.[17] It also inhabits open countryside, fields, copses, parks and gardens, and often occurs in dry areas well away from standing water.[15]

text: Behaviour and lifecycle[edit]

text: The common toad usually moves by walking rather slowly or in short shuffling jumps involving all four legs. It spends the day concealed in a lair that it has hollowed out under foliage or beneath a root or a stone where its colouring makes it inconspicuous. It emerges at dusk and may travel some distance in the dark while hunting. It is most active in wet weather. By morning it has returned to its base and may occupy the same place for several months. It is voracious and eats woodlice, slugs, beetles, caterpillars, flies, earthworms and even small mice.[21][22] Small, fast moving prey may be caught by a flick of the tongue while larger items are grabbed with the jaws. Having no teeth, it swallows food whole in a series of gulps.[21] It does not recognise its prey as such but will try to consume any small, dark coloured, moving object it encounters at night. A research study showed that it would snap at a moving 1 cm (0.4 in) piece of black paper as if it were prey but would disregard a larger moving piece.[23] Toads seem to use visual cues for feeding and can see their prey at very low light intensities where humans are unable to discern anything.[24] Periodically, the common toad sheds its skin. This comes away in tattered pieces and is then consumed.[21]

text: When attacked, the common toad adopts a characteristic stance, inflating its body and standing with its hindquarters raised and its head lowered. Its chief means of defence lies in the foul tasting secretion that is produced by its paratoid glands and other glands on its skin. This contains a toxin called bufagin and is enough to deter many predators although grass snakes seem to be unaffected by it.[15] Other predators of adult toads include hedgehogs, rats and mink, and even domestic cats.[22] Birds that feed on toads include herons, crows and birds of prey. Crows have been observed to puncture the skin with their beak and then peck out the animal's liver, thus avoiding the toxin.[22] The tadpoles also exude noxious substances which deter fishes from eating them but not the great crested newt. Aquatic invertebrates that feed on toad tadpoles include dragonfly larvae, diving beetles and water boatmen. These usually avoid the noxious secretion by puncturing the tadpole's skin and sucking out its juices.[22]

text: A parasitic fly, Lucilia bufonivora, attacks adult common toads. It lays its eggs on the toad's skin and when these hatch, the larvae crawl into the toad's nostrils and eat its flesh internally with lethal consequences.[25] The European fingernail clam (Sphaerium corneum) is unusual in that it can climb up water plants and move around on its muscular foot. It sometimes clings to the toe of a common toad and this is believed to be one of the means by which it disperses to new locations.[26]

text: In 2007, researchers using a remotely operated underwater vehicle to survey Loch Ness, Scotland, observed a common toad moving along the bottom of the lake at a depth of 324 feet (99 m). They were surprised to find that an air-breathing animal could survive in such a location.[27]

text: The annual life cycle of the common toad is divided into 3 periods: the winter sleep, the time of mating and feeding period.[28]

text: Reproduction[edit]

text: The common toad emerges from hibernation in spring and there is a mass migration towards the breeding sites. The toads converge on certain ponds that they favour while avoiding other stretches of water that seem eminently suitable.[21] Adults use the same location year after year and over 80% of males marked as juveniles have been found to return to the pond at which they were spawned.[29] They find their way to these mainly by using olfactory and magnetic cues. Toads experimentally moved elsewhere and fitted with tracking devices have been found to be able to locate their chosen breeding pond when the displacement exceeded three kilometres (two miles).[30]

text: The males arrive first and remain in the location for several weeks while the females only stay long enough to mate and spawn. Rather than fighting for the right to mate with a female, male toads may settle disputes by means of the pitch of their voice. Croaking provides a reliable sign of body size and hence of prowess.[31] Nevertheless, fights occur in some instances. In a study at one pond where males outnumbered females by four or five to one, it was found that 38% of the males won the right to mate by defeating rivals in combat or by displacing other males already mounted on females.[32] Male toads generally outnumber female toads at breeding ponds. A Swedish study found that female mortality was higher than that of males and that 41% of females did not come to the breeding pond in the spring and missed a year before reproducing again.[33]

text: The males mount the females' backs, grasping them with their fore limbs under the armpits in a grip that is known as amplexus. The males are very enthusiastic, will try to grasp fish or inanimate objects and often mount the backs of other males. Sometimes several toads form a heap, each male trying to grasp the female at the base. It is a stressful period and mortality is high among breeding toads.[15] A successful male stays in amplexus for several days and, as the female lays a long, double string of small black eggs, he fertilises them with his sperm. As the pair wander piggyback around the shallow edges of the pond, the gelatinous egg strings, which may contain 3000 to 6000 eggs and be 3 to 4.5 metres (10 to 15 ft) in length, get tangled in plant stalks.[21]

text: The strings of eggs absorb water and swell in size, and small tadpoles hatch out after two to three weeks. At first they cling to the remains of the strings and feed on the jelly. They later attach themselves to the underside of the leaves of water weed before becoming free swimming. The tadpoles at first look similar to those of the common frog (Rana temporaria) but they are a darker colour, being blackish above and dark grey below. They can be distinguished from the tadpoles of other species by the fact that the mouth is the same width as the space between the eyes, and this is twice as large as the distance between the nostrils. Over the course of a few weeks their legs develop and their tail gradually gets reabsorbed. By twelve weeks of age they are miniature toads measuring about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) long and ready to leave the pond.[21]

text: Development and growth[edit]

text: The common toad reaches maturity at three to seven years old but there is great variability between populations.[15] Juveniles are often parasitised by the lung nematode Rhabdias bufonis. This slows growth rates and reduces stamina and fitness. Larger juveniles at metamorphosis always outgrow smaller ones that have been reared in more crowded ponds. Even when they have heavy worm burdens, large juveniles grow faster than smaller individuals with light worm burdens.[34] After several months of heavy worm infection, some juveniles in a study were only half as heavy as control juveniles. Their parasite-induced anorexia caused a decrease in food intake and some died.[35] Another study investigated whether the use of nitrogenous fertilisers affects the development of common toad tadpoles. The toadlets were kept in very dilute solutions of ammonium nitrate of various strengths. It was found that at certain concentrations, which were well above any normally found in the field, growth was increased and metamorphosis accelerated, but at others, there was no significant difference between the experimental tadpoles and controls. Nevertheless, certain unusual swimming patterns and a few deformities were found among the experimental animals.[36]

text: A comparison was made between the growth rate of newly metamorphosed juveniles from different altitudes and latitudes, the specimens studied being from Norway, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France. At first the growth rates for males and females was identical. By the time they became mature their growth rate had slowed down to about 21% of the initial rate and they had reached 95% of their expected adult size. Some females that were on a biennial breeding cycle carried on growing rapidly for a longer time. Adjusting for differences in temperature and the length of the growing season, the toads grew and matured at much the same rate from the four colder localities. These juveniles reached maturity after 1.09 years for males and 1.55 years for females. However, the young toads from lowland France grew faster and longer to a much greater size taking an average 1.77 years for males and 2.49 years for females before reaching maturity.[37]

text: Winter sleep[edit]

text: Common toads winter in various holes in the ground, sometimes in basements, often in droves with other amphibians. Rarely they spend the winter in flowing waters with the common frogs and green frogs.[28]

text: Conservation[edit]

text: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species considers the common toad as being of "least concern". This is because it has a wide distribution and is, over most of its range, a common species. It is not particularly threatened by habitat loss because it is adaptable and is found in deciduous and coniferous forests, scrubland, meadows, parks and gardens. It prefers damp areas with dense foliage. The major threats it faces include loss of habitat locally, the drainage of wetlands where it breeds, agricultural activities, pollution and mortality on roads. Chytridiomycosis, an infectious disease of amphibians, has been reported in common toads in Spain and the United Kingdom and may affect some populations.[1]

text: There are parts of its range where the common toad seems to be in decline. In Spain, increased aridity and habitat loss have led to a diminution in numbers and it is regarded as "near threatened".  A population in the Sierra de Gredos mountain range is facing predation by otters and increased competition from the frog Pelophylax perezi. Both otter and frog seem to be extending their ranges to higher altitudes.[1] The common toad cannot be legally sold or traded in the United Kingdom[38] but there is a slow decline in toad numbers[1] and it has therefore been declared a Biodiversity Action Plan priority species.[17] In Russia, it is considered to be a "Rare Species" in the Bashkortostan Republic, the Tatarstan Republic, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and the Irkutsk Oblast,[17] but during the 1990s, it became more abundant in Moscow Oblast.[17]

text: It has been found that urban populations of common toad occupying small areas and isolated by development show a lower level of genetic diversity and reduced fitness as compared to nearby rural populations. The researchers demonstrated this by genetic analysis and by noting the greater number of physical abnormalities among urban as against rural tadpoles when raised in a controlled environment. It was considered that long term depletion in numbers and habitat fragmentation can reduce population persistence in such urban environments.[39]

text: Roadkill[edit]

text: Many toads are killed by traffic while migrating to their breeding grounds. In Europe they have the highest rate of mortality from roadkill among amphibians. Many of the deaths take place on stretches of road where streams flow underneath showing that migration routes often follow water courses.[40] In some places in Germany,  Belgium,  Great Britain, Northern Italy and Poland, special tunnels have been constructed so that toads can cross under roads in safety. In other places, local wildlife groups run "toad patrols", carrying the amphibians across roads at busy crossing points in buckets. The toads start moving at dusk and for them to travel far, the temperature needs to remain above 5 °C (41 °F). On a warm wet night they may continue moving all night but if it cools down, they may stop earlier.[41] An estimate was made of the significance of roadkill in toad populations in the Netherlands. The number of females killed in the spring migration on a quiet country road (ten vehicles per hour) was compared with the number of strings of eggs laid in nearby fens. A 30% mortality rate was found, with the rate for deaths among males likely to be of a similar order.[42]

