Ferdinand Magellan

EARLY LIFE

Ferdinand Magellan was born was born in 1580 in a stone farmhouse in Sabrosa, near Vila Real, in the province of Trás-dos-Montes of north Portugal.

He was the son of Rodrigo de Magalhães, Alcaide-Mor (governor) of Aveiro and and Alda de Mesquita,

Magellan had two siblings: his older brother Diogo de Sousa, named after his grandmother, and his sister Isabel.

At 12, Magellan became a page to King John II and Queen Eleonora at the Portuguese royal court in Lisbon after the death of his parents. (His brother had entered royal service there two years previously)

Magellan was educated at the Queen’s School of Pages, Lisbon, and was fortunate to get accustomed to subjects, such as astronomy, cartography, and celestial navigation, which proved useful in his later pursuits.

EARLY CAREER 

At the age of 25, Magellan enlisted in the fleet of 22 ships sent to host Dom Francisco de Almeida, who was the first viceroy of Portuguese India. He remained there eight years, residing in Goa, Cochin and Quilon.

Magellan fought in several battles, including the 1506 Battle of Cannanore, where he was wounded and the 1509 Battle of Diu, where the Portuguese destroyed Egyptian ships in the Arabian Sea.

Almeida gave a poor report of Magellan to the Portuguese court, as the young sailor had taken a leave of the army without permission.

Magellan sailed under Diogo Lopes de Sequeira in a Portuguese expedition to Malacca, with the aim of analyzing its trade potential After arriving at the Malaysian location on September 11, 1509, the mission fell victim to a conspiracy ending in retreat. Magellan had a crucial role, warning Sequeira an action that earned him honors and a promotion.

In 1511, under the new governor Afonso de Albuquerque, Magellan participated in the conquest of Malacca.

With a rich plunder and, in the company of a Malay he had indentured and baptized, Enrique of Malacca, Magellan returned to Portugal in 1512.

Magellan was sent to Morocco where he fought in the Battle of Azamor (August 28 and 29, 1513) and received a severe knee wound while fighting against the Moorish-Moroccan stronghold. As a result he walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

Magellan was accused of trading with the Portuguese enemies, the Moors, while fighting against them and was dismissed from the Portuguese armed forces and denied a pension. The accusations were proved false, but he received no more employment offers from the Portuguese.

In 1517 after a quarrel with King Manuel I, who denied his persistent demands to lead an expedition to reach the Spice Islands (now part of Indonesia) by sailing westwards, Magellan renounced his Portuguese nationality and traveled to Seville to seek support from the Spanish king.

Along with cosmographer Riu Faleiro, Magellan offered his services to King Charles I (the future Holy Emperor Charles V), grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had funded Columbus’ expedition to the New World in 1492.

PERSONAL LIFE 

Magellan was a small, dark man.

In Seville, Magellan befriended his countryman Diogo Barbosa and married his daughter by his second wife María Caldera Beatriz Barbosa in late 1517.

They had two children: Rodrigo de Magalhães and Carlos de Magalhães, both of whom died at a young age. His wife passed away in Seville around 1521.

VOYAGE OF CIRCUMNAVIGATION 

After two years of rigorous study of the recent navigation charts and analyzing the mistakes committed by other explorer, Magellan was placed in charge of five ships by King Charles to try to get to the East Indies by sailing westwards. He hoped to find a strait which would lead past North America and end the Portuguese domination of the Spice trade.

Before embarking on his voyage, Magellan made a donation to the monks of the monastery attached to the church of Santa María de la Victoria de Triana in Seville, so they would pray for his success.

When Ferdinand Magellan made his preparations for his voyage, he spent more money on sherry than on weapons.

Ferdinand Magellan and his 270 shipmates set sail on September 20, 1519 from San Lucar, near Seville with the lead ship Trinidad, along with four other vessels – San Antonio, Santiago, Concepcion, and Victoria. On board was enough food to last two years.

Replica of the Victoria, photographed in Nagoya, Japan. By Gnsin -Wikipedia Commons

We know the details of Magellan's voyage from the diaries of his upper class shipmate Antonio Pigafetta. A Venetian scholar and traveller, Pigafetta had asked to be on the voyage, accepting the title of "supernumerary" and a modest salary.

