Cuba

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the island was inhabited by Native American peoples known as the Taíno and Ciboney whose ancestors had come from South and possibly North and Central America at least several and perhaps 60 to 80 centuries before. The Taíno were farmers and the Ciboney were farmers and hunter-gatherers; some have suggested that copper trade was significant and mainland artifacts have been found.

On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed near what is now Baracoa and claimed the island for Spain, and naming it Isla Juana after Prince Juan of Asturias. In 1511 the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa; other towns including the future capital of the island San Cristobal de la Habana (founded in 1515) soon followed.

The Spanish enslaved the approximately 100,000 indigenous people who resisted conversion to Christianity, setting them primarily to the task of searching for gold, and within a century they had all but disappeared. Most scholars now believe that infectious disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the indigenous people.

Cuba remained a Spanish possession for almost 400 years (1511–1898). Its economy was based on plantation agriculture, mining and the export of sugar, coffee and tobacco to Europe and later to North America. The small land-owning elite of Spanish-descended settlers held social and economic power, supported by a population of Spaniards born on the island (Criollos), other Europeans, and African-descended slaves.

In the 1820s, when the other parts of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal, although there was some agitation for independence, leading the Spanish Crown to give it the motto "La Siempre Fidelísima Isla" (The Always Most Faithful Island). This loyalty was due partly to Cuban settlers' dependence on Spain for trade, protection from pirates, protection against a slave rebellion and partly because they feared the rising power of the United States more than they disliked Spanish rule.

Cuban independence from Spain was the motive for a rebellion in 1868 led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. This resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War. The US declined to recognize the legitimacy of the Cuban government in arms, even though many European and Latin American nations had done so. In 1878 the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba. In 1879-1880, Cuban patriot Calixto Garcia attempted to start another war, known as the Little War, but received little support.

Slavery was abolished in 1886, although the African-descended minority remained socially and economically oppressed. During this period rural poverty in Spain provoked by the Spanish Revolution of 1868 and its aftermath led to even greater Spanish emigration to Cuba. During the 1890s pro-independence agitation revived, fueled by resentment of the restrictions imposed on Cuban trade by Spain and hostility to Spain's increasingly oppressive and incompetent administration of Cuba. Few of Spain's promises for economic reform in the Pact of Zanjón were kept.

In April 1895 a new war was declared, led by the writer and poet José Martí, who had organized the war over 10 years, and proclaimed Cuba an independent republic — Martí was killed at Dos Rios shortly after landing in Cuba with the eastern expeditionary force. His death immortalized him and he has become Cuba's national hero. The 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered a much smaller rebel army which relied mostly on guerrilla and sabotage tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler, military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th century concentration camps.Between 200,000 and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease during this period in the camps. These numbers were verified by the Red Cross and US Senator (and former Secretary of War) Redfield Proctor. US and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.

As an outcome of the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded Cuba, along with Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the US under the 1898 Treaty of Paris.

Theodore Roosevelt, who had fought in the Spanish-American War and had some sympathies with the independence movement, succeeded McKinley as President of the United States in 1901 and abandoned the 20-year treaty proposal. Instead, the Republic of Cuba gained formal independence from the United States of America on May 20, 1902. Under the new Cuban constitution, however, the US retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, Cuba also agreed to lease to the US the naval base at Guantánamo Bay.

In 1906, following disputed elections, an armed revolt led by Independence War Veterans defeated the meager government forces loyal to its first president, Tomás Estrada Palma and the US intervened. The country was placed under US occupation and a US governor, Charles Edward Magoon, took charge for three years. Magoon's governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter, believing that much political corruption was introduced during Magoon's years as governor. In 1908 self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected President, but the US continued its intervention of Cuban affairs.

In 1912 Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province. Perhaps because the group lacked sufficient weaponry, the main tactic was to set businesses and private residences on fire. The movement was a failure and General Monteagudo suppressed the rebels with considerable bloodshed.

Cuba shipped considerable quantities of sugar to Britain, avoiding U-boat attack, by the subterfuge of shipping sugar to Sweden. The Menocal government declared war on Germany very soon after the US did.

Despite frequent outbreaks of disorder, constitutional government was maintained until 1930, when Gerardo Machado y Morales suspended the constitution. During Machado's tenure, a nationalistic economic program was pursued with several major national development projects undertaken (see Infrastructure of Cuba. Carretera Central and El Capitolio).

Machado's hold on power was weakened following a decline in demand for exported agricultural produce due to the Great Depression, and to attacks first by War of Independence veterans, and later by covert terrorist organizations, principally the ABC.

During a general strike in which the communist party took the side of Machado the senior elements of the Cuban army forced Machado into exile and installed Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, son of Cuba's founding father (Carlos Manuel de Céspedes), as President. During September 4-5, 1933 a second coup overthrew Céspedes, leading to the formation of the first Ramón Grau San Martín government. Notable events in this violent period include the separate sieges of Hotel Nacional and Atares Castle (see Blas Hernandez). This government lasted 100 days but engineered radical socialistic changes in Cuban society and a rejection of the Platt amendment. In 1934 Fulgencio Batista and the army replaced Grau with Carlos Mendieta y Montefur.

In 1940, Cuba had free elections. In 1940 Batista, endorsed by the Communist Party of Cuba, was elected President and his administration carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration. Batista's administration formally took Cuba to the Allies of World War II camp in the World War II, declaring war on Japan on December 9, 1941, then on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941. Cuba was not greatly involved in combat during World War II.

Ramón Grau won 1944 elections. Carlos Prío Socarrás won 1948 elections. The influx of investment fueled a boom which did much to raise living standards across the board and create a prosperous middle class in most urban areas, although the gap between rich and poor became wider and more obvious.

The 1952 election was a three-way race. Roberto Agramonte of the Ortodoxos party led in all the polls, followed by Dr Aurelio Hevia of the Auténtico party, and running a distant third was Batista, seeking a return to office. Both Agramonte and Hevia had decided to name Col. Ramón Barquín to head the Cuban armed forces after the elections. Barquín, then a diplomat in Washington, DC, was a top officer who commanded the respect of the professional army and had promised to eliminate corruption in the ranks. Batista feared that Barquín would oust him and his followers, and when it became apparent that Batista had little chance of winning, he staged a coup on March 10, 1952 and held power with the backing of a nationalist section of the army as a “provisional president” for the next two years. Justo Carrillo told Barquín in Washington in March 1952 that the inner circles knew that Batista had aimed the coup at him; they immediately began to conspire to oust Batista and restore democracy and civilian government in what was later dubbed La Conspiracion de los Puros de 1956 (Agrupacion Montecristi). In 1954 Batista agreed to elections. The Partido Auténtico put forward ex-President Grau as their candidate, but he withdrew amid allegations that Batista was rigging the elections in advance.

In April 1956 Batista had given the orders for Barquín to become General and chief of the army. But Barquin decided to move forward with his coup and secure total power. On April 4, 1956 a coup by hundreds of career officers led by Col. Barquín was frustrated by Rios Morejon. The coup broke the backbone of the Cuban armed forces. The officers were sentenced to the maximum terms allowed by Cuban Martial Law. Barquín was sentenced to solitary confinement for eight years. La Conspiración de los Puros resulted in the imprisonment of the commanders of the armed forces and the closing of the military academies.

Cuba had the Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios. Gross domestic product per capita had been approximately equal to Italy and significantly higher than that of Japan. Cuban's workers enjoyed some of the highest wages in the world. Cuba attracted more immigrants, primarily from Europe, as a percentage of population than the US The United Nations noted Cuba for its large middle class. On the other hand, Cuba was affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization. They were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants", leading to disparities. Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems. Unemployment became relatively large; graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs. The middle class, which compared Cuba to the United States, became increasingly dissatisfied with the unemployment, while labor unions supported Batista until the very end.