text: Bufotoxin[edit]

text: The main toxic substance found in the parotoid gland and skin of the common toad is called bufotoxin. It was first isolated by Heinrich Wieland and his colleagues in 1922 and they succeeded in identifying its structure about 20 years later.[43]  Meanwhile, other workers succeeded in isolating the same compound and its parent steroid bufotalin from the Japanese toad (Bufo japonicus). By 1986, researchers at the Arizona State University had succeeded in synthesizing the toad venom constituents bufotalin, bufalitoxin and bufotoxin.[44] The chemical formula of bufotoxin is C40H60N4O10. Its physical effects resemble those of digitalis[45] which in small doses increases the strength with which the heart muscle contracts and which is used in the treatment of congestive heart failure. The skin of one toad contains enough toxin to cause serious symptoms or even death in animals and man.[46] Clinical effects include severe irritation and pain to eyes, mouth, nose and throat, cardiovascular and respiratory symptoms, paralysis and seizures, increased salivation, vomiting, hyperkalemia, cyanosis and hallucinations.[46] There is no known anti-venom.[46] Treatment consists of supporting respiratory and cardiovascular functions, prevention of absorption and electrocardiography to monitor the condition. Atropine, phenytoin, cholestyramine and lidocaine may prove useful in its management.[46]

text: Cultural significance[edit]

text: The toad has long been considered to be an animal of ill omen or a connection to a spirit world. This may have its origins in the fact that it is at home both on land and in the water. It may cause repugnance because of its blackish, wart-like skin, its slow movements and the way it emerges from some dark hole. In Europe in the Middle Ages, the toad was associated with the Devil, for whom a coat-of-arms was invented emblazoned with three toads.[47] It was known that the toad could poison people and, as the witch's familiar, it was thought to possess magical powers. Even ordinary people made use of dried toads, their bile, faeces and blood.[48] In some areas, the finding of a toad in a house was considered evidence that a witch was present.[48] In the Basque Country, the familiars were believed to be toads wearing elegant robes. These were herded by children who were being trained as witches. Between 1610 and 1612, the Spanish inquisitor Alonso de Salazar Frías investigated witchcraft in the region and searched the houses of suspected witches for dressed toads. He found none.[49] These witches were reputed to use undomesticated toads as ingredients in their liniments and brews.[49]

text: An English folk tale tells how an old woman, a supposed witch, cursed her landlord and all his possessions when he demanded the unpaid rent for her cottage. Soon afterwards, a large toad fell on his wife and caused her to collapse. The toad was thrown into the fire but escaped with severe burns. Meanwhile, the old witch's cottage had caught fire and she was badly burnt. By next day, both toad and witch had died, and it was found that the woman's burns exactly mirrored those of the toad.[50]

text: The saliva of the toad was considered poisonous and was known as "sweltered venom" and it was believed that it could spit or vomit poisonous fire. Toads were associated with devils and demons and in Paradise Lost, John Milton depicted Satan as a toad when he poured poison into Eve's ear.[48] The First Witch in Shakespeare's Macbeth gave instructions on using a toad in the concoction of spells:[51]

text:
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

tag: table

text: It was also believed that there was a jewel inside a toad's head, a "toadstone", that when worn as a necklace or ring would warn the wearer of attempts to poison them.[52] Shakespeare mentioned this in As You Like It:[53]

text:
Sweet are the uses of adversity
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

text: Mr. Toad Esq. is one of the main characters in the children's novel The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame.[54] This has been dramatized by several authors including A. A. Milne who called his play Toad of Toad Hall. Mr. Toad is a very conceited, anthropomorphic toad and in the book he composes a ditty in his own praise which starts like this:[55]

text:
The world has held great heroes,
As history books have showed;
But never a name went down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!

text:
The clever men at Oxford
Know all there is to be knowed.
But none of them know half as much
As intelligent Mr. Toad!

text: George Orwell in his essay Some Thoughts on the Common Toad described the emergence of the common toad from hibernation as one of the most moving signs of spring.[56]


document_title: List of largest empires

question_text: who had the largest empire of all time

question_tokens: who had the largest empire of all time

text: List of largest empires

text: Measurement[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2017)

text: Both what constitutes an empire and the calculation of the land area of a particular empire are controversial subjects. Rein Taagepera has defined an empire as "any relatively large sovereign political entity whose components are not sovereign" and its size as the area over which the empire has some undisputed military and taxation prerogatives.[1]

text: Largest empires by land area[edit]

text: For context, note that the total land area of the Earth is 148,940,000 km2 (57,500,000 sq mi).[2] This is a list of empires whose greatest extent exceeded 2% of that area.

text: Empires at their greatest extent[edit]

text:
Empire
Max. land area (million km2)
Max. land area (million mi2)
% of world land area
Year

British Empire
35.5[3]
13.71
7001238400000000000♠23.84%
000000001920-01-01-00001920[3]

Mongol Empire
24.0[3][4]
9.27
7001161100000000000♠16.11%
000000001270-01-01-00001270[4] or 000000001309-01-01-00001309[3]

Russian Empire
22.8[3][4]
8.80
7001153100000000000♠15.31%
000000001895-01-01-00001895[3][4]

Qing dynasty
14.7[3][4]
5.68
7000986990000099999♠9.87%
000000001790-01-01-00001790[3][4]

Spanish Empire
13.7[3]
5.29
7000920000000099999♠9.20%
000000001810-01-01-00001810[3]

Second French colonial empire
11.5[3]
4.44
7000772000000000000♠7.72%
000000001920-01-01-00001920[3]

Abbasid Caliphate
11.1[3][4]
4.29
7000745000000000000♠7.45%
000000000750-01-01-0000750[3][4]

Umayyad Caliphate
11.1[3]
4.29
7000745000000000000♠7.45%
000000000720-01-01-0000720[3]

Yuan dynasty
11.0[3]
4.25
7000739000000000000♠7.39%
000000001310-01-01-00001310[3]

Portuguese Empire
10.4[5]
4.02
7000698000000000000♠6.98%
000000001815-01-01-00001815[5]

Xiongnu Empire
9.0[4][6]
3.47
7000604000000000000♠6.04%
-999999999824-01-01-0000176 BC[4][6]

Empire of Brazil
8.337[7]
3.22
7000560000000099999♠5.60%
000000001889-01-01-00001889[7]

Eastern Han Dynasty
6.5[6]
2.51
7000436000000000000♠4.36%
000000000100-01-01-0000100[6]

Ming dynasty
6.5[3][4]
2.51
7000436000000000000♠4.36%
000000001450-01-01-00001450[3][4]

Rashidun Caliphate
6.4[3]
2.47
7000430000000000000♠4.30%
000000000655-01-01-0000655[3]

Göktürk Khaganate
6.0[4][6]
2.32
7000403000000000000♠4.03%
000000000557-01-01-0000557[4][6]

Golden Horde Khanate
6.0[3][4]
2.32
7000403000000000000♠4.03%
000000001310-01-01-00001310[3][4]

Western Han Dynasty
6.0[4][6]
2.32
7000403000000000000♠4.03%
-999999999950-01-01-000050 BC[4][6]

Achaemenid Empire
5.5[4][6]
2.12
7000369000000000000♠3.69%
-999999999500-01-01-0000500 BC[4][6]

Tang dynasty
5.4[3][4]
2.08
7000363000000000000♠3.63%
000000000715-01-01-0000715[3][4]

Macedonian Empire
5.2[4][6]
2.01
7000349000000000000♠3.49%
-999999999677-01-01-0000323 BC[4][6]

Ottoman Empire
5.2[3][4]
2.01
7000349000000000000♠3.49%
000000001683-01-01-00001683[3][4]

Maurya Empire
5.0[4]
1.93
7000336000000000000♠3.36%
-999999999750-01-01-0000250 BC[4]

Roman Empire
5.0[4][6]
1.93
7000336000000000000♠3.36%
000000000117-01-01-0000117[4][6]

Tibetan Empire
4.6[3][4]
1.78
7000309000000000000♠3.09%
000000000800-01-01-0000800[3][4]

Timurid Empire
4.4[3][4]
1.70
7000295000000000000♠2.95%
000000001405-01-01-00001405[3][4]

Fatimid Caliphate
4.1[3][4]
1.58
7000275000000000000♠2.75%
000000000969-01-01-0000969[3][4]

Eastern Turkic Khaganate
4.0[6]
1.54
7000269000000000000♠2.69%
000000000624-01-01-0000624[6]

Hephthalite Empire
4.0[6]
1.54
7000269000000000000♠2.69%
000000000470-01-01-0000470[6]

Hunnic Empire
4.0[4][6]
1.54
7000269000000000000♠2.69%
000000000441-01-01-0000441[4][6]

Mughal Empire
4.0[3][4]
1.54
7000269000000000000♠2.69%
000000001690-01-01-00001690[3][4]

Great Seljuq Empire
3.9[3][4]
1.51
7000262000000000000♠2.62%
000000001080-01-01-00001080[3][4]

Seleucid Empire
3.9[4][6]
1.51
7000262000000000000♠2.62%
-999999999699-01-01-0000301 BC[4][6]

