Galaxy Empire

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter Five

Palash Biswas

http://www.troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/

"THE Eagle has landed" were the words that thrilled the world in 1969 when man arrived on the moon. It all began on that fatal date!

In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin erected a U.S. flag when they became the first men to land on the moon.

"The Phoenix has landed" were the words announcing the arrival of the Mars space probe yesterday, in a triumph to excite a new generation.

It is once again a US Flag unfurled on the Face of Human Future, Human destiny!

I remember all those exciting school days in Dinesh Pur, in a District Board High school while the news broke about the Man landing on Moon. Way back in 1969. Thamma was alive then. She never believed. She believed in Moon God in accordance with conservative Hindu Mythology. But for us, the younger lot it was a triumph of Science and technology over Nature and all Godly fotrces including colorful myths. We debated a lot on the topic whether science is a boon or curse for Mankind.

Now I know all about the Galaxy Empire and Imperialism, the Global Hegemony and ruling Class. It is not a debate on Science and technology. Rather it is all about Star wars. It is in fact the Real encounter of third dimention which occupies everything on and arount the COSMOS.

Moon Quest thrilled us a lot. Mars Adventure sounds like Colonisation in cosmos.

Phoenix landed gently on thrusters operated by remote control, whereas astronauts guided Eagle down to the moon.

Man travelled to the moon in days. The voyage to Mars took more than nine months. The moon is a rock, whereas Mars once had water. Phoenix will drill into the icy cap to take samples of organic molecules and microbes.

This promises to be another "giant leap for mankind" in our enduring quest to find whether we are alone in the universe.

We may find proof of other life on the mysterious Red Planet.

The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, impacted the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of exploration had been observation. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes; having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it.

In 1969, Project Apollo first successfully landed people on the Moon. They placed scientific experiments there and returned rocks and data that suggested the Moon is of a similar composition to the Earth.

And see, how Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov downplayed his country's placing of the national flag under the ice at the North Pole, saying it was not meant to signal Russia's claim to the Arctic.Interest in the region is intensifying because global warming is shrinking the polar ice, and that could someday open up resource development and new shipping lanes.

A Russian scientific expedition deposited a rustproof titanium version of country's flag on the seabed at the pole last year. The act heated up the controversy over an area that a U.S. study suggests may contain as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

"It should be seen basically the same way as the American flag was planted on the moon sometime ago," Lavrov said Tuesday

Under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Arctic nations have 10 years after ratification to prove their claims under the largely uncharted polar ice pack. All countries with claims to the Arctic have ratified the treaty, except the United States.Canada has announced plans to build a new army training centre and a deep-water port in Arctic waters. Norway, the United States and Denmark also have claims in the vast region.

Sonner or later, in near future, we have to witness the Arctic Fight escalated Galaxywide!

Why not?

Under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Arctic nations have 10 years after ratification to prove their claims under the largely uncharted polar ice pack. All countries with claims to the Arctic have ratified the treaty, except the United States.

Canada has announced plans to build a new army training centre and a deep-water port in Arctic waters. Norway, the United States and Denmark also have claims in the vast region.

Denmark is gathering scientific evidence to show that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 2,000-kilometre underwater mountain range, is attached to Greenland, making it a geological extension of the sparsely populated giant island that is a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

A UN panel is supposed to decide the Arctic control by 2020.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn is representing Canada at the meeting on the Arctic this week in Ilulissat, Greenland. Officials from Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States will also be there.

Can you create a power base strong enough to unite the galaxy and begin a new golden age? That's the task that lies before you in Fantasy Flight Games' epic ...Eradicate the numerously superior heretic alien forces that threaten the Empire. The word and force of the Emperor still rules the galaxy.The Empire's faceless soldiers may have the worst aim in a galaxy far, far away, but what happens when the ones who survive a battle against the Rebellion ..."Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back" had hit it big, but they were set in a galaxy far, far away and had mythic overtones. ...... far away galaxy where George Lucas staged his epic space operas. But will the empire truly strike a victory for science education? For more than 1000 years, Shi'ite Islam has, in fact, been a galaxy of Shi'isms - a kind of Fourth World of its own, always cursed by political exclusion ...As a battle-scarred era nears its end, a shattering power play is about to stun the entire galaxy . . . and set in motion events that will alter destinies ...Giant robots fighting it out for the sake of the galaxy! What's not to like??

Phoenix is the latest in a long list of NASA missions to Mars that started back in the 1960s. Along with the Moon, Mars embodied the race to space when the US and the Soviet Union vied to become the first to land on the Red Planet.

To date, there has been a a total of 38 missions to Mars, emanating from the US, Russia, Japan and Europe. Only three probes have successfully landed on the planet. The first exploitable pictures came from a 1971 NASA mission. But it was the Soviet probes Mars 4 and Mars 5, two years later, which revealed the presence of CO2 and ozone in Mars' atmosphere.

In 1976, the US secured its own close-up shots of the face of Mars, its mountains, volcanoes and even some clouds. The following probe Viking 2 went further, showing the scars left by massive floods.

Twenty one years later, the search for life on Mars continued with NASA's Pathfinder probe and its Sojourner vehicle, a four-wheel drive meant to explore and take photos of the planet's surface.

A few months later, in September 1997, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reached the Red Planet after a 10-month journey. It succeeded in sending more than 240,000 pictures back to Earth. These included shots of a massive sand storm, confirming the presence of water clouds and ice on Mars.

A few years later, the European Space Agency made a breakthrough with its Mars Express probe, which beamed back pictures of what appears to be a sea of ice - a kind of Martian permafrost.

Today, NASA's twin robots Opportunity and Spirit - which landed in early 2004 - continue to scour the Red Planet in search of signs of water.

Meanwhile, beneath the surface, the quest for signs of life also goes on with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It has sent some impressive footage, which Mars fans will have to make do with as there are no plans of sending a man to the Red Planet anytime before the 2020's.

MADISYN, 8, at left, and Mason Parisi, 6, use an interactive screen Tuesday to explore a virtual science outpost on the moon at a special NASA exhibit in Bristol. The traveling exhibit, which will be open today and Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Imagine Nation Museum, allows visitors to examine a moon rock and take a peek into NASA's plans for returning humans to the moon. Madisyn and Mason, who live in Bristol, are being watched by their mother, Jennifer. Marlene Ocasio of Bristol and her children, Annaliz, 2, and Marcos, 5, are at right. (ROSS TAYLOR / May 27, 2008)

The moon may be 238,000 miles from Earth, but a NASA exhibit currently at the Imagine Nation Museum is helping to bring it a whole lot closer.

The traveling exhibit, on display at the museum through Thursday, allows visitors to take a peek into NASA's future plans for lunar exploration and even examine a moon rock.

The exhibit, titled the "NASA Exploration Experience," is housed in a large trailer and features a presentation on NASA's goal of returning humans to the moon by 2020.

The roughly 10-minute presentation uses a variety of ways to showcase NASA's plan. Beyond the moon rock, highlights include an interactive screen that allows visitors to examine a lunar-science station and a video room that simulates a trip to the moon.

We could never imagine all about this. Our Fairy Tales would never visualise the Galaxy in Virtual Reality !

You are an intergalactic ruler, who on a single planet starts. Mit der Zeit kannst du höhere Technologien entwickeln und verschiedene Strategien verfolgen: Ob du der Schrecken der Galaxie mit einer gigantischen Flotte wirst oder aber eine Verteidigung aufbaust, welche kalt lächelnd die Trümmer gegnerischer Schiffe vom Himmel regnen lässt, liegt ganz bei dir. By the time you can develop better technologies and different strategies: Whether you are the horrors of the galaxy with a giant fleet will, or a defence aufbaust the cold smile the rubble enemy ships can rain from the sky, is up to you. Erweitere dein Imperium, indem du weitere Kolonien besiedelst; treibe Handel mit anderen Spielern oder führe Krieg; schließe Bündnisse oder unterjoche deine Nachbarschaft mit harter Hand. Expand your empire, by more besiedelst colonies, trade goods with other players or bring war; join alliances or enslave your neighbourhood with hard hands!

In the future, the survival of humanity stands on the edge of utter ruin as three powerful factions vie for control of the galaxy. Take command of one of three space-faring races as you work to establish your domination of the galaxy in Sins of a Solar Empire. Through a combination of diplomacy, economic skill, cultural influence, and sheer military might you will establish order over your corner of the galaxy!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: `The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the Star Wars universe. It is a tyrannical, galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in A New Hope. The Empire also appears in The Empire Strikes Back, and in Return of the Jedi.

