Indian Railway

By the word run a train we mean a vehicle with motive power running on metal rails.

" The Stockholm and Darlington Railway" (1825) is recognised as  the starting of railway age, because they were the first "Railway" to use a steam locomotive and iron rails to haul a load. It was a load of 38 carriages laden with passengers and goods ran between Stockton and Darlington. The railway line was actually commenced in 1821, but it took 4 years to complete construction.

Prior to this in 1801 Richard Trevithick made the steam carriage and in 1804 constructed a locomotive to haul a 10-ton load not on the rails but on the roads.

For other countries the list is as follows:

Now let us see about India.

       The core of the pressure for building railways in India came from London in 1840s. For a century thereafter the basic policies and ultimate management of the Indian Railways were issued from London. The British built railways in India in order to intermesh the economies of the two countries. The building of railways in India brought about unintended as well as hoped for consequences in economic, political and military front. The new railways tied the the different parts of India together more closely than ever before.

       Some mention should be made of the role of Indian businessmen played in the early years. There were Indian merchants , both in Calcutta and Bombay who took an interest in founding of the railways. The most prominent of these was a remarkable Bengali merchant Prince Dwarkanath Tagore , grandfather of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore. Dwarkanath's firm Carr, Tagore & Company, is reported to have offered in 1844, to raise one-third of the capital required for a railway from Calcutta northwest to the coalfields above Burdwan. After Dwarkanath's premature death a few tears later the other Indian businessmen played only a passive role. The conception, promotion and launching of India's railways were all British. ( Daniel Thorner 1955)   


      The Railway Age dawned in India on 16th. April 1853, when the first train ran from Bombay to Thana, a distance of 21 miles(33.81 Km.) For some years before that the idea of building railways in India had taken concrete shape with the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London. The East India Company had obtained a foothold in India as a trading company, but gradually lost most of its privileges it had enjoyed as an instrument of commerce. It had , however been made responsible for the governance of India under the supervision of a Court of Directors in London. The final authority lay , of course , with the British Cabinet, who acted on the advice of its special Board of \control for Indian Affairs. There was a Governor General at Fort William in Calcutta, having superintending authority over the administration of India.
       The first proposals for construction of railways in India were presented in 1844 to East India Company in London by, (a) East Indian Railway Company headed by R.McDonald Stephenson, and (b) Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company.

       George Stephenson the great British Locomotive inventor was one the first Directors of GIPR and his son Robert Stephenson was appointed as the consulting engineer based at London.

        Both E.I.R. and G.I.P.R were incorporated in England for the purpose of constructing railway lines in Calcutta and Bombay presidencies respectively. Though GIPR company was formed in 1844. George Stephenson could not see his Locomotives run on Indian soil as he died in 1848.

       Lord Hardinge was the Governor General of India at this point of time. He considered the proposals from political, military and commercial point of view and thought that Court Of Directors of East India Company should liberally give assistance to private capitalists, willing to make railways in India , without waiting for proof that the construction of railways in India should yield reasonable profit. The Court of Directors in their suggestion that the first attempt should be made on a limited scale due to some difficulties, deliberated as under,

1. Periodical rains and inundations;
2. The continued action of violent winds, and influence of a vertical
     sun;
3. The ravages of insects and vermin upon timber and earth work;
4. The destructive effect of spontaneous vegetation of Underwood
     upon earth and brick  work;
5. The unenclosed and unprotected tracts of the country though which
     railroads would pass;
6. The difficulty and expenses of securing the services of competent
     and trustworthy engineers. 

How do you feel about these apprehensions about 150 years ago ?

The development of railways in India started on all sides after successful initial projects in the west and the east.


West : On 16th April, 1853 the first railway on Indian sub-continent ran over a stretch of 21 miles from Bombay to Thane . The idea of a railway to connect Bombay with Thane, Kalyan and with the Thal and Bhore Ghats inclineFirst train run in Bombay first occurred to Mr. George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay Government, during a visit to Bhandup in 1843.The first Indian train steamed off from Bombay(Bori Bunder) to Thane  on 16th. April 1853, at 3:30 P.M. "amidst the loud applause of a vast multitude and to the salute of 21 guns." The train consisting of 14 carriages was hauled by three locomotives named Sultan, Sindh and Sahib with 400 VVIPs The formal inauguration ceremony was performed on 16th April 1853, when 14 railway carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder at 3.35 PM.

     In the East :

       The Survey from Calcutta to Delhi was carried out by Mr. Stephenson during 1845-46. The construction of railway line from Howrah to Raniganj was sanctioned only after 3 years. But by the end of 1853 61 kms. of line was ready upto Pandooah. Two historical incidents denied  EIR , the first position in history of railways in India.. The Locomotive Engine and the carriages for both the  trains of Bombay and Howrah were despatched from England almost at the same time, but the ship carrying the loco for E.I.R. (HMS Goodwin) was misdirected to Australia and the other carrying the carriages for Howrah  sank  at Sandheads. Otherwise Howrah would have had the legacy of running the first train in India. The Locomotive Engine and the carriages for both the  trains of Bombay and Howrah were despatched from England almost at the same time, but the ship carrying the loco for E.I.R. (HMS Goodwin) was misdirected to Australia and carriages for Howrah  sank  at Sandheads.  The other problem faced was that the line was aligned through Chandernagore (Chandannagar) which was a French territory at that time. The settlement of this dispute with french rulers of Chandernagore also took considerable time. The Locomotive reached Calcutta via Australia and a trial run was made on 28th. June 1854. The coaches for the first train was however manufactured by two Calcutta based companies Steward & Company and Seton & Company. Otherwise Howrah would have had the legacy of running the first train in India. 

           The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly, (click) a distance of 24 miles, on 15th August, 1854. Thus the first section of the East Indian Railway was opened to public traffic, inaugurating the beginning of railway transport on the Eastern side of the sub-continent. 

          From 15th August 1854, the company ran regular services, morning and evening, between Howrah and Hugli with stops at Bally, Srerampore and Chandannagar. The fare ranged from Rs.3 by first class to 7 annas by third class. The main booking office was on the Calcutta bank, at the Armenian Ghat, and the fare covered the ferry to the station. At the Howrah end, the station consisted of a tin shed and a single line flanked by narrow platforms, somewhat to the south of the present station building constructed between 1901 and 1906.

       In the South the first line was opened on Ist July, 1856 by the Madras Railway Company. It ran between Veyasarpandy and Walajah Road (Arcot), a distance of 63 miles. the first line was opened on Ist July, 1856 by the Madras Railway Company. It ran between Veyasarpandy and Walajah Road (Arcot), a distance of 63 miles.

      In the North a length of 119 miles of line was laid from Allahabad to Kanpur on 3rd March 1859. The first section from Hathras Road to Mathura Cantonment was opened to traffic on 19th October, 1875.

         The first locomotive built in India : The F-734 built in 1895 by the Ajmer workshop of the Rajputana Malwa Railway. Earlier some locomotives were assembled using spares supplied with fully assembled locomotives which were imported. This locomotive with outside connecting and side rods was used on Rajputana Malwa & Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway systems.

          These were the small beginnings which is due course developed into a network of railway lines all over the country. By 1880 the Indian Railway system had a route mileage of about 9000 miles.
( Source : Old Eastern Railway Magazines of 1953)

Here are some of the many commemorative postage issued in India for different occasions of Indian Railways.

History Of Sachin

 There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One, Sachin Tendulkar. Two, all other batsmen. - Andy Flower

If one were to ask what is Indian Cricket Team’s most prized possession, the answer would be unanimous – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. But he is not just Indian team’s most prized possession. He’s also Cricket's most prized possession.
 And now, with the completion of his 100th international ton, he has gifted the world of cricket, and cricket lovers, a moment to cherish for an entire lifetime. It will be impossible to see any other cricketer achieve such a feat ever. This is exactly what separates Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar from other 'cricketers'.

The man has been playing astounding cricket for the last two decades and is still nothing short of a blitzkrieg! He refuses to age or get less aggressive with time. Still a bowler’s worst nightmare (bowlers like Shane Warne and Glen McGrath stand in testimony to this); Sachin is also known for his sportsmanship and gentlemanliness.

He has emerged as a source of inspiration to crores of Indians exhorting them to rise above mediocrity and can single-handedly elevate the mood of the nation.

Can Sachin Tendulkar Walk on Water?

Not difficult to make his fans believe that Sachin can walk on water who might also probably believe that he has X-Ray vision and can stop trains. The man has been elevated to a Godly status in India and his worshippers can be found almost everywhere.