Italian Empire
3.798[8]
1.47
7000255000000099999♠2.55%
000000001938-01-01-00001938[8]

Ilkhanate
3.75[3][4]
1.45
7000252000000000000♠2.52%
000000001310-01-01-00001310[3][4]

Khwarazmian Empire
3.6[3]
1.39
7000242000000000000♠2.42%
000000001218-01-01-00001218[3]

Chagatai Khanate
3.5[3][4]
1.35
7000235000000000000♠2.35%
000000001310-01-01-00001310[3] or 000000001350-01-01-00001350[3][4]

Gupta Empire
3.5[4]
1.35
7000235000000000000♠2.35%
000000000400-01-01-0000400[4]

Sasanian Empire
3.5[4][6]
1.35
7000235000000000000♠2.35%
000000000550-01-01-0000550[4][6]

Western Turkic Khaganate
3.5[6]
1.35
7000235000000000000♠2.35%
000000000630-01-01-0000630[6]

First French colonial empire
3.4[3]
1.31
7000227990000099999♠2.28%
000000001670-01-01-00001670[3]

Ghaznavid Empire
3.4[3][4]
1.31
7000227990000099999♠2.28%
000000001029-01-01-00001029[3][4]

Delhi Sultanate (Tughlaq dynasty)
3.2[3][4]
1.24
7000215000000000000♠2.15%
000000001312-01-01-00001312[3][4]

German colonial empire
3.199[9][10]
1.24
7000215000000000000♠2.15%
000000001912-01-01-00001912[10]

Song dynasty
3.1[3][4]
1.20
7000208000000000000♠2.08%
000000000980-01-01-0000980[3][4]

Uyghur Khaganate
3.1[3][4]
1.20
7000208000000000000♠2.08%
000000000800-01-01-0000800[3][4]

Western Jin dynasty
3.1[6]
1.20
7000208000000000000♠2.08%
000000000280-01-01-0000280[6]

Khazar Khanate
3.0[4]
1.16
7000200999999999999♠2.01%
000000000850-01-01-0000850[4]

Sui Dynasty
3.0[6]
1.16
7000200999999999999♠2.01%
000000000589-01-01-0000589[6]

text: Largest empires by percentage of global population[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2017)

text: According to the Guinness World Records, the Achaemenid Empire ruled the greatest percentage of the global population. This was in 440BC, when it ruled about 49.4 million people of the global population of 112.4 million, or 44%.[11]


document_title: Pulmonary circulation

question_text: where does the pulmonary circuit of the heart begin

text: Pulmonary circulation

text: Route[edit]

text: Pulmonary circulation is the movement of blood from the heart, to the lungs, and back to the heart. Deoxygenated blood leaves the heart, goes to the lungs, and then re-enters the heart; Deoxygenated blood leaves through the right ventricle through the pulmonary artery. From the right atrium, the blood is pumped through the tricuspid valve (or right atrioventricular valve), into the right ventricle. Blood is then pumped from the right ventricle through the pulmonary valve and into the main pulmonary artery.

text: Arteries[edit]

text: From the right ventricle, blood is pumped through the semilunar pulmonary valve into the left and right main pulmonary arteries (one for each lung), which branch into smaller pulmonary arteries that spread throughout the lungs.

text: Lungs[edit]

text: The pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood to the lungs, where carbon dioxide is released and oxygen is picked up during respiration. Arteries are further divided into very fine capillaries which are extremely thin-walled. The pulmonary vein returns oxygenated blood to the left atrium of the heart.

text: Veins[edit]

text: The oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through pulmonary veins, which return it to the left heart, completing the pulmonary cycle. This blood then enters the left atrium, which pumps it through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. From the left ventricle the blood passes through the aortic valve to the aorta. The blood is then distributed to the body through the systemic circulation before returning again to the pulmonary circulation.

text: History[edit]

text: Pulmonary circulation was first described by the Arab physician Ibn al-Nafis in his Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon (1242). Ibn al-Nafis described pulmonary circulation as:[2][3]

text: "the blood from the right chamber of the heart must arrive at the left chamber but there is no direct pathway between them. The thick septum of the heart is not perforated and does not have visible pores as some people thought or invisible pores as Galen thought. The blood from the right chamber must flow through the vena arteriosa (pulmonary artery) to the lungs, spread through its substances, be mingled there with air, pass through the arteria venosa (pulmonary vein) to reach the left chamber of the heart and there form the vital spirit..."

text: It was later described by Michael Servetus in the "Manuscript of Paris"[4] (near 1546, never published) and later published in his Christianismi Restitutio (1553). Since it was a theology work condemned by most of the Christian factions of his time, the discovery remained mostly unknown until the dissections of William Harvey in 1616.

text: In 1559, Realdo Colombo explained the Pulmonary function. Prior to Colombo’s work, anatomists such as Galen and Vesalius examined blood vessels separately from the organs of the body. Colombo instead considered these vessels together with the organs they support, and from this was able to conceptualize the flow of blood to and from each organ, supporting his discovery of pulmonary transition of the blood. Colombo also viewed the lungs separately from the heart, and assigned it as having a special role in respiration.[5]

text: Embryonic[edit]

text: The pulmonary circulation loop is virtually bypassed in fetal circulation. The fetal lungs are collapsed, and blood passes from the right atrium directly into the left atrium through the foramen ovale: an open conduit between the paired atria, or through the ductus arteriosus: a shunt between the pulmonary artery and the aorta. When the lungs expand at birth, the pulmonary pressure drops and blood is drawn from the right atrium into the right ventricle and through the pulmonary circuit. Over the course of several months, the foramen ovale closes, leaving a shallow depression known as the fossa ovalis.


document_title: Tess of the d'Urbervilles

question_text: when does tess of the d'urbervilles take place

text: Tess of the d'Urbervilles

text: Summary of the novel[edit]

text: Phase the First: The Maiden (1–11)[edit]

text: The novel is set in impoverished rural England, Thomas Hardy's fictional Wessex, during the Long Depression of the 1870s. Tess is the oldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated peasants. However, John is given the impression by Parson Tringham that he may have noble blood, as "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D'Urberville", the surname of an extinct noble Norman family. Knowledge of this immediately goes to John's head.

text: That same day, Tess participates in the village May Dance, where she meets Angel Clare, youngest son of Reverend James Clare, who is on a walking tour with his two brothers. He stops to join the dance and partners several other girls. Angel notices Tess too late to dance with her, as he is already late for a promised meeting with his brothers. Tess feels slighted.

text: Tess's father gets too drunk to drive to the market that night, so Tess undertakes the journey herself. However, she falls asleep at the reins, and the family's only horse encounters a speeding wagon and is fatally wounded. Tess feels so guilty over the horse's death and the economic consequences for the family that she agrees, against her better judgement, to visit Mrs d'Urberville, a rich widow who lives in a rural mansion near the town of Trantridge, and "claim kin". She is unaware that, in reality, Mrs d'Urberville's husband Simon Stoke adopted the surname even though he was unrelated to the real d'Urbervilles.

text: Tess does not succeed in meeting Mrs d'Urberville, but chances to meet her libertine son, Alec, who takes a fancy to Tess and secures her a position as poultry keeper on the estate. Although Tess tells them about her fear that he might try to seduce her, her parents encourage her to accept the job, secretly hoping that Alec might marry her. Tess dislikes Alec but endures his persistent unwanted attention to earn enough to replace her family's horse. Despite his often cruel and manipulative behaviour, the threat that Alec presents to Tess's virtue is sometimes obscured for Tess by her inexperience and almost daily commonplace interactions with him. Late one night, walking home from town with some other Trantridge villagers, Tess inadvertently antagonizes Car Darch, Alec's most recently discarded favourite, and finds herself in physical danger. When Alec rides up and offers to "rescue" her from the situation, she accepts. Instead of taking her home, however, he rides through the fog until they reach an ancient grove in a forest called "The Chase", where he informs her that he is lost and leaves on foot to get his bearings. Alec returns to find Tess asleep, and it is implied that he rapes her, although there remains a degree of ambiguity.[3]

text: Mary Jacobus, a commentator on Hardy's works, speculates that the ambiguity may have been forced on the author to meet the requirements of his publisher and the "Grundyist" readership of his time.[4]

text: Phase the Second: Maiden No More (12–15)[edit]

text: Tess goes home to her father's cottage, where she keeps almost entirely to her room, apparently feeling both traumatized and ashamed of having lost her virginity. The following summer, she gives birth to a sickly boy who lives only a few weeks. On his last night alive, Tess baptises him herself, because her father would not allow the parson to visit, stating that he did not want the parson to "pry into their affairs". The child is given the name 'Sorrow', but despite the baptism Tess can only arrange his burial in the "shabby corner" of the churchyard reserved for unbaptised infants. Tess adds a homemade cross to the grave with flowers in an empty marmalade jar.

text: Phase the Third: The Rally (16–24)[edit]

text: More than two years after the Trantridge debacle, Tess, now twenty, has found employment outside the village, where her past is not known. She works for Mr. and Mrs. Crick as a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy. There, she befriends three of her fellow milkmaids, Izz, Retty, and Marian, and meets again Angel Clare, now an apprentice farmer who has come to Talbothays to learn dairy management. Although the other milkmaids are in love with him, Angel singles out Tess, and the two fall in love.