The United States government imposed an arms embargo on the Cuban government on March 14, 1958. On December 2, 1956 a party of 82 people, led by Fidel Castro, had landed with the intention of establishing an armed resistance movement in the Sierra Maestra. By late 1958 they had broken out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general insurrection, joined by various people. When the group captured Santa Clara, Batista fled the country to exile in Portugal. Barquín negotiated the symbolic change of command between Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara, Raul Castro and his brother Fidel Castro, after the Supreme Court decided that the Revolution was the source of law and its representative should assume command. Castro's forces entered the capital on January 8, 1959. Shortly afterwards Dr Manuel Urrutia Lleó assumed power, but exiled to the United States after Fidel Castro attacked him.

Fidel Castro became prime minister of Cuba in February 1959. In its first year, the new revolutionary government expropriated private property with little or no compensation, nationalised public utilities, tightened controls on the private sector and closed down the mafia-controlled gambling industry.

Some of these measures were undertaken by Fidel Castro's government in the name of the program outlined in the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra, while in the Sierra Maestra. The government nationalized private property totaling about $25 billion US dollars, out of which American property made up only over US $1.0 billions.

By the end of 1960, all opposition newspapers had been closed down, and all radio and television stations were in state control. Moderates, teachers and professors were purged. In any year, about 20,000 dissenters were held and tortured under inhuman prison conditions. Groups such as homosexuals were locked up in internment camps in the 1960s, where they were subject to medical-political "re-education". One estimate is that 15,000 to 17,000 people were executed. The Communist Party strengthened its one-party rule, with Castro as supreme leader.Fidel's brother, Raul Castro, became the army chief. Loyalty to Castro became the primary criteria for all appointments.In September 1960, the regime created a system known as Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), which provided neighborhood spying. In the 1961 New Year's Day parade, the administration exhibited Soviet tanks and other weapons. Eventually, the tiny island nation built up the second largest armed forces in Latin America, second only to Brazil. Cuba became a privileged client-state of the Soviet Union.

By 1961, hundreds of thousands of Cubans had left for the United States. In 1961, John F. Kennedy became President of the United States. He directed the CIA to conduct the Bay of Pigs invasion using the CIA's elite Special Activities Division and Cuban exiles to restore multiparty democracy in Cuba, with professor and the first post-revolution Prime Minister José Miró Cardona serving as provisional head of state. However, Kennedy denied American troops and other direct involvement, and the plan failed. This was followed the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The Kennedy administration demanded the immediate withdrawal of missiles placed in Cuba by the USSR, which was a response to US nuclear missiles placed in Turkey and the Middle East. The USSR made an agreement with Kennedy in which all missiles were to be withdrawn from Cuba and the US would secretly remove its missiles from Turkey and elsewhere in the Middle East within a few months. Kennedy also agreed not to invade Cuba in the future. In the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuban exiles captured at the Bay of Pigs were exchanged for a shipment of supplies from the US. By 1963, Castro moved Cuba towards a full-fledged Communist system modeled on the USSR. The US imposed a complete diplomatic and commercial embargo on Cuba, and began Operation Mongoose.

In 1965, Castro merged his revolutionary organizations with the Communist Party, of which he became First Secretary, and Blas Roca became Second Secretary. Roca was succeeded by Raúl Castro, who, as Defense Minister and Fidel's closest confidant, became and has remained the second most powerful figure in the government. Raúl's position was strengthened by the departure of Che Guevara to launch unsuccessful attempts at insurrectionary movements in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then Bolivia, where he was killed in 1967.

During the 1970s, Castro dispatched tens of thousands troops to assist the MPLA in Angola and the leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia.

By the 1970s, the standard of living was "extremely spartan" and discontent was rife. Fidel Castro admitted the failures of economic policies in a 1970 speech. By the mid-1970s, Castro started economic reforms. The regime dispatched troops to fight Soviet-supported wars in Africa. Cuba had been expelled from the Organization of American States in 1962 and supported the embargo, but in 1975 the OAS lifted all sanctions against Cuba and both Mexico and Canada broke ranks with the US by developing closer relations with Cuba.

Although officially expelled, on paper, Cuba continued the 35th member state of OAS. On June 3, 2009, the OAS adopted a resolution to end their 47-year exclusion of Cuba. However, this remains a contentious subject for several of the nations involved. United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked out of the OAS meeting in protest as the resolution was being drafted, and Cuban leaders have repeatedly announced they are not interested in rejoining the OAS. As of 2002, some 1.2 million persons of Cuban background (about 10% of the current population of Cuba) resided in the US, Many of these persons had left the island for the US, often by sea in small boats and fragile rafts. In particular, on Sunday, April 6, 1980, 10,000 Cubans stormed the Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking political asylum. The following day, the Cuban government granted permission for the emigration of Cubans seeking refuge in the Peruvian embassy. On April 16, 500 Cuban citizens left the Peruvian Embassy for Costa Rica. On April 21, many of those Cubans started arriving in Miami via private boats and were halted by the US State Department on April 23. But the emigration continued, because Castro allowed anyone who desired to leave the country to do so through the port of Mariel; this emigration became known as the Mariel boatlift. Over 125,000 Cubans emigrated to the US before the flow of vessels ended on June 15.

Castro's rule was severely tested by the aftermath of the Soviet collapse (a time known in Cuba as the Special Period). The food shortages were similar to North Korea; priority was given to the elite classes and the military, while ordinary people had little to eat. The regime did not accept American donations of food, medicines and cash until 1993.

The People's Republic of China emerged as a new source of aid and support. Cuba also found new allies in President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Evo Morales of Bolivia, both major oil and gas exporters.

In 2003, the regime crushed dissidents in events known as the "Black Spring", throwing dozens in prisons.

On July 31, 2006 Fidel Castro delegated his major duties to his brother, First Vice President, Raúl Castro. This transfer of duties was described as temporary while Fidel Castro recovered from surgery undergone after suffering from an "acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding". Castro was too ill to attend the nationwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing on December 2, 2006, which fueled speculation that Castro had stomach cancer, though Spanish doctor Dr. García Sabrido stated that his illness was a digestive problem and not terminal, after an examination of the subject on Christmas Day.

In January 2008, footage of Castro meeting Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez was broadcast, in which Castro "appeared frail but stronger than three months ago". In February, 2008 Castro announced that he was resigning as President of Cuba.On February 24, 2008 Raúl Castro was elected the new President. In his acceptance speech, Raúl Castro promised that some of the restrictions that limit Cubans' daily lives would be removed. In March 2009, Raúl Castro purged some of Fidel's officials.

Croatia

The area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period. Fossils of Neanderthals dating to the middle Paleolithic have been unearthed in the area of Krapina and Vindija. More recent (late Mousterian) Neanderthal remains have been discovered in Mujina pećina near the coast.

In the early Neolithic period, the Starčevo, Vučedol and Hvar cultures were scattered around the region. The Iron Age left traces of the Hallstatt culture (early Illyrians) and the La Tène culture (Celts).

Much later the region was settled by Liburnians and Illyrians, and Greek colonies were established on the islands of Vis (by Dionysius I of Syracuse) and Hvar. In 9 AD the territory of today's Croatia became part of the Roman Empire. Emperor Diocletian built a massive palace in Split where he retired from politics in AD 305. During the 5th century the last Roman Emperor Julius Nepos ruled his small empire from Diocletian's Palace before he was killed in AD 480. The early history of Croatia ends with the Avar invasion in the first half of the 7th century and the destruction of almost all Roman towns. Roman survivors retreated to strategically better defended points on the coast, islands and mountains. The modern city of Dubrovnik was founded by those survivors.

The Croats arrived in what is today Croatia in the early 7th century. They organized into two dukedoms; the duchy of Pannonia in the north and the duchy of Littoral Croatia in the south. Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus wrote that Porga, duke of the Dalmatian Croats, who had been invited into Dalmatia by Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, sent to Heraclius for Christian teachers. At the request of Heraclius, Pope John IV (640-642) sent Christian teachers and missionaries to the Croatian Provinces. These missionaries converted Porga, and also a great many of the clan that was under his immediate authority, to the Christian faith in 640. The Christianization of the Croats was mostly complete by the 9th century. Both duchies became Frankish vassals in late 8th century, and eventually became independent in the following century.