 Born in Mumbai to Ramesh Tendulkar, a novelist and Rajni Tendulkar, who worked in the insurance sector Tendulkar was soon identified as a cricket prodigy. It didn’t take him much time to embark on his cricketing journey and he became a mentee of Ramakant Achrekar in his early years. There’s an interesting incident from his kid-years: When he was young, Tendulkar would practice for hours on end in the nets. If he became exhausted, Achrekar would put a one-Rupee-coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed the whole session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Young Sachin got thirteen Re 1 coins from his coach and he considers them his most prized possession.

Tendulkar started to make his presence felt as he touched teenage. He was being talked about in the Mumbai cricketing circles. Many started predicting that the boy would be the next big thing in cricket. There’s a legend which goes around that Sachin would make bowlers shed tears while he played for his school, as he would refuse to get out.

The world came to know about Sachin in 1989 when a 16-year old ‘genius-in-making’ put on his batting gloves for his first international test match.
Despite a humble start in his first two series (against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively) he hit first test ton against England in 1990 (119 not out) and then there was no looking back. The little genius now has a plethora of records in his kitty; some are the ones which other players can only dream of achieving.
As Lord Rama is to his devotees, Sachin is so to his fans. He’s taken to be an embodiment of righteousness in cricket. Known for his high personal integrity and honesty, every time he ‘walks’, it becomes ‘A Walk to Remember’.
Even though it took him 70 ODIs to get his first century in the limited-overs edition of the game, Sachin is just a hundred short from making a ‘century of the centuries’ in the International cricket (tests and ODIs combined). Sachin’s most memorable ODI inning (which is also the most memorable inning in the history of ODI cricket) came against South Africa.
 The master scored an unbeaten 200 on 147 off 147 balls and Indian went on to maul the Proteas by 153 runs. Sachin’s greatness touched new heights and so did his humility.

One can safely assume that Sachin is the greatest batsmen to have ever walked on this planet.


Over the course of time it has been Tendulkar's rare combination of mastery and bravado that has enchanted aficionados and crowds alike. One of the most striking aspects of the master is his hunger for more. He has achieved numerous milestones in his journey but every time he makes a record he starts focusing on reaching the next level.

The master batsman has had his share of rough form. Several injuries have dotted his career line. Critics committed the misdemeanour of wiritng him off. But he remained undeterred. Like a true gentleman he let his action speak louder than his words. The way he regains his form has gagged the critics on several occasions. One can only marvel how he continues to march on against all odds.
 Critics and media have tried hard to find skeletons in his cupboard only to fail miserably. Tendulkar is a man of impeccable integrity and would always be one. Few can match his off-the-field stature, let alone his on-the-field stature. A mere request from him on Twitter could generate Rs 1 crore for the ‘Crusade Against Cancer’ foundation he is associated with. For his fans (the number runs into millions and they don’t give a damn about the critics and the media), he’s a demi-god, a colossal figure capable of pulling of miracles.


Sachin is known to live a cagey life due to the cult following he has attained. He is known to put on disguises to move about on streets, drive his cars in the dead of the night for the fear of a crowd following him like mad and take his family to Iceland for holidaying. As Peter Roebuck observes, “The runs, the majesty, the thrills, do not capture his achievement. Reflect upon his circumstances and then marvel at his feat. He is a person whose entire adult life has been lived in the eye of a storm."
 There’s something singularly special in the master blaster. Beneath the helmet, under the disorderly curly hair, inside the skull, there’s something beyond our interpretation. There’s something which enables him to rise and shine above others and reach those territories of the sport that, forget us, even those fortunate enough to play on the same pitch as him cannot even fathom. The man is the embodiment of endurance and true grit.

We fail to fully decipher his recipe for success. We can’t figure out how a 37-year old cricketer stays at the top of the game for 20 years and continues to be a bowler's worst nightmare. All we know that he is a man who pulls off a jaw-dropping feat every now and then.

The team at MensXP extends its heartiest congratulations to Sachin.  (Entertainment, MensXP.com)

history of olympics

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.




Pierre de Coubertin Proposes New Olympic Games
Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor.* After examining the education of the German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise, more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person.

Coubertin's attempt to get France interested in sports was not met with enthusiasm. Still, Coubertin persisted. In 1890, he organized and founded a sports organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). Two years later, Coubertin first pitched his idea to revive the Olympic Games. At a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris on November 25, 1892, Coubertin stated,

    Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch upon another step I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you have given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to realise [sic], upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games.**

His speech did not inspire action.
The Modern Olympic Games Are Founded

Though Coubertin was not the first to propose the revival of the Olympic Games, he was certainly the most well-connected and persistent of those to do so. Two years later, Coubertin organized a meeting with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. He gathered these delegates in an auditorium that was decorated by neoclassical murals and similar additional points of ambiance. At this meeting, Coubertin eloquently spoke of the revival of the Olympic Games. This time, Coubertin aroused interest.

The delegates at the conference voted unanimously for the Olympic Games. The delegates also decided to have Coubertin construct an international committee to organize the Games. This committee became the International Olympic Committee (IOC; Comité Internationale Olympique) and Demetrious Vikelas from Greece was selected to be its first president. Athens was chosen as the location for the revival of the Olympic Games and the planning was begun.

* Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992) 8.
** Pierre de Coubertin as quoted in "Olympic Games," Britannica.com (Retrieved August 10, 2000 from the World Wide Web. http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,115022+1+108519,00.html).

Bibliography

Durant, John. Highlights of the Olympics: From Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1973.

Guttmann, Allen. The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

Henry, Bill. An Approved History of the Olympic Games. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1948.

Messinesi, Xenophon L. A Branch of Wild Olive. New York: Exposition Press, 1973.

"Olympic Games." Britannica.com. Retrieved August 10, 2000 from the World Wide Web. http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,115022+1+108519,00.html

Pitt, Leonard and Dale Pitt. Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and Country. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997

History ofThe π

The History of π

In the long history of the number π, there have been many twists and turns, many inconsistencies that reflect the condition of the human race as a whole. Through each major period of world history and in each regional area, the state of intellectual thought, the state of mathematics, and hence the state of π, has been dictated by the same socio-economic and geographic forces as every other aspect of civilization. The following is a brief history, organized by period and region, of the development of our understanding of the number π.

In ancient times, π was discovered independently by the first civilizations to begin agriculture. Their new sedentary life style first freed up time for mathematical pondering, and the need for permanent shelter necessitated the development of basic engineering skills, which in many instances required a knowledge of the relationship between the square and the circle (usually satisfied by finding a reasonable approximation of π). Although there are no surviving records of individual mathematicians from this period, historians today know the values used by some ancient cultures. Here is a sampling of some cultures and the values that they used: Babylonians - 3 1/8, Egyptians - (16/9)^2, Chinese - 3, Hebrews - 3 (implied in the Bible, I Kings vii, 23).

The first record of an individual mathematician taking on the problem of π (often called "squaring the circle," and involving the search for a way to cleanly relate either the area or the circumference of a circle to that of a square) occurred in ancient Greece in the 400's B.C. (this attempt was made by Anaxagoras). Based on this fact, it is not surprising that the Greek culture was the first to truly delve into the possibilities of abstract mathematics. The part of the Greek culture centered in Athens made great leaps in the area of geometry, the first branch of mathematics to be thoroughly explored. Antiphon, an Athenian philosopher, first stated the principle of exhaustion (click on Antiphon for more info). Hippias of Elis created a curve called the quadratrix, which actually allowed the theoretical squaring of the circle, though it was not practical.

In the late Greek period (300's-200's B.C.), after Alexander the Great had spread Greek culture from the western borders of India to the Nile Valley of Egypt, Alexandria, Egypt became the intellectual center of the world. Among the many scholars who worked at the University there, by far the most influential to the history of π was Euclid. Through the publishing of Elements, he provided countless future mathematicians with the tools with which to attack the π problem. The other great thinker of this time, Archimedes, studied in Alexandria but lived his life on the island of Sicily. It was Archimedes who approximated his value of π to about 22/7, which is still a common value today.

Archimedes was killed in 212 B.C. in the Roman conquest of Syracuse. In the years after his death, the Roman Empire gradually gained control of the known world. Despite their other achievements, the Romans are not known for their mathematical achievements. The dark period after the fall of Rome was even worse for π. Little new was discovered about π until well into the decline of the Middle Ages, more than a thousand years after Archimedes' death. (For an example of at least one mediaeval mathematician, see Fibonacci.)


