Alegre Design recently unveiled the Actiflex desk and the new Pad Chair, two versatile and flexible school furniture pieces, conceived to promote collaborative work. Created for Federico Giner, the collection brings mobility into the classroom, favoring the teamwork, communication and learning associated with the new era, while conserving the values of quality, safety and durability that distinguish this brand of furniture. It allows the configuration of the classroom to be varied quickly, quietly and efficiently to generate spaces that motivate students and stimulate learning.
Actiflex is a line of desks featuring differentiated geometric silhouettes to allow mobility in the classroom and the configuration of the desks in flexible and variable groups. Actiflex is offered in four models - square, square with wheels, triangular with wheels and rectangular - which enable the generation of hundreds of combinations and facilitate the interaction of 2, 4 and up to 10 people, always looking to the front, set out individually, grouped, and in circular and horseshoe formation, among others.
Pad Chair arises from the reinvention by Alegre Design of the classic writing-pad chair of Federico Giner. It enhances the user's experience and improves communication and teamwork. "Ergonomics, mechanical resistance and durability. These are the premises of Pad Chair," said Marcelo Alegre of Alegre Design. "The overriding concern has been to make the chair safe for the student to use. Its design prevents trapping and collisions, since all sharp edges have been eliminated, favouring very rounded edges."
Pad Chair rests on a welded metallic structure that provides mobility to the swivelling pad, facilitating its use by left- or right-handed students. The movement and adaptability of the pad favors optimum posture and capacity for movement. The lower part of Pad Chair incorporates a space with considerable storage capacity where schoolbags can be stowed. The whole structure is supported by large-diameter wheels that facilitate movement within the classroom.


This three bedroom unit for rent is located at Two Serendra. The unit is semi-furnished. The kitchen is equipped with a fridge and stove with range hood. It also has a laundry room. One of the bedrooms has a pull-out bed, but all bedrooms are complete with A/C units. Rental is inclusive of association dues and one parking slot. The unit also has a balcony. The building is right across Bonifacio High Street.


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Iberian Union
This article is about the historical period. For modern proposals of uniting Iberia, see Iberian Federalism.
Unión Ibérica
Map of the Spanish–Portuguese Empire in 1598.
Territories administered by the Council of Castile
Territories administered by the Council of Aragon
Territories administered by the Council of Portugal
Territories administered by the Council of Italy
Territories administered by the Council of the Indies
Territories appointed to the Council of Flanders
Madrid (de facto)
Common languages
Absolute monarchy under personal union
Philip II and I
• 1598–1621
Philip III and II
Philip IV and III
• War of the Portuguese Succession
• Portuguese Restoration War
Spanish real and Portuguese real
Preceded by Succeeded by
History of Portugal (1415–1578)
Crown of Castile
Crown of Aragon
Habsburg Spain
The Iberian Union was the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Spanish Crown between 1580 and 1640, bringing the entire Iberian Peninsula, as well as Portuguese overseas possessions, under the Spanish Habsburg kings Philip II, Philip III and Philip IV. The union began as a result of the Portuguese crisis of succession and the ensuing War of the Portuguese Succession and lasted 60 years, [1] [2] until the Portuguese Restoration War in which the House of Braganza was established as Portugal's new ruling dynasty.
A dynastic union is a kind of federation with only two different states that are governed by the same dynasty, while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It differs from a personal union in that a personal union is under a monarch, but not under a dynasty, although it depends on the country.
The Kingdom of Portugal was a monarchy on the Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of modern Portugal. It was in existence from 1139 until 1910. After 1415, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, and between 1815 and 1822, it was known as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The name is also often applied to the Portuguese Empire, the realm's extensive overseas colonies.
The Iberian Peninsula, also known as Iberia, is located in the southwest corner of Europe. The peninsula is principally divided between Portugal and Spain, comprising most of their territory, as well as Andorra, small areas of France, and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. With an area of approximately 596,740 square kilometres (230,400 sq mi)), it is both the second largest European peninsula by area, after the Scandinavian Peninsula, and by population, after the Balkan Peninsula.