text: Phase the Fourth: The Consequence (25–34)[edit]

text: Angel spends a few days away from the dairy, visiting his family at Emminster. His brothers Felix and Cuthbert, both ordained Church of England ministers, note Angel's coarsened manners, while Angel considers them staid and narrow-minded. The Clares have long hoped that Angel would marry Mercy Chant, a pious schoolmistress, but Angel argues that a wife who knows farm life would be a more practical choice. He tells his parents about Tess, and they agree to meet her. His father, the Reverend James Clare, tells Angel about his efforts to convert the local populace, mentioning his failure to tame a young miscreant named Alec d'Urberville.

text: Angel returns to Talbothays Dairy and asks Tess to marry him. This puts Tess in a painful dilemma: Angel obviously thinks her a virgin, and she shrinks from confessing her past. Such is her love for him, though, that she finally agrees to the marriage, pretending that she only hesitated because she had heard he hated old families and thought he would not approve of her d'Urberville ancestry. However, he is pleased by this news because he thinks it will make their match more suitable in the eyes of his family.

text: As the marriage approaches, Tess grows increasingly troubled. She writes to her mother for advice; Joan tells her to keep silent about her past. Her anxiety increases when a man from Trantridge, named Groby, recognises her and crudely alludes to her history. Angel overhears and flies into an uncharacteristic rage. Tess, deciding to tell Angel the truth, writes a letter describing her dealings with d'Urberville and slips it under his door. When Angel greets her with the usual affection the next morning, she thinks he has forgiven her; later she discovers the letter under his carpet and realises that he has not seen it. She destroys it.

text: The wedding ceremony goes smoothly, apart from the omen of a cock crowing in the afternoon. Tess and Angel spend their wedding night at an old d'Urberville family mansion, where Angel presents his bride with diamonds that belonged to his godmother. When he confesses that he once had a brief affair with an older woman in London, Tess finally feels able to tell Angel about Alec, thinking he will understand and forgive.

text: Phase the Fifth: The Woman Pays (35–44)[edit]

text: However, Angel is appalled by the revelation, and makes it clear that Tess is reduced in his eyes. Although he admits that Tess was "more sinned against" than she has sinned herself, he feels that her "want of firmness" confronting Alec may indicate a flaw in her character and that she is no longer the woman he thought she was. He spends the wedding night on a sofa. After a few awkward days, a devastated Tess suggests they separate, saying that she will return to her parents. Angel gives her some money and promises to try to reconcile himself to her past, but warns her not to try to join him until he sends for her. After a brief visit to his parents, Angel takes a ship to Brazil to see if he can start a new life there. Before he leaves, he encounters Tess's milkmaid friend Izz and impulsively asks her to come with him as his mistress. She accepts, but when he asks her how much she loves him, she admits "Nobody could love 'ee more than Tess did! She would have laid down her life for 'ee. I could do no more!" Hearing this, he abandons the whim, and Izz goes home weeping bitterly.

text: Tess returns home for a time. However, she soon runs out of money, having to help out her parents more than once. Finding her life with them unbearable, she decides to join Marian at a starve-acre farm called Flintcomb-Ash; they are later joined by Izz. On the road, she is again recognised and insulted by Groby, who later turns out to be her new employer. At the farm, the three former milkmaids perform hard physical labour.

text: One winter day, Tess attempts to visit Angel's family at the parsonage in Emminster, hoping for practical assistance. As she nears her destination, she encounters Angel's older brothers, with Mercy Chant. They do not recognise her, but she overhears them discussing Angel's unwise marriage, and dares not approach them. On the way back home, she overhears a wandering preacher and is shocked to discover that it is Alec d'Urberville, who has been converted to Methodism under the Reverend James Clare's influence.

text: Phase the Sixth: The Convert (45–52)[edit]

text: Alec and Tess are each shaken by their encounter. Alec claims that she has put a spell on him and makes Tess swear never to tempt him again as they stand beside an ill-omened stone monument called the Cross-in-Hand. However, Alec continues to pursue her and soon comes to Flintcomb-Ash to ask Tess to marry him, although she tells him she is already married. He begins stalking her, despite repeated rebuffs, returning at Candlemas and again in early spring, when Tess is hard at work feeding a threshing machine. He tells her he is no longer a preacher and wants her to be with him. When he insults Angel, she slaps him, drawing blood. Tess then learns from her sister, Liza-Lu, that her father, John, is ill and that her mother is dying. Tess rushes home to look after them. Her mother soon recovers, but her father unexpectedly dies from a heart condition.

text: The impoverished family is now evicted from their home, as Durbeyfield held only a life lease on their cottage. Alec, having followed her to her home village, tries to persuade Tess that her husband is never coming back and offers to house the Durbeyfields on his estate. Tess refuses his assistance several times. She had earlier written Angel a psalm-like letter, full of love, self-abasement, and pleas for mercy, in which she begs him to help her fight the temptation she is facing. Now, however, she finally begins to realize that Angel has wronged her and scribbles a hasty note saying that she will do all she can to forget him, since he has treated her so unjustly.

text: The Durbeyfields plan to rent some rooms in the town of Kingsbere, ancestral home of the d'Urbervilles, but arrive to find that the rooms have already been rented to another family. All but destitute, they are forced to take shelter in the churchyard, under the D'Urberville window. Tess enters the church and in the d'Urberville Aisle, Alec reappears and importunes Tess again. The scene ends with her desperately looking at the entrance to the d'Urberville vault and wishing herself dead.

text: In the meantime, Angel has been very ill in Brazil and, his farming venture having failed, heads home to England. On the way, he confides his troubles to a stranger, who tells him that he was wrong to leave his wife; what she was in the past should matter less than what she might become. Angel begins to repent his treatment of Tess.

text: Phase the Seventh: Fulfilment (53–59)[edit]

text: Upon his return to his family home, Angel has two letters waiting for him: Tess's angry note and a few cryptic lines from "two well-wishers" (Izz and Marian), warning him to protect his wife from "an enemy in the shape of a friend". He sets out to find Tess and eventually locates Joan, now well-dressed and living in a pleasant cottage. After responding evasively to his enquiries, she tells him Tess has gone to live in Sandbourne, a fashionable seaside resort. There, he finds Tess living in an expensive boarding house under the name "Mrs. d'Urberville." When he asks for her, she appears in startlingly elegant attire and stands aloof. He tenderly asks her forgiveness, but Tess, in anguish, tells him he has come too late. Thinking he would never return, she has yielded at last to Alec d'Urberville's persuasion and has become his mistress. She gently asks Angel to leave and never come back. He departs, and Tess returns to her bedroom, where she falls to her knees and begins a lamentation. She blames Alec for causing her to lose Angel's love a second time, accusing Alec of having lied when he said that Angel would never return to her.

text: The following events are narrated from the perspective of the landlady, Mrs. Brooks. The latter tries to listen in at the keyhole, but withdraws hastily when the argument between Tess and Alec becomes heated. She later sees Tess leave the house, then notices a spreading red spot – a bloodstain – on the ceiling. She summons help, and Alec is found stabbed to death in his bed.

text: Angel, totally disheartened, is leaving Sandbourne; Tess hurries after him and tells him that she has killed Alec, saying that she hopes she has won his forgiveness by murdering the man who ruined both their lives. Angel does not believe her at first, but grants her his forgiveness and tells her that he loves her. Rather than heading for the coast, they walk inland, vaguely planning to hide somewhere until the search for Tess is ended and they can escape abroad from a port. They find an empty mansion and stay there for five days in blissful happiness, until their presence is discovered one day by the cleaning woman.

text: They continue walking and, in the middle of the night, stumble upon Stonehenge, where Tess lies down to rest on an ancient altar. Before she falls asleep, she asks Angel to look after her younger sister, Liza-Lu, saying that she hopes Angel will marry her after she is dead. At dawn, Angel sees that they are surrounded by police. He finally realises that Tess really has committed murder and asks the men in a whisper to let her awaken naturally before they arrest her. When she opens her eyes and sees the police, she tells Angel she is "almost glad" because "now I shall not live for you to despise me". Her parting words are, "I am ready."

text: Tess is escorted to Wintoncester (Winchester) prison. The novel closes with Angel and Liza-Lu watching from a nearby hill as the black flag signalling Tess's execution is raised over the prison. Angel and Liza-Lu then join hands and go on their way.

text: Symbolism and themes[edit]

text: Hardy's writing often explores what he called the "ache of modernism", and this theme is notable in Tess, which, as one critic noted,[5] portrays "the energy of traditional ways and the strength of the forces that are destroying them". In depicting this theme Hardy uses imagery associated with hell when describing modern farm machinery, as well as suggesting the effete nature of city life as the milk sent there must be watered down because townspeople cannot stomach whole milk. Angel's middle-class fastidiousness makes him reject Tess, a woman whom Hardy presents as a sort of Wessex Eve, in harmony with the natural world. When he parts from her and goes to Brazil, the handsome young man gets so ill that he is reduced to a "mere yellow skeleton". All these instances have been interpreted as indications of the negative consequences of man's separation from nature, both in the creation of destructive machinery and in the inability to rejoice in pure and unadulterated nature.[citation needed]

text: On the other hand, Marxist critic Raymond Williams in The English Novel From Dickens to Lawrence questions the identification of Tess with a peasantry destroyed by industrialisation. Williams sees Tess not as a peasant, but as an educated member of the rural working class, who suffers a tragedy through being thwarted, in her aspirations to socially rise and her desire for a good life (which includes love and sex), not by industrialism, but by the landed bourgeoisie (Alec), liberal idealism (Angel) and Christian moralism in her family's village (see Chapter LI).