The Empire's origins are explained in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, where it replaces the Galactic Republic in the midst of a crisis orchestrated by Palpatine, then the Republic's Supreme Chancellor. In a scene towards the end of the film, Palpatine appoints himself Emperor in the presence of the Galactic Senate, afterwards the Imperial Senate. By the time of A New Hope, the Empire has transformed into a totalitarian regime, still struggling with the Rebel Alliance.’

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : `Galactic empires are a common theme in science fiction. Many authors have either used a galaxy-spanning empire as background, or written about the growth or decline of such an empire. The capital of a galactic empire is frequently a core world or home world. Some of these empires are based on the Roman Empire; the Galactic Empire of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series (which inspired empires of later writers and film-makers) being an obvious example, as is the Terran Empire of Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry[citation needed].

The events in Frank Herbert's "Dune" universe, where hitherto disregarded desert-dwellers create a powerful new religion and burst out to topple an old empire and build a new one, are clearly modeled on the rise of Islam (all the more obvious since the languge of the Fremen is clearly descended from Arabic).

The best known to the general public today is probably the empire from Star Wars, which was formed in turn from the Galactic Republic.

Most of these galaxy-spanning domains depend on some form of transportation capable of quickly or instantly crossing vast cosmic distances (usually measured in light-years), many times faster than could a beam of light. These invariably require some type of propulsion or displacement technology forbidden by Einstein's Theory of Relativity, or that otherwise relies on theories that circumvent or supersede relativity. (See: warp drive; hyperspace; Alcubierre drive.)

The term "galactic empire" has, no doubt because of association with the Empire from Star Wars, gained an unfavorable reputation. However, the Galactic Empires from Foundation and the CoDominium universe are relatively benign organizations.’

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

`The Moon (Latin: Luna) is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System.

The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon's diameter is 3,474 km,[6] a little more than a quarter that of the Earth. This means that the Moon's volume is about 2 percent that of Earth and the pull of gravity at its surface about 17 percent that of the Earth. The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth every 27.3 days (the orbital period), and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth–Moon–Sun system are responsible for the lunar phases that repeat every 29.5 days (the synodic period).

The Moon is the only celestial body to which humans have travelled and upon which humans have landed. The first artificial object to escape Earth's gravity and pass near the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 1, the first artificial object to impact the lunar surface was Luna 2, and the first photographs of the normally occluded far side of the Moon were made by Luna 3, all in 1959. The first spacecraft to perform a successful lunar soft landing was Luna 9, and the first unmanned vehicle to orbit the Moon was Luna 10, both in 1966.[6] The United States (U.S.) Apollo program achieved the only manned missions to date, resulting in six landings between 1969 and 1972. Human exploration of the Moon ceased with the conclusion of the Apollo program, although several countries have announced plans to send people or robotic spacecraft to the Moon.’

`In the philosophy of Aristotle, the heavens, starting at the Moon, were the realm of perfection, the sublunary region was the realm of change and corruption, and any resemblance between these regions was strictly ruled out. Aristotle himself suggested that the Moon partook perhaps of some contamination from the realm of corruption.[1] In his little book On the Face in the Moon's Orb, Plutarch expressed rather different views on the relationship between the Moon and Earth. He suggested that the Moon had deep recesses in which the light of the Sun did not reach and that the spots are nothing but the shadows of rivers or deep chasms. He also entertained the possibility that the Moon was inhabited. It had been suggested already in antiquity that the Moon was a perfect mirror and that its markings were reflections of earthly features, but this explanation was easily dismissed because the face of the Moon never changes as it moves about the Earth.[1] The explanation that finally became standard was that there were variations of "density" in the Moon that caused this otherwise perfectly spherical body to appear the way it does.[1] The perfection of the Moon, and therefore the heavens, was thus preserved.

The medieval followers of Aristotle, in the Islamic world and then in Christian Europe, tried to make sense of the lunar spots in Aristotelian terms.[1] Thomas Harriot, as well as Galilei, drew the first telescopic representation of the Moon and observed it for several years. His drawings, however, remained unpublished.[1] The first map of the Moon was made by the Belgian cosmographer and astronomer Michael Florent van Langren in 1645.[1] Two years later a much more influential effort was published by Johannes Hevelius. In 1647 Hevelius published Selenographia, the first treatise entirely devoted to the Moon. Hevelius's nomenclature, although used in Protestant countries until the eighteenth century, was replaced by the system published in 1651 by the Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli, who gave the large naked-eye spots the names of seas and the telescopic spots (now called craters) the name of philosophers and astronomers.[1] In 1753 Croatian astronomer Roger Joseph Boscovich discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon. In 1824 Franz von Gruithuisen explained the formation of craters as a result of meteorite strikes.[2]’

Space race

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Cold War-inspired space race between the Soviet Union and the United States of America accelerated with a focus on the Moon. This included many scientifically important firsts, such as the first photographs of the until then unseen far side of the moon in 1959 by the Soviet Union, and culminated with the landing of the first humans on the moon in 1969, widely seen around the world as one of the pivotal events of the 20th century, and indeed of human history in general.

Landing map of Apollo, Surveyor and Luna missions.
Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to a boulder at Taurus-Littrow during the third EVA (extravehicular activity). NASA photo.The first man-made object to reach the Moon was the unmanned Soviet probe Luna 2, which made a hard landing on September 14, 1959, at 21:02:24 Z. The far side of the Moon was first photographed on October 7, 1959 by the Soviet probe Luna 3. In an effort to compete with these Soviet successes, U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed the national goal of landing a man on the Moon. Speaking to a Joint Session of Congress on May 25, 1961, he said

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space."[3]

The Soviets nonetheless remained in the lead for some time. Luna 9 was the first probe to soft land on the Moon and transmit pictures from the Lunar surface on February 3, 1966. It was proven that a lunar lander would not sink into a thick layer of dust, as had been feared. The first artificial satellite of the Moon was the Soviet probe Luna 10 (launched March 31, 1966). One of the main impediments to human exploration of the Moon was development of adequate heat shield technology to permit atmospheric re-entry without completely burning up a manned spacecraft. The U.S. gained early supremacy in this field through NASA research in thermogravimetric experiments in hypersonic wind tunnels.

On December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first human beings to see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes (as opposed to seeing it on a photograph). Humans first landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The first man to walk on the lunar surface was Neil Armstrong, commander of the U.S. mission Apollo 11. The first robot lunar rover to land on the Moon was the Soviet vessel Lunokhod 1 on November 17, 1970 as part of the Lunokhod program. The last man to stand on the Moon was Eugene Cernan, who as part of the mission Apollo 17 walked on the Moon in December 1972. See also: A full list of lunar Apollo astronauts.

Moon rock samples were brought back to Earth by three Luna missions (Luna 16, 20, and 24) and the Apollo missions 11 through 17 (excepting Apollo 13, which aborted its planned lunar landing).

From the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's there were 65 moon landings (with 10 in 1971 alone), but after Luna 24 in 1976 they suddenly stopped. The Soviet Union started focusing on Venus and space stations and the U.S. on Mars and beyond.

[edit] Recent exploration
In 1990 Japan visited the moon with the Hiten spacecraft, becoming the third country to orbit the moon. The spacecraft released the Hagormo probe into lunar orbit, but the transmitter failed, thereby preventing further scientific use of the mission. In September 2007, the SELENE spacecraft was launched, with the objectives "to obtain scientific data of the lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for the future lunar exploration", according to the JAXA official website.[4]

NASA launched the Clementine mission in 1994, and Lunar Prospector in 1998.

In 1998, HGS-1, a commercial satellite from Hong Kong, China, performed two flybys of the moon in order to change orbital inclination.

The European Space Agency launched a small, low-cost lunar orbital probe called SMART 1 on September 27, 2003. SMART 1's primary goal was to take three-dimensional X-ray and infrared imagery of the lunar surface. SMART 1 entered lunar orbit on November 15, 2004 and continued to make observations until September 3, 2006, when it was intentionally crashed into the lunar surface in order to study the impact plume.[5]

The People's Republic of China has begun the Chang'e program for exploring the Moon and is investigating the prospect of lunar mining, specifically looking for the isotope helium-3 for use as an energy source on Earth.[6] China launched the Chang'e 1 robotic lunar orbiter on 2007-10-24.