The crew sighted South America on December 6, 1521 and anchored near present-day Rio de Janeiro a week later. There the crew was resupplied, but bad conditions caused them to delay.

Afterwards, they continued to sail south along South America's east coast, looking for the strait that Magellan believed would lead to the Spice Islands. He established a temporary settlement called Puerto San Julian on March 30, 1520. There they came across a race of primitive giants, which Magellan named Patagonian (meaning big feet).

San Julián Bay. By Douglas Fernandes - Wikipedia Commons

At midnight on Easter Day, Magellan was faced by a mutiny led by his Spanish captains, but succeeded in overcoming it, executing mutineers including one captain and leaving another behind.

The Santiago was sent down the coast on a scouting expedition and was wrecked in a sudden storm. Two of the crew returned overland to inform Magellan of what had happened, and to bring rescue to their comrades. After this experience, Magellan decided to wait for a few weeks more before resuming the voyage.

Magellan left Puerto San Julian on August 21, 1520 and on November 1st he found the eastern entrance to the strait that now bears his name. Magellan first assigned Concepcion and San Antonio to explore the passageway, but the latter, commanded by Gómez, deserted and returned to Spain.

On November 28th, the three remaining ships entered the South Pacific, having survived the wild and stormy waters that divided the Latin American mainland from Tierra Del Fuego. Magellan named the waters the Mar Pacifico (Pacific Ocean) because of its apparent stillness.

The Strait of Magellan cuts through the southern tip of South America connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Magellan run out of food half way across the Pacific having discovered dishonest traders had only supplied half the provisions he'd paid for. Consequently the men were forced to survive on a diet of stewed rat, sawdust and the leather fittings of the ship with an occasional banquet of fresh fish. (His men were selling rats to each other at one ducat each.)

After three months of slow sailing across the vast Pacific Ocean, Magellan's men were growing increasingly concerned as they had sailed 92 days without sighting any land. By this stage, scurvy was running rampant among many of the crew. According to Pigafetta, the destructive effect of the disease was that "gums grew so over their teeth that they died miserably for hunger."

Eventually, on March 6, 1521 Magellan and his three ships reached the Marianas and Guam.

Ten days later, Magellan reached the island of Homonhon in the Philippines, with 150 crew left. The members of his expedition became the first Europeans to reach the Philippine archipelago. They were the first people to reach Asia by sailing westwards across the Atlantic and Pacific.

Magellan relied on Enrique of Malacca, his Malay servant and interpreter, to communicate with the native tribes. After being indentured by Magellan in 1511, Enrique had accompanied him through all his subsequent adventures.

On landing in Cebu, Philippines, Magellan persuaded the local king, Rajah Humabon, to convert to Christianity and the first ever Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held at the spot of Magellan's Cross in Cebu City. Magellan claimed the Philippines for Spain and 500 years later it remains the only official Christian country in South East Asia.

The Magellanic clouds, a group of small galaxies which are visible to the eye in the southern hemisphere became known in Europe through descriptions by Magellan after whom they are named.

DEATH AND COMPLETION OF VOYAGE 

Magellan agreed to fight Rajah Humabo’s enemy on the  island of Mactan. Magellan attacked the islanders with a small force on April 27, 1521 but he was struck by a bamboo spear, surrounded and chopped to death by the natives with lances and scimitars.

Monument in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu in the Philippines. By Carl Frances Morano Diaman -Wikipedia Commons

After Magellan was killed in battle, the command went to a merchant ship captain. Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476 - August 4, 1526), who had signed on as a subordinate officer for the voyage in order to gain the king's pardon for previous misdeeds.

Juan Sebastián Elcano

The casualties suffered in the Philippines left the expedition with too few men to sail all three of the remaining ships. Consequently, they abandoned and burned the Concepción.

When the two remaining ships reached the Spice Islands they traded with the Sultan of Tidore, a rival of the Sultan of Ternate. Elcano decided to avoid the Magellan Straits again, so they took the eastern route risking bumping into Portuguese ships who would have pirated the spices they had on board.

The Trinidad broke off and was no longer seaworthy, leaving only Victoria to continue and return to Seville.