text: Another important theme of the novel is the sexual double standard to which Tess falls victim; despite being, in Hardy's view, a truly good woman, she is despised by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Hardy plays the role of Tess's only true friend and advocate, pointedly subtitling the book "a pure woman faithfully presented" and prefacing it with Shakespeare's words from The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "Poor wounded name! My bosom as a bed/ Shall lodge thee." However, although Hardy clearly means to criticise Victorian notions of female purity, the double standard also makes the heroine's tragedy possible, and thus serves as a mechanism of Tess's broader fate. Hardy variously hints that Tess must suffer either to atone for the misdeeds of her ancestors, or to provide temporary amusement for the gods, or because she possesses some small but lethal character flaw inherited from her ancestors.[citation needed]

text: Because of the numerous pagan and neo-Biblical references made about her, Tess has been viewed variously as an Earth goddess or as a sacrificial victim.[6] For example, early in the novel, she participates in a festival for Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, and when she baptises her dead child she chooses a passage from Genesis, the book of creation, rather than the more traditional New Testament verses. Then at the end, when Tess and Angel come to Stonehenge, which was commonly believed in Hardy's time to be a pagan temple, she willingly lies down on a stone supposedly associated with human sacrifice.

text: Tess has also been seen as a personification of nature and her association with animals throughout the novel emphasizes this idea. Tess's misfortunes begin when she falls asleep while driving Prince to market, and causes the horse's death; at Trantridge, she becomes a poultry-keeper; she and Angel fall in love amid cows in the fertile Froom valley; and on the road to Flintcombe-Ashe, she kills some wounded pheasants to end their suffering.[citation needed]

text: However, Tess emerges as a powerful character not because of this symbolism but because "Hardy's feelings for her were strong, perhaps stronger than for any of his other invented personages".[7]

text: Adaptations[edit]

text: Theatre[edit]

text: The novel was adapted for the stage for the first time in 1897. This a production by Lorimer Stoddard proved a great Broadway triumph for actress Minnie Maddern Fiske, was revived in 1902, and subsequently made into a motion picture by Adolph Zukor in 1913, starring Mrs. Fiske, of which no copies remain.

text: In 1924 Hardy himself wrote the script for the first British theatrical adaptation and he chose Gertrude Bugler, a Dorchester girl from the original Hardy Players, to play Tess.[8] The Hardy Players (now re-formed in 2005 by Bugler's sister Norrie) was an amateur group from Dorchester who re-enacted Hardy’s novels. Bugler was highly acclaimed,[9] but she was prevented from taking the London stage part by Hardy's wife, Florence, who was jealous of her;[citation needed] Hardy had said that young Gertrude was the true incarnation of the Tess he had imagined. Years before writing the novel, Hardy had been inspired by the beauty of her mother Augusta Way, then an 18-year-old milkmaid, when he visited Augusta's father's farm in Bockhampton. Hardy remembered her when writing the novel. When Hardy saw Bugler (he rehearsed The Hardy Players at the hotel run by her parents), he immediately recognised her as the young image of the now older Augusta.[8]

text: The novel was successfully adapted for the stage several other times:

text:
1946: An adaptation by playwright Ronald Gow became a triumph on the West End starring Wendy Hiller.
1999: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a new West End musical with music by Stephen Edwards and lyrics by Justin Fleming opens in London at the Savoy Theatre.
2007: Tess, The New Musical (a rock opera) with lyrics, music and libretto by Annie Pasqua and Jenna Pasqua premieres in NYC.
2009: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a new adaptation for the stage with five actors was produced in London by Myriad Theatre & Film.
2010: Tess, a new rock opera is an official Next Link Selection at the New York Musical Theatre Festival with music, lyrics, and libretto by Annie Pasqua and Jenna Pasqua.
2012: Tess of the d'Urbervilles is produced into a piece of musical theatre by the Youth Music Theatre UK as part of their summer season, and is later further developed, edited, and performed again in 2017.

text: Opera[edit]

text: 1906: An Italian operatic version written by Frederic d'Erlanger was first performed in Naples, but the run was cut short by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When the opera came to London three years later, Hardy, then 69, attended the premiere.

text: Film[edit]

text: The story has also been filmed at least eight times, including three for general release through cinemas and four television productions.

text:
Cinema:

1913: The "lost" silent version, mentioned above (in theatre), starring Minnie Maddern Fiske as Tess and Scots-born David Torrence as Alec.[10]
1924: Another lost silent version made with Blanche Sweet (Tess), Stuart Holmes (Alec), and Conrad Nagel (Angel).[11]
1967: Hindi film "Dulhan Ek Raat Ki" starring Nutan, Dharmendra and Rehman.[12]
1979: Roman Polanski's film Tess with Nastassja Kinski (Tess), Leigh Lawson (Alec), and Peter Firth (Angel).[13]
1996: Rajiv Kapoor's film Prem Granth with Madhuri Dixit, Rishi Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor in lead roles. It was a commercial failure.
2000: Assamese filmmaker Bidyut Chakrabarty's film Nishiddha Nadi starring Trisha Saikia, Bina Baruwoti, Dhritiman Phukan and a host of others was based on the novel. The film was produced by the Assam State Film (Finance and Development) Corporation and was released on 18 February 2000. Cinematography, Editing and Music Direction were done by National Award Winners, Mrinal Kanti Das, A. Sreekar Prasad and Sher Choudhury respectively.
2011: Michael Winterbottom 21st century Indian set film Trishna with Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed.[14]
2013: The Maiden 21st century set film starring Brittany Ashworth,[15] Matt Maltby and Jonah Hauer-King, directed by Daisy Bard, written and produced by Jessica Benhamou.[16]

Television:

1952: BBC TV, directed by Michael Henderson, and starring Barbara Jefford (Tess), Michael Aldridge (Alec), and Donald Eccles (Angel).[17]
1960: ITV, ITV Play of the Week, "Tess", directed by Michael Currer-Briggs, and starring Geraldine McEwan (Tess), Maurice Kaufmann (Alec), and Jeremy Brett (Angel).[18]
1998: London Weekend Television's three-hour mini-series Tess of the D'Urbervilles, directed by Ian Sharp, and starring Justine Waddell (Tess), Jason Flemyng (Alec), and Oliver Milburn (Angel), the latter himself Dorset-born.[19]
2008: A four-hour BBC adaptation, written by David Nicholls, aired in the United Kingdom in September and October 2008 (in four parts),[20] and in the United States on the PBS series Masterpiece Classic in January 2009 (in two parts).[21] The cast included Gemma Arterton (Tess), Hans Matheson (Alec), Eddie Redmayne (Angel), Ruth Jones (Joan), Anna Massey (Mrs d'Urberville), and Kenneth Cranham (Reverend James Clare).[22][23]

text: Music[edit]

text: American metalcore band Ice Nine Kills has a song called Tess-Timony inspired by this novel on their album Every Trick in the Book.

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Graphic, XLIV, July–December 1891
Jump up ^ "Review: Tess of the d'Urbervilles: a Pure Woman Faithfully Presented by Thomas Hardy". The Athenaeum (3350): 49–50. January 9, 1892.
Jump up ^ Watts, Cedric (2007). Thomas Hardy 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'. Penrith: Humanities-Ebooks. pp. 32–3. ISBN 9781847600455.
Jump up ^ Jacobus, Mary (1976). "Tess's Purity". Essays in Criticism. Oxford University Press. XXVI (4): 318–338. doi:10.1093/eic/XXVI.4.318.
Jump up ^ Dale Kramer, Tess, p. 14
Jump up ^ Radford, Thomas Hardy and the Survivals of Time, p. 183
Jump up ^ J.Hillis Miller, Fiction and Repetition, p.119
^ Jump up to: a b Woodhall, N., (2006), Norrie's Tale: An Autobiography of the Last of the 'Hardy Players', Wareham: Lullworde Publication
Jump up ^ Tomalin, C., (2006), Thomas Hardy, London: Viking
Jump up ^ Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1913). – IMDb.
Jump up ^ Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1924). – IMDb.
Jump up ^ "Dulhan Ek Raat Ki (1967)". 3 March 2008.
Jump up ^ Tess. – IMDb.
Jump up ^ Trishna. – IMDb.
Jump up ^ "Brittany Ashworth".
Jump up ^ Brook, Rachel (10 February 2013). "Interview: Oxford grad adapts Hardy’s Tess". The Oxford Student. WordPress. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
Jump up ^ Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1952) (TV). – IMDb.
Jump up ^ ITV Play of the Week – "Tess" (1960). – IMDb.
Jump up ^ Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1998). – IMDb.
Jump up ^ Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy's classic novel for BBC One. – BBC. – 21 January 2008.
Jump up ^ Wiegand, David. – "Compelling performances rescue 'Tess'". – San Francisco Chronicle. – 2 January 2009.
Jump up ^ Tess Of The D'Urbervilles – vibrant young cast line-up for dramatic adaptation of Hardy classic for BBC One. – BBC. – 17 March 2008.
Jump up ^ Tess of the d'Urbervilles (2008). – IMDb.