[edit] Future plans
See also: List of future lunar missions

India's Chandrayaan-1.
Chang'e 1 spacecraftOn 2004-01-14, US President George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration, a plan leading to new manned lunar missions by 2020. NASA's plan to accomplish that goal was announced on March 19, 2005,[7] and was promptly dubbed "Apollo 2.0" by critics. A preliminary unmanned mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, is scheduled for launch in 2008. LRO will take high resolution imagery of the moon's surface and will carry the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which will investigate the possible existence of water in Shackleton crater.

China plans to land a rover on the moon in 2012, and to conduct a sample return mission in 2017. China has entered into an agreement to work with Russia to eventually land astronauts on the moon before 2020.[8]

Japan has rescheduled LUNAR-A possibly before 2010.[9] Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) plans a manned lunar landing around 2020 that would lead to a manned lunar base by 2030; however, there is no budget yet for this project.[10]

India expects to launch Chandrayaan, an unmanned lunar orbiter, by April 2008. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also plans to undertake a totally indigenous manned space exploration in the next decade by planning to send a person to space by 2014 and to have a person walk on the moon by 2020.[11]

Russia also announced to resume its previously frozen project Luna-Glob, an unmanned lander and orbiter, which is slated to launch in 2012.[12]

Germany also announced in March 2007 that it will launch a national lunar orbiter, LEO in 2012.[13]

In August 2007, NASA stated that all future missions and explorations of the moon will be done entirely using the metric system. This was done to improve cooperation with space agencies of other countries which already use the metric system.[14]

The European Space Agency has also announced its intention to send a manned mission to the Moon, as part of the Aurora programme.

On September 13, 2007, the X Prize Foundation, in concert with Google, Inc., announced the Google Lunar X Prize. This contest requires competitors "to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, including roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth."[15]

Mars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mars (pronounced ['m??rz] (help·info)) is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance as seen from Earth.

Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth. It is the site of Olympus Mons, the highest known mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon. In addition to its geographical features, Mars’ rotational period and seasonal cycles are likewise similar to those of Earth.

Until the first flyby of Mars by Mariner 4 in 1965, it was speculated that there might be liquid water on the planet's surface. This was based on observations of periodic variations in light and dark patches, particularly in the polar latitudes, which looked like seas and continents, while long, dark striations were interpreted by some observers as irrigation channels for liquid water. These straight line features were later proven not to exist and were instead explained as optical illusions. Still, of all the planets in our Solar System other than Earth, Mars is the most likely to harbor liquid water, and perhaps life.[citation needed]

Mars is currently host to three functional orbiting spacecraft: Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is more than any planet in the Solar System except Earth. The surface is also home to the two Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity), the lander Phoenix, and several inert landers and rovers that either failed or completed missions. Geological evidence gathered by these and preceding missions suggests that Mars previously had large-scale water coverage, while observations also indicate that small geyser-like water flows have occurred in recent years.[6] Observations by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor show evidence that parts of the southern polar ice cap have been receding.[7]

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Martian Trojan asteroid. Mars can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Its apparent magnitude reaches -2.9,[4] a brightness surpassed only by Venus, the Moon, and the Sun, though most of the time Jupiter will appear brighter to the naked eye than Mars.

Exploration
Main article: Exploration of Mars

Viking Lander 1 siteDozens of spacecraft, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, have been sent to Mars by the Soviet Union, the United States, Europe, and Japan to study the planet's surface, climate, and geology.

Roughly two-thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars have failed in one manner or another before completing or even beginning their missions. While this high failure rate can be ascribed to technical problems, enough have either failed or lost communications for causes unknown for some to search for other explanations. Examples include an Earth-Mars "Bermuda Triangle", a Mars Curse, or even the long-standing NASA in-joke, the "Great Galactic Ghoul" that feeds on Martian spacecraft.[70]

[edit] Past missions
The first successful fly-by mission to Mars was NASA's Mariner 4, launched in 1964. The first successful objects to land on the surface were two Soviet probes, Mars 2 and Mars 3 from the Mars probe program, launched in 1971, but both lost contact within seconds of landing. Then came the 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program, which consisted of two orbiters, each having a lander; both landers successfully touched down in 1976 and remained operational for 6 and 3 years, for Viking 1 and Viking 2 respectively. The Viking landers relayed the first color pictures of Mars[71] and also mapped the surface of Mars so well that the images are still sometimes used to this day. The Soviet probes Phobos 1 and 2 were sent to Mars in 1988 to study Mars and its two moons, unfortunately Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars, and Phobos 2, while successfully photographing Mars and Phobos, failed just before it was set to release two landers on Phobos's surface.

Following the 1992 failure of the Mars Observer orbiter, NASA launched the Mars Global Surveyor in 1996. This mission was a complete success, having finished its primary mapping mission in early 2001. Contact was lost with the probe in November 2006 during its third extended program, spending exactly 10 operational years in space. Only a month after the launch of the Surveyor, NASA launched the Mars Pathfinder, carrying a robotic exploration vehicle Sojourner, which landed in the Ares Vallis on Mars. This mission was another big success, and received much publicity, partially due to the many spectacular images that were sent back to Earth.[72]

[edit] Current missions

Spirit's lander on MarsIn 2001 NASA launched the successful Mars Odyssey orbiter, which is still in orbit as of March 2008, and the ending date has been extended to September 2008. Odyssey's Gamma Ray Spectrometer detected significant amounts of hydrogen in the upper metre or so of Mars's regolith. This hydrogen is thought to be contained in large deposits of water ice.[73]

In 2003, the ESA launched the Mars Express craft, consisting of the Mars Express Orbiter and the lander Beagle 2. Beagle 2 failed during descent and was declared lost in early February 2004.[74] In early 2004 the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer team announced it had detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. ESA announced in June 2006 the discovery of aurorae on Mars.[75]

Also in 2003, NASA launched the twin Mars Exploration Rovers named Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity (MER-. Both missions landed successfully in January 2004 and have met or exceeded all their targets. Among the most significant scientific returns has been conclusive evidence that liquid water existed at some time in the past at both landing sites. Martian dust devils and windstorms have occasionally cleaned both rovers' solar panels, and thus increased their lifespan.[76]

On August 12, 2005 the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe was launched toward the planet, arriving in orbit on March 10, 2006 to conduct a two-year science survey. The orbiter will map the Martian terrain and weather to find suitable landing sites for upcoming lander missions. It also contains an improved telecommunications link to Earth, with more bandwidth than all previous missions combined.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's north pole, scientists said March 3, 2008.[77]

A prototype of the Phoenix lander practices robotic arm control at a test site in Death Valley.The most recent mission to Mars, not counting the brief flyby by the Dawn spacecraft to Ceres and Vesta, is the NASA Phoenix Mars lander, which launched August 4, 2007 and arrived on the north polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008[78]. The lander has a robotic arm with a 2.5 m reach and capable of digging a meter into the Martian soil. The lander will be in an area with an 80% chance of ice being less than 30 cm below the surface, and has a microscopic camera capable of resolving to one-thousandth the width of a human hair.[79]

[edit] Future missions
Phoenix will be followed by the Mars Science Laboratory in 2009, a bigger, faster (90 m/hour), and smarter version of the Mars Exploration Rovers. Experiments include a laser chemical sample that can deduce the make-up of rocks at a distance of 13 m.[80]

The joint Russian and Chinese Phobos-Grunt sample-return mission, to return samples of Mars's moon Phobos, is scheduled for a 2009 launch. In 2012 the ESA plans to launch its first Rover to Mars, the ExoMars rover will be capable of drilling 2 m into the soil in search of organic molecules.[81][82]

The Finnish-Russian MetNet mission will consist of sending tens of small landers on the Martian surface in order to establish a wide-spread surface observation network to investigate the planet's atmospheric structure, physics and meteorology.