While π activity stagnated in Europe, the situation in other parts of the world was quite different. The Mayan civilization, situated on the Yucatan Peninsula in Central America, was quite advanced for its time. The Mayans were top-notch astronomers, developing a very accurate calendar. In order to do this, it would have been necessary for them to have a fairly good value for π. Though no one knows for sure (nearly all Mayan literature was burned during the Spanish conquest of Mexico), most historians agree that the Mayan value was indeed more accurate than that of the Europeans. The Chinese in the 5th century calculated π to an accuracy not surpassed by Europe until the 1500's. The Chinese, as well as the Hindus, arrived at π in roughly the same method as the Europeans until well into the Renaissance, when Europe finally began to pull ahead.

During the Renaissance period, π activity in Europe began to finally get moving again. Two factors fueled this acceleration: the increasing importance of mathematics for use in navigation, and the infiltration of Arabic numerals, including the zero (indirectly introduced from India) and decimal notation (yes, the great mathematicians of antiquity made all of their discoveries without our standard digits of 0-9!). Leonardo Da Vinci and Nicolas Copernicus made minimal contributions to the π endeavor, but François Viète actually made significant improvements to Archimedes' methods. The efforts of Snellius, Gregory, and John Machin eventually culminated in algebraic formulas for π that allowed rapid calculation, leading to ever more accurate values of π during this period.

In the 1700's the invention of calculus by Sir Isaac Newton and Leibniz rapidly accelerated the calculation and theorization of π. Using advanced mathematics, Leonhard Euler found a formula for π that is the fastest to date. In the late 1700's Lambert (Swiss) and Legendre (French) independently proved that π is irrational. Although Legendre predicted that π is also transcendental, this was not proven until 1882 when Lindemann published a thirteen-page paper proving the validity of Legendre's statement. Also in the 18th century, George Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, discovered an experimental method for calculating π. Pierre Simon Laplace, one of the founders of probability theory, followed up on this in the next century. Click here to learn more about Buffon's and Laplace's method.

Starting in 1949 with the ENIAC computer, digital systems have been calculating π to incredible accuracy throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Whereas ENIAC was able to calculate 2,037 digits, the record as of the date of this article is 206,158,430,000 digits, calculated by researchers at the University of Tokyo. It is highly probable that this record will be broken, and there is little chance that the search for ever more accurate values of π will ever come to an end.

History Of Mathematics

Every culture on earth has developed some mathematics. In some cases, this mathematics has spread from one culture to another. Now there is one predominant international mathematics, and this mathematics has quite a history. It has roots in ancient Egypt and Babylonia, then grew rapidly in ancient Greece. Mathematics written in ancient Greek was translated into Arabic. About the same time some mathematics of India was translated into Arabic. Later some of this mathematics was translated into Latin and became the mathematics of Western Europe. Over a period of several hundred years, it became the mathematics of the world.
There are other places in the world that developed significant mathematics, such as China, southern India, and Japan, and they are interesting to study, but the mathematics of the other regions have not had much influence on current international mathematics. There is, of course, much mathematics being done these and other regions, but it is not the traditional math of the regions, but international mathematics.

By far, the most significant development in mathematics was giving it firm logical foundations. This took place in ancient Greece in the centuries preceding Euclid. See Euclid's Elements. Logical foundations give mathematics more than just certainty-they are a tool to investigate the unknown.

By the 20th century the edge of that unknown had receded to where only a few could see. One was David Hilbert, a leading mathematician of the turn of the century. In 1900 he addressed the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris, and described 23 important mathematical problems.

Mathematics continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. There is no end in sight, and the application of mathematics to science becomes greater all the time.

History Of Surat

Surat (Gujarati: સુરત, Hindi: सूरत) formerly known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat and also Second largest commercial hub of western India after Mumbai. The city proper is the one of the most populous cities in the world. Surat is the administrative capital of Surat district and Surat Metropolitan Region. Surat is India’s eighth largest metropolitan city. Surat is India’s cleanest Mertropolitan Region

The city is situated on the left bank of the Tapti River, 14 miles from its mouth. The Population of Surat with its twin city Navsari is above 6.2 million as of 2010. A moat divides the older parts of the city, with its narrow streets and handsome houses, and the newer suburbs. The city is largely recognized for its textile and diamond businesses. It is also known as the diamond capital of the world and the textile capital of India. 92% of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished in Surat. Surat is also the Third cleanest city in India after Chandigarh and Mysore. Surat was once the largest city in India. It has one of the highest GDP growth rates in India at 11.5% as of 2008. Surat was the primary port of India during the Mughal period, a distinction it lost to Bombay during the British Raj.

History
Surat is mentioned in the Sanskrit epic, the Mahābhārata when Lord Krishna stopped there en route from Mathura to Dwarka. According to other later Sanskrit records, the area was ruled by the Western Chālukyas in 610 CE, and continued to be ruled by Hindu kings until it was captured by one of the generals of Quṭbuddīn Aibak. The Parsis started to settle there in the 12th century, and added greatly to its prosperity. In the early centuries during the reign of Rishika Lekhadia, the port of Surat was used as the gateway to Mecca for pilgrims of the Hajj from India’s interior regions. Both the Makkai Pool and the Mughal Sarai guest house for hajjis (pilgrims) are indicators of this historical significance.

Local traditions state that the city was founded in the last years of the fifteenth century by a Brahman named Gopi, who called it Suryapūr (City of the Sun). In 1512 and 1530 Surat was burned and ravaged by the Portuguese Empire who were trying to maintain influence in the area. In 1513, the Portuguese traveler, Duarte Barbosa, described Surat as an important seaport, frequented by many ships from Malabar and various parts of the world. By 1520, the name of the city was Surat.

Surat eclipsed Khambhat as the major port of western India, when Khambhat’s harbour began to silt up by the end of fifteenth century. During the reigns of the Mughal emperor Akbar, Jahāngīr and Shāh Jahān, Surat rose to become a chief commercial city of India and an imperial mint was established there. As the major port on the west coast of India, Surat also served as the port for the Hajj to Mecca. At the end of the 16th century, the Portuguese were undisputed masters of the Surat sea trade. There still is a picturesque fortress on the banks of the river built in 1540.

In 1608, ships from the British East India Company started docking in Surat, using it as a trade and transit point. In 1613, the British Captain Best, followed by Captain Downton, overcame Portuguese naval supremacy and obtained an imperial firman establishing a British factory at Surat following the Battle of Swally. The city was made the seat of a presidency under the British East India Company after the success of the embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the court of emperor Jehangir. The Dutch also founded a factory.

At its zenith, Surat was popularly viewed as the city of Kubera, the God of Wealth. In 1664 the Maratha King Shivaji attacked Surat, a key Mughal power centre, and a wealthy port town which generated a million rupees in taxes. (see- Battle of Surat). When Shivaji arrived in Surat, he demanded tribute from the Mughal commander of the army stationed for port security. The tribute was refused and instead of battling the Marathas, the Mughal commander(Stationed at the Surat fort) sent an emissary to assassinate Shivaji, but in vain. Shivaji conquered the city and forces under his command exacted their revenge. Shivaji’s army sacked Surat for nearly 3 weeks, looting both the Mughal and Portuguese trading centers. Men’s were killed but the poor were spared.

The prosperity of Surat received a fatal blow when Bombay was ceded to the British as part of the dowry for Catherine of Braganza’s wedding to Charles II in 1662. Shortly afterwards, in 1668, the British East India company established a factory in Bombay (Mumbai) and Surat began its relative decline concurrent with the rise of British interests in Bombay.

Surat was sacked again by Shivaji in 1670. By 1687, the British East India Company had moved the presidency to Bombay. At its height, Surat’s population reached an estimated 800,000, but by the middle of the 19th century the number had fallen to 80,000. The British took control of Surat again in 1759, and assumed all government powers of the city in 1800.

The city and the surrounding district remained comparatively tranquil during British rule. Even during the Revolt of 1857 (also known as the first struggle for India’s independence), peace was not disturbed, owing to the largely mercantile interests of the local population.In the 19th century the Bawamia family was the wealthiest and most powerful family in the city of Surat, they were also heavily involved in the development of the city by focusing on maximizing exports to increase revenue and hence increase savings which led to investment in the diamond industry.

A fire and a flood in 1837 destroyed many of buildings of Surat. Among the interesting monuments that survive that destruction are the tombs of English and Dutch merchants and their families, dating to the 17th century, including those of the Oxenden brothers.

By the early 20th century, the population had slowly climbed to 119,306 and Surat was a center of trade and manufacturing, although some of its former industries, such as shipbuilding, were extinct. There were cotton mills, factories for ginning and pressing cotton, rice-cleaning mills and paper mills. Fine cotton goods were woven on hand-looms, and there were special manufactures of silk brocade and gold embroidery (known as Jari). The chief trades were organized in guilds. Manufacturing and trading brought an eclectic mix of ethnicity to the city, making Surat’s culture unique.