The first native Croatian ruler recognized by the Pope was duke Branimir, whom Pope John VIII called dux Croatorum ("duke of Croats") in 879. Duke Tomislav of Littoral Croatia was one of the most prominent members of the House of Trpimirović. He united the Croats of Dalmatia and Pannonia into a single Kingdom in 925. Tomislav's state extended from the Adriatic Sea to the Drava river, and from the Raša river to the Drina river. Under his rule, Croatia became one of the most powerful kingdoms in Medieval Europe. Tomislav defeated the invasions of the Arpads in battle and forced them across the Drava. He also annexed a part of Pannonia. This included the area between the rivers Drava, Sava and Kupa, so his Duchy bordered with Bulgaria for a period of time. This was the first time that the two Croatian Realms were united, and all Croats were in one state. The union was later recognised by Byzantium, which gave the royal crown to Stjepan Držislav and papal crown to king Zvonimir. The medieval Croatian kingdom reached its peak during the reign of Kings Petar Krešimir IV (1058–1074) and Zvonimir (1075–1089).

Following the extinction of the Croatian ruling dynasty in 1091, Ladislaus I of Hungary, the brother of Jelena Lijepa, the last Croatian queen, became the king of Croatia. Croatian nobility of the Littoral opposed this crowning, which led to 10 years of war and the recognition of the Hungarian ruler Coloman as the king of Croatia and Hungary in the treaty of 1102 (often referred to as the Pacta conventa). In return, Coloman promised to maintain Croatia as a separate kingdom, not to settle Croatia with Hungarians, to guarantee Croatia's self-governance under a Ban, and to respect all the rights, laws and privileges of the Croatian Kingdom. During this union, the Kingdom of Croatia never lost the right to elect its own king, had the ruling dynasty become extinct. In 1293 and 1403 Croatia chose its own king, but in both cases the Kingdom of Hungary declared war and the union was reestablished.

For the next four centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia was ruled by the Sabor and Bans appointed by the Hungarian king. The Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia remained a legally distinct constitutional entity, but the advent of a Hungarian king brought about other consequences such as: the introduction of feudalism and the rise of native noble families such as the Frankopans and the Šubićs. The 1273 Congregatio Regni tocius Sclavonie Generalis, the oldest surviving document written by the Croatian parliament, dates from this period. Subsequent kings sought to restore some of their previously lost influence by granting certain privileges to towns.

The first period of personal union between Croatia and Hungary ended in 1526 with the Battle of Mohács and the defeat of Hungarian forces by the Ottomans. After the death of King Louis II, Croatian nobles at the Cetingrad assembly chose the Habsburgs as new rulers of the Kingdom of Croatia, under the condition that they provide the troops and finances required to protect Croatia against the Ottoman Empire.

The city of Dubrovnik was founded in 7th century after Avar and Slavic raiders destroyed the Roman city of Epidaurum. The surviving Roman population escaped to a small island near the coast where they founded a new settlement. During the Fourth Crusade the city fell under control of the Republic of Venice until the 1358 Zadar treaty when Venice, defeated by the Croato-Hungarian kingdom, lost control of Dalmatia and the Republic of Dubrovnik became a vassal of that kingdom. Through the next 450 years the Republic of Dubrovnik would be a vassal of the Ottomans first and then of the Habsburgs. During this time the republic became rich through trade.

The republic became the most important publisher of Croatian literature during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Aside from poets and writers like Marin Držić and Ivan Gundulić, whose works were important for Croat literature development, the most famous person from the Republic of Dubrovnik was the scientist Ruđer Josip Bošković, who was a member of the Royal Society and the Russian Academy of Sciences. The republic would survive until 1808 when it was annexed by Napoleon. Today the city of Dubrovnik features on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list and is a famous tourist destination.

Shortly after the Battle of Mohács, the Habsburgs unsuccessfully sought to stabilise the borders between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Croatia by creating a captaincy in Bihać. However, in 1529, the Turks swept through the area and captured Buda and besieged Vienna; an event which brought violence and turmoil to the Croatian border areas (see Ottoman wars in Europe). After the failure of the first military operations, the Kingdom of Croatia was split into civilian and military units in 1553. The latter became Croatian Krajina and Slavonian Krajina and both eventually became parts of the Croatian Military Frontier which was directly under the control of Vienna. Ottoman raids on Croatian territory continued until the Battle of Sisak in 1593, after which the borders stabilised for some time. The kingdom of that time became known as the Reliquiae reliquiarum olim inclyti Regni Croatiae ("The remains of the remains of the once famous Kingdom of Croatia"). An important battle during this time was the Battle of Szigetvár, when 2,300 soldiers under the leadership of ban Nikola Šubić Zrinski held back for two months 100,000 Ottoman soldiers led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, fighting to the last man. Cardinal Richelieu was reported to have called the event "the battle that saved civilization."

During the Great Turkish War, Slavonia was regained but hilly western Bosnia, which had been a part of Croatia until the Ottoman conquest, remained outside Croatian control and the current border, which resembles a crescent or a horseshoe, is a remnant of this historical outcome. The southern part of the 'horseshoe' was created by the Venetian conquest following the Siege of Zara and was defined by the 17-18th century wars with the Ottomans. De jure reason for Venetian expansion was the decision of the king of Croatia, Ladislas of Naples, to sell his rights on Dalmatia to Venice in 1409 .

During more than two centuries of Ottoman Wars, Croatia underwent great demographic changes. The Croats left the riverland areas of Gacka, Lika and Krbava, Moslavina in Slavonia and an area in present day north-western Bosnia to move towards Austria where they remained and the present day Burgenland Croats are direct descendants of these settlers. To replace the fleeing Croats, the Habsburgs called on the Ortodox populations of Bosnia and Serbia to provide military service in Croatian and Slavonian Krajina. The first migration of Orthodox Vlachs, which took on a Serbian identity, occurred during the first part of the 18th century. Serbian populations had slowly started to arrive during the 16th century, with a peak during the Great Serb Migrations of 1690 and 1737-39. The rights and obligations of new populace of the Military frontier were decided with the Statuta Valachorum in 1630.

National revival in Croatia started in 1813 when the bishop of Zagreb Maksimilijan Vrhovac issued a plea for the collection of "national treasures". At the beginning of the 1830s, a group of young Croatian writers gathered in Zagreb and established the Illyrian movement for national renewal and unity of all South Slavs within the Habsburg Monarchy. The most important focus of the Illyrians was the establishment of a standard language as a counter-weight to Hungarian, and the promotion of Croatian literature and official culture. Important members of this movement were Count Janko Drašković, who initiated the movement by writing a pamphlet in 1832, Ljudevit Gaj who received permission from the royal government of Habsburg for printing the first newspaper in the Croatian language, Josif Runjanin, who wrote the lyrics for the Croatian national anthem, Vatroslav Lisinski, composer of the first Croatian language opera, "Ljubav i zloba" ("Love and Malice", 1846), and many others.

Fearful first of Hungarian and then Habsburg pressure of assimilation, the Kingdom of Croatia had always refused to change the status of Latin as its official language until the middle of the 19th century. Only on 2 May 1843 the Croatian language was first spoken in parliament, finally gaining official status in 1847 due to the popularity of the Illyrian movement.

Even with a large Slavic (Croatian) majority, Dalmatia retained large Italian communities in the coast (in the cities and the islands, largest concentration in Istria). According to the 1816 Austro-Hungarian census, 22% of the Dalmatian population was Italian-speaking. Starting in the 19th century, most Dalmatian Italians gradually assimilated to the prevailing Croatian culture and language.

The Croatian answer to the Hungarian revolution of 1848 was declaration of war. Austrian, Croatian and Russian forces together defeated the Hungarian army in 1849 and the following 17 years were remembered in Croatia and Hungary as Germanization. The eventual failure of this policy resulted in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the creation of a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. The treaty left unanswered the question of the status of Croatia. The following year the Croatian and Hungarian parliaments created a constitution for union of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Kingdom of Hungary.