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Phoenix on the NASA Portal

Phoenix Home Page (U of A)

Phoenix at JPL

Mission Blog

Orbiter Relays Second-Day Information From NASA Mars Lander
05.27.08 -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully received information from the Phoenix Mars Lander Tuesday evening and relayed the information to Earth.
View Release | Latest press images | Latest videos

Phoenix Beams Dozens of Raw Mars Images
New data beamed back by Phoenix show it's in good health after its first night on Mars. (May 26)
Go to raw images

All Phoenix: Press Releases >> | Press Release Images & Videos >> | Other Videos >>

Latest: Mars Exploration Rover Mars Science Laboratory
Mars Odyssey Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Phoenix

Camera on Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing
A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander's successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25. >>

NASA's Phoenix Spacecraft Reports Good Health After Mars Landing
A NASA spacecraft today sent pictures showing itself in good condition after making the first successful landing in a polar region of Mars. >>

NASA's Phoenix Spacecraft Lands at Martian Arctic Site
NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars today to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the lander's robotic arm. >>

Phoenix Almost There
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is targeted to land in a flat valley in the arctic plains of Mars, at the center of the blue ellipse shown here. >>

No Final Nudge Needed for Phoenix
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will reach Mars this evening with no further adjustments to its flight path. The first possible time for confirmation that Phoenix has landed will be at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time today. >>

Phoenix Lander Update
Get the highlights from the Phoenix News Briefing held at JPL on Sat., May 24. The spacecraft is scheduled to land on Mars on Sunday, May 25. >>

Phoenix Spacecraft on Course for May 25 Mars Landing
With three days and 3 million miles left to fly before arriving at Mars, NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is on track for its destination in the Martian arctic. >>

NASA Briefings and TV Coverage Schedule for Phoenix Mars Landing
NASA news briefings, live commentary and updates before and after the scheduled Sunday, May 25 arrival of the agency's Phoenix Mars Lander will be available on NASA Television and on the Web. >>

NASA Satellite Finds Interior of Mars is Colder
New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought. >>

Phoenix Landing Events Schedule
This is a list of events during and around the Phoenix landing on Mars. >>

more news >>

Phoenix Landing - Nerves and Joy

Mars Landing Challenge -- Big Science Ahead

Guided Tour of Mars Landing

Peeling Back Layers of a Martian Polar Ice Cap

The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Entry Descent and Landing

more videos >>

Recent Images

Mars Odyssey Image for
May 27, 2008:

Tartarus Montes
High-res at ASU THEMIS site

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (HiRISE) Image
May 27, 2008:

Ridges in Huo Hsing Vallis
High-res at the UA HiRISE site.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (CRISM) Image
May 20, 2008:

An Olivine-Rich Crater in Tyrrhena Terra
High-res at the JHU APL CRISM site

Mars Weather Report
May 12-18 2008:

at the MSSS MARCI site

White Letters on Black Board

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter Four

http://www.troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/

Palash Biswas

We Indigenous People live like White Letters on Black Board.

Anyone from Ruling Hegemony anywhere may wipe us with a soft stroke of Duster.Aware or unaware, we may not resist. If resisted, would be crushed mercilessly! We have been wiped in Americas,Africa, Europe,Asia and Australia. We would be wiped off anywhere in the galaxy and beyond provided some Columbus or Vasco De Gama or Captain Cook invent Imperialist Interests there!

We have been deprived of these letters for time infinite on basis of Varnashram and Caste system as well as Apartheid. We could not simply cry Freedom for thousands of years as these letters never favoured us and we never knew to handle them.

In this new order of Phoenix, which rules the Galaxy, the Explosion of Information goes against us and at last, rules Manusmriti or Apartheid. Science and technology, Industrialisation and Urbanisation always destroyed Indigineous Mankind in the best interest of the ruling elite classes.

May be Barrack Obama is going to be the first Black President of United States of America!

May be Hillary Clinton is going to upset the Apple Cart and will hold State Power in the Oval Office in White House!

May be someday, the resurrection of Hindutva takes over Americas and Bobby Zindal becomes President of America, sidelining Zionist Hegemony!

It won`t change the scenario. Because it may not.

We are not going to have any break through anywhere! No respite expected for our Worldwide Indigenous Untouchable Black community. The Enslaved Black Untouchables, destined to be Crushed, Repressed, Displaced and Annihilated! Political systems, ideologies, principles, doctrines and theories always justify the Genocides,Ethnic Cleansing, Massacres, Encounters, Wars, Civil Wars against Indigenous World!

As Americanism overlaps the Identities as Black as well as Woman. American interests remain the same and US strike power has to defend them with Presidential initiative. Americanism is the basic instinct to rule the world, best expressed in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Iraq and Afghanistan if someone deny Vietnam!

The Global Ruling class is ruling the Galaxy, the Earth, the Waters, The Space.

NASA is not going to be disbanded.

NATO is not going to be unarmed.

Neither World bank nor United Nations will defend the interests of third world interests.

Iraq, Iran, East Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia have to bleed.

Bleeding will be all the black untouchables worldwide and anywhere where Nature allows life with all the underclasses in the Developed Nations as well.

Nature is not going to be liberated and global warming would continue to play havoc.

Natural resources have to be captured.

Thus, we would have to be wiped out as white letters on Black Board. Mass destruction weapons, Missile technology, Star Wars, Terminators and Nuclear Armament target us the People, already deprived of Life, Liberty and Livelihood, already stricken by intense food Insecurity, inherent Inequality, Discrimination and Injustice.

Well, friends it is not new.

Just read between the lines of `Spartacus' or `Mother' or `Good Earth' or `Les Miserables'!

Just read the novels of Charles Dickens or Thomas Hardy!

You may get the vision right there in Shakespearean drama like `The Tempest' or `Mid Summer Night`s Dreams'!

Simply the Fact is very objective and it is the Ultimate Truth!

They rule because they have handled the Letters very well.

It is Bible.

It is Vedas.

It has been the Epics.

It has been Ethics.

It has been Ideologies.

Religion.

Monarchy.

Democracy.

Autocracy.

Military Junta.

Marxist Leninist Maoist Systems.

Constitution.

State power.

And, of course, Global Market and corporate Imperialism!

The State Power of every color held by the Global Ruling Classes consisting of the Neo Galaxy Hindu, Zionist White Hegemony led by US Imperialism.

The letters are defined as Information nowadays!

Incidentally, my father Pulin Babu was deprived of letters as the family as well as the geopolitics disintegrated with Partition Holocaust with Great transfer of power from British Empire to the Brahminical Hegemony. But he had the vision as BR Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule and Guruchand Thakur all prominent leaders of Indian indigenous communities insisted on Education.

I recollect the stories of my ancestors in the stories told by Thamma as nothing is documented. We may not trace back into our History, Heritage. All documents and literature relating to Indigenous Dravid civilisation were first destroyed in Harappa and Mohanjodoro. US Imperialism did the same thing to Mesopotamia Civilisation as soon as they Captured Baghdad.

The history of Bengal (including Bangladesh and West Bengal) dates back four millennia.[1] To some extent, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers separated it from the mainland of India, though at times, Bengal has played an important role in Indian history.

My father was an All India leader of Dalit Bengali refugee movement. He was proud of his past.

` See, we were the Rulers. We are the Indigenous people. We ruled during Maura empire. Shasanka was the king of Gaur. But the mainstream was indigenous. Later, Paul dynasty saw the Golden Age of democracy in Bengal. The Indigenous people were ruling. It was Buddhism, the state religion. As sen dynasty wiped out the great Pals, Ballal Sen imported Five Kannojia Brahmins from Kannoj. Until this period, until Vijay Sen conquered Bengal, there was no existence of caste Hindus in Bengal. For Aryans, Banga was a cursed land of Asuras. Banga, the Asur being the king of the Anarya, Black Untouchable Kings. We had the helms of politics, economy and culture. We wrote Charya Padas and Mangal Kavys. Ballal sen introduced Hinduization on lines of conversion of Indigenous tribals by Victorious Aryans with their Ashwamedha yagn. King Rama of Ayodhya led and launched the War against Indigenous people branding them demons. Demonisation of Indigenous people henceforth continued in all parts of Indian subcontinent. But Son Of King Asoka, Mahendra was successful to spread the message of Gautama Buddha in other parts of Asia. From japan to Srilanka. China and South East Asia, where the Indigenous people remained the mainstream. In India, we were captured, defeated and converted as Lower caste Hindus. All indigenous people were enslaved and adjusted into the lower tier of Hindu caste system. We became out caste and deprived of all human and civil rights thence. We were deprived of Letters. For which King Rama killed the Tribal Rishi Sambuk!'

I don`t understand the logic of our family names. My father`s grand father was Uday. His father, Aaditya. It sounds strange. As the caste,creed and community do not reflect any tradition of Good names. We are also deprived of good names. These names do sound very very elite!