Continuity in the administrative system
Portuguese Empire challenged
Decline of the Union and revolt of Portugal
Restoration War and the end of the Union
The Habsburg king was the only element of connection between the multiple kingdoms and territories, who ruled by six separate government councils of Castile, Aragon, Portugal, Italy, Flanders, and the Indies. The governments, institutions, and legal traditions of each kingdom remained independent of each other. [3] Alien laws (Leyes de extranjeria) determined that a national of one kingdom was a foreigner in all the other kingdoms. [4] [5]
In law, an alien is a person who is not a citizen or national of a given country, though definitions and terminology differ to some degree depending on the continent or region of the world. The term "alien" is synonymous to "foreign national".
The unification of the peninsula had long been a goal of the region's monarchs with the intent of restoring the Visigothic monarchy. [6] Sancho III of Navarre and Alfonso VII of León and Castile had both taken the title Imperator totius Hispaniae , meaning "Emperor of All Hispania". [7] There were many attempts to unite the different kingdoms after Alfonso VII's death in 1109, especially through a policy of intermarriage. Some of the most famous attempts are those of Miguel da Paz (Michael of Peace), who would inherit the crowns of Portugal, Leon, Castile and Aragon, but who died at a young age; and those of Afonso, Prince of Portugal, who was to marry the eldest daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, if not for his untimely death by an accident in which he fell off his horse.
Alfonso VII, called the Emperor, became the King of Galicia in 1111 and King of León and Castile in 1126. Alfonso, born Alfonso Raimúndez, first used the title Emperor of All Spain, alongside his mother Urraca, once she vested him with the direct rule of Toledo in 1116. Alfonso later held another investiture in 1135 in a grand ceremony reasserting his claims to the imperial title. He was the son of Urraca of León and Raymond of Burgundy, the first of the House of Ivrea to rule in the Iberian peninsula.
Imperator totius Hispaniae is a Latin title meaning "Emperor of all Spain". In Spain in the Middle Ages, the title "emperor" was used under a variety of circumstances from the ninth century onwards, but its usage peaked, as a formal and practical title, between 1086 and 1157. It was primarily used by the kings of León and Castile, but it also found currency in the Kingdom of Navarre and was employed by the counts of Castile and at least one duke of Galicia. It signalled at various points the king's equality with the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and Holy Roman Empire, his rule by conquest or military superiority, his rule over several ethnic or religious groups, and his claim to suzerainty over the other kings of the peninsula, both Christian and Muslim. The use of the imperial title received scant recognition outside of Spain and it had become largely forgotten by the thirteenth century.
Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova, later renamed "Callaecia". From Diocletian's Tetrarchy onwards, the south of remaining Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginensis, and probably then too the Balearic Islands and all the resulting provinces formed one civil diocese under the vicarius for the Hispaniae. The name Hispania was also used in the period of Visigothic rule.
Main article: 1580 Portuguese succession crisis
Political map of the Iberian Peninsula in 1570
The Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578 saw the death of the young king Sebastian. Sebastian's granduncle and successor, Cardinal Henry, was 66 years old at the time. Henry's death was followed by a succession crisis, with three grandchildren of Manuel I claiming the throne: Infanta Catarina, Duchess of Braganza (married to John, 6th Duke of Braganza), António, Prior of Crato, and King Philip II of Spain. António had been acclaimed King of Portugal by the people of Santarém on July 24, 1580, and then in many cities and towns throughout the country. Some members of the Council of Governors of Portugal who had supported Philip escaped to Spain and declared him to be the legal successor of Henry. Philip marched into Portugal and defeated the troops loyal to the Prior of Crato in the Battle of Alcântara. The troops occupying the countryside (Tercios) commanded by the 3rd Duke of Alba arrived in Lisbon. [8] The Duke of Alba imposed on the Portuguese provinces a subjection of Philip before entering Lisbon, where he seized an immense treasure; meanwhile, he allowed his soldiers to sack the vicinity of the capital. [9] Philip was recognized as king by the Cortes of Tomar in 1581, beginning the reign of the House of Habsburg over Portugal. When Philip left in 1583 to Madrid, he made his nephew Albert of Austria his viceroy in Lisbon. In Madrid he established a Council of Portugal to advise him on Portuguese affairs.