Magellan's 18 surviving companions having sailed 30,700 miles, reached Seville on September 6, 1522, completing the return voyage under Elcano.

Charles V had agreed to give Magellan a twentieth of the profits from his voyage. The spice cargo on board the Victoria more than met the costs of the three year expedition.

Sources Food For Thought by Ed Pearce, Thefamouspeople

Magazine

The very first magazines, back in the 16th century, were storehouses for ammunition. Its origins lie in the Arabic for Storehouse (makhzan), which the French borrowed as their word for a shop, magasin.

In the mid-17th century, magazine began to describe a book containing specialist information. Our modern sense of the periodical developed from this.

The Ladies' Mercury was launched by John Dunton in London on February 27, 1693. It was the first women's magazine and contained a "question and answer" column that became known as a "problem page." The debut issue offered relationship tips and love advice with "the Zeal and Softness becoming to the Sex."

The Ladies Mercury

 February 27, 1693

The first periodical called a magazine was the Gentleman's Magazine launched by Edward Cave (February 27, 1691 – January 10, 1754) in January 1731. In an age of lousy yellow journalism, the punchy periodical featured stories about fire-eating as well as essays by a young upstart named Samuel Johnson.

By Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers - http://www.rarenewspapers.com, Wikipedia

In 1741 Benjamin Franklin began publishing The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America, the first such monthly magazine of this type published in America.

In early 1743 the minister and colonial historian Thomas Prince Sr. worriedly surveyed the religious landscape. Reports across the colonies suggested the wave of intense religious interest was devolving into chaos. Worried that the Great Awakening was fading, Prince and his son started the first evangelical magazine, The Christian History.  His intention was to publish a journal that would flesh out the details of the revival that had been spreading through the American colonies. The first journal was printed by Thomas Prince on March 5, 1743.

Portrait of Thomas Prince, minister of Old South, Boston.

The Christian History ran only two years, but Thomas Prince had such a high standing within the local community that the town of Princeton, Massachusetts was named after him.

Louis Antoine Godey (June 6, 1804 – November 29, 1878) was the publisher of Godey's Lady's Book (1830-77), the largest circulation magazine of its time. Its illustrations not only influenced nineteenth century women's fashions, but would become documents for social historians and prized items for collectors. A publisher also of children's and music journals, Godey was among the first to copyright magazine contents.

Cover from June 1867 issue

Die Gartenlaube - Illustrirtes Familienblatt (The Garden Arbor - Illustrated Family Journal) was the first successful mass-circulation German newspaper and a forerunner of all modern magazines. 19th-century German publisher Ernst Keil conceived the idea for a weekly magazine called Die Gartenlaube, while in prison, and he founded it with editor Ferdinand Stolle in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony in 1853. it was named after the gazebo in Keil's garden in Leipzig. Their objective was to reach and enlighten the whole family, particularly the middle and lower classes of society, with a mixture of current events, biographical sketches, essays on the natural sciences, short stories, poetry, and full-page illustrations.  The magazine's masthead depicted a grandfatherly figure reading to a family around a table.

Circulation of Die Gartenlaube increased steadily following its initial 1853 print run of 5,000 copies. After the magazine introduced serialized novels, its paid circulation increased dramatically, rising to 382,000 by Keil's death in 1876 with an actual readership of at least 2 million. It kept this market supremacy until at least 1887 and at one time it claimed to have the largest readership of any publication in the world.

Life magazine was founded January 4, 1883, in a New York City artist's studio at 1155 Broadway, as a partnership between John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller.  it was developed as a general-interest light entertainment periodical, similar to the British magazine, Punch.

The Lady, first published in 1885, is England’s longest-running weekly magazine for women.

Good Housekeeping magazine went on sale for the first time on May 2, 1885. It was founded by Clark W. Bryan in Holyoke, Massachusetts. By 1911. the magazine had achieved a circulation of 300,000, at which time it was bought by the Hearst Corporation. Famous writers who have contributed to the magazine include Somerset Maugham, , A. J. Cronin, Virginia Woolf, and Evelyn Waugh.

Cover from August 1908 made by John Cecil Clay.