In 1992, violent riots took place between Hindus and Muslims, the first and worst of their kind in the modern history of Surat. In 1994, a combination of heavy rains and blocked drains led to flooding of the city. A number of dead street animals and public waste were not removed in time and a plague epidemic spread through the city, which caused a number of countries to impose travel and trade sanctions. The municipal commissioner during that time, S. R. Rao and the people of Surat worked hard in the late 1990s to clean the city.

Old English & Dutch Cemetery
The structure of the Old English and Old Dutch cemeteries in Surat is dominated by the largest monuments of Europeans in all over India. These graves are also some of the oldest tombs which have survived from the earliest times of British and Dutch activities at Surat.

The English traders settled in Surat in 1608 followed by the Dutch in 1617. French and also Swedes – even for just a short period – commenced trading-enterprises here. However, it seems that there are no re-mainders of their burial culture left today. Along with the Dutch also Armenian traders left a quite big cemetery in Surat. Both nations share the same burial ground only separated by a wall.

History Of Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad or Ahmadabad is the largest city in state of Gujarat (there are 28 states, Gujarat is the westernmost one)and the sixth largest city in India has
a population of over 3,7 million people. The city is also sometimes called Karnavati , an older name and as Amdavad in colloquial Gujarati .

Ahmedabad is the administrative center of Ahmedabad District , and was the former capital of Gujarat State from 1960 to 1970 , when Gandhinagar replaced it.

The city was founded in the 15th century by Sultan Ahmed Shah on the Sabarmati river , and served as capital of the Sultanate of Gujarat. The historic center of Ahmedabad is presently a thriving business district.

Ahmedabad is mainly divided in two parts, the old city, and new city. The old city has developed rather haphazardly, and most of the roads are narrow and crowded during business hours. The new city has well-structured, wide roads. A wide variety of shops and businesses exist in the city.

In addition to its role as a commercial center, Ahmedabad is also an important industrial center, with chemical and textile industries. Ahmedabad is often described as the Manchester of the East, because of its once-booming textile industry. Ahmedabad is a very beautiful city.


History
The History of Ahmedabad begins in the eleventh century with the Solanki King Karandev I, ruler of Anhilwara (modern Patan). He waged a war against the Bhil King Ashapall or Ashaval, and after his victory established a city called Karnavati on the banks of the Sabarmati at site of modern Ahmedabad. Solanki rule lasted until the thirteenth century, when Gujarat came under the control of the Vaghela dynasty of Dwarka. Gujarat was conquered by the Sultanate of Delhi at the end of the thirteenth century.

In 1411 , the rule of the Muzaffarid dynasty was established in Gujarat. According to tradition, Sultan Ahmed Shah, while camping on the banks of the River Sabarmati, saw a hare chasing a dog. Impressed by this act of bravery, the Sultan, who had been looking for a place to build his new capital, decided to locate the capital here and called it Ahmedabad.

In 1487, Mahmud Begada, the grandson of Ahmed Shah, fortified the city with an outer wall 10 km (6 miles) in circumference and consisting of twelve gates, 189 bastions and over 6,000 battlements. Ahmedabad was ruled by the Muzaffarid dynasty until 1573 when Muzaffar II was the Sultan of Ahmedabad. Gujarat was then conquered by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1573. During the Mughal reign, Ahmedabad became one of the Empire's thriving centres of trade, mainly in textiles, which were exported to as far as Europe. The Mughal ruler Shahjahan spent the prime of his life in the city, sponsoring the construction of the Moti Shahi Mahal in Shahibaug. The armies of the Maratha generals Raghunath Rao and Damaji Gaekwad captured the city and ended Mughal rule in Ahmedabad. A famine in 1630 and the constant conflicts between the Peshwa and the Gaekwad armies virtually destroyed many parts of the city, causing its population to flee. The British East India Company took over the city in 1818 as a part of the conquest of India. A military cantonment was established in 1824 and a municipal government in 1858. In 1864, a railway link between Ahmedabad and Mumbai (then Bombay) was established by the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI), making Ahmedabad an important junction in the traffic and trade between northern and southern India. Large numbers of people migrated from rural areas to work in textile mills, establishing a robust industry.

The Indian independence movement developed strong roots in the city when, in 1915, Mahatma Gandhi established two ashrams — the Kochrab Ashram near Paldi in 1915 and the Satyagraha Ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati in 1917 — that would become centres of intense nationalist activities. During the mass protests against the Rowlatt Act in 1919, textile workers burned down 51 government buildings across the city in protest at a British attempt to extend wartime regulations after the First World War. In the 1920s, textile workers and teachers went on strike, demanding civil rights and better pay and working conditions. In 1930, Gandhi initiated the Salt Satyagraha from Ahmedabad by embarking from his ashram on the famous Dandi Salt March. The city administration and economic institutions were rendered functionless by the large masses of people who took to the streets in peaceful protests in the early 1930s, and again in 1942 during the Quit India movement. Following independence and the partition of India in 1947, the city was scarred by intense communal violence that broke out between Hindus and Muslims.

Ahmedabad became the capital of the new state of Gujarat after the bifurcation of the State of Bombay on 1 May 1960. During that period, a large number of educational and research institutions were founded in the city, making it a major centre of higher education, science and technology. Ahmedabad's economic base was diversified with the establishment of heavy and chemical industries in its vicinity around the same period. But the growth in the next two decades was punctuated by political events in and around the city. In February 1974, Ahmedabad occupied the centre stage in national politics with the launch of the Nav Nirman agitation — a protest against a 20% hike in the hostel food fees at the L.D. College of Engineering that snowballed into a mass agitation to remove Chimanbhai Patel, then-chief minister of Gujarat, on charges of corruption. In the 1980s, a reservation policy was introduced in the country, which led to anti-reservation protests in 1981 and 1985. The protests witnessed violent clashes between people belonging to various castes.

On 26 January 2001 a devastating earthquake struck the city, centred near Bhuj, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale. As many as 50 multistory buildings collapsed, killing 752 people and devastating the city's infrastructure.

In recent years, the effects of globalisation and the liberalisation of the Indian economy has energised the city's economy. The city has witnessed the establishment of scientific and service industries, the expansion of the information technology sector, and significant improvements in transportation and communications. Ahmedabad's population is growing, which has resulted in a construction and housing boom. However, this has challenged the city's infrastructure and power supply.

History of "Mahatma Gandhi"

History of "Mahatma Gandhi"

He is a father of our nation played a key portrayal in winning freedom for India introduced the conception of Ahimsa and Nonviolence. Mahatma Gandhi popularly famed as Theologiser of Dry played a stellar enactment in Bharat's immunity endeavor. Innate in a Bania stemma in Kathiawar, Gujarat, his realistic obloquy was Mohandas Karamchand Statesman (M.K. Statesman). The claim Mahatma came to be associated with his epithet overmuch afterwards. Before Gandhiji's traveler on the Indian governmental situation, freedom effort was controlled only to the elite. Mahatma Gandhi's important attempt lay in the fact that he bridged the gulf between the intelligentsia and the masses and widened the conception of Swaraj to permit nearly every vista of party and moralistic reconstruction.

Remunerative extortion to Mahatma Solon on his end, famous soul Albert Einstein said, "Generations to proceed will scarce was calved on Oct 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a microscopic municipality on the west coast of India, which was then one of the umpteen tiny states in Kathiawar. Gandhiji was born in intermediate accumulation line of Vaishya caste. His fatherhood, Karamchand Gandhi, was a Dewan or Undercoat Minister of Porbandar. His fuss, Putlibai, was a really churchly peeress and mitt a esoteric effect on Gandhiji's remember. Gandhiji was a mediocre examinee and was too shy and coy.

Gandhiji was veracious in his direct appropriate Mahatma Gandhifrom the immaturity. There is a very famous incident in this warmheartedness. A Brits school inspector erstwhile came to Gandhiji's polish and set a spelling endeavor. Gandhiji spelled all the line correctly object kettledrum. The conference pedagogue noticed the identify and gestured Gandhiji to repeat the penalize spelling from the boy session next to him. Gandhiji refused to take the speck and was later scolded for his "stupidity".