tag: ol

text: Secondary sources[edit]

text:
Davis, William A., Jr. "Hardy and the 'Deserted Wife' Question: The Failure of the Law in Tess of the D'urbervilles." Colby Quarterly 29.1 (1993): 5–19.
Gossin, Pamela. Thomas Hardy's Novel Universe: Astronomy, Cosmology, and Gender in the Post-Darwinian World. Aldershot, England : Ashgate, 2007.
Heffernan, James A. W. "'Cruel Persuasion': Seduction, Temptation and Agency in Hardy's Tess." Thomas Hardy Yearbook 35 (2005): 5–18.
Leavis, L. R. "Marriage, Murder, and Morality: The Secret Agent and Tess." Neophilologus 80.1 (1996): 161–69.
Lovesey, Oliver. "Reconstructing Tess." SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900 43.4 (2003): 913–38.
Poole, Adrian. "'Men's Words' and Hardy's Women." Essays in Criticism: A Quarterly Journal of Literary Criticism 31.4 (1981): 328–45.
Tumanov, Vladimir. “Under the Hood of Tess: Conflicting Reproductive Strategies in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles.” Neophilologus 97.1 (2013): 245-259.


document_title: Empire of the Sun (film)

question_text: who played the little boy in empire of the sun

text: Empire of the Sun (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Amidst Japan's invasion of China during World War II, Jamie Graham—a British upper middle class schoolboy—is enjoying a privileged and spoiled life in the Shanghai International Settlement. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese begin to occupy the settlement, and in the ensuing chaos, Jamie is separated from his parents. Jamie's mother shouts at him over the panicked mob to wait at their house and promises that they will come back for him. He spends some time living in his deserted home, but after eating all the food he ventures out into the city.

text: Hungry, Jamie tries to surrender to some Japanese soldiers, who shrug and laugh him off. After being chased by a street urchin, he is taken in by Basie—an American expatriate and hustler—and his partner Frank, who nicknames him "Jim". They intend to leave the boy in the streets when they are unable to sell his teeth for cash, but Jamie promises to lead them back to his neighborhood where there are valuables to loot. There, Jamie finds his house lit and sees a figure in the window whom he thinks is his mother. He runs to the door only to discover the house is occupied by Japanese troops, who take the trio prisoner. They are then taken to Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center in Shanghai for processing. A truck later arrives to take selected internees to the Suzhou Creek Internment Camp; Basie is among those selected to go but Jamie is not. Because he knows of the camp's location, a desperate Jamie convinces the soldiers to take him.

text: It is now 1945, nearing the end of the Pacific War. Despite the terror and poor living conditions of the camp, Jim survives by establishing a successful trading network—which even involves the camp's commander, Sergeant Nagata. Dr. Rawlins, the camp's British doctor, becomes a father figure and teacher to Jim. One night after a bombing raid, Nagata orders the destruction of the prisoners' infirmary as reprisal. He only stops when Jim (now fluent in Japanese) begs forgiveness. Through the barbed wire fencing, Jim befriends a Japanese teenager, who is a trainee pilot. Jim also visits Basie in the American POW barracks, where Jim idolizes the Americans and their culture.

text: One morning at dawn, Jim witnesses a kamikaze ritual. Overcome with emotion, he salutes and sings the Welsh song "Suo Gân". The base is suddenly attacked by a group of American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft. Jim is overjoyed and climbs the ruins of a nearby pagoda to better watch the airstrike. Dr. Rawlins chases Jim up the pagoda to save him, where the boy breaks down in tears—he cannot remember what his parents look like. As a result of the attack the Japanese decide to evacuate the camp. Basie escapes during the confusion, though he had promised to take Jim with him. The camp's prisoners march through the wilderness where many die of fatigue, starvation, and disease.

text: Arriving at a football stadium near Nantao—filled with luxuries confiscated by the Japanese—Jim recognizes his parents' Packard. Jim spends the night there and witnesses flashes from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki hundreds of miles away.

text: Jim wanders back to Suzhou Creek. Along the way he hears news of Japan's surrender and the end of the war. He encounters the Japanese teenager he befriended earlier, who has since become a pilot but is now disillusioned. The youth remembers Jim and offers him a mango, and will cut it for him with his katana. Basie reappears with a group of armed Americans who have arrived to loot the Red Cross containers being airdropped over the area. One of the Americans, thinking Jim is in danger, shoots and kills the Japanese youth. Basie offers to help Jim find his parents, but Jim—infuriated over his friend's death—chooses to stay behind.

text: Jim is eventually found by American soldiers and placed in an orphanage, where he is reunited with his mother and father.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Christian Bale as Jim
John Malkovich as Basie
Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Victor
Nigel Havers as Dr. Rawlins
Joe Pantoliano as Frank Demarest
Leslie Phillips as Maxton
Masatō Ibu as Sergeant Nagata
Emily Richard as Mary Graham, Jim's mother
Rupert Frazer as John Graham, Jim's father
Peter Gale as Mr. Victor
Takatarô Kataoka as Kamikaze Boy Pilot
Ben Stiller as Dainty
Robert Stephens as Mr. Lockwood

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: Warner Bros. purchased the film rights, intending Harold Becker to direct and Robert Shapiro to produce.[5] Tom Stoppard wrote the first draft of the screenplay, on which Ballard briefly collaborated.[2] Becker dropped out, and David Lean came to direct with Spielberg as producer. Lean explained, "I worked on it for about a year and in the end I gave it up because I thought it was too similar to a diary. It was well-written and interesting, but I gave it to Steve."[5] Spielberg felt "from the moment I read J. G. Ballard's novel I secretly wanted to direct myself."[5] Spielberg found the project to be very personal. As a child, his favorite film was Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai, which similarly takes place in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Spielberg's fascination with World War II and the aircraft of that era was stimulated by his father's stories of his experience as a radio operator on North American B-25 Mitchell bombers in the China-Burma Theater.[5] Spielberg hired Menno Meyjes to do an uncredited rewrite before Stoppard was brought back to write the shooting script.[2]

text: Casting[edit]

text: J.G. Ballard felt Bale had a physical resemblance to himself at the same age.[6] The actor was 12 years old when he was cast. Amy Irving, Bale's co-star in the television movie Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, recommended Bale to her then-husband, Steven Spielberg, for the role. More than 4,000 child actors auditioned.[7] Jim's singing voice was provided by English performer James Rainbird.[8]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Empire of the Sun was filmed at Elstree Studios in the United Kingdom, and on location in Shanghai and Spain. The filmmakers searched across Asia in an attempt to find locations that resembled 1941 Shanghai. They entered negotiations with Shanghai Film Studios and China Film Co-Production Corporation in 1985.[9] After a year of negotiations, permission was granted for a three-week shoot in early March 1987. It was the first American film shot in Shanghai since the 1940s.[2] The Chinese authorities allowed the crew to alter signs to traditional Chinese characters, as well as closing down city blocks for filming.[9] Over 5,000 local extras were used, some old enough to remember the Japanese occupation of Shanghai 40 years earlier. Members of the People's Liberation Army played Japanese soldiers.[6] Other locations included Trebujena in Andalusia, Knutsford in Cheshire and Sunningdale in Berkshire.[9] Lean often visited the set during the England shoot.[2]

text: Spielberg attempted to portray the era accurately, using period vehicles and aircraft. Four Harvard SNJ aircraft were lightly modified in France to resemble Mitsubishi A6M Zero aircraft.[10] Two additional non-flying replicas were used. Three restored P-51D Mustangs, two from 'The Fighter Collection' of England, and one from the 'Old Flying Machine Company', were flown in the film.[10] These P-51s were flown by Ray Hanna (who was featured in the film flying at low-level past the child star with the canopy back, waving), his son Mark and "Hoof" Proudfoot and took over 10 days of filming to complete due to the complexity of the planned aerial sequences, which included the P-51s actually dropping plaster-filled replica 500 lb bombs at low level, with simulated bomb blasts. A number of large scale remote control flying models were also used, including an 18-foot wingspan B-29, but Spielberg felt the results were disappointing, so he extended the film contract with the full-size examples and pilots on set in Trebujena, Spain.[11][12] J.G. Ballard makes a cameo appearance at the costume party scene.[6]

text: Special effects[edit]

text: Industrial Light & Magic designed the visual effects sequences with some computer-generated imagery also used for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Norman Reynolds was hired as the production designer while Vic Armstrong served as the stunt coordinator.[12]

text: Reception [edit]

text: Empire of the Sun was given a limited release on December 11, 1987, before being wide released on Christmas Day, 1987. The film earned $22.24 million in North America,[4] and $44.46 million in other countries, accumulating a worldwide total of $66.7 million, earning more than its budget but still considered a box office disappointment by Spielberg.[N 1][2]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 71% based on reviews from 47 critics.[14] By comparison Metacritic calculated an average score of 62 out of 100 based on 22 reviews.[15] J. G. Ballard gave positive feedback, and was especially impressed with Christian Bale's performance.[6] Critical reaction was not universally affirmative,[5] but Richard Corliss of Time stated that Spielberg "has energized each frame with allusive legerdemain and an intelligent density of images and emotions."[16] Janet Maslin from The New York Times called the film "a visual splendor, a heroic adventurousness and an immense scope that make it unforgettable."[17] Julie Salamon of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the film as "an edgy, intelligent script by playwright Tom Stoppard, Spielberg has made an extraordinary film out of Mr. Ballard's extraordinary war experience."[18] J. Hoberman from The Village Voice decried that the serious subject was undermined by Spielberg's "shamelessly kiddiecentric" approach.[5] Roger Ebert gave a mixed reaction, "Despite the emotional potential in the story, it didn't much move me. Maybe, like the kid, I decided that no world where you can play with airplanes can be all that bad."[19] On his TV show with Gene Siskel, Ebert said that the film "is basically a good idea for a film that never gets off the ground." Siskel added, "I don't know what the film is about. It's so totally confused and taking things from different parts. On one hand, if it wants to say something about a child's-eye view of war, you got a movie made by John Boorman called Hope and Glory that was just released that is much better, and much more daring in showing the whimsy that children's view of war is. On the other hand, this film wants to hedge its bet and make it like an adventure film, so you've got like Indiana Jones with the John Malkovich character helping the little kid through all the fun of war. I don't know what Spielberg wanted to do."[20]