The first issue of National Geographic magazine was published on September 22, 1888, nine months after the Society was founded by a small group of eminent explorers and scientists. Starting with its January 1905 publication of several full-page pictures of Tibet in 1900–1901, the magazine changed from being a text-oriented publication closer to a scientific journal to featuring extensive pictorial content, and became well known for this style.

National Geographic magazine was the first U.S. publisher to establish a color-photo lab in 1920, the first to publish underwater color photographs in 1927, the first to print an all-color issue in 1962, and the first to print a hologram in 1984.

The first issue of Vogue magazine was published on December 17 1892, with a cover price of 10 cents. From its inception, the magazine targeted the new New York aristocracy, establishing social norms in a country that did not value class and ceremony as much as England or France.

The first issue of Time magazine was published on March 3, 1923, featuring Joseph G. Cannon, the retired Speaker of the House of Representatives, on its cover.  It quickly became popular with readers. The magazine's unique style, which included short, punchy news items and bold, attention-grabbing headlines, set it apart from other news publications of the time.

Radio Times, the world's first and longest running radio and television listings magazine, was first published on September 28, 1923. Priced at tuppence, it carried listings for six radio stations. 

Radio Times first published television listings in the London edition of the magazine on October 23, 1936 following the launch of the first regular 405-line television service by the BBC . 

In 1955, it was suggested that the BBC should register the name "TV Times" but the general manager of BBC publications rejected the idea on the grounds that television wouldn't catch on.

Newsweek magazine debuted 10 years after Time, of which Newsweek founder Thomas J.C. Martyn had been an editor. The first issue of the magazine was dated February 17, 1933. It evolved into a full spectrum of news material, from breaking news and analysis to reviews and commentary. Today, Newsweek is the second largest news weekly in the US.

Cover of the first issue of News-Week magazine

Time founder Henry Luce bought Life magazine in 1936, solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name, and shifted it to a role as a weekly news magazine with a strong emphasis on photojournalism. The first all-photographic American news magazine, it dominated the market for more than 40 years. The magazine sold more than 13.5 million copies a week at one point.

The December 1946 issue of Arizona Highways was the first all-color issue of a nationally circulated magazine in the United States.

Playboy, America's men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, was founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953. Hefner holds the Guinness World Record for the longest career as an editor-in-chief for the same magazine.

Sports Illustrated is an American sports magazine first published on August 16, 1954. Founded by Henry Luce, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. It is also known for its annual swimsuit issue, which has been published since 1964, and has spawned other complementary media works and products.

 By Source, Wikipedia Commons

The 1988 Christmas edition of Radio Times was in the Guinness Book of Records for being the biggest-selling magazine in British history: 11,220,666 copies: a record which remains unbroken to this day.

On October 17, 2005, the 40 greatest magazine covers of the last 40 years were unveiled at the American Magazine Conference. Rolling Stone's cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono was named the top magazine cover. The image was photographed by renowned celebrity portraitist Annie Leibovitz mere hours before Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980.

Two armed Al Qaeda terrorists forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on January 7, 2015 at about 11:30 local time, They killed 12 people and injured 11 others. The copy of Charlie Hebdo magazine released after the terror attack, sold nearly 8 million copies, compared to their prior usual of 60,000 copies.

Source Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999. 

Mafia

The Mafia is a network of Mafia criminal organisations dating back to the nineteenth century. It is a word in the Sicilian dialect of Italian meaning literally 'boldness.'

The public's association of the word 'Mafia' with the criminal secret society was in part inspired by the 1863 play I mafiusi di la Vicaria (The Mafiosi of the Vicaria) by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaspare Mosca. The play is about a Palermo prison gang with traits similar to the Mafia.

The Italian-American mafia began at the time when many Italians moved to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The first Italian mafia was in New Orleans but they spread across the country.

The Italian mafia in the United States is actually called La Cosa Nostra which in Italian language means "This thing of ours" or "Our thing".

FBI chart of American Mafia bosses across the country in 1963.

The word 'mobster' is nearly 200 years older than 'gangster'. The latter became popular when 'mobster' was strongly associated with the Mafia.

In 1920 the prohibition of alcoholic drinks came into effect in the United States. It was intended to eliminate the saloon and the drunkard from American society. A consequence of the prohibition law was the creation of an illegal alcohol industry that was controlled by the Mafia.