After the Ottoman Empire lost military control over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary abolished Croatian Krajina and Slavonian Krajina, restoring the territories to Croatia in 1881. During the second half of the 19th century pro-Hungarian political parties played Croats against Serbs with the aim of controlling the parliament. This policy failed in 1906 when a Croat-Serb coalition won the elections. The newly created political situation remained unchanged until the advent of World War I.

On 29 October 1918, the Croatian Sabor (parliament) declared independence, creating the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Pressured by the Italian army, which was entering its territory from south and west, the National Council (Narodno vijeće) started expedient negotiations with the Kingdom of Serbia and on November 23 1918, a delegation was sent to Belgrade with the aim of a proclamation of union. The National Council delegation delivered 11 points which needed to be fulfilled for the creation of a future state. The most important of these points was the first, which referred to the need of a constitution for the new state, a proposal that was passed with a two thirds majority. Eventually, a constitution for a centralized state was passed with a majority of 50% + 1 vote and caused the end of state autonomy. On 1 December 1918, the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, colloquially known as Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was created. This decision created public outcry among Croats, which started a political upheaval for the restoration of state autonomy by the leadership of the Croatian Peasant Party.

The unhealthy political situation in Yugoslavia became much worse after Stjepan Radić, the president of CPP, was killed in the Yugoslav parliament building in 1928 by Serbian ultra-nationalist Puniša Račić.

The ensuing chaotic period ended the next year when King Alexander abolished the Constitution, prorogued the Parliament and introduced a personal dictatorship. The next 4 years of the Yugoslav regime were described by Albert Einstein as a "horrible brutality which is being practised upon the Croatian People". During the dictatorship, Vladko Maček, leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, was imprisoned, only becoming free after king Alexander was killed in a plot organized by a Croatian right wing extremist movement, the Ustaše. Upon Maček's release, the political situation was restored to that before the murder of Stjepan Radić, continuing Croatian demands for autonomy. The Croatian question was solved only on August 26, 1939 by the Cvetković-Maček Agreement, when Croatia received autonomy and an extension of its borders and Maček became Yugoslav vice-prime minister. The ensuing peace was short lived, and only lasted until the German invasion of 1941.

The German invasion of 6 April 1941 achieved victory over the Royal Yugoslav Army in little more than ten days, ending with the unconditional surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army on April 17. The territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region of Syrmia in Vojvodina became a puppet state of Nazi Germany called the Independent State of Croatia. Istria, the port city of Rijeka, and a portion of Dalmatia up to Split were occupied by Italy. Baranja and Medjumurje which were occupied by Hungary. Although the recently returned exiled Ustashe was in charge of the new regime, the Axis occupiers initially offered the state leadership to Vladko Maček, the leader of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), but he refused. Only one day after entering Zagreb, on April 17, 1941, Ante Pavelić proclaimed that all people who offended, or tried to offend against the Croatian nation were guilty of treason — a crime punishable by death. The Ustashe regime introduced anti-Semitic Nuremberg-style laws, and also conducted massacres of mostly Serbs and other non-Croats, as well as running concentration camps such as the one at Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska where opponents of the Ustashe regime and other 'undesirables' were held. Catholic priests who were involved in the Ustashe movement, particularly the notorious Father Miroslav Filipović were defrocked. While others such as the Archbishop of Zagreb Alojzije Stepinac not only condemned Ustashe crimes in his sermons, but also offered refuge and protection to persecuted Serbs and Jews.

The remnants of the Royal Yugoslav Army, later reorganized into the predominantly Serbian Chetniks, offered resistance to the Nazi occupation and their Ustashe collaborators. Later, in response to Hitler's surprise "Operation Barbarossa" attack on the Soviet Union, a massive uprising began on June 22 1941 with the creation of 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment. The leadership of the Yugoslav partisan movement was in the hands of Croat Josip Broz Tito, whose policy of brotherhood and unity would in the end defeat not only the Axis occupiers, but also their collaborators in the armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia and their other non-Communist rivals Chetnik forces led by Serbian Royalists. The victory of Tito's partisans against the Nazi occupiers and their allies resulted in the massacres of those Croatian Domobran (Home Guard) and Ustashe who were repatriated from Austria by the British 8th Army. In the decade after World War II, up to 350,000 ethnic Italians left Yugoslavia.

The number of World War II victims in Yugoslavia remains a source of much controversy amongst Serb and Croat nationalist academics and historians on the one side, and independent researchers, mostly notably Vladimir Žerjavić (a Croat) and Bogoljub Kočović (a Serb), on the other.

Modern Croatia was founded on AVNOJ anti-fascist partisans' principles during the second world war, and it became a constitutional federal republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A Communist dictatorship was established but, due to the Tito-Stalin split, economic and personal freedom were better than in the Eastern Bloc. From the 1950s, the Socialist Republic of Croatia enjoyed an autonomy under the rule of the local Communist elite, but in 1967 group of influential Croatian poets and linguists published a Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Standard Language. After 1968 the patriotic goals of that document morphed into a generic Croatian movement for more rights for Croatia, greater civil rights and demands for the decentralization of the economy. In the end the Yugoslav leadership interpreted the Croatian Spring as a restoration of Croatian nationalism, dismissed the movement as chauvinistic and arrested most important leaders. In 1974, a new Yugoslav federal constitution was ratified that gave more autonomy to the individual republics, thereby basically fulfilling the main goals of the Croatian Spring.

The circle of nationalistic violence which destroyed Yugoslavia started with Albanian demands in 1981 for Kosovo to be removed from Serbia and become a constituent republic inside Yugoslavia. Nationalistic sentiments followed for the Yugoslav states with the Serbian SANU Memorandum in 1986 and later with Croatia and Slovenia's response in 1989 after Serbia organized coups in Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro.

Under the influence of Slobodan Milošević's propaganda the importance of who won the first Croatian multi party elections in 50 years was diminished, because ,allegedly, Serbs influenced both Croatian nationalist leader Franjo Tuđman and communist leader Ivica Račan. The electoral win of Franjo Tuđman further inflamed the situation in Croatia: Serbs left the Croatian parliament and created the Association of the Municipalities of Northern Dalmatia and Lika in Knin, which was later to become the Republika Srpska Krajina. On the events of 1990-92, Milan Babić, president of Republika Srpska Krajina, was later to declare that he had been "strongly influenced and misled by Serbian propaganda". These events culminated in the full scale Croatian War of Independence in 1991 which lasted until Operation Storm (also known as the Oluja), when most of what is known as today's Croatia was established by the Croatian Army. On 6 August 1995, the leadership of the Republika Srpska Krajina gave the order that all Serbs would have to leave Croatia for Bosnia and Herzegovina .

Croatia was internationally recognized on 15 January 1992, by the European Union and the United Nations, at a moment when it didn't have full sovereignty over more than 1/3rd of its territory. The first country to recognize Croatia was Iceland on 19 December 1991.

South Korea

Korea began with the founding of Joseon (The name Gojoseon is almost always used to prevent confusion with another Joseon dynasty founded in 14th century; the prefix Go- means 'old' or 'earlier') in 2333 BCE by Dangun. Gojoseon expanded until it controlled much of the northern Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria. After numerous wars with the Chinese Han Dynasty, Gojoseon disintegrated, leading to the Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea period.

In the early centuries of the Common Era, Buyeo, Okjeo, Dongye, and the Samhan confederacy occupied the peninsula and southern Manchuria. Of the various small states, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla grew to control the peninsula as the Three Kingdoms. The unification of the Three Kingdoms by Silla in 676 led to the North-South States period, in which much of the Korean peninsula was controlled by Unified Silla, while Balhae succeeded the northern parts of Goguryeo. In Unified Silla, poetry and art was encouraged, and Buddhist culture flourished. Relationships between Korea and China remained relatively peaceful during this time. However, Unified Silla weakened under internal strife, and surrendered to Goryeo in 935. Balhae, Silla's neighbor to the north, was formed as a successor state to Goguryeo. During its height, Balhae controlled most of Manchuria and parts of Russia. It fell to the Khitan in 926.