Gandhiji was wedded at the age of cardinal to Kasturbai. He was in lyceum down at that quantify. Ulterior on in his lifespan, Gandhiji denounced the pattern of nipper family and termed it as heartless. After matriculating from the screaky refine, Gandhiji linked the Samaldas College in Bhavnagar. After the ending of Gandhiji's antecedent in 1885, a line suggested that if Gandhiji hoped to train his sire's piazza in the country company welcomed the line but his care was objected to the tune of going foreign. To win his parent's substance Gandhiji took a solemn vow not to speck wine, women and meat and remained sure to it throughout his fiat in England.

Gandhiji sailed for England on September 4, 1888. Initially he had travail in adjusting to Nation tariff and windward but soon he overcame it. Gandhiji complete his Law magnitude in 1891 and returned to Bharat. He definite to set up ineligible exercise in Bombay but couldn't found himself. Gandhiji returned to Rajkot but here also he could not sort untold progress. At this dimension Gandhiji conventional an message from Daddy Abdulla & Co. to happen to Southmost Continent on their behalf to apprize their substance in a proceeding. Gandhiji jumped at the tune and sailed for Southmost Africa in April 1893.



It was in Southeastward Continent that Gandhiji's translation from Mohandas to Mahatma took point. Gandhiji landed at Port and soon he realized the oppressive ambience of racist snobbishness against Indians who were situated in South Africa in huge drawing. After roughly a period's retard in Durban Gandhiji unexpended for Pretoria, the city of the State, in connection with a causa. When the procession reached Pietermaritzburg, the city of Port, at some 9 p.m. a soul rider who boarded the ride objected to the proximity of a "coloured" man in the compartment and Gandhji was sequent by a policeman pushed him out and his case was confiscated departed by the railway authorities. It was season and bitter raw. This incident denaturised Gandhiji's invigoration forever. He decided to attempt for the rights of Indians. Gandhiji union the Amerindic vocation in Southbound Africa and asked them to bury all distinctions of religion and caste. He advisable the manufacture of an association to aspect after the Asiatic settlers and offered his disentangled experience and services.

During his fiat in Southwesterly Africa, Gandhiji's invigoration underwent a exchange and he industrial most of his semipolitical ideas. Gandhiji decided toMahatma Statesman commit himself completely to the bringing of grouping. He realized that independent continence or brahmacharya was necessary for the usefulness as one could not lively both after the flesh and the animate. In 1906, Gandhiji took a vow of inviolable continence. In the row of his seek in Southeastern Continent, Gandhiji, industrial the concepts of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satyagraha (holding instantaneous to abolitionist or resolve in a innocent grounds). Gandhiji's struggle gauge production and in 1914 in an arrangement in 1915 and on the advice of his semipolitical guru Gopal Avatar Gokhale, spent the rank gathering touring throughout the land to see the factual India.

After an assemblage of wandering, Gandhiji appointed consume on the bank of the river Sabarmati, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, where he supported an ashram called Nonviolence Ashram. Gandhiji's freshman nonviolence in India was in Champaran, in Province, where he went in 1917 at the substance of a deficient peasants to examine into the grievances of the some used peasants of that regularise, who were compelled by Country dye planters to produce dyestuff on 15 pct of their industrialist and air with the livelong stomach for proceeds. Gandhiji's Satyagraha affected Brits authorities to set up a interrogation experiment in satyagraha in India greatly enhanced Gandhiji's reputation in the state.

In 1921, Gandhji gave the meet for Non-cooperation laxation against the ills of Country conception. Gandhiji's ring roused the sleeping commonwealth. Umteen Indians renounced their titles and honours, lawyers gave up their training, and students mitt colleges and schools. Non-cooperation movement also brought women into the realm of immunity essay for the ordinal indication. Non-cooperation happening gravely jolted the British governance. But the shitting ended in an anti-climax in February 1922. An irruption of mob aggression in Chauri Chaura so shocked and pained Statesman that he refused to talk the venture and undertook a vivace for fivesome days to atone for a evildoing sworn by others in a tell of mob neuroticism.

Gandhiji was sentenced to six eld internment but was released in 1924 on scrutiny settlings. For the incoming quint geezerhood Solon ostensibly retired from busy agitational opinion and devoted himself to the spreading of what he regarded as the essential national needs, namely, Hindu-Muslim wholeness, remotion of untouchability, position of women, popularization of hand-spinning and the reconstruction of village system.

On District 12, 1930 Gandhiji started the historic Dandi Territory to bust the law which had deprived the broke man of his justice to create his own tasteful. On Apr 6, 1930 Gandhiji poor the Nsaid law at the sea beach at Dandi. This plain act was directly followed by a nation-wide intractability of the law. This motility galvanized the intact nation and came to be notable as "Subject Disobedience Defecation". Within a few weeks near a cardinal thou men and women were in jailhouse, throwing right machinery of the Nation Governing out of appurtenances. This affected the then Vicereine Initial Rounded Plateau Conference.Mahatma Statesman Soon after his take from England Gandhiji was inactive without endeavor.

After the happening of 2nd Mankind War in 1939, Gandhiji again became existent in the political arena. Country Governing craved India's supply in the war and Congress in pass loved a clear-cut expectation of independency from Land regime. But Island governance dithered in its activity and on August 8, 1942 Gandhiji gave the demand for Depart India Defecation. Presently the Land Regime inactive Gandhiji and new top body of Congress. Disorders broke out directly all over Bharat and some intense demonstrations took area. While Gandhiji was in jailhouse his partner Kasturbai passed away. Gandhiji too had a wicked assault of Malaria. In vista of his deteriorating eudaimonia he was released from the slammer in May 1944.

Gear Experience War ended in 1945 and Britain emerged undefeated. In the general elections held in Britain in 1945, Labour Lot came to knowledge, and Atlee became the Quality Parson. He promised an embryotic sale of self Governing in India. A Housing Charge arrived from England to cover with Amerind leaders the proximo forge of a uncommitted and allied India, but failed to carry the Congress and Muslims unitedly. Bharat attained independency but Statesman's obstinance resulted in the separation of the state. Communal riots between Hindus and Muslims broke out in the region in the backwash of Religionist fundamentalists and on Jan 30, 1948 Gandhiji was photo lifeless by one much protestantism Nathu Ram Godse spell he was going for his eventide prayers. The antepenultimate line on the lips of Gandhiji were Hey Ram.

Jawaharlal Nehru Biography

Jawaharlal Nehru Biography

Born: November 14, 1889
Died: May 27, 1964

Achievements: Took active part in Non-Cooperation Movement; elected President of the Allahabad Municipal Corporation in 1924, and served for two years as the city's chief executive; Presided over Congress' annual session in Lahore in 1929 and passed a resolution demanding India's independence; elected as Congress President in 1936, 1937, and 1946; became first Prime Minister of independent India; was one of the main architects of Non Aligned Movement.

Jawaharlal Nehru, also known as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of the foremost leaders of Indian freedom struggle. He was the favourite disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and later on went on to become the first Prime Minister of India. Jawahar Lal Nehru is widely regarded as the architect of modern India. He was very fond of children and children used to affectionately call him Chacha Nehru.

Jawahar Lal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889. His father Motilal Nehru was a famous Allahabad based barrister. Jawaharlal Nehru's mother's name was Swaroop Rani. Jawaharlal Nehru was the only son of Motilal Nehru. Motilal Nehru has three daughters apart from Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehrus were Saraswat Brahmin of Kashmiri lineage.

Jawaharlal Nehru received education in some of the finest schools and universities of the world. He did his schooling from Harrow and completed his Law degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. The seven years he spent in England widened his horizons and he acquired a rational and skeptical outlook and sampled Fabian socialism and Irish nationalism, which added to his own patriotic dedication.

Jawaharlal Nehru returned to India in 1912 and started legal practice. He married Kamala Nehru in 1916. Jawahar Lal Nehru joined Home Rule League in 1917. His real initiation into politics came two years later when he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi in 1919. At that time Mahatma Gandhi had launched a campaign against Rowlatt Act. Nehru was instantly attracted to Gandhi's commitment for active but peaceful, civil disobedience. Gandhi himself saw promise and India's future in the young Jawaharlal Nehru.

Nehru family changed its family according to Mahatma Gandhi's teachings. Jawaharlal and Motilal Nehru abandoned western clothes and tastes for expensive possessions and pastimes. They now wore a Khadi Kurta and Gandhi cap. Jawaharlal Nehru took active part in the Non- Cooperation Movement 1920-1922) and was arrested for the first time during the movement. He was released after few months.

Jawaharlal Nehru was elected President of the Allahabad Municipal Corporation in 1924, and served for two years as the city's chief executive. This proved to be a valuable administrative experience for stood him in good stead later on when he became the prime minister of the country. He used his tenure to expand public education, health care and sanitation. He resigned in 1926 citing lack of cooperation from civil servants and obstruction from British authorities.