During World War II, the Italian Mafia assisted the US government by providing intelligence for the invasion of Sicily, and by guaranteed no dockworker strikes throughout the war.

Frank Sinatra gave Marilyn Monroe a Maltese terrier, which in a nod to the singer's supposed mob connections, she mischievously named Mafia, or Maf for short.

The word 'mafia' isn't used once in the Godfather movie series, as the "real Mafia" did not allow its producers to use the word in the films. They even sent "family" members to the set to monitor filming.

In 1985 New York Governor Mario Cuomo denied the existence of the Mafia when asked by reporters, and called them "a lot of baloney". This incident, and Cuomo's rumored mob ties, became a common explanation for him not running for President in 1992.

Italy built an entire courthouse to prosecute the Mafia. They charged 475 members in a trial that lasted from 1986-1992. To date, it is one of the biggest trials in history.

Paolo di Lauro, one of the biggest Mafia bosses in Italy was caught while on the run after they made a connection with a woman’s daily shopping and the boss’s food preference. She was always buying his favorite fishes, salmon and sea bream.

One of the New York Mafia families' rules is that the members aren't allowed to grow facial hair.

Roughly 70 percent of Sicilian businesses pay protection money to the Mafia.

It is estimated that the Mafia's activities are equal to about 7% of Italy's GDP.

Madrid

HISTORY

The first historical document about the existence of an established settlement in Madrid dates from the Muslim age. Emir Muhammad I of Córdoba had a fortress built between 860 and 880.where the Palacio Real stands today.

With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, Madrid was conquered by Christians in 1085, and it was integrated into the kingdom of Castile as a property of the Crown.

In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile.

In June 1561, when the town had 30,000 inhabitants, Philip II of Spain moved his court from Valladolid to Madrid, installing it in the old castle. Thanks to this, the city of Madrid became the political center of the monarchy and the capital of a very large empire.

Philip II of Spain, reacting to the Protestant Reformation sweeping through Europe during the 16th century, engaged the Spanish architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, to be his collaborator in the design of El Escorial as a monument to Spain's role as a center of the Christian world. The building's cornerstone was laid on April 23, 1563 at the the foot of Mt. Abantos about 45 kilometres (28 miles) northwest of Madrid.

San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace was finished on September 13, 1584. The grim monastic palace, is one of Europe's greatest architectural monuments.

San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace 

The city of Madrid has had five successive sets of walls, from the first built by the Moors in 860 to the ones built by Philip IV in 1625.

The world's oldest restaurant still in operation, the Casa Botin in Madrid, opened in 1725.

The old Alcázar ("Castle") was built on the location of the Palacio Real de Madrid in the 16th century. It burned to the ground on December 24, 1734 and King Philip V ordered a new palace built on the same site. Construction spanned the years 1738 to 1755 and Charles III first occupied the new Palacio Real de Madrid in 1764.

17th-century painting of the Real Alcázar de Madrid

King Charles III of Spain took upon himself the feat of transforming Madrid into a capital worthy of this category. He ordered the construction of sewers, street lighting, cemeteries outside the city, and many monuments (Puerta de Alcalá, Cibeles Fountain), and cultural institutions (El Prado Museum, Royal Botanic Gardens, Royal Observatory, etc.).

During the Spanish Civil War Madrid became the first European city to be bombed by airplanes. Generalissimo Francisco Franco finally conquered Madrid on March 28, 1939, after a siege lasting nearly three years.

During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, especially during the 1960s, the south of Madrid became very industrialized, and many people from the rural areas moved to Madrid especially to the south east of the city.

Gran Via, Madrid

FUN MADRID FACTS

Madrid derives almost three quarters of its water supply from dams and reservoirs built on the Lozoya River, such as the El Atazar Dam, which was built in 1972 and inaugurated by Francisco Franco.

Madrid is the European city with the highest number of trees and green surface per inhabitant and it has the second highest number of aligned trees in the world, with 248,000 units, only exceeded by Tokyo.

Campo del Moro Gardens

Madrid is home to two world-famous football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Real Madrid is one of the most prestigious football clubs of the world (FIFA selected Real Madrid the best team of the 20th century), having won a record 10 European Cups. Forbes magazine listed it in 2015 as the most valuable football club in the world, valued at $3.26 billion.