The Battle of Alcácer Quibir was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir and Larache, on 4 August 1578. The combatants were the army of the deposed Moroccan Sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammed II, with his ally, the King of Portugal Sebastian I, against a large Moroccan army nominally under the new Sultan of Morocco Abd Al-Malik I.
Sebastian was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz.
Henry was king of Portugal and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He ruled Portugal between 1578 and 1580 and was known as Henry the Chaste and the Cardinal-King. As a clergyman, he was bound to chastity, and as such, had no children to succeed him, and thus an end to the House of Aviz. His death led to the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 and ultimately to the 60-year Iberian Union that saw Portugal share a monarch with that of Spain. The next independent monarch of Portugal would be John IV, who took the throne after 60 years of Spanish rule.
António exploited the opportunity the war between Elizabeth and Philip presented to convince the English into backing an amphibious assault on Portugal in April 1589. Led by Francis Drake and John Norris, the expedition of 120 ships and 19,000 men failed due to poor planning. At the cost of more than £100,000, the English fleet had lost around 40 ships and cost at least 15,000 men their lives. By contrast the Spanish only lost around 900 men. [10]
The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to what was then the Spanish Netherlands under the command of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in support of the resistance of the States General to Spanish Habsburg rule.
Sir Francis Drake was an English sea captain, privateer, slave trader, pirate, naval officer and explorer of the Elizabethan era. Drake carried out the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580, and was the first to complete the voyage as captain while leading the expedition throughout the entire circumnavigation. With his incursion into the Pacific Ocean, he claimed what is now California for the English and inaugurated an era of conflict with the Spanish on the western coast of the Americas, an area that had previously been largely unexplored by western shipping.
Sir John Norris or Norreys, of Rycote, Oxfordshire, and of Yattendon and Notley in Berkshire, was an English soldier, the son of Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys, a lifelong friend of Queen Elizabeth.
Portugal's status was maintained under the first two kings under the Union, Philip II and Philip III. Both monarchs gave excellent positions to Portuguese nobles in the Spanish courts, and Portugal maintained an independent law, currency, and government. It was even proposed to move the royal capital to Lisbon.
Philip III was King of Spain. He was also, as Philip II, King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621.
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The history of Portugal from the dynastic crisis in 1578 to the first Braganza Dynasty monarchs was a period of transition. The Portuguese Empire's spice trade was peaking at the start of this period. It continued to enjoy widespread influence after Vasco da Gama had finally reached the East by sailing around Africa in 1497–98. Vasco da Gama's achievement completed the exploratory efforts inaugurated by Henry the Navigator, and opened an oceanic route for the profitable spice trade into Europe that bypassed the Middle East.
Due to the complexity in the management of government, the Spanish Monarch needed some auxiliary bodies, as the Councils (Consejos), dedicated to the advice and resolution of problems, and submitted to the Monarch's knowledge and dictum. This complexity needed a permanent seat, and the king Philip II of Spain established in 1562 the permanent capital in Madrid, seat of the Royal Court and of the administrative staff, [11] [12] [13] [14] although transferred in Valladolid, with the whole administrative staff, during a brief period (1601–1606). [15]
As for the functioning, the administrative correspondence came to the different Councils, to Madrid, then the secretary of every Council arranged the material that had to deliver for the attention of the king, and later the King assembled with the secretaries requesting the opinion of the Council. After that, the Council answered afterwards a session to treat the issue and to raise the formal consultation to the monarch. The secretary raise the consultation to the king, and was returned to the Council with his response to be executed. The meetings of the Councils took place in the royal palace, and they did not count on the presence of the king habitually. In this poly-synodical system, [16] "Consejo de Estado" (Council of State) stood out for its importance. The Consejo de Estado in Madrid, entrusted to declare on the major decisions that concerned the organization and the defense of the ensemble of the Hispanic monarchy, and it had frequently that to get into Portuguese matters. Even, the Council of War (Consejo de Guerra) exercised its jurisdiction on the troops placed in the Castilian strongholds established on the Portuguese littoral.