From 1926 to 1928, Jawaharlal served as the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. In 1928-29, the Congress's annual session under President Motilal Nehru was held. During that session Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose backed a call for full political independence, while Motilal Nehru and others wanted dominion status within the British Empire. To resolve the point, Gandhi said that the British would be given two years to grant India dominion status. If they did not, the Congress would launch a national struggle for full, political independence. Nehru and Bose reduced the time of opportunity to one year. The British did not respond.




In December 1929, Congress's annual session was held in Lahore and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected as the President of the Congress Party. During that sessions a resolution demanding India's independence was passed and on January 26, 1930 in Lahore, Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled free India's flag. Gandhiji gave a call for Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. The movement was a great success and forced British Government to acknowledge the need for major political reforms.

When the British promulgated the Government of India Act 1935, the Congress Party decided to contest elections. Nehru stayed out of the elections, but campaigned vigorously nationwide for the party. The Congress formed governments in almost every province, and won the largest number of seats in the Central Assembly. Nehru was elected to the Congress presidency in 1936, 1937, and 1946, and came to occupy a position in the nationalist movement second only to that of Gandhi. Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested in 1942 during Quit India Movement. Released in 1945, he took a leading part in the negotiations that culminated in the emergence of the dominions of India and Pakistan in August 1947.

In 1947, he becamethe first Prime Minister of independent India. He effectively coped with the formidable challenges of those times: the disorders and mass exodus of minorities across the new border with Pakistan, the integration of 500-odd princely states into the Indian Union, the framing of a new constitution, and the establishment of the political and administrative infrastructure for a parliamentary democracy.

Jawaharlal Nehru played a key role in building modern India. He set up a Planning Commission, encouraged development of science and technology, and launched three successive five-year plans. His policies led to a sizable growth in agricultural and industrial production. Nehru also played a major role in developing independent India's foreign policy. He called for liquidation of colonialism in Asia and Africa and along with Tito and Nasser, was one of the chief architects of the nonaligned movement. He played a constructive, mediatory role in bringing the Korean War to an end and in resolving other international crises, such as those over the Suez Canal and the Congo, offering India's services for conciliation and international policing. He contributed behind the scenes toward the solution of several other explosive issues, such as those of West Berlin, Austria, and Laos.

But Jawahar Lal Nehru couldn't improve India's relations with Pakistan and China. The Kashmir issue proved a stumbling block in reaching an accord with Pakistan, and the border dispute prevented a resolution with China. The Chinese invasion in 1962, which Nehru failed to anticipate, came as a great blow to him and probably hastened his death. Jawaharlal Nehru died of a heart attack on May 27, 1964.

History Of Mac Os

Mac OS History

                           Apple
 

On January 24, 1984, Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.) introduced the Macintosh personal computer, with the Macintosh 128K model, which came bundled with the Mac OS operating system, then known as the System Software. The Macintosh is often credited with popularizing the graphical user interface. The Mac OS has been pre-installed on almost every Macintosh computer ever sold. The operating system is also sold separately at Apple retail stores, and online. The original Mac OS was partially based on the Lisa OS, previously released by Apple for the Lisa computer in 1983 and, as part of an agreement allowing Xerox to buy shares in Apple at a favourable rate, it also used concepts from the Xerox PARC Xerox Alto which Steve Jobs and several other Macintosh team members had previewed.


    Early history

    Development

    The Macintosh project started in early 1979 with Jef Raskin, who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. In September 1979, Raskin was given permission to start hiring for the project and was, in particular, looking for an engineer that could put together a prototype. Bill Atkinson, a member of the Apple Lisa team, introduced him to Burrell Smith, a service technician who had been hired earlier that year.

  In January 1981, Steve Jobs completely took over the Macintosh project. Jobs and a number of Apple engineers visited Xerox PARC in December 1979, three months after the Lisa and Macintosh projects had begun. After hearing about the pioneering GUI technology being developed at Xerox PARC from former Xerox employees like Raskin, Jobs negotiated a visit to see the Xerox Alto computer and Smalltalk development tools in exchange for Apple stock options. The final Lisa and Macintosh operating systems mostly used concepts from the Xerox Alto, but many elements of the graphical user interface were created by Apple including the menubar and pop-up menus.

    Unlike the IBM PC, which used 8 kB of system ROM for power-on self-test (POST) and basic input/output system (BIOS), the Mac ROM was significantly larger (64 kB) and held key OS code. Much of the original Mac ROM was coded by Andy Hertzfeld, a member of the original Macintosh team. He was able to conserve some of the precious ROM space by interleaving some of the assembly language code. In addition to coding the ROM, he also coded the kernel, the Macintosh Toolbox and some of the desktop accessories (DAs) as well. The icons of the operating system, which represented folders and application software were designed by Susan Kare, who later designed the icons for Microsoft Windows 3.0. Bruce Horn and Steve Capps wrote the Macintosh Finder as well as a number of Macintosh system utilities.

    Apple was very strong in advertising their newfound machine. After it was created, the company bought all 39 pages of advertisement space in the Newsweek magazine, 1984 November/December edition. Apple was so successful in its marketing for the Macintosh, that it quickly outshone its more sophisticated predecessor, the Lisa, in sales – so much so that Apple quickly developed a product called MacWorks which allowed the Lisa to emulate Macintosh system software through System 3, by which time it had been discontinued as the re-branded Macintosh XL. Many of Lisa's operating system advances would not appear in the Macintosh OS until System 7.

History Of Linux

LINUX's History

Note: The following text was written by Linus on July 31 1992. It is a
   collection of various artifacts from the period in which Linux first
   began to take shape.
  
   This is just a sentimental journey into some of the first posts
   concerning linux, so you can happily press 'n' now if you actually
   thought you'd get anything technical.

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
  Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
  Subject: Gcc-1.40 and a posix-question
  Message-ID:
  Date: 3 Jul 91 10:00:50 GMT

  Hello netlanders,

  Due to a project I'm working on (in minix), I'm interested in the posix
  standard definition. Could somebody please point me to a (preferably)
  machine-readable format of the latest posix rules? Ftp-sites would be
  nice.

   The project was obviously linux, so by July 3rd I had started to think
   about actual user-level things: some of the device drivers were ready,
   and the harddisk actually worked. Not too much else.

  As an aside for all using gcc on minix - [ deleted ]

   Just a success-report on porting gcc-1.40 to minix using the 1.37
   version made by Alan W Black & co.

                Linus Torvalds          torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi

  PS. Could someone please try to finger me from overseas, as I've
  installed a "changing .plan" (made by your's truly), and I'm not certain
  it works from outside? It should report a new .plan every time.

   So I was clueless - had just learned about named pipes. Sue me. This
   part of the post got a lot more response than the actual POSIX query,
   but the query did lure out arl from the woodwork, and we mailed around
   for a bit, resulting in the Linux subdirectory on nic.funet.fi.
  
   Then, almost two months later, I actually had something working: I
   made sources for version 0.01 available on nic sometimes around this
   time. 0.01 sources weren't actually runnable: they were just a token
   gesture to arl who had probably started to despair about ever getting
   anything. This next post must have been from just a couple of weeks
   before that release.

  From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
  Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
  Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
  Summary: small poll for my new operating system
  Message-ID:
  Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
  Organization: University of Helsinki


  Hello everybody out there using minix -

  I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and
  professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.  This has been brewing
  since april, and is starting to get ready.  I'd like any feedback on
  things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat
  (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)
  among other things).

  I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.
  This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and
  I'd like to know what features most people would want.  Any suggestions
  are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)

                Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

  PS.  Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
  It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
  will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

   Judging from the post, 0.01 wasn't actually out yet, but it's close.
   I'd guess the first version went out in the middle of September -91. I
   got some responses to this (most by mail, which I haven't saved), and
   I even got a few mails asking to be beta-testers for linux. After that
   just a few general answers to quesions on the net:

  From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
  Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
  Subject: Re: What would you like to see most in minix?
  Summary: yes - it's nonportable
  Message-ID:
  Date: 26 Aug 91 11:06:02 GMT
  Organization: University of Helsinki

  In article  jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala) writes:
  >> [re: my post about my new OS]
  >
  >Tell us more!  Does it need a MMU?

  Yes, it needs a MMU (sorry everybody), and it specifically needs a
  386/486 MMU (see later).

  >
  >>PS.  Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
  >>It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc)
  >
  >How much of it is in C?  What difficulties will there be in porting?
  >Nobody will believe you about non-portability ;-), and I for one would
  >like to port it to my Amiga (Mach needs a MMU and Minix is not free).