After the North-South Period, successor states fought for control during the Later Three Kingdoms period. The peninsula was soon united by Emperor Taejo of Goryeo. Like Silla, Goryeo was a highly cultural state and created the Jikji in 1377, using the world's oldest movable metal printing press.

The Mongol invasions in the 13th century greatly weakened Goryeo. However, Goryeo continued to rule Korea as a tributary ally to the Mongols. After the fall of the Mongolian Empire, Goryeo continued its rule. After severe political strife and continued invasions, Goryeo was replaced by the Joseon Dynasty in 1388 following a rebellion by General Yi Seong-gye. General Li declared the new name of Korea as Joseon in reference to Gojoseon, and moved the capital to Seoul. The first 200 years of the Joseon Dynasty was marked by relative peace and saw the creation of hangul by Sejong the Great in the 14th century and the rise and influence of Confucianism.

In the latter of the 16th century, Joseon was invaded by a newly unified Japan. During the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), centuries of peace had left the dynasty unprepared, and the lack of technology and poor leadership from the Joseon government and generals led to the destruction of much of the Korean peninsula. In the first Japanese invasion (1592–1593), the army sent from China to assist Korea had a prescribed strength of 100,000, including 42,000 from five northern military districts and a contingent of 3,000 soldiers proficient in the use of firearms from South China. In the second Japanese invasion (1597–1598), Chinese army and navy involved were around 75,000 at the climax of the second campaign. In comparison, Japan's invasion army was depleted from 167,700 in the first invasion to 122,100 in the second invasion. Though outnumbered by the Japanese invasion force, however, continued Korean dominance at sea led by Admiral Yi, the rise of local militias, and the intervention of Ming China put Japan under great pressure to retreat in 1598.

Between the years 1607 and 1811, Joseon sent Tongsinsa(royal embassies) to Japan for the diplomatic exchange between two countries, and before the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) it was to make formal requests to the shogun to take control of waegu (J: wakō), or "Japanese pirates", which ravaged and plundered along Joseon’s coastline. During the last years of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea's isolationist policy earned it the name the "Hermit Kingdom", primarily for protection against Western imperialism before it was forced to open trade beginning an era leading into Japanese colonial rule.

In the aftermath of World War II, Soviet Union and United States troops controlled the northern and southern halves of the country respectively.

Despite the initial plan of a unified Korea in the 1943 Cairo Declaration, escalating Cold War antagonism eventually led to the establishment of two separate governments, each with its own ideology, leading to Korea's division into two political entities: North Korea and South Korea. In the North, a former anti-Japanese guerrilla and communist activist, Kim Il-sung, and in the South, an exiled Korean political leader, Syngman Rhee, were installed as presidents.

On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded the South leading to the Korean War. At the time, the Soviet Union boycotted the United Nations (UN), thus forfeiting their veto rights. This allowed the UN to intervene when it became apparent that the superior communist forces would easily take over the entire country. The Soviet Union and China backed North Korea, with the later participation of millions of Chinese troops. After huge advances on both sides, the war eventually reached a stalemate. The 1953 armistice, never signed by South Korea, split the peninsula along the demilitarized zone near the original demarcation line. No peace treaty was ever signed at the time of the armistice, resulting in the two countries remaining technically at war. At least 2.5 million people died during the Korean War.

In 1960, a student uprising led to the resignation of the autocratic President Syngman Rhee. A period of political instability followed, broken by General Park Chung-hee's military coup (the "5-16 coup d'état") against the weak and ineffectual government the next year. Park took over as president until his assassination in 1979, overseeing rapid export-led economic growth as well as severe political repression. Park was heavily criticised as a ruthless military dictator, although the Korean economy developed significantly during his tenure.

The years after Park's assassination were marked again by considerable political turmoil as the previously repressed opposition leaders all campaigned to run for president in the sudden political void. In 1980 there was another coup d'état by General Chun Doo-hwan against the transitional government of Choi Gyu Ha, the interim president and a former prime minister under Park. Chun assumed the presidency. His seizure of power triggered nationwide protests demanding democracy, in particular in the city of Gwangju, in Jeollanam-do, where Chun sent special forces to violently suppress the unrest, in what is now known as the Gwangju Massacre.

Until 1987, Chun and his government held Korea under a despotic rule when Park Jong Chul — a student attending Seoul National University — was tortured to death. On 10 June, the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice revealed Park's torture, igniting huge demonstrations around the country. Eventually, Chun's party, the Democratic Justice Party, and its leader, Roh Tae-woo announced the June 29th Declaration, which included the direct election of the president. Roh went on to win the election by a narrow margin against the two main opposition leaders, Kim Dae-Jung and Kim Young-Sam.

In 1988, Seoul successfully hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics, and continuing economic development led to membership in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1996. As with many of its Asian neighbors, South Korea was adversely affected by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, however the country was able to recover and continue its economic growth.

In June 2000, as part of president Kim Dae-Jung's Sunshine Policy' of engagement, a North-South summit took place in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Later that year, Kim received the Nobel Peace Prize "for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular."

In 2002, South Korea and Japan jointly co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, however South Korean and Japanese relations later soured due to conflicting claims of sovereignty over the Dokdo Islets (also known as the Liancourt Rocks), in what became known as the Liancourt Rocks dispute.

Cyprus

Cyprus is the mythical birthplace of Aphrodite, Adonis and home to King Cinyras, Teucer and Pygmalion. The earliest confirmed site of human activity is Aetokremnos, situated on the south coast, indicating that hunter-gatherers were active on the island from around 10,000 BC, with settled, village communities dating from 8200 BC. The arrival of the first humans correlates with the extinction of the dwarf hippos and dwarf elephants.

There were several fluxes of population and settlement as well as newcomers to the island during the Neolithic age, although earthquakes caused the infrastructure to fail around 3800 BC. Several waves of incoming peoples followed, including some from Asia minor which strengthened the metal working crafts on the island, although finds from this time are rare those finds are of high quality. The Bronze Age was heralded by the arrival of Anatolians who came to the island around 2400 BC.

The Mycenaean Greeks first reached Cyprus around 1600 BC, with settlements dating from this period scattered all over the island. Another wave of Greek settlement is believed to have taken place in the period 1100-1050 BC, with the island's predominantly Greek character dating from this period. Several Phoenician colonies were founded in the 8th century BC, like Kart-Hadasht meaning 'New Town', near present day Larnaca and Salamis.

Cyprus was conquered by Assyria in 709 BC, before a brief spell under Egyptian rule and eventually Persian rule in 545 BC. Cypriots, led by Onesilos, joined their fellow-Greeks in the Ionian cities during the unsuccessful Ionian Revolt in 499 BC against the Achaemenid Empire. The island was brought under permanent Greek rule by Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies of Egypt following his death. Full Hellenisation took place during the Ptolemaic period, which ended when Cyprus was annexed by the Roman Republic in 58 BC. Cyprus was one of the first stops in apostle Paul's missionary journey.

In 395, Cyprus became part of the Byzantine Empire, who lost control of the island to the Arabs in 649 before reclaiming it in 966. Richard I of England captured the island in 1191 during the Third Crusade, using it as a major supply base that was relatively safe from the Saracens. A year later Guy of Lusignan purchased the island from the Templars to compensate for the loss of his kingdom.

The Republic of Venice seized control of the island in 1489 after the abdication of Queen Caterina Cornaro. She was the widow of James II who was the last Lusignan king of Cyprus. Using it as an important commercial hub, the Venetians soon fortified Nicosia; the current capital city in Cyprus, with its famous Venetian Walls. Throughout Venetian rule, the Ottoman Empire frequently raided Cyprus. In 1539 the Ottomans destroyed Limassol and so fearing the worst, the Venetians also fortified Famagusta, Nicosia, and Kyrenia.