Ballal Sen drove us from the main land. We resettled in east Bengal remote areas.

Most of our people were drove into Sundarvana area on Sea Coast of South Bengal. The people left in mainland were ousted from the heart of villages. Ballal sen manged to separate the out castes with caste Hindus led by the imported Brahmins. These imported Brahmins do consist of the Ruling Hegemony in Bengal. That time they threw us into the Swamps of East Bengal. We got organised and revolted against them time to time. We mobilised a national Movement for Indigenous rights led By BR Ambedkar and Jogendra Nath Mandal. For this they partitioned India and ejected us out of our homeland. They have deprived us of Political Representation and constitutional reservation. Even Mother Tongue!'

Remnants of Copper Age settlements in the Bengal region date back 4,000 years,[1][2] when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic peoples. After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdoms of Anga, Vanga and Magadha were formed by the 10th century BC, located in and around the Bengal region. The Anga, Vanga and Magadha kingdoms are first described in the Atharvaveda around 1000 BC.

From the 6th century BC, most of Bengal was a part of the powerful kingdom of Magadha, which was an Indo-Aryan kingdom of ancient India, mentioned in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It was also one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha, having risen to power during the reigns of Bimbisara (c. 544-491 BC) and his son Ajatashatru (c. 491-460 BC). Magadha spanned to include most of Bihar and Bengal.

Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahā Janapadas (Sanskrit, "great country"). The Magadha empire included republican communities such as Rajakumara. Villages had their own assemblies under their local chiefs called Gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive, judicial, and military functions. Bimbisara was friendly to both Jainism and Buddhism and suspended tolls at the river ferries for all ascetics after the Buddha was once stopped at the Ganges River for lack of money.

In 326 BC, the army of Alexander the Great approached the boundaries of the Nanda Empire of Magadha. The army, exhausted and frightened by the prospect of facing a larger Indian army at the Ganges River, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas) and refused to march further East. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer, Coenus, was convinced that it was better to return.

Magadha was the seat of the Maurya Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya, which extended over nearly all of South Asia and parts of Persia and Afghanistan under Ashoka the Great; and, later, of the powerful Gupta Empire, which extended over the northern Indian subcontinent and parts of Persia and Afghanistan.

One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BC. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) and believed to be referring to an area in Bengal. For example, Diodorus Siculus (c. 90-30 BC) states that, "...Gandaridai, a nation which possesses the greatest number of elephants and the largest in size." This is presently known as 'Gangaridi' civilization and encompasses a period presumably from 400 BC to 100 AD. Some recent excavations in South 24 Parganas in West Bengal reveal small pearls of garnet, opal, quartz etc, which helped to detect the time and life-style of the people of this ancient civilization. There are engravings such as couple, snake, swastika, plough, trident, betel-leaf etc. found on these pearls.

The first recorded independent king of Bengal was Shashanka - reigning from 606.

More concrete evidence of Bengal becoming an independent political entity is found in the 6th century, with the first recorded independent king of Bengal - Shashanka - reigning around 606.

The first Buddhist Pala king of Bengal, Gopala I came to power in 750 in Gaur by election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Mahā Janapadas. The dynasty's most powerful kings, Dharmapala (reigned 775-810) and Devapala (reigned 810-850) united Bengal and made the Pala Empire the most powerful empire in 9th century India after expanding across much of the Indian subcontinent and parts of Afghanistan. Internecine strife during the reign of Narayanpala (reigned 854-908) and administrative excesses led to the decline of the dynasty.

A brief revival of the kingdom under Mahipala I (reigned 977-1027) ended in battle against the powerful, South Indian Chola kingdom. The rise of the Chandra dynasty in southern Bengal expedited the decline of the Palas, and the last Pala king, Madanpala, died in 1161.

The Malla dynasty emerged in Bengal in the seventh century, although they only rose to prominence in the 10th century under Jagat Malla who moved his capital to Vishnupur. Unlike the Buddhist Palas and Chandras, the Hindu Mallas worshipped first the Hindu god Shiva, then the Hindu god Vishnu. The Mallas built temples and spectacular religious monuments during their rule in Bengal.

Under the Sena dynasty, which lasted from 1095 to 1260, Bengali emerged as a distinct and important language in northern India, and Hinduism began to displace older Buddhism.

Pulin Babu was a fluent orator. he could speak for hours nonstop.

He said,` They tried their best to throw out Baba Saheb, the son of a Maharashtran Untouchable Mahar, from the school. they could not.'

`We have to fight for these letters', he used to see.

Meanwhile, I was admitted in the school. Our people opened a Bengali School in Basantipur. Initially, Chhotokaka was the teacher. Then he went to Assam in 1960. I may not remember him teaching. Then, an old man named Hari Dhali with his big belly appeared in the scenerio. he was an object of perfect amusement for us. Then the villagers appointed Prafulla Master,an immigrant from east Bengal. At that time, I was not interested in schooling. I would rather play and enjoy so many beauties abound in the Nature. Other children would be sent to get me in the school, I would fight with all of them. It would look like an intense street fight. It was a daily affair. If I landed in school, I would like riding making the teacher a Horse. Perhaps in 1961, I was admitted in Chittaranjan Kanya Primary school and then, Madam Christie looked after me so well.

We know another story of Out Castes. It is all about the Nobel Laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore. His ancestors were based in East Bengal and they were amongst the Elite Brahmin. Later, someone from the Tagore smelt BEEF in the kitchen of Nawab. Tagores immediately became out castes and were called PEERALI Brahmins, Brhmins with Muslim connection. Some of the family converted as annoyed and persecuted they were by the Brahmins then. Brahmins refused to have matrimonial relations with Tagores. Thus, a stream of Tagores became untouchables marrying with Namoshudras. They settled in Narail. Later, Tagores migrated to Kolkata and Prince Dwarka Nath Tagore made fortunes with fort william. Even then, they were not accepted as Brahmins. It led the Tagores to Brahma dharma of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

Tagore was denied entry in Puri Temple and was considered untouchable. Elite Bengalies could not accept Tagore as a poet at all. Only the Nobel Prize could change the scenario and Tagore was made an Icon of Ruling Hegemony. His writings in favour of Untouchables, peasants and indigenous people are never highlighted or discussed at all.

My Thamma told me that my grand fathers, they were four brothers, were the Musclemen Casteleaders and warriors, LATHIALS for the Zamindar. My real Grand father Umesh was the third brother. The Eldest Kailash was very famous for his fighting skills. He and his brothers were militant. My Grandma often told me stories about Police raids, riots during Harvesting and seizes. the women folk were also trained to use arms. They used to fight. The second brother amongst my Grandfathers was a real community Leader and was very popular in Narail area. now, I do not remember the name. he died early by snakebite. My grandfather Umesh died of shock within months. My Grandma was alone to feed the family as rest of the family captured the family property. Her father kalicharan Mandal was a Wise Man. He had a rare vision. my father was mostly influenced by his second Uncle, the community leader and his grandfather, Kalicharan Mandal.

Thamma was very close to me as she believed that I happened to be the reincarnation of her father.

Thus, my near ancestors dealt with Lathis more than LETTERS! My uncles also joined forces for a short period.

I had to break this tradition for which My Father, the refugee leader was very enthusiastic as he understood well the limitation of being undereducated as he was dealing with all types of National Leaders and ideologies to sort out the community Problems. Luckily, he could single out the cause of infinite enslavement of Underclasses as Lack of education!

I had to be educated. I had to be educated as my father was not. He learnt to read and write Bengali, English and Hindi. He could communicate in Oria and Assamese as he had been always in the heart of storms, the mass movement. He tried his best to make my Chhoto Kaka, the youngest Uncle a registered Medical practicener. He had been in army for some time. My eldest uncle, Jethamoshai also had been in Police during British period in undivided Bengal.Since my eldest aunt Jethima was on of the Thakurbari family. Thus, we had to know the value of education right from the word GO.

Pdt. Jawahar Lal Nehru was influenced by Soviet Russia. The soviet Model of Development adopted and heightened later by her worthy daughter Mrs Indira Gandhi, proves the theory. Even the Communists in India believed that Nehru was a Communist.

Thus, the Indian communist leadership allied with Congress from the beginning and betrayed Telengana and Dhimri Block movement.

In West Bengal, Marxists cooperated Siddharth Shankar Roy and his goons to wipe out the Naxalbari Movement.