  Simply, I'd say that porting is impossible.  It's mostly in C, but most
  people wouldn't call what I write C.  It uses every conceivable feature
  of the 386 I could find, as it was also a project to teach me about the
  386.  As already mentioned, it uses a MMU, for both paging (not to disk
  yet) and segmentation. It's the segmentation that makes it REALLY 386
  dependent (every task has a 64Mb segment for code & data - max 64 tasks
  in 4Gb. Anybody who needs more than 64Mb/task - tough cookies).

  It also uses every feature of gcc I could find, specifically the __asm__
  directive, so that I wouldn't need so much assembly language objects.
  Some of my "C"-files (specifically mm.c) are almost as much assembler as
  C. It would be "interesting" even to port it to another compiler (though
  why anybody would want to use anything other than gcc is a mystery).

   Note: linux has in fact gotten more portable with newer versions:
   there was a lot more assembly in the early versions. It has in fact
   been ported to other architectures by now.

  Unlike minix, I also happen to LIKE interrupts, so interrupts are
  handled without trying to hide the reason behind them (I especially like
  my hard-disk-driver.  Anybody else make interrupts drive a state-
  machine?).  All in all it's a porters nightmare.

  >As for the features; well, pseudo ttys, BSD sockets, user-mode
  >filesystems (so I can say cat /dev/tcp/kruuna.helsinki.fi/finger),
  >window size in the tty structure, system calls capable of supporting
  >POSIX.1.  Oh, and bsd-style long file names.

  Most of these seem possible (the tty structure already has stubs for
  window size), except maybe for the user-mode filesystems. As to POSIX,
  I'd be delighted to have it, but posix wants money for their papers, so
  that's not currently an option. In any case these are things that won't
  be supported for some time yet (first I'll make it a simple minix-
  lookalike, keyword SIMPLE).

                Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

  PS. To make things really clear - yes I can run gcc on it, and bash, and
  most of the gnu [bin/file]utilities, but it's not very debugged, and the
  library is really minimal. It doesn't even support floppy-disks yet. It
  won't be ready for distribution for a couple of months. Even then it
  probably won't be able to do much more than minix, and much less in some
  respects. It will be free though (probably under gnu-license or similar).

   Well, obviously something worked on my machine: I doubt I had yet
   gotten gcc to compile itself under linux (or I would have been too
   proud of it not to mention it). Still before any release-date.
  
   Then, October 5th, I seem to have released 0.02. As I already
   mentioned, 0.01 didn't actually come with any binaries: it was just
   source code for people interested in what linux looked like. Note the
   lack of announcement for 0.01: I wasn't too proud of it, so I think I
   only sent a note to everybody who had shown interest.

  From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
  Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
  Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
  Message-ID:
  Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
  Organization: University of Helsinki

  Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote
  their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying
  to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you
  finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all-
  nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just
  for you :-)

  As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a
  minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers.  It has finally reached the stage
  where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want),
  and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution.  It is
  just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully
  run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it.

  Sources for this pet project of mine can be found at nic.funet.fi
  (128.214.6.100) in the directory /pub/OS/Linux.  The directory also
  contains some README-file and a couple of binaries to work under linux
  (bash, update and gcc, what more can you ask for :-).  Full kernel
  source is provided, as no minix code has been used.  Library sources are
  only partially free, so that cannot be distributed currently.  The
  system is able to compile "as-is" and has been known to work.  Heh.
  Sources to the binaries (bash and gcc) can be found at the same place in
  /pub/gnu.

  ALERT! WARNING! NOTE! These sources still need minix-386 to be compiled
  (and gcc-1.40, possibly 1.37.1, haven't tested), and you need minix to
  set it up if you want to run it, so it is not yet a standalone system
  for those of you without minix. I'm working on it. You also need to be
  something of a hacker to set it up (?), so for those hoping for an
  alternative to minix-386, please ignore me. It is currently meant for
  hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix.

  The system needs an AT-compatible harddisk (IDE is fine) and EGA/VGA. If
  you are still interested, please ftp the README/RELNOTES, and/or mail me
  for additional info.

  I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?".  Hurd will be
  out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
  minix.  This is a program for hackers by a hacker.  I've enjouyed doing
  it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for
  their own needs.  It is still small enough to understand, use and
  modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.

  I'm also interested in hearing from anybody who has written any of the
  utilities/library functions for minix. If your efforts are freely
  distributable (under copyright or even public domain), I'd like to hear
  from you, so I can add them to the system. I'm using Earl Chews estdio
  right now (thanks for a nice and working system Earl), and similar works
  will be very wellcome. Your (C)'s will of course be left intact. Drop me
  a line if you are willing to let me use your code.

                Linus

  PS. to PHIL NELSON! I'm unable to get through to you, and keep getting
  "forward error - strawberry unknown domain" or something.

   Well, it doesn't sound like much of a system, does it? It did work,
   and some people even tried it out. There were several bad bugs (and
   there was no floppy-driver, no VM, no nothing), and 0.02 wasn't really
   very useable.
  
   0.03 got released shortly thereafter (max 2-3 weeks was the time
   between releases even back then), and 0.03 was pretty useable. The
   next version was numbered 0.10, as things actually started to work
   pretty well. The next post gives some idea of what had happened in two
   months more...

  From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
  Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
  Subject: Re: Status of LINUX?
  Summary: Still in beta
  Message-ID:
  Date: 19 Dec 91 23:35:45 GMT
  Organization: University of Helsinki

  In article  miquels@maestro.htsa.aha.nl (Miquel van Smoorenburg) writes:
  >Hello *,
  >     I know some people are working on a FREE O/S for the 386/486,
  >under the name Linux. I checked nic.funet.fi now and then, to see what was
  >happening. However, for the time being I am without FTP access so I don't
  >know what is going on at the moment. Could someone please inform me about it
?
  >It's maybe best to follow up to this article, as I think that there are
  >a lot of potential interested people reading this group. Note, that I don't
  >really *have* a >= 386, but I'm sure in time I will.

  Linux is still in beta (although available for brave souls by ftp), and
  has reached the version 0.11.  It's still not as comprehensive as
  386-minix, but better in some respects.  The "Linux info-sheet" should
  be posted here some day by the person that keeps that up to date.  In
  the meantime, I'll give some small pointers.

  First the bad news:

        - Still no SCSI: people are working on that, but no date yet.
          Thus you need a AT-interface disk (I have one report that it
          works on an EISA 486 with a SCSI disk that emulates the
          AT-interface, but that's more of a fluke than anything else:
          ISA+AT-disk is currently the hardware setup)

   As you can see, 0.11 had already a small following. It wasn't much,
   but it did work.

        - still no init/login: you get into bash as root upon bootup.

   That was still standard in the next release.

        - although I have a somewhat working VM (paging to disk), it's not
          ready yet.  Thus linux needs at least 4M to be able to run the
          GNU binaries (especially gcc).  It boots up in 2M, but you
          cannot compile.

   I actually released a 0.11+VM version just before Christmas -91: I
   didn't need it myself, but people were trying to compile the kernel in
   2MB and failing, so I had to implement it. The 0.11+VM version was
   available only to a small number of people that wanted to test it out:
   I'm still surprised it worked as well as it did.

        - minix still has a lot more users: better support.

        - it hasn't got years of testing by thousands of people, so there
          are probably quite a few bugs yet.

  Then for the good things..

        - It's free (copyright by me, but freely distributable under a
          very lenient copyright)

   The early copyright was in fact much more restrictive than the GNU
   copyleft: I didn't allow any money at all to change hands due to
   linux. That changed with 0.12.

        - it's fun to hack on.

        - /real/ multithreading filesystem.

        - uses the 386-features.  Thus locked into the 386/486 family, but
          it makes things clearer when you don't have to cater to other
          chips.

        - a lot more... read my .plan.

  /I/ think it's better than minix, but I'm a bit prejudiced.  It will
  never be the kind of professional OS that Hurd will be (in the next
  century or so :), but it's a nice learning tool (even more so than
  minix, IMHO), and it was/is fun working on it.

                Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

  ---- my .plan --------------------------
        Free UNIX for the 386 - coming 4QR 91 or 1QR 92.

  The current version of linux is 0.11 - it has most things a unix kernel
  needs, and will probably be released as 1.0 as soon as it gets a little
  more testing, and we can get a init/login going. Currently you get
  dumped into a shell as root upon bootup.

  Linux can be gotten by anonymous ftp from 'nic.funet.fi' (128.214.6.100)
  in the directory '/pub/OS/Linux'.  The same directory also contains some
  binary files to run under Linux.  Currently gcc, bash, update, uemacs,
  tar, make and fileutils.  Several people have gotten a running system,
  but it's still a hackers kernel.