In 1570, a full scale conquest under Piyale Pasha with 60,000 troops brought the island under Ottoman control, despite stiff resistance by the inhabitants of Nicosia and Famagusta. 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. The Ottomans applied the millet system and allowed religious authorities to govern their own non-Muslim minorities, but at the same time invested the Eastern Orthodox Church as a mediator between Christian Cypriots and the authorities granting it not only religious but political and economic powers. Heavy taxation led to rebellions, resulting in approximately twenty-eight bloody uprisings taking place between 1572 and 1668, forcing the Sultans to intervene. The first large scale census of the Ottoman Empire in 1831, counting only men, showed 14,983 Muslims and 29,190 Christians. By 1872, the population of the island had risen to 144,000 comprising 44,000 Muslims and 100,000 Christians.

Administration, but not sovereignty, of the island was ceded to the British Empire in 1878 with the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The island would serve Britain as a key military base in its colonial routes. By 1906, when the Famagusta harbour was completed, Cyprus was a strategic naval outpost overlooking the Suez Canal, the crucial main route to India which was then Britain's most important colony. Following World War I and the Ottoman alliance with the Central powers, the United Kingdom annexed the island. In 1923, under the Treaty of Lausanne, the nascent Turkish republic relinquished any claim to Cyprus and in 1925 it was declared a British Crown Colony. Many Greek Cypriots fought in the British Army during both world wars, in the hope that Cyprus would eventually be united with Greece.

In January 1950 the Eastern Orthodox Church organised a referendum, which was boycotted by the Turkish Cypriot community, where over 90% voted in favour of "enosis", meaning union with Greece. Restricted autonomy under a constitution was proposed by the British administration but eventually rejected. In 1955 the EOKA organisation was founded, seeking independence and union with Greece through armed struggle. At the same time the TMT, calling for Taksim, or partition, was established by the Turkish Cypriots as a counterweight. Turmoil on the island was met with force by the British.

In August 16,1960, Cyprus attained independence after an agreement in Zürich and London between the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey. Britain retained two Sovereign Base Areas in Akrotiri and Dhekelia while government posts and public offices were allocated by ethnic quotas giving the minority Turks a permanent veto, 30% in parliament and administration, and granting the 3 mother-states guarantor rights.

In 1963 inter-communal violence broke out, partially sponsored by both "motherlands" with Turkish Cypriots in some areas withdrawing into enclaves and Greek Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios III calling for constitutional changes as a means to ease tensions. The United Nations was involved, and the United Nations forces in Cyprus (UNICYP) deployed at flash points.

The Greek military government in power in Greece in the early 1970s became dissatisfied with the policy of Makarios in Cyprus and the lack of progress towards Enosis.Partly for this reason, and partly as a distraction from domestic opposition, the junta organised a coup in Cyprus on 13 July 1974. Nikos Sampson was forcefully installed by the Greek Junta as president of Cyprus. Although a nationalist, he did not declare union with Greece and proclaimed that Cyprus would remain independent and non-aligned. Yet the Turkish government was uneasy about the de facto situation, so they protested and sought British intervention, which never materialised. Seven days later Turkey invaded Cyprus claiming a right, under the Zurich and London agreements, to intervene in order to restore constitutional order. The Greeks announced the formation of a new EOKA paramilitary group to resist the invaders but this proved counter-productive, hastening the expulsions of Greeks from Turkish-held areas. Heavily outnumbered, the Greek forces were unable to resist the Turkish advance. The Ayia Napa area was only saved from occupation because it lay behind the British Sovereign Base area, which the Turks were cautious not to invade.

International pressure led to a ceasefire and at that point 37% of the land fell within the Turkish occupation zone, 170,000 Greek Cypriots were evicted from their homes in the north with 50,000 Turkish Cypriots following the opposite path. In 1983 Turkish Cypriots unilaterally proclaimed independence, which was only recognised by Turkey. As of today, there are 1,534 Greek Cypriots and 502 Turkish Cypriots missing as a result of the fighting. The events of the summer of 1974 dominate the politics on the island, as well as Greco-Turkish relations. Around 100,000 settlers from Turkey are believed to be living in the north in violation of the Geneva Convention and various UN resolutions. Following the invasion and the capture of its northern territory by Turkish troops, the Republic of Cyprus announced that all of its ports of entry in the north are closed, as they are effectively not under its control.

Since de facto, though not de jure, partition of the Republic, the north and south have followed separate paths. The Republic of Cyprus is a constitutional democracy that has reached great levels of prosperity, with a booming economy and good infrastructure. It is part of the UN, the European Union and several other organisations by whom it is recognised as the sole legitimate government of the whole island. The area of the island not under effective control of the Republic of Cyprus, Northern Cyprus, is dependent on help from Turkey. The last major effort to settle the Cyprus dispute was the Annan Plan. It gained the support of the Turkish Cypriots but was rejected by the Greek Cypriots.

In July 2006, the island served as a safe haven for people fleeing Lebanon due to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

In March 2008, a wall that for decades had stood at the boundary between the Greek Cypriot controlled side and the UN buffer zone was demolished. The wall had cut across Ledra Street in the heart of Nicosia and was seen as a strong symbol of the island's 32-year division. On 3 April 2008, Ledra Street was reopened in the presence of Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials.

China

Ancient China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing independently, the others being Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilization, the Mayan civilization, the Minoan Civilization of ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest hominids in China date from 2.24 million to 250,000 years ago. A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) has fossils dated at somewhere between 300,000 to 550,000 years. The fossils are of Peking Man, an example of Homo erectus who used fire.

The earliest evidence of a fully modern human in China comes from Liujiang County, Guangxi, where a cranium has been found and dated to approximately 67,000 years ago. Although much controversy persists over the dating of the Liujiang remains, a partial skeleton from Minatogawa in Okinawa, Japan has been dated to 18,250 ± 650 to 16,600 ± 300 years ago, so modern humans must have reached China before that time.

Chinese tradition names the first dynasty Xia, but it was considered mythical until scientific excavations found early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province in 1959. Archaeologists have since uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in locations cited as Xia's in ancient historical texts, but it is impossible to verify that these remains are of the Xia without written records from the period.

The second dynasty, the loosely feudal Shang, settled along the Yellow River in eastern China from the 18th to the 12th century BCE. They were invaded from the west by the Zhou, who ruled from the 12th to the 5th century BCE until their centralized authority was slowly eroded by neighboring warlords. Many strong, independent states continually waged war with each other in the Spring and Autumn period, only occasionally deferring to the Zhou king.

The first unified Chinese state was established by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE, when the office of the Emperor was set up and the Chinese language was forcibly standardized. This state did not last long, as its legalist policies soon led to widespread rebellion.

The subsequent Han Dynasty ruled China between 206 BCE and 220 CE, and created a lasting Han cultural identity among its populace that would last to the present day. The Han Dynasty expanded the empire's territory considerably with military campaigns reaching Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and Central Asia, and also helped establish the Silk Road in Central Asia.

After Han's collapse, another period of disunion followed, including the highly chivalric period of the Three Kingdoms. Independent Chinese states of this period also opened diplomatic relations with Japan, introducing the Chinese writing system there. In 580 CE, China was reunited under the Sui. However, the Sui Dynasty was short-lived after a failure in the Goguryeo-Sui Wars (598–614) weakened it.

Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese technology and culture reached its zenith. The Tang Empire was at its height of power up until the middle of the 8th century, when the An Shi Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the empire. The Song dynasty was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in size. This growth came about through expanded rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. Within its borders, the Northern Song Dynasty had a population of some 100 million people. The Song Dynasty was a culturally rich period in China for the arts, philosophy, and social life. Landscape art and portrait paintings were brought to new levels of maturity and complexity after the Tang Dynasty, and social elites gathered to view art, share their own, and make trades of precious artworks. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Chu Hsi reinvigorated Confucianism with new commentary, infused Buddhist ideals, and emphasized a new organization of classic texts that brought about the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism.

In 1271, the Mongol leader and the fifth Khagan of the Mongol Empire Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, with the last remnant of the Song Dynasty falling to the Yuan in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, Chinese dynasties reportedly had approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the conquest was completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported roughly 60 million people. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty. Ming Dynasty thinkers such as Wang Yangming would further critique and expand Neo-Confucianism with ideas of individualism and innate morality that would have tremendous impact on later Japanese thought. Chosun Korea also became a nominal vassal state of Ming China and adopted much of its Neo-Confucian bureaucratic structure. China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing during the early Ming Dynasty. The Ming fell to the Manchus in 1644, who then established the Qing Dynasty. An estimated 25 million people died during the Manchu conquest of the Ming Dynasty (1616–1644).