General Francisco Franco is buried at the Valley of the Fallen, where there is also a Benedictine abbey, and an almost 500-foot-high cross that looms over the basilica esplanade. The brutal dictator ordered the construction ordered the construction of this monument to honor those who died for his cause during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. It is the fourth most visited site managed by Spain’s National Heritage Trust.

At 655 m (2,100 ft) above sea level, Madrid is the highest capital of any European country.

The population of the city of Madrid is almost 3.2 million with a metropolitan area population of 6,489,162 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin,

Madonna (entertainer)

PERSONAL LIFE

Madonna Louise Ciccone was born to Catholic parents Silvio Anthony "Tony" Ciccone (b. 1931) and Madonna Louise Fortin (c. 1933 – December 1, 1963) in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958.
Tony worked as an engineer designer for Chrysler and General Motors.

Madonna's mother died of breast cancer when she was five. Her father later married the housekeeper and insisted that the kids call her "Mom."

Madonna's stepmother and father, Joan and Tony Ciccone (2009)

Since Madonna had the same name as her mother, family members called her "Little Nonni".

She has two elder brothers, Anthony (born 1956) and Martin (born 1957), and three younger siblings, Paula (born 1959), Christopher (born 1960), and Melanie (born 1962).

According to her brother Christopher, the only thing Madonna can cook is Rice Krispie cakes.

The first gig that Madonna ever attended was David Bowie 's show at the Cobo Hall in Detroit on June 22, 1974.

When Madonna and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat broke up in the early 1980s, he took back all of the paintings he made for her and painted them black.

Both Madonna's marriages ended in divorce. She was married to actor Sean Penn from 1985-1989 and to film director Guy Ritchie from 2000-2008.

Robbie Williams' song "She's Madonna" is about how Guy Ritchie broke up with his partner to be with the Queen of Pop.

Madonna married Guy Ritchie on December 22, 2000 in a Scottish castle, with Gwyneth Paltrow as maid of honor — before enjoying smoked salmon and haggis at a champagne reception.

Raised Catholic and named after the Virgin Mary, Madonna wanted to be either a film star or a nun when she grew up. During her career she has sometimes be seen as mocking the Christian faith and has often been denounced by religious leaders.

After the birth of her daughter Lourdes, Madonna became involved in Eastern mysticism and Kabbalah. She was introduced to Jewish mysticism by actress Sandra Bernhard in 1997.

A self-professed insomniac, Madonna told iHeartRadio’s 103.5 KTU hosts Cubby and Christine 4-11am "is my window of sleep," the time frame when she gets shut-eye if she’s lucky. From 2-4am is the window she describes as “magic” for writing songs .

Madonna suffers from brontophobia: a fear of thunder and lightning.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Madonna moved from Michigan to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance.

In 1979 Madonna became romantically involved with musician Dan Gilroy. Together, they formed her first band, the Breakfast Club, for which Madonna sang and played drums and guitar.

After Madonna signed a deal with Sire, her debut single, "Everybody", was released in October 1982. Her first album, Madonna, followed in 1983.

Madonna performing during the Who's That Girl World Tour, 1987. By Olavtenbroek -Wikipedia Commons

Madonna released her self-titled debut album on July 27, 1983. The album's upbeat synthetic disco sound was a new sound for the time, and it helped to set the standard for the genre of dance-pop for decades to come. The album's singles, including "Holiday", "Borderline", and "Lucky Star", were all major hits, and they helped to make Madonna a household name. 

The organizers of the 1985 benefit single "We Are the World" didn't invite Madonna to participate on the recording because "they didn't think she could sing" and "it broke her heart" that that was the case.

Madonna's “Like A Prayer” was debuted in a two-minute commercial for Pepsi. It was the first song by a major artist to be used in a commercial before being released to stores or radio stations. Worldwide, it is Madonna's most popular song.

The music video for the 1989 song "Express Yourself" had a budget of $5 million, making it the most expensive music video at the time of its release.

The 2008-2009 Sticky & Sweet Tour broke many records in terms of its ticket sales, commercial gross and audience attendance. After the first leg, it became the highest grossing tour by a solo artist, earning $282 million, breaking the previous record Madonna herself held with her Confessions Tour.