text: Awards [edit]

text: The film won awards from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures for Best Film and Best Director, and Bale received a special citation for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor, the first National Board award bestowed on a child actor.[21][22] At the 60th Academy Awards, Empire of the Sun was nominated for Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Original Music Score, Costume Design (Bob Ringwood), and Sound (Robert Knudson, Don Digirolamo, John Boyd and Tony Dawe). It did not convert any of the nominations into awards.[23] Allen Daviau, who was nominated as cinematographer, publicly complained, "I can't second-guess the Academy, but I feel very sorry that I get nominations and Steven doesn't. It's his vision that makes it all come together, and if Steven wasn't making these films, none of us would be here."[2] The film won awards for cinematography, sound design, and music score at the 42nd British Academy Film Awards. The nominations included production design, costume design, and adapted screenplay.[24] Spielberg was honored for this work by the Directors Guild of America,[25] while the American Society of Cinematographers honored Allen Daviau.[26] Empire of the Sun was nominated for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and Original Score at the 45th Golden Globe Awards.[27] John Williams earned a Grammy Award nomination.[28]

text: Themes[edit]

text: Jim's growing alienation from his prewar self and society is reflected in his hero-worship of the Japanese aviators based at the airfield adjoining the camp. "I think it's true that the Japanese were pretty brutal with the Chinese, so I don't have any particularly sentimental view of them," Ballard recalled. "But small boys tend to find their heroes where they can. One thing there was no doubt about, and that was that the Japanese were extremely brave. One had very complicated views about patriotism [and] loyalty to one's own nation. Jim is constantly identifying himself, first with the Japanese; then, when the Americans start flying over in their Mustangs and B-29s, he's very drawn to the American."[5]

text: The apocalyptic wartime setting and the climactic moment when Jim sees the distant white flash of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki gave Spielberg powerful visual metaphors "to draw a parallel story between the death of this boy's innocence and the death of the innocence of the entire world."[29] Spielberg reflected he "was attracted to the idea that this was a death of innocence, not an attenuation of childhood, which by my own admission and everybody's impression of me is what my life has been. This was the opposite of Peter Pan. This was a boy who had grown up too quickly."[1] Other topics that Spielberg previously dealt with, and are presented in Empire of the Sun, include a child being separated from his parents (The Sugarland Express, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Poltergeist)[N 2] and World War II (1941, and Raiders of the Lost Ark).[30] Spielberg explained "My parents got a divorce when I was 14, 15. The whole thing about separation is something that runs very deep in anyone exposed to divorce."[1]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: The dramatic attack on the Japanese prisoner of war camp carried out by P-51 Mustangs is accompanied by Jim's whoops of "...the Cadillac of the skies!", a phrase believed to be first used in Ballard's text as "Cadillac of air combat".[31] Steven Bull quotes the catchwords in the Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation (2004) as originating in 1941.[32] John Williams' soundtrack includes "Cadillac of the Skies" as an individual score cue.

text: Ben Stiller conceived the idea for Tropic Thunder while performing in Empire of the Sun.[33]


document_title: Rotor (ride)

question_text: fairground ride where you stick to the wall

text: Rotor (ride)

text: Design and operation[edit]

text: The Rotor is a large, upright barrel, rotated at 33 revolutions per minute. The rotation of the barrel creates a centrifugal effect equivalent to almost 3 g. Once the barrel has attained full speed, the floor is retracted, leaving the riders stuck to the wall of the drum. At the end of the ride cycle, the drum slows down and gravity takes over. The riders slide down the wall slowly. Most Rotors were constructed with an observation deck.

text: Although Hoffmeister was the designer, most Rotors were constructed under license. In Australia, the Rotors were built by Ted Hopkins of Luna Park Milsons Point. In the United States, two main companies were responsible for production; the Velare Brothers and the Anglo Rotor Corporation. A dispute between these two companies was resolved when the construction rights to touring Rotors were assigned to the Velare Brothers, while permanent-standing Rotors (later becoming known as Chance Rotors) became the domain of ARC.

text: Appearances[edit]

text:
Australia – Three Rotors were built in Australia based on Hoffmeister's design. All had been demolished or destroyed by the 1990s, although a slightly redesigned Rotor was rebuilt for Luna Park Sydney in 1995, which is still in operation.
United States – Several Rotors have been constructed in the United States since the 1960s. Though most of these have since been demolished and replaced by other rides, there are rotors still in operation at some places, such as Canobie Lake Park in Salem, New Hampshire ("Turkish Twist"), Frontier City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ("Tumbleweed"), Sylvan Beach Amusement Park in Sylvan Beach, New York. Another Rotor, with an observation platform, appears at the yearly Washington State Fair in Puyallup, Washington.

text: Past appearances[edit]

text:
Adventureland (Known as "Silly Silo", active 1974–2013), Altoona, Iowa
AstroWorld (known as the "Barrel of Fun" 1971–1979), Houston, Texas
Boblo Island 1980s, Ontario, Canada
Cedar Point (1960s–1970s), Sandusky, Ohio
Coney Island (1970–1971), Cincinnati, Ohio
Conneaut Lake Park (known as the "Hell Hole" 1976–1992), Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania
COSI Columbus (1999–2011), Columbus, Ohio
Crystal Beach (1960s), west of Fort Erie, Ontario
Elitch Gardens(1989 to 1998), Denver, Colorado
Euclid Beach Park  [1957 to 1969] [Cleveland], Ohio
Geauga Lake (1981–1999), Aurora, Ohio
Great Escape (1983-1990's) Queensbury, New York
Hersheypark (1970[1] to 1994[2]), Hershey, Pennsylvania
Kennywood – three different rides (1955–1958; 1960s; 1987–1994), West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
Kings Dominion Time Shaft (1979-1990s), Doswell, Virginia
Kings Island (1972–1982), Mason, Ohio
Lagoon Amusement Park (1972-19__), Farmington, Utah
Lake Compounce (closed in 2010), Bristol, Connecticut
Lakeside Amusement Park (1990s–2005), Denver, Colorado
Fantasy Island (known as "Devil's Hole" active 1975 to 1993), Grand Island, New York
Old Chicago (1975–1980), Bolingbrook, Illinois
Old Indiana (80s?), Thorntown, Indiana
Pacific Ocean Park (1960–1967) Santa Monica, California
Palace Playland Amusement Park (closed mid-1990s), Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Paragon Park (closed 1984), Nantasket Beach, Hull, Massachusetts
Playland Amusement Park (1970's) Ocean City, Maryland
Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park (1963–1983), New Orleans, Louisiana
The Pike (1960's-1979 opened as "Rotor",  Long Beach, California
Six Flags Great America (known as Cajun Cliffhanger, opened 1976 and closed in 2000 due to an accident when two girls were injured on the ride, Gurnee, Illinois.)
Six Flags Magic Mountain (1971–2008 "Spin-out" custom wood enclosure and observation deck), Valencia, California
Six Flags New England (removed after 1998 season), Agawam, Massachusetts
Six Flags Over Georgia Was called the "Spindle Top" (removed), Atlanta, Georgia
Six Flags Over Texas "Spindletop" (1967–1989), Arlington, Texas
Six Flags St. Louis (Known as "Tom's Twister" active 1972 to 2005), Eureka, Missouri
Worlds of Fun (Known as "Finnish Fling", active 1973-2017[3]), Kansas City, Missouri

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
A scene in The 400 Blows depicts Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) riding a rotor. Director François Truffaut is among the other riders.
The 2006 film Candy's opening scene features actors Abbie Cornish and Heath Ledger riding the rotor in Sydney's Luna Park, while actor Geoffrey Rush watches them from above.
In the 1976 television series Charlie's Angels, the heroines capture a criminal by trapping him into a rotor ride and turning it on; as such he became stuck to the wall and couldn't escape.


document_title: Spanish Christmas Lottery

question_text: when does the biggest lotto in spain occur

text: Spanish Christmas Lottery

text: Ticket numbers and prizes[edit]

text: Since 2011, the Spanish Christmas Lottery is based on tickets ("billetes") which have 5-digit numbers, from #00000 to #99999. Since this system only produces 100,000 unique ticket numbers, each ticket number is printed multiple times, in several so-called series ("serie"). The series is also identified on each ticket by a series number. In this way, the lottery organizer is able to sell more than 100,000 tickets each year, numbered from "Series 001 Ticket 00000" through "Series xxx Ticket 99999", where xxx is the total number of series printed in a given year.

text: For example, in 2015, there were 180 series of 100,000 tickets each, for a total of 18,000,000 tickets available at €200 each. If all 3.6 billion of tickets were sold, there would be 2.52 billion (70% of ticket sales) available for prizes.

text: Because the €200 ticket price may be prohibitive for many purchasers, each of the pre-printed tickets is actually a perforated tear-apart sheet of 10 identical sub-tickets (or fractions) sold for €20 each. It is known as a décimo in Spanish (one tenth). Each sub-ticket is entitled to 10% of any prize that the ticket has won.