The Qing Dynasty, which lasted until 1912, was the last dynasty in China. In the 19th century the Qing Dynasty adopted a defensive posture towards European imperialism, even though it engaged in imperialistic expansion into Central Asia itself. At this time China awoke to the significance of the rest of the world, in particular the West. As China opened up to foreign trade and missionary activity, opium produced by British India was forced onto Qing China. Two Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Emperor's control.

One result was the Taiping Civil War, which lasted from 1851 to 1862. It was led by Hong Xiuquan, who was partly influenced by an idiosyncratic interpretation of Christianity. Hong believed himself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. Although the Qing forces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in human history, costing at least 20 million lives (more than the total number of fatalities in the First World War), with some estimates of up to two hundred million. Other costly rebellions followed the Taiping Rebellion, such as the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars (1855–1867), Nien Rebellion (1851–1868), Muslim Rebellion (1862–1877), Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873) and the Miao Rebellion (1854–1873).These rebellions resulted in an estimated loss of several million lives each and led to disastrous results for the economy and the countryside. The flow of British opium hastened the empire's decline. In the 19th century, the age of colonialism was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora began. About 35 million overseas Chinese live in Southeast Asia today. The famine in 1876-79 claimed between 9 and 13 million lives in northern China.

While China was wracked by continuous war, Meiji Japan succeeded in rapidly modernizing its military and set its sights on Korea and Manchuria. Influenced by Japan, Korea declared independence from Qing China's suzerainty in 1894, leading to the First Sino-Japanese War, which resulted in the Qing Dynasty's cession of both Korea and Taiwan to Japan. Following these series of defeats, a reform plan for the empire to become a modern Meiji-style constitutional monarchy was drafted by the Emperor Guangxu in 1898, but was opposed and stopped by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who placed Emperor Guangxu under house arrest in a coup d'état. Further destruction followed the ill-fated 1900 Boxer Rebellion against westerners in Beijing. By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun, and calls for reform and revolution were heard across the country. The 38-year-old Emperor Guangxu died under house arrest on 14 November 1908, suspiciously just a day before Cixi's own death. With the throne empty, he was succeeded by Cixi's handpicked heir, his two year old nephew Puyi, who became the Xuantong Emperor, the last Chinese emperor. Guangxu's consort, who became the Empress Dowager Longyu, signed the abdication decree as regent in 1912, ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. She died, childless, in 1913.

On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, heralding the end of the Qing Dynasty. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist Party) was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. However, the presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general, who had ensured the defection of the entire Beiyang Army from the Qing Empire to the revolution. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China but was forced to abdicate and return the state to a republic when he realized it was an unpopular move, not only with the population but also with his own Beiyang Army and its commanders.

After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally recognized but virtually powerless national government seated in Peking (modern day Beijing). Warlords in various regions exercised actual control over their respective territories. In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control, moving the nation's capital to Nanking (modern day Nanjing) and implementing "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's program for transforming China into a modern, democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945 (part of World War II) forced an uneasy alliance between the Nationalists and the Communists as well as causing around 20 million Chinese civilian deaths. With the surrender of Japan in 1945, China emerged victorious but financially drained. The continued distrust between the Nationalists and the Communists led to the resumption of the Chinese Civil War. In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing Civil War many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented on the mainland.

After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China (CCP) led by Mao Zedong gained control of most of Mainland China. On 1 October 1949, they established the People's Republic of China as a Socialist State headed by a "Democratic Dictatorship" with the CCP as the only legal political party, thus, laying claim as the successor state of the ROC. The central government of the Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek was forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan that it had occupied at the end of World War II and moved the ROC government there. Major armed hostilities ceased in 1950 but no peace treaty has been signed. An estimated 36 million died during the Great Chinese Famine of 1958–61.

Beginning in the late 1970s, the Republic of China began the implementation of full, multi-party, representative democracy in the territories still under its control (Taiwan, and a number of smaller islands including Quemoy and Matsu). Today, the ROC has active political participation by all sectors of society. The main cleavage in ROC politics is the issue of eventual political unification with the Chinese mainland vs. formal independence of Taiwan.

After the Chinese Civil War, mainland China underwent a series of disruptive socioeconomic movements starting in the late 1950s with the Great Leap Forward and continuing in the 1960s with the Cultural Revolution that left much of its education system and economy in shambles. With the death of its first generation Communist Party leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the PRC began implementing a series of political and economic reforms advocated by Deng Xiaoping that eventually formed the foundation for mainland China's rapid economic development starting in the 1990s.

Post-1978 reforms on the mainland have led to some relaxation of control over many areas of society. However, the PRC government still has almost absolute control over politics, and it continually seeks to eradicate what it perceives as threats to the social, political and economic stability of the country. Examples include the fight against terrorism, jailing of political opponents and journalists, custody regulation of the press, regulation of religion, and suppression of independence/secessionist movements. In 1989, the student protests at Tiananmen Square were violently put to an end by the Chinese military after 15 days of martial law. In 1997, Hong Kong was ceded to the PRC by the United Kingdom, and in 1999, Macau was handed over by Portugal.

Today, mainland China is administered by the People's Republic of China—a one-party state under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party—while the island of Taiwan and surrounding islands are administered by the Republic of China—a democratic multi-party state. After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, both states claimed to be the sole legitimate ruler of all of "China". After the Kuomintang retreat to Taiwan in 1949, the Republic of China had maintained official diplomatic relations with most states around the world, but by the 1970s, a shift had occurred in international diplomatic circles and the People's Republic of China gained the upper hand in international diplomatic relations and recognition count. In 1971, under resolution 2758, the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek to the United Nations were expelled from the intergovernmental organization. With the expulsion of the Chiang Kai-shek's representatives, and effectively the Republic of China, the representatives of the People's Republic of China were invited to assume China's seat on the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and other United Nations councils and agencies. Later attempts by the Republic of China to rejoin the UN have either been blocked by the People's Republic of China, which has veto power on the UN Security Council, or rejected by the United Nations Secretariat or a United Nations General Assembly committee responsible for the General Assembly's agenda.

Since the relocation of its capital to Taiwan, the Republic of China has not formally renounced its claim to all of China, nor has it changed its official maps, which includes the mainland and Mongolia. Following the introduction to full democracy, and the electoral victory of the DPP's Chen Shui-bian in the presidential elections, the ROC had adopted a policy of separating the state's identity from "China", while moving towards identifying the state as "Taiwan". However, the ROC has not made any formal moves to change the name, flag, or national anthem of the state to reflect a Taiwanese identity due to the lack of consensus within Taiwan, pressure from the United States and the fear of invasion or military action from the People's Republic of China against the island. The Republic of China during the DPP years did not actively pursue its claims on mainland China or Mongolia, however following the electoral victory of the KMT's Ma Ying-jeou as president, the claim to mainland China has been reinstated. The People's Republic of China claims to have succeeded the Republic of China as the sole legitimate governing authority of all of China, which, from the official viewpoint of the People's Republic of China, includes the island of Taiwan. Over the last 50 years, both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China have used diplomatic and economic means to compete for recognition in the international arena. Because most international, intergovernmental organizations observe the One-China policy of the People's Republic of China, the PRC has been able to pressure organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the International Olympic Committee, to refuse to officially recognize the Republic of China. Due to the One-China policy, states around the world are pressured to refuse, or to cut off, diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. As a result, 23 U.N. member states currently maintain official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, while the vast majority of U.N. member states maintain official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

Czech Republic

Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area, dating back to the Neolithic era. In the classical era, from the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, the Boii (see Bohemia) and later in the 1st century, Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi settled there. During the Migration Period around the 5th century, many Germanic tribes moved westwards and southwards out of Central Europe. In an equally significant migration, Slavic peoples from the Black Sea and Carpathian regions settled in the area (a movement that was also stimulated by the onslaught of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars). Following in the Germans' wake, they moved southwards into Bohemia, Moravia and some of present day Austria. During the 7th century, the Frankish merchant, Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting their Avar rulers, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe. The Moravian principality arose in the 8th century (see Great Moravia).