Mahashweta Devi and other prominent writers try to prove with pain that Naxalbari movement was elitist, romantic, intellectual uprising of urban students and youth.

Mahashweta Di, however stresses on the tribal uprising althroughout her writings.

But all these caste Hindu writers deny to accept that Naxalbari was an Indigenous Uprising led by Indigenous people which was taken over by so called communist parties led by Caste Hindus quite detached from the indigenous interests. Repression by state power wiped out tribal as well as scheduled caste students and youths. But their contribution never accepted, evaluated.

Even to day the communists and the Congress consist of the Ruling Brahminical class along with fascist RSS.

Nandigram and Singur as well as kalingnagar insurrections are quite indigenous in character but the Ruling Class, the Dominant group holding the State Power and the Resisting one trying to capture the Reign of power, both, try to deprive the Indigenous People any scope for representation or participation.

The History of Partition is quite a case study of the character of not only the Indian ruling class but it exposes well the ruling haegemonies worldwide.

Everyone knows well about the roles played by British Empire.

Everyone is aware of the Two Nation Theory.

But the history of Bengal as well as that of Muslim League tells a different story.

Land settlement system instated the Brahmin and kayastha Zamindars in Bengali Rural Production system. Indigenous people were uprooted from their land. They were enslaved.

The Scheduled Caste Untouchables as well as majority Muslim peasants were enslaved. In this part of world there have been so many Peasant`s uprising led by tribals, Untouchables and Muslims. They were more or less united socially.

As fazlul haq allied with Hindu Mahasabha, led by Shayma Prasad Mukherjee from fascist caste hindu RSS, Muslims were detached from Krishak Praja Party and Muslim league got the momentum.

Muslim league was born in Dhaka in 1901, in East Bengal with initiative from the Nawab of Dhaka and it quested to defend the rights of majority Muslims in Bengal.

As the Muslim league escalated countrywide with large scale North India Participation, it lost the Indigenous character. Hindu Mahasabha politics to destroy Indigenous bases in Bengal transformed Muslim League.

On the other hand, Mahatma Gandhi ensured the dominance of brahmincal hegemony with Puna Pact.

Bapu and Nehru ensured the power transfer to Brahminical system.

Ambedkar had no way to stop this.

Rather he stroke a deal with support form Jogendra Nath Mandal and his East Bengal base of militant scheduled castes , specially Rajbanshi and Namoshudras.

He was elected from Bengal for the Constitution Assembly and ensured reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

Ambedkar was defeated in Maharashtra.

And he never won an election in Independent Brahminical India.

Mandal decided to go with Muslim League and joined the Pakistan Cabinet.

The East Bengal Indigenous people were aliegnated and were devoid of leadership.

Thus, the ruling caste Hindus, got enough opportunity to eject out them from their Homeland in east Bengal and scattered them countrywide.

They were resettled up against tribal people everywhere. in Uttar Pradesh. In Orissa. In MP. In Andhra. In Tripura. In Bihar. In Assam. It sabotaged the very base of Indigenous Identity. Power politics with Congress Left alliance did its best to divide SC, ST, OBC and Muslims. Thus they rule.

Well. Pandit Nehru was believed to make refugee colonies in the Jungles of Terai of the model of soviet communes. Every refugee colony was a cooperative entity well expressed in Land settlement colonies.

Terai was not inhibitable at all. Kumaoon was ruled by the Gorkhas. British captured Kumaoon and Garwal with Terai. It was a happy Hunting Ground for the Rajas and Nawabs before independence. As Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and later as Home Minister of the Union, Pdt Govind Ballabh Pant tried his best to settle the Hill people in Terai. He failed miserably. The Jungles were very dense and full of fierce wild animals.

In 1922, dozens of Buksha villages around Gadarpur were wiped out by plague.

The locals believed in the myth that Terai was populated for seven times and deserted for seven times. Rudrapur, the present headquarter of SIDCULE and Udhamsingh Nagar district of Uttarakhand had been known as the capital of King Rudra.

The rehabilitation Ministery of Pdt. Nehru dumped Bengali and sikh refugees in this dense forest. Bengalies were untouchables. At the same time. the Sikhs were mostly Raisikh of similar status. Both communities were masters of farming and they cleared the Jungles! Before these refugees settled the place , it was inhibited by tribals Buksha and Tharu. Who were always mobile as they would move with their Jhoom style of farming. There were villages of these tribals which were mostly buldozed to make way for the colonies.

It was the subjective fact. In fact, the tribals were uprooted to accomodate Big farmers holding significant status in the ruling Class.

Until 1952, the Terai in Nainital disrtict was managed by Kham superintendent. He was the ultimate authority and had the power to allot any amount of land on whatsoever nominal cost. Army officials, IAS and PCS officers, political leaders, film stars and industrialist got infinite amount of land thanks to KHAM system. Refugee colonisation was just a cover up game.

Indigenous peoples
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The term indigenous peoples can be used to describe any ethnic group who inhabit the geographic region with which they have the earliest historical connection. However, several widely-accepted formulations, which define the term "Indigenous peoples" in stricter terms, have been put forward by prominent and internationally-recognized organizations, such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. Indigenous peoples in this article is used in such a narrower sense.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries
Drawing on these, a contemporary working definition of "indigenous peoples" for certain purposes has criteria which would seek to include cultural groups (and their continuity or association with a given region, or parts of a region, and who formerly or currently inhabit the region either:

before its subsequent colonization or annexation; or
alongside other cultural groups during the formation of a nation-state; or
independently or largely isolated from the influence of the claimed governance by a nation-state,
linguistic, cultural and social / organizational characteristics, and in doing so remain differentiated in some degree from the surrounding populations and dominant culture of the nation-state.

To the above, a criterion is usually added to also include:

peoples who are self-identified as indigenous, and/or those recognised as such by other groups.
Note that even if all the above criteria are fulfilled, some people may either not consider themselves as indigenous or may not be considered as indigenous by governments, organizations or scholars.

Other related terms for indigenous peoples include aborigines, aboriginal peoples, native peoples, first peoples, first nations and autochthonous (this last term having a derivation from Greek, meaning "sprung from the earth"). Indigenous peoples may often be used in preference to these or other terms, as a neutral replacement where these terms may have taken on negative or pejorative connotations by their prior association and use. It is the preferred term in use by the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations.

Definitions

Main article: Definitions and identity of indigenous peoples

Ati woman. The Negritos were the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia.[1]
The adjective indigenous has the common meaning of "having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region or environment".[2] Therefore, in a purely adjectival sense any given people, ethnic group or community may be described as being indigenous in reference to some particular region or location.

Key to a contemporary understanding of 'indigenousness' is the political role an ethnic group plays, for all other criteria usually taken to denote indigenous groups (territory, race, history, subsistence lifestyle, etc.) can to a greater or lesser extent also be applied to majority cultures. Therefore, the distinction applied to indigenous ethnic groups can be formulated as: “a politically underprivileged group, who share a similar ethnic identity different to the nation in power, and who have been an ethnic entity in the locality before the present ruling nation took over power” (Greller, 1997).

However, the specific term indigenous peoples has a more restrictive interpretation when it used in the more formalised, legalistic and academic sense, associated with the collective rights of human populations. In these contexts, the term is used to denote particular peoples and groups around the world who, as well as being native to or associated with some given territory, meet certain other criteria (such as having reached a social and technological plateau thousands of years ago). This article is concerned with the latter, and not the former, sense of the term.

[edit] Characteristics of indigenous peoples: overview

[edit] Population and distribution

Brazilian Indigenous chiefs of the Kayapo tribe.
Indigenous societies range from those who have been significantly exposed to the colonizing or expansionary activities of other societies (such as the Maya peoples of Mexico and Central America) through to those who as yet remain in comparative isolation from any external influence (such as the Sentinelese and Jarawa of the Andaman Islands).

Precise estimates for the total population of the world's indigenous peoples are very difficult to compile, given the difficulties in identification and the variances and inadequacies of available census data. Recent source estimates range from 300 million[3] to 350 million[4] as of the start of the 21st century. This would equate to just under 6% of the total world population. This includes at least 5000 distinct peoples[5] in over 72 countries.

Contemporary distinct indigenous groups survive in populations ranging from only a few dozen to hundreds of thousands or more. Many indigenous populations have undergone a dramatic decline and even extinction, and remain threatened in many parts of the world. Some have also been assimilated by other populations or have undergone many other changes. In other cases, indigenous populations are undergoing a recovery or expansion in numbers.