Madonna is the only artist to perform at Live Aid (1985), Live 8 (2005) and Live Earth (2007).

Madonna is the best-selling female artist of all time and the fourth best-selling act ever, behind The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson.

Madonna_by_David_Shankbone.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia Commons

Movies that Madonna  has appeared in include Desperately Seeking Susan, Dick Tracy, A League Of Their Own, Shanghai Surprise and Evita.

In 2003 Madonna became the first person to receive Razzle awards for Worst Actress (Swept Away), Worst Supporting Artist (Die Another Day) and Worst Screen Couple (Swept Away).

In 2014, a collector paid $252,000 (£159,000) for the jacket Madonna wore in her first movie, Desperately Seeking Susan, in 1985

Madonna was in the Guinness Book of Records for most costume changes in a movie. She changed 85 times in Evita.

Source Artistfacts 

Madagascar

Madagascar is among the last major land masses to be reached by humans. Despite the island's location just off the east coast of Africa, its first settlers arrived on outrigger canoes from Borneo around 2,350 years ago, followed over 1000 years later by migrants from East Africa.

The name Madageiscar was first recorded in the memoirs of 13th-century Venetian explorer Marco Polo as a corrupted transliteration of the name Mogadishu, the Somali port with which Polo had confused the island.

The capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, was founded in 1625 by King Andrianjaka on the site of a village occupied by Vazimba, the island's earliest inhabitants.

France took over the city of Antananarivo in 1895, and added Madagascar as a colony two years later.

Ranavalona I was sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar from 1828 to her death on August 16, 1861. A ruthless ruler of Madagascar, during her reign the population of Madagascar is estimated to have declined from around 5 million to 2.5 million as a result of years of military campaigns, and harsh traditions of justice under her rule.

Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar

Queen Ranavalona II of Madagascar was born in 1829 and became queen consort in 1868 when she married King Radama II. After her husband's death in 1863, she became the reigning queen.

On February 21, 1869, Queen Ranavalona II and her court converted to Christianity. She officially declared Christianity as the state religion of Madagascar, making it the first African kingdom to adopt Christianity as the official religion and invited Christian missionaries spread the faith

However, her efforts faced opposition, as there were elements within the society that resisted the influence of foreign religions. Despite the challenges, Ranavalona II continued to support the Christian mission in Madagascar until her death on July 13, 1883.

The last monarch of Madagascar was Queen Ranavalona III who ruled for fourteen years from 1883. During her reign, she tried to modernize the kingdom and establish closer ties with European powers, but her efforts were hampered by political instability, resistance from traditionalists, and the growing French influence in Madagascar. 

In 1895, the French invaded the island and, after a brief conflict, forced Queen Ranavalona III was forced to abdicate. The French exiled her to Algeria on February 27, 1897, where she lived in exile until her death in 1917. She is remembered as a symbol of Malagasy resistance against colonialism and as a cultural icon in Madagascar.

Ranavalona, her aunt Ramasindrazana and niece Marie-Louise in Algiers in 1899

In 1938 Hermann Göring proposed plans to make the island of Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.  On June 3, 1940, Franz Rademacher, head of the Jewish Department of the German Foreign Office, recommended that Madagascar should be made available as a destination for the Jews of Europe. 

The Malagasy Republic was proclaimed in 1958, as an autonomous state within the French Community. A period of provisional government ended with the adoption of a constitution the following year and full independence on June 26, 1960.

Madagascar's Rova of Antananarivo, which served as the royal palace from the 17th to 19th centuries, was destroyed by fire on November 6, 1995.

The nation comprises the island of Madagascar as well as numerous smaller peripheral islands.

Madagascar is the world's fourth-largest island behind Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo.

Because of its isolation, over 90% of Madagascar's wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth.

Madagascar is the only place where lemurs can be found in the wild.

Madagascar has the third largest coral reef system in the world, the Toliara coral reef, off the south-western coast.

The currency unit in Madagascar is the ariary, which is divided into five iraimbilanja.

Hery Rajaonarimampianina, the president of Madagascar from January 2014 to September 2018, had a longer surname than any other president in the world.

Ninety per cent of the people in Madagascar live on less than two dollars a day.