The Bohemian or Czech state emerged in the late 9th century, when it was unified by the Přemyslid dynasty. The kingdom of Bohemia was a significant regional power during the Middle Ages. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire during the entire existence of that confederation.

In 1212, King Přemysl Otakar I (1198-1230), bearing the title “king“ already since 1198, extracted a Golden Bull of Sicily (a formal edict) from the emperor, confirming the royal title for Otakar and his descendants. The 13th century was also a period of large-scale German immigration. The Germans populated towns and mining districts on the Bohemian periphery and, in some cases, formed German colonies in the interior of the Czech lands. In 1241, the mighty Mongol army launched an invasion of Europe and after the Battle of Legnica, the Mongols carried their devastating raid into Moravia. King Přemysl Otakar II (1253–1278) earned the nickname of "the King of Gold and Iron" due to his military power and wealth. He met his death at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278, in a war with his rival, the Roman king Rudolph I of Germany. In 1306, the Přemyslid line died out and, after a series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian crown. The 14th century, particularly the reign of Charles IV (1342-1378), is considered the Golden Age of Czech history. Of particular significance was the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348. The Black Death, which had raged in Europe from 1347-1352, decimated the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1380.

In the 15th century the religious and social reformer Jan Hus formed a movement, later named after him. Although Hus was named a heretic and burnt in Constanz in 1415, his followers seceded from the Catholic Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419-1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. During the next two centuries, 90% of the inhabitants converted to the Hussite form of Protestantism. After 1526 Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then the hereditary rulers of Bohemia. The Defenestration of Prague and subsequent revolt against the Habsburgs in 1618 marked the start of the Thirty Years' War, which quickly spread throughout Germany. In 1620, the rebellion in Bohemia was crushed at the Battle of White Mountain and the country became a province of the Austrian monarchy. The war had a devastating effect on the local population; the people were given the choice either to convert to Catholicism or leave the country. Czechs call the following period, from 1620 to the late 18th century, the "Dark Age". The population of the Czech lands declined by a third due to war, disease, famine and the expulsion of the Protestant Czechs. The Habsburgs banned all religions other than Catholicism. Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia in 1663, taking 12,000 slaves.

The reigns of Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-80) and her son Joseph II (1780-90), Holy Roman Emperor and co-regent from 1765, were characterized by enlightened absolutism. In 1742, most of Silesia, then the possession of the Bohemian crown, was seized by King Frederick II of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession. The Great Famine, which lasted from 1770 until 1771, killed 12% of the Czech population, up to 500,000 inhabitants, and radicalized countrysides leading to peasant uprisings. After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia became part of the Austrian Empire and later of Austria–Hungary. Serfdom was not completely abolished until 1848. After the Revolutions of 1848, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria attempted to rule as an absolute monarch, keeping all the nationalities in check.

An estimated 150,000 Czech soldiers died in World War I. More than 100,000 Czech volunteers formed the Czechoslovak Legions in Russia, where they fought against the Central Powers and later against Bolshevik troops. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, the independent republic of Czechoslovakia was created in 1918. This new country incorporated regions of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia and the Carpathian Ruthenia (known as the Subcarpathian Rus at the time) with significant German, Hungarian, Polish and Ruthenian speaking minorities. Although Czechoslovakia was a unitary state, it provided what were at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities. However, it did not grant its minorities any territorial political autonomy. The failure to do so resulted in discontent and strong support among some of the minorities for a break from Czechoslovakia. Adolf Hitler took advantage of this opportunity and, supported by Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German Party, gained the largely German speaking Sudetenland (and its substantial Maginot Line like border fortifications), through the 1938 Munich Agreement. Poland annexed the Zaolzie area around Český Těšín. Hungary gained parts of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus as a result of the First Vienna Award in November 1938.

The remainders of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus gained greater autonomy, with the state renamed to "Czecho-Slovakia" (The Second Republic; see German occupation of Czechoslovakia). After Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia, allowing the remaining regions to be partitioned by Hungary and Poland, Slovakia chose to maintain its national and territorial integrity, seceding from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and allying itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition. The remaining Czech territory was occupied by Germany, which transformed it into the so-called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich and the President and Prime Minister were subordinate to the Nazi Reichsprotektor ("imperial protector"). Subcarpathian Rus declared independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine on 15 March 1939, but was invaded by Hungary the same day and formally annexed the next day. Approximately 390,000 Czechoslovak citizens, including 83,000 Jews, were killed or executed, while hundreds of thousands of others were sent to prisons and concentration camps or used as forced labour. A Nazi concentration camp existed at Terezín, to the north of Prague. There was Czech resistance to Nazi occupation, both at home and abroad, most notably with the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in a Prague suburb on May 27, 1942. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its army fighting against the Germans were acknowledged by the Allies; Czechoslovak troops fought in the United Kingdom, North Africa, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945, with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising.

In 1945-1946, almost the entire German minority in Czechoslovakia, about 2.7 million people, were expelled to Germany and Austria. During this time, thousands of Germans were held in prisons and detention camps, or used as forced labour. In the summer of 1945, there were several massacres. The only Germans not expelled were some 250,000, who had been active in the resistance against the Nazis or were considered economically important, though many of these emigrated later. Following a Soviet-organised referendum, the Subcarpathian Rus never returned under Czechoslovak rule, but became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as the Zakarpattia Oblast in 1946.

Czechoslovakia uneasily tried to play the role of a "bridge" between the West and East. However, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia rapidly increased in popularity, with a general disillusionment with the West, due to the pre-war Munich Agreement, and a favourable popular attitude towards the Soviet Union, due to the Soviets' role in liberating Czechoslovakia from German rule. In the 1946 elections, the Communists gained 38% of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament. They formed a coalition government with other parties of the National Front and moved quickly to consolidate power. The decisive step took place in February 1948, during a series of events characterized by Communists as a "revolution" and by anti-Communists as a "takeover", the Communist People's Militias secured control of key locations in Prague, and a new, all-Communist government was formed.

For the next 41 years, Czechoslovakia was a Communist state within the Eastern Bloc (see History of Czechoslovakia (1948–1989)). This period was marked by a variety of social developments. The Communist government completely nationalized the means of production and established a command economy. The economy grew rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s, but slowed down in the 1970s, with increasing problems during the 1980s. The political climate was highly repressive during the 1950s, including numerous show trials, but became more open and tolerant in the 1960s, culminating in Alexander Dubček's leadership in the 1968 Prague Spring, which tried to create "socialism with a human face" and perhaps even introduce political pluralism. This was forcibly ended by the 21 August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion.

The invasion was followed by a harsh program of "Normalization" in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Until 1989, the political establishment relied on censorship of the opposition, though using more "carrot" than "whip" to secure the populace's passivity. Dissidents published Charter 77 in 1977 and the first of a new wave of protests were seen in 1988.

In November 1989, Czechoslovakia returned to a liberal democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution". However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened and on January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries went through economic reforms and privatizations, with the intention of creating a capitalist economy.

Due to deficiencies with the Soviet-style economy, voters embraced the neoliberal model of economics, friendly to globalization objectives favored by Western elites. This enabled the Czech Republic to become the first post-communist country to receive an investment-grade rating from international credit rating agencies. Most state-owned heavy industries were privatized through voucher privatization systems, that essentially sold such assets to private concerns for a fraction of their actual value. The Czech Republic saw for a while modest budget deficits, low unemployment, a positive balance of payments, a stable exchange rate and a shift of exports from former communist economic bloc markets to Western Europe. This has changed over the past decade (see below). The most important change, since 1989, has been the return of the right to own property.

From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and now in its own right, has been a member of the Visegrád Group and from 1995, the OECD. The Czech Republic joined NATO on March 12, 1999 and the European Union on May 1, 2004.