Certain indigenous societies survive even though they may no longer inhabit their "traditional" lands, owing to migration, relocation, forced resettlement or having been supplanted by other cultural groups. In many other respects, the transformation of culture of indigenous groups is ongoing, and includes permanent loss of language, loss of lands, encroachment on traditional territories, and disruption in traditional lifeways due to contamination and pollution of waters and lands.

Tsengel Tuvan child and grandmother.

[edit] Common characteristics
Characteristics common across many indigenous groups include present or historical reliance upon subsistence-based production (based on pastoral, horticultural and/or hunting and gathering techniques), and a predominantly non-urbanized society. Indigenous societies may be either settled in a given locale/region or exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory. Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world.

[edit] Common concerns
Indigenous peoples confront a diverse range of concerns associated with their status and interaction with other cultural groups, as well as changes in their inhabited environment. Some challenges are specific to particular groups; however, other challenges are commonly experienced. Bartholomew Dean and Jerome Levi (2003) explore why and how the circumstances of indigenous peoples are improving in some places of the world, while their human rights continue to be abused in others.[6] These issues include cultural and linguistic preservation, land rights, ownership and exploitation of natural resources, political determination and autonomy, environmental degradation and incursion, poverty, health, and discrimination.

The interaction between indigenous and non-indigenous societies throughout history has been complex, ranging from outright conflict and subjugation to some degree of mutual benefit and cultural transfer. A particular aspect of anthropological study involves investigation into the ramifications of what is termed first contact, the study of what occurs when two cultures first encounter one another. The situation can be further confused when there is a complicated or contested history of migration and population of a given region, which can give rise to disputes about primacy and ownership of the land and resources.

[edit] Historical indigenous cultures

An Adivasi woman from the Kutia Kondh tribal group in Orissa.
The migration, expansion and settlement of societies throughout different territories is a universal, almost defining thread which runs through the entire course of human history. Many of the cross-cultural interactions which arose as a result of these historical encounters involved societies which might properly be considered as indigenous, either from their own viewpoint or that of external societies.

Most often, these past encounters between indigenous and "non-indigenous" groups lack contemporary account or description. Any assessment or understanding of impact, result and relation can at best only be surmised, using archaeological, linguistic or other reconstructive means. Where accounts do exist, they frequently originate from the viewpoint of the colonizing, expansionary or nascent state.

[edit] Classical antiquity
Greek sources of the Classical period acknowledge the prior existence of indigenous people(s), whom they referred to as "Pelasgians." These peoples inhabited lands surrounding the Aegean Sea before the subsequent migrations of the Hellenic ancestors claimed by these authors. The disposition and precise identity of this former group is elusive, and sources such as Homer, Hesiod and Herodotus give varying, partially mythological accounts. However, it is clear that cultures existed whose indigenous characteristics were distinguished by the subsequent Hellenic cultures (and distinct from non-Greek speaking "foreigners", termed "barbarians" by the historical Greeks).

Alonso Fernández de Lugo presenting the captured Guanche kings of Tenerife to Ferdinand and Isabella.

[edit] European expansion and colonialism
The rapid and extensive spread of the various European powers from the early 18th century onwards had a profound impact upon many of the indigenous cultures with whom they came into contact. The exploratory and colonial ventures in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific often resulted in territorial and cultural conflict, and the intentional or unintentional displacement and devastation of the indigenous populations.

[edit] Europe
The Canary Islands had an indigenous population called the Guanches whose origin is still the subject of discussion among historians and linguists.[7]

[edit] Contemporary distribution and survey
See also: List of indigenous peoples
Indigenous populations are distributed in regions throughout the globe. The numbers, condition and experience of indigenous groups may vary widely within a given region. A comprehensive survey is further complicated by sometimes contentious membership and identification.

[edit] Africa
Main article: Indigenous peoples of Africa
See also: Category:Indigenous peoples of Africa
In the post-colonial period, the concept of specific indigenous peoples within the African continent has gained wider acceptance, although not without controversy. The highly-diverse and numerous ethnic groups which comprise most modern, independent African states contain within them various peoples whose situation, cultures and pastoralist or hunter-gatherer lifestyles are generally marginalised and set apart from the dominant political and economic structures of the nation. Since the late 20th century these peoples have increasingly sought recognition of their rights as distinct indigenous peoples, in both national and international contexts.

A San man from Namibia.
Although the vast majority of African peoples can be considered to be indigenous in the sense that they have originated from that continent and nowhere else, in practice identity as an "indigenous people" as per the term's modern application is more restrictive, and certainly not every African ethnic group claims identification under these terms. Groups and communities who do claim this recognition are those who by a variety of historical and environmental circumstances have been placed outside of the dominant state systems, and whose traditional practices and land claims often come into conflict with the objectives and policies promulgated by governments, companies and surrounding dominant societies.

A Tuareg wearing the Niqab.
Given the extensive and complicated history of human migration within Africa, being the "first peoples in a land" is not a necessary pre-condition for acceptance as an indigenous people. Rather, indigenous identity relates more to a set of characteristics and practices than priority of arrival. For example, several populations of nomadic peoples such as the Tuareg of the Sahara and Sahel regions now inhabit areas in which they arrived comparatively recently; their claim to indigenous status (endorsed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights) is based on their marginalisation as nomadic peoples in states and territories dominated by sedentary agricultural peoples.

The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) is one of the main trans-national network organizations recognised as a representative of African indigenous peoples in dialogues with governments and bodies such as the UN. IPACC identifies several key characteristics associated with indigenous claims in Africa:

political and economic marginalisation rooted in colonialism;
de facto discrimination based often on the dominance of agricultural peoples in the State system (e.g. lack of access to education and health care by hunters and herders);
the particularities of culture, identity, economy and territoriality that link hunting and herding peoples to their home environments in deserts and forests (e.g. nomadism, diet, knowledge systems);
some indigenous peoples, such as the San and Pygmy peoples are physically distinct, which makes them subject to specific forms of discrimination.
With respect to concerns expressed that identifying some groups and not others as indigenous is in itself discriminatory, IPACC states that it:

"...recognises that all Africans should enjoy equal rights and respect. All of Africa’s diversity is to be valued. Particular communities, due to historical and environmental circumstances, have found themselves outside the state-system and underrepresented in governance...This is not to deny other Africans their status; it is to emphasise that affirmative recognition is necessary for hunter-gatherers and herding peoples to ensure their survival."

A Berber family crossing a ford - scene in Algeria. Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley.
At an African inter-governmental level, the examination of indigenous rights and concerns is pursued by a sub-commission established under the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), sponsored by the African Union (AU) (successor body to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)). In late 2003 the 53 signatory states of the ACHPR adopted the Report of the African Commission's Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and its recommendations. This report says in part (p. 62):

...certain marginalized groups are discriminated in particular ways because of their particular culture, mode of production and marginalized position within the state[; a] form of discrimination that other groups within the state do not suffer from. The call of these marginalized groups to protection of their rights is a legitimate call to alleviate this particular form of discrimination.
The adoption of this report at least notionally subscribed the signatories to the concepts and aims of furthering the identity and rights of African indigenous peoples. The extent to which individual states are mobilising to put these recommendations into practice varies enormously, however, and most indigenous groups continue to agitate for improvements in the areas of land rights, use of natural resources, protection of environment and culture, political recognition and freedom from discrimination.

Peruvian indigenous people, learning to read.[8]

[edit] The Americas
Main article: Indigenous peoples of the Americas
See also: Category:Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the American continents are broadly recognised as being those groups and their descendants who inhabited the region before the arrival of European colonizers and settlers (i.e., Pre-Columbian). Indigenous peoples who maintain, or seek to maintain, traditional ways of life are found from the high Arctic north to the southern extremities of Tierra del Fuego.

A Choctaw Belle (1850)
The impact of European colonization of the Americas on the indigenous communities was in general quite severe, with many authorities estimating ranges of significant population decline due to the ravages of various epidemic diseases (smallpox, measles, etc), displacement, conflict and exploitation. The extent of this impact is the subject of much continuing debate. Several peoples shortly thereafter became extinct, or very nearly so.