About 37 per cent of the world's vanilla comes from Madagascar. The island also produces  half the world's sapphires.

Source Daily Express

James Madison

James Madison was the oldest of twelve children. He was born at Belle Grove Plantation near Port Conway, Virginia on March 16, 1751, where his mother had returned to her parents' home to give birth.

His father James Madison Sr. was a tobacco planter who became the largest landowner and a leading citizen of Orange County, in the Piedmont. James Jr.'s mother, Nelly Conway Madison was the daughter of a prominent planter and tobacco merchant and his wife.

James Madison was an undergraduate at Princeton University and earned his degree in a mere two years. He remained at the institution for an extra year to further his education and became the Ivy League school's first graduate student.

Madison's education under three Scottish Calvinists—one at a boarding school, a second as a tutor, and the third, John Witherspoon, the president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) was influential on his beliefs and intellectual life. Madison's long public service to his nation were directed by his Christian faith and principles. These included belief in God's sovereignty, humanity's innate sinfulness, pride, and selfishness and the need for redemption through Christ.

Congressman Madison, age 32 by Charles Willson Peale.

Madison was 43 when he married 26-year-old Dolley Todd (née Payne) on September 15, 1794. Once Madison had tied the knot with Dolley, she was disowned by the Society of Friends as her husband was not a Quaker.

Dolley Madison was one of the most well-loved first ladies and known as a terrific hostess. After Thomas Jefferson's wife died while he was serving as president, she helped him at official state functions.

Dolley Madison, 1804, by Gilbert Stuart.

During the American Revolutionary War, Madison served in the Virginia state legislature (1776–1779), and became a protégé of fellow delegate Thomas Jefferson.

In 1777 a young James Madison lost a bid for election to the state’s House of Delegates. He blamed his 1777 campaign defeat to a less principled opponent on his decision not to provide free liquor to voters on Election Day. Despite the setback, Madison was soon chosen for an open seat on Virginia’s Council of State. By 1780, the 29-year-old was serving as the youngest delegate to the Continental Congress.

Between 1791-93, James Madison founded the Democratic-Republican Party with his friend Thomas Jefferson. It was organized by the pair to oppose the Federalist Party run by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. The Democratic-Republican Party came to power in 1800, and dominated national and state affairs until the 1820s, when it faded away.

James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were once arrested together for taking a carriage ride in the countryside of Vermont on a Sunday, which violated the laws of that state.

Madison is called the "Father of the Constitution" because he helped write a large part of it.

In 1789, Madison became a leader in the new House of Representatives, drafting many basic laws. He is noted for drafting the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and thus is known also as the "Father of the Bill of Rights.”

As Jefferson's Secretary of State (1801–09), Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation's size.

Madison was selected by his political party to be the Democratic-Republican candidate for president in 1808. He won that election and presided over renewed prosperity for several years. He won the next election four years later.

James Madison was only 5'4" and never weighed more than 100 pounds, making him the smallest U.S. president in history.

James Madison By James Sharples (1751/52-1811) 

Madison's voice was so weak that people often had difficulty hearing his speeches

He suffered from episodes of mental exhaustion and illness, with associated nervousness, and was often sidelined after periods of stress. Madison was also plagued by recurring bouts of "bilious fever."

James Madison raised sheep. In fact, he was sworn in wearing a coat spun from his sheep’s wool.

The War of 1812 began on June 18, 1812 when the US Congress declared war against Britain, Canada and Ireland over trade restrictions. Madison had hoped for peace, but Congress wanted to fight so he gave in and approved a declaration of war.

U.S. Declaration of War

In 1814 Washington, DC, was invaded by British forces that set fire to the White House and Capitol forcing President James Madison to flee the burning building.

When Madison left office in 1817, he retired to Montpelier, his tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia, not far from Jefferson's Monticello. As with both Washington and Jefferson, Madison left the presidency a poorer man than when he entered, due to the steady financial collapse of his plantation, aided by the continued low price of tobacco and his stepson's mismanagement.

Montpelier, Madison's tobacco plantation in Virginia. By Aigrette - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia Commons

James Madison died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836 as the last of the Founding Fathers. He was buried in the Madison Family Cemetery at Montpelier.

Sources History Crosswalk.com