  Linux still requires a AT-compatible disk to be useful: people are
  working on a SCSI-driver, but I don't know when it will be ready.

  There are now a couple of other sites containing linux, as people have
  had difficulties with connecting to nic. The sites are:
        Tupac-Amaru.Informatik.RWTH-Aachen.DE (137.226.112.31):
                directory /pub/msdos/replace
        tsx-11.mit.edu (18.172.1.2):
                directory /pub/linux

  There is also a mailing list set up 'Linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi'.
  To join, mail a request to 'Linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi'.
  It's no use mailing me: I have no actual contact with the mailing-list
  (other than being on it, naturally).

  Mail me for more info:

                Linus (torvalds@kruuna.Helsinki.FI)

  0.11 has these new things:

  - demand loading
  - code/data sharing between unrelated processes
  - much better floppy drivers (they actually work mostly)
  - bug-corrections
  - support for Hercules/MDA/CGA/EGA/VGA
  - the console also beeps (WoW! Wonder-kernel :-)
  - mkfs/fsck/fdisk
  - US/German/French/Finnish keyboards
  - settable line-speeds for com1/2

   As you can see: 0.11 was actually stand-alone: I wrote the first
   mkfs/fsck/fdisk programs for it, so that you didn't need minix any
   more to set it up. Also, serial lines had been hard-coded to 2400bps,
   as that was all I had.

  Still lacking:
  - init/login
  - rename system call
  - named pipes
  - symbolic links

   Well, they are all there now: init/login didn't quite make it to 0.12,
   and rename() was implemented as a patch somewhere between 0.12 and
   0.95. Symlinks were in 0.95, but named pipes didn't make it until
   0.96.
  
   Note: The version number went directly from 0.12 to 0.95, as the
   follow-on to 0.12 was getting feature-full enough to deserve a number
   in the 0.90's

  0.12 will probably be out in January (15th or so), and will have:
  - POSIX job control (by tytso)
  - VM (paging to disk)
  - Minor corrections

   Actually, 0.12 was out January 5th, and contained major corrections.
   It was in fact a very stable kernel: it worked on a lot of new
   hardware, and there was no need for patches for a long time. 0.12 was
   also the kernel that "made it": that's when linux started to spread a
   lot faster. Earlier kernel releases were very much only for hackers:
   0.12 actually worked quite well.
  
  
  
   Note: The following document is a reply by Linus Torvalds, creator of
   Linux, in which he talks about his experiences in the early stages of
   Linux development

To: Linux-Activists@BLOOM-PICAYUNE.MIT.EDU
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Subject: Re: Writing an OS - questions !!
Date: 5 May 92 07:58:17 GMT

In article  nani@td2cad.intel.com (V. Narayanan) writes:

 Hi folks,
         For quite some time this "novice" has been wondering as to how one goe
s
 about the task of writing an OS from "scratch".  So here are some questions,
 and I would appreciate if you could take time to answer 'em.

Well, I see someone else already answered, but I thought I'd take on the
linux-specific parts.  Just my personal experiences, and I don't know
how normal those are.

 1) How would you typically debug the kernel during the development phase?

Depends on both the machine and how far you have gotten on the kernel:
on more simple systems it's generally easier to set up. Here's what I
had to do on a 386 in protected mode.

The worst part is starting off: after you have even a minimal system you
can use printf etc, but moving to protected mode on a 386 isn't fun,
especially if you at first don't know the architecture very well.  It's
distressingly easy to reboot the system at this stage: if the 386
notices something is wrong, it shuts down and reboots - you don't even
get a chance to see what's wrong.

Printf() isn't very useful - a reboot also clears the screen, and
anyway, you have to have access to video-mem, which might fail if your
segments are incorrect etc.  Don't even think about debuggers: no
debugger I know of can follow a 386 into protected mode.  A 386 emulator
might do the job, or some heavy hardware, but that isn't usually
feasible.

What I used was a simple killing-loop: I put in statements like

die:
        jmp die

at strategic places.  If it locked up, you were ok, if it rebooted, you
knew at least it happened before the die-loop.  Alternatively, you might
use the sound io ports for some sound-clues, but as I had no experience
with PC hardware, I didn't even use that.  I'm not saying this is the
only way: I didn't start off to write a kernel, I just wanted to explore
the 386 task-switching primitives etc, and that's how I started off (in
about April-91).

After you have a minimal system up and can use the screen for output, it
gets a bit easier, but that's when you have to enable interrupts. Bang,
instant reboot, and back to the old way. All in all, it took about 2
months for me to get all the 386 things pretty well sorted out so that I
no longer had to count on avoiding rebooting at once, and having the
basic things set up (paging, timer-interrupt and a simple task-switcher
to test out the segments etc).

 2) Can you test the kernel functionality by running it as a process on a
    different OS?  Wouldn't the OS(the development environment) generate
    exceptions in cases when the kernel (of the new OS) tries to modify
    'priviledged' registers?

Yes, it's generally possible for some things, but eg device drivers
usually have to be tested out on the bare machine.  I used minix to
develop linux, so I had no access to IO registers, interrupts etc.
Under DOS it would have been possible to get access to all these, but
then you don't have 32-bit mode.  Intel isn't that great - it would
probably have been much easier on a 68040 or similar.

So after getting a simple task-switcher (it switched between two
processes that printed AAAA...  and BBBB...  respectively by using the
timer-interrupt - Gods I was proud over that), I still had to continue
debugging basically by using printf.  The first thing written was the
keyboard driver: that's the reason it's still written completely in
assembler (I didn't dare move to C yet - I was still debugging at
about instruction-level).

After that I wrote the serial drivers, and voila, I had a simple
terminal program running (well, not that simple actually).  It was still
the same two processes (AAA..), but now they read and wrote to the
console/serial lines instead.  I had to reboot to get out of it all, but
it was a simple kernel.

After that is was plain sailing: hairy coding still, but I had some
devices, and debugging was easier.  I started using C at this stage, and
it certainly speeds up developement.  This is also when I start to get
serious about my megalomaniac ideas to make "a better minix that minix".
I was hoping I'd be able to recompile gcc under linux some day...

The harddisk driver was more of the same: this time the problems with
bad documentation started to crop up.  The PC may be the most used
architecture in the world right now, but that doesn't mean the docs are
any better: in fact I haven't seen /any/ book even mentioning the weird
386-387 coupling in an AT etc (Thanks Bruce).

After that, a small filesystem, and voila, you have a minimal unix.  Two
months for basic setups, but then only slightly longer until I had a
disk-driver (seriously buggy, but it happened to work on my machine) and
a small filesystem.  That was about when I made 0.01 available (late
august-91? Something like that): it wasn't pretty, it had no floppy
driver, and it couldn't do much anything.  I don't think anybody ever
compiled that version.  But by then I was hooked, and didn't want to
stop until I could chuck out minix.

 3) Would new linkers and loaders have to be written before you get a basic
    kernel running?

All versions up to about 0.11 were crosscompiled under minix386 - as
were the user programs.  I got bash and gcc eventually working under
0.02, and while a race-condition in the buffer-cache code prevented me
from recompiling gcc with itself, I was able to tackle smaller compiles.
0.03 (October?) was able to recompile gcc under itself, and I think
that's the first version that anybody else actually used.  Still no
floppies, but most of the basic things worked.

Afetr 0.03 I decided that the next version was actually useable (it was,
kind of, but boy is X under 0.96 more impressive), and I called the next
version 0.10 (November?).  It still had a rather serious bug in the
buffer-cache handling code, but after patching that, it was pretty ok.
0.11 (December) had the first floppy driver, and was the point where I
started doing linux developement under itself.  Quite as well, as I
trashed my minix386 partition by mistake when trying to autodial
/dev/hd2.

By that time others were actually using linux, and running out of
memory.  Especially sad was the fact that gcc wouldn't work on a 2MB
machine, and although c386 was ported, it didn't do everything gcc did,
and couldn't recompile the kernel.  So I had to implement disk-paging:
0.12 came out in January (?) and had paging by me as well as job control
by tytso (and other patches: pmacdona had started on VC's etc).  It was
the first release that started to have "non-essential" features, and
being partly written by others.  It was also the first release that
actually did many things better than minix, and by now people started to
really get interested.

Then it was 0.95 in March, bugfixes in April, and soon 0.96. It's
certainly been fun (and I trust will continue to be so) - reactions have
been mostly very positive, and you do learn a lot doing this type of
thing (on the other hand, your studies suffer in other respects :)

                Linus