All nations in North and South America have populations of indigenous peoples within their borders. In some countries (particularly Latin American), indigenous peoples form a sizeable component of the overall national population--in Bolivia they account for an estimated 56%-70% of the total nation, and at least half of the population in Guatemala and the Andean and Amazonian nations of Peru. In English, indigenous peoples are collectively referred to by several different terms which vary by region and include such ethnoynms as Native Americans, Amerindians, Indians. In Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries one finds the use of terms such as pueblos indígenas, povos, nativos, indígenas, and in Peru, Comunidades Nativas, particularly among Amazonian societies like the Urarina and Matsés.

The Aboriginal peoples in Canada include the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. The combined indigenous population is over a million (1,172,790). This means they represent 3.8% of the Canadian population. Their status is recognized by Canada's Constitution Act, 1982.[9] The Inuit have achieved a degree of administrative autonomy with the creation in 1999 of the territories of Nunavik (in Northern Quebec), Nunatsiavut (in Northern Labrador) and Nunavut, which was until 1999 a part of the Northwest Territories. The self-administering Danish territory of Greenland is also home to a majority population of indigenous Inuit (about 85%).

Yanomami village of the Amazon Rainforest.
In the United States, the combined populations of Native Americans, Inuit and other indigenous designations totalled 2,786,652 (constituting about 1.5% of 2003 US census figures). Some 563 scheduled tribes are recognized at the Federal level, and a number of others recognized at the State level.

In Mexico, approximately 6,011,202 (constituting about 6.7% of 2005 Mexican census figures) identify as indígenas (Spanish for natives or indigenous peoples). In the southern states of Chiapas, Yucatan and Oaxaca they constitute 26.1%, 33.5% and 35.3%, respectively, of the population. In these states several conflicts and episodes of civil war have been conducted, in which the situation and participation of indigenous societies were notable factors (see for example EZLN).

The Amerindians make up 0.4% of Brazil's population, or about 700,000 people.[10] Indigenous peoples are found in the entire territory of Brazil, although the majority of them live in Indian reservations in the North and Centre-Western part of the country. On 18 January 2007, FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted tribes.[11]

[edit] Asia
Main article: Indigenous peoples of Asia
See also: Category:Indigenous peoples of Asia
The vast regions of Asia contain the majority of the world's present-day indigenous populations, about 70% according to IWGIA figures.

The most substantial populations are in India, which constitutionally recognises a range of "Scheduled Tribes" within its borders. These various peoples (collectively referred to as Adivasis, or tribal peoples) number about 68 million (1991 census figures, approximately 8% of the total national population).

The languages of Taiwanese aborigines have significance in historical linguistics, since in all likelihood Taiwan was the place of origin of the entire Austronesian language family, which is spread across the whole of Oceania.[12][13][14]

Ainu bear sacrifice. Japanese scroll painting, circa 1870.
Indigenous peoples of Iran include the Bakhtiari, Laks, Lurs, Kurds, and Qashqai. The Assyrians and Marsh Arabs are also indigenous to areas of the geocultural region of Mesopotamia which includes parts of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. The Lurs also inhabit parts of Iraq close to the Iranian border with the provinces of Lorestan and Ilam.

Ainu people are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. As Japanese settlement expanded, the Ainu were pushed northward, until by the Meiji period they were confined by the government to a small area in Hokkaidō, in a manner similar to the placing of Native Americans on reservations.[citation needed]

[edit] Europe
Main article: Indigenous peoples of Europe
See also: Category:Indigenous peoples of Europe and European ethnic groups

The Khinalug people are the indigenous inhabitants of the Caucasus.
Since most of Europe in historical times was never colonized by non-European powers with lasting effect (arguably except for Hungary, Turkish Thrace, Tatarstan, Kalmykia and islands such as Malta or Cyprus[15]), the vast majority of Europeans can be considered "indigenous". However several widely-accepted formulations, which define the term "Indigenous peoples" in stricter terms, have been put forward by important internationally-recognised organizations, such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. Indigenous peoples in this article is used in such a narrower sense.

In Europe, present-day recognized indigenous populations are relatively few, mainly confined to northern and far-eastern reaches of this Eurasian peninsula. Whilst there are various ethnic minorities distributed within European countries, few of these still maintain traditional subsistence cultures and are recognized as indigenous peoples, per se. Notable indigenous populations include the Sami people of northern Scandinavia, the Nenets and other Samoyedic peoples of the northern Russian Federation, and the Komi peoples of the western Urals.

The Basque people, indigenous people who inhabit northern Spain and southwestern France, are the oldest indigenous ethnic group in Europe. The main theory about Basque origins suggests that they are a remnant of Paleolithic Europeans inhabiting continuously the Franco-Cantabrian region since at least Magdalenian times, and maybe as early as the original colonization of Europe by Homo sapiens. The only archaeological evidence for an invasion of the Basque Country dates to some 40,000 years ago when Cro-Magnon people first arrived in Europe and superseded Homo neanderthalensis.[16]

Caucasus is unique in its ethnic diversity, with a greater variety of languages spoken there than in any region of similar size in the world. Caucasus region is the home of over 50 indigenous ethnic groups.[17][18]

[edit] Oceania

Huli man from the Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. New Guinea has more than 1,000 indigenous languages.
Main article: Indigenous peoples of Oceania
See also: Category:Indigenous peoples of Oceania
Many of the present-day Pacific Island nations in the Oceania region were originally populated by Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian peoples over the course of thousands of years. European colonial expansion in the Pacific brought many of these under non-indigenous administration. During the 20th century several of these former colonies gained independence and nation-states were formed under local control. However, various peoples have put forward claims for indigenous recognition where their islands are still under external administration; examples include the Chamorros of Guam and the Northern Marianas, and the Marshallese of the Marshall Islands.

In most parts of Oceania, indigenous peoples outnumber the descendents of colonists. Exceptions include Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. According to the 2001 Australian census, Indigenous Australians make up 2.4% of the total population, while in New Zealand 14.6% of the population identify at least partially as indigenous Māori, with slightly more than half (53%) of all Māori residents identifying solely as Māori. Indigenous Hawaiians make up nearly a quarter of the general Hawaiian population.

The independent state of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a majority population of indigenous societies, with some 700+ different tribal groups recognised out of a total population of just over 5 million. The PNG Constitution and other Acts identify traditional or custom-based practices and land tenure, and explicitly sets out to promote the viability of these traditional societies within the modern state. However, several conflicts and disputes concerning land use and resource rights continue to be observed between indigenous groups, the government and corporate entities.

[edit] Indigenous rights, issues and concerns

A Chuckhi prisoner of Gulag. Painting by Nikolai Getman
Wherever indigenous cultural identity is asserted, some particular set of societal issues and concerns may be voiced which either arise from (at least in part), or have a particular dimension associated with, their indigenous status. These concerns will often be commonly held or affect other societies also, and are not necessarily experienced uniquely by indigenous groups.

Despite the diversity of indigenous peoples, it may be noted that they share common problems and issues in dealing with the prevailing, or invading, society. They are generally concerned that the cultures of indigenous peoples are being lost and that indigenous peoples suffer both discrimination and pressure to assimilate into their surrounding societies. This is borne out by the fact that the lands and cultures of nearly all of the peoples listed at the end of this article are under threat. Notable exceptions are the Sakha and Komi peoples (two of the Northern Indigenous Peoples of Siberia), who now control their own autonomous republics within the Russian state, and the Canadian Inuit, who form a majority of the territory of Nunavut (created in 1999).

It is also sometimes argued that it is important for the human species as a whole to preserve a wide range of cultural diversity as possible, and that the protection of indigenous cultures is vital to this enterprise.

An example of this occurred in 2002 when the Government of Botswana expelled all the Kalahari Bushmen known as the San from their lands [2] on which they had lived for at least twenty thousand years [3]. President Festus Mogai has described the Bushmen as "stone age creatures" [4] and a minister for local government, Margaret Nasha, likened public criticism of their eviction to criticism of the culling of elephants [5]. In 2006, the Botswanan High Court ruled that the Bushmen had a right to return to their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve [6][7].

In response, many have pointed out that in many cases the indigenous peoples often haven't been living self-sufficiently in an area for centuries, and that economic development was not an issue before because it was not an option.

[edit] Representation
The rights, claims and even identity of indigenous peoples are apprehended, acknowledged and observed quite differently from government to government. Various organizations exist with charters to in one way or another promote (or at least acknowledge) indigenous aspirations, and indigenous societies have often banded t