text: On a private basis, or through associations, charities, workplaces, sports teams, cafés, shops and other organizations, it is also possible to buy or be given a fraction of a fraction of a ticket, called a participación (a share). Many organizations buy fractions (a one tenth ticket) and divide them further into fractions of fractions and sell them to the public, colleagues or members of an association. Usually with charities and special organizations a small transaction fee is applied which is effectively a donation to the organization. Street sellers may take a commission earning a small profit. Fractions of fractions (shares) are made by writing the ticket number and the amount paid on a piece of paper (possibly on a photocopy of the ticket) and then signed. The paper is a legal contract in Spain and proof of participation in the ticket. If the ticket is a winner, anyone holding a share will be entitled to their proportional amount of the prize payout. For example, a charity may buy a fraction and split it further into 10 more fractions (shares), in this case selling them for 2 euros each plus 1 Euro extra as a donation to the charity. If their number wins, they will get 1% of the prize (one tenth of one tenth).

text: Most Spanish people hold at least a small portion of a lottery ticket in the Christmas Lottery each year, even if they do not gamble at other times year.[citation needed] This includes tickets exchanged with family and acquaintances, or participations sold by one's employer.

text: Using available data for 2013, when there were 160 "serie" of 100,000 "billetes" (from 00000 to 99999) at 200 each, the maximum ticket sales of €3.2 billion would produce a prize payout of €2.24 billion (70% of ticket sales). For each one of the 160 "serie", the prize structure would be:[3]

text: Tickets are officially sold in official lottery shops throughout the country as well as by licensed (and unlicensed) sellers on the street. Frequently a shop will sell a ticket number in all series meaning all the winners of that ticket will have purchased their tickets in that location. This sometimes leads to a small village full of grand prize winners. Locations where previous grand prize winners were sold (El Gordo) often becomes a location of lottery pilgrimage where thousands of people (both local and from far away) will queue and buy their ticket at this location "for luck". The tickets are also sold outside of Spain, usually online (legally or illegally) often with a notable markup in price.

text:
Quantity
Prize
Description
Total

1
4,000,000
El Gordo (First Prize)
4,000,000

1
1,250,000
Second Prize
1,250,000

1
500,000
Third Prize
500,000

2
200,000
Fourth Prizes
400,000

8
60,000
Fifth Prizes
480,000

1,794
1,000
La Pedrea
1,794,000

2
20,000
For the two consecutive numbers, one before and one after, the First Prize number
(the First Prize approximations)
40,000

2
12,500
For the two numbers, one before and one after, the Second Prize
(the Second Prize approximations)
25,000

2
9,600
For the two numbers, one before and one after, the Third Prize
(the Third Prize approximations)
19,200

99
1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of the First Prize
99,000

99
1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of the Second Prize
99,000

99
1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of the Third Prize
99,000

198
1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of each of the Fourth Prizes
198,000

999
1,000
For the 999 numbers with the same two last digits as the First Prize
999,000

999
1,000
For the 999 numbers with the same two last digits as the Second Prize
999,000

999
1,000
For the 999 numbers with the same two last digits as the Third Prize
999,000

9,999
200
For the 9,999 numbers with the same last digit as the First Prize (refund)
1,999,800

Total per serie
14,000,000

Total for the 160 'series
2,240,000,000

text: In 2012 the €4,000,000 El Gordo was paid to ticket number 76058. The numbers 76057 and 76059 obtained the corresponding €20,000 approximation prizes. Additionally, all numbers between 76000 and 76099 (excluding El Gordo but including approximations) obtained the €1,000 prize for the numbers with the same first three digits of El Gordo. All numbers ending in "58" (excluding El Gordo) obtained €1,000, and all numbers ending in "8" (excluding El Gordo) obtained a refund of €200.

text: The exact quantity of tickets and series, and their prices, may be different each year. For example, in 2004, there were 66,000 different numbers in 195 series. In 2005, there were 85,000 numbers in 170 series, whereas in 2006 the number of series was increased to 180. Since 2011 there are 100,000 different numbers in 180 series. Distribution of prizes can change also, as in 2002 with the introduction of the Euro, or in 2011, when El Gordo increased from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000, the Second Prize increased from 1,000,000 to 1,250,000, the Fifth Prizes increased from 50,000 to 60,000, and 20 more pedreas of 1,000 were added.[4] In 2013 the number of series has been reduced from 180 to 160 to adjust to the expected demand.

text: The draw[edit]

text: Since December 18, 1812, the day long Christmas Lottery drawings are held according to exactly the same procedure each year. In the past it took place in the Lotería Nacional hall of Madrid, while in 2010 and 2011 it was celebrated in the Palacio Municipal de Congresos de Madrid, and in 2012 in Teatro Real in Madrid. Pupils of the San Ildefonso school (formerly reserved for orphans of public servants) draw the numbers and corresponding prizes, delivering the results in song to the public. Until 1984, only boys from San Ildefonso participated in the drawing; that year Mónica Rodríguez became the first girl to sing the results, including a fourth prize of 25 million Spanish pesetas.[5] It is a custom that the winners donate some of the money to the San Ildefonso school. The public attending the event may be dressed in lottery-related extravagant clothing and hats.[6] The state-run Televisión Española and Radio Nacional de España, and other media outlets, broadcast the entire draw, which currently takes place on December 22 each year.

text: Two large spherical cages are used. The largest one contains 100,000 small wooden balls, each with a unique 5-digit ticket number on it, from 00000 to 99999. The smaller cage contains 1,807 small wooden balls, each one representing a prize written in Euros:

text:
1 ball for the first prize, called El Gordo.
1 ball for the second prize.
1 ball for the third prize.
2 balls for the fourth prizes.
8 balls for the fifth prizes.
1,794 balls for the small prizes, called la Pedrea, literally "the pebble-avalanche" or "stoning".

text: Inscriptions on the wooden balls are nowadays made with a laser, to avoid any difference in weight between them. They weigh 3 g and have a diameter of 18.8 mm.[7] Before being thrown into the vessels, the numbers are shown to the public for anyone to check that the balls with their numbers are not missing.

text: As the drawing goes on, a single ball is extracted from each of the revolving spheres at the same time. One child sings the winning number, the other child sings the corresponding prize. This is repeated until the smaller cage (the prize-balls) has been emptied. Due to the sheer number of prizes, this procedure takes many hours. The children work in about eight to nine shifts, equal to the number of frames of numbers to be drawn.[8][9][10][11][12]

text: The balls have holes on them so they can be placed (skewerd) into long wires which are placed in frames for later presentation. When a major prize is drawn, both children pause, sing the prize and ticket number multiple times and show the balls to a committee, and then to a fixed camera with two Phillips screwdriver heads mounted at the front, all before being inserted into a frame as the others. Although the drawing is by chance, the children who draw the higher prizes are applauded. Apart from the prizes drawn from the vessel, some prizes are calculated from the winning numbers (view the table with prizes above). Once the largest prize (El Gordo) is declared, this number is instantly broadcast on television, online and on public screens.

text: The two-vessels system was the traditionally used in weekly and daily Spanish lotteries, but now it is only used in the Christmas Lottery. The rest of the weekly and extraordinary draws during the year use five spherical cages with ten balls each (numbered 0 to 9), from where the five digits of the winning numbers are drawn.

text: The smallest prize are tickets that end with a certain number. That means 10% of all tickets win this prize (effectively getting your money back). There is a 5.3% chance of winning higher prizes meaning more than 10% of all tickets win some prize which is a significantly higher winning rate than most other lotteries. The prize structure makes it easier to win some money compared to other lotteries, and it is common saying that the prizes of the Christmas Lottery are well distributed all around Spain. Chances of winning El Gordo are 1 in 100,000, that is 0.001%, while chances of winning the top prize of EuroMillions are 1 in 116,531,800 or 0.0000000086%.

text: Non-winners are known to claim "it's health that really matters" after losing. Those who win the smallest prize (getting their money back) often re-invest the money in a ticket for Sorteo de El Niño, the second most important lottery in Spain, held before the feast of Epiphany of Jesus on January 6.

text: El Gordo[edit]

text: The climax of the drawing is the moment when El Gordo is drawn.[13] Lottery outlets usually only sell tickets for one or two numbers, so the winners of the largest prizes often live in the same town or area or work for the same company. In 2011, El Gordo was sold entirely in Grañén, Huesca, a town with about 2,000 people.[13] In 2010, €414 million from the first prize were sold in Barcelona, and the rest of the €585 million of El Gordo was distributed between Madrid, Tenerife, Alicante, Palencia, Zaragoza, Cáceres, and Guipúzcoa.[14] In 2006, the winning number was sold in eight different lottery outlets across Spain, while the second prize number (€100,000 per décimo) was only ever sold from a kiosk on the Puerta del Sol in central Madrid. In 2005, the winning number was sold in the town of Vic in Catalonia (population 37,825), whose inhabitants shared about €500 million (€300,000 per winning décimo).

text: As a misconception in many non-Spanish speaking countries[where?][citation needed], it is often assumed that the term El Gordo is specific for the Christmas Lottery; some even think that El Gordo is in fact the name of the lottery. However, the real meaning of El Gordo is simply "the first prize" (literally "the fat one" or more accurately "the big one"); other lotteries have their Gordo as well. To add to the confusion, there is a relatively new weekly Spanish lottery game called El Gordo de la Primitiva, which has nothing in common with the Christmas lottery, except the fact that it is organized by the Spanish public lottery entity Loterías y Apuestas del Estado.