And also, there were Councils of territorial character, which functions specialized in a concrete territorial space, the Council of Castile, Council of Aragon, Council of Navarre, Council of Italy, Council of The Indies, Council of Flanders, and the Council of Portugal. The Council of Portugal, established in 1582, was integrated with a president and six (later four) counselors, and it was abolished at the end of the war in 1668, when Charles II of Spain gave up his title as King of Portugal. The function of the Council consists in representing close to the king the courts of the Crown of Portugal for the matters that depend on the justice, grace, finally, the economy of the royal Portuguese domain. Any decision of the king who concerning his Kingdom must do the object of a consultation to the Council before being transmitted to the chancellery of Lisbon and to the concerned courts. The Council of Portugal knows two eclipses: in 1619, for the presence of the King in Lisbon, and between 1639–1658, replaced with the Junta of Portugal. From the Restauração, the Council continued existing, since Philip IV had not recognized the independence of Portugal, and carried out the attending to the faithful Portuguese to the Spanish monarch, and the government of Ceuta. [17]
Relating to the particular government of the kingdom of Portugal itself. During the union of the kingdom of Portugal to the Spanish monarchy, the Spanish Hasburgs on the whole respected the pledges made at Thomar in 1581 to allow considerable Portuguese autonomy and to respected the territories of its empire. Public offices were reserved for Portuguese subjects at home and overseas. The king was represented at Lisbon sometimes by a governor and sometimes by a viceroy. So, Spain left the administration of Portugal and its empire largely to the Portuguese themselves, under general supervision from Madrid channeled through a viceroy in Lisbon. Important matters, however, were referred to Madrid, where they came before the Council of Portugal. In the kingdom of Portugal, the polisynodial system is reinforced:
Council of State. The Conselho de Estado of Lisbon is the King's private Council, entrusted of debating major issues related to the Crown, especially as for foreign policy. The counselors could send their remarks to the king, and the King consulted them through his Viceroy. Although the Conselho de Estado of Lisbon, worked as the great adviser Council of the King's delegate, this Council of State was without clearly defined administrative powers and actually it did not perform relevant role of coordination. The Spanish kings maintained the system of two secretaries of state, one for the kingdom and the other for "India", that is to say, for the colonies, despite several conflicts over jurisdiction, until the creation of the Conselho da Índia in 1604.
In the same way, Spanish kings retained the Mesa da Consciência e Ordens, which was both tribunal and council for religious affairs and was responsible for administering ecclesiastical appintments and for the property of the military orders in the colonies as well as in the home country.
Portuguese Inquisition remained independent from the Mesa da Consciência e Ordens. There were three major courts in Lisbon, Coimbra and Évora.
Also preserved was the Desembargo do Paço. The pinnacle of the entire Portuguese judicial system was the Desembargo do Paço or Royal Board of Justice in Lisbon. This board, the highest court in the kingdom, controlled the appointment of all magistrates and judges and oversaw the Casa da Suplicação or Court of Appeals in Lisbon, as well as the high courts in the Portuguese overseas territories. The first function of the Desembargo do Paço was to control the recruitment of the magistrates (leitura de bacharéis) and to monitor them in the exercise of their charge, its control spreads to the whole of the juridical professions. The Desembargo do Paço had to arbitrate conflicts between other courts of the kingdom. This court granted dispensations, acts of legitimization and another relevant issues about the justice and the grace, and which on occasions advised the king on political and economic as well as judicial matters. Moreover, a commission of jurists set up to reform the legal system produced a new code for Portugal, the Ordenações Filipinas, promulgated in 1603.
The Casa da Suplicação and the Casa do Cível, both are two royal courts of appeal for civil cases as criminal cases. The Casa do Cível exercised jurisdiction over the northern part of the kingdom, and the Casa da Suplicação over the rest on the realm including the islands and overseas.
In 1591, the four Vedores da Fazenda (overseers of the Treasury) were replaced by a Conselho da Fazenda composed of one Vedor da Fazenda presiding over four counsillors (two of them lawyers) and four secretaries. The Conselho da Fazenda exercised a control over the officials of finance, administered the particular king's goods and exercised its jurisdiction over the customs and the arsenals, the court of accounts and the administration of the monopolistic trade with overseas.
From 1604, the newly created Conselho da Índia was invested with powers for all overseas affairs, apart from matters concerning Madeira, the Azores and the strongholds of Morocco, and colonial officials were appointed and their dispatches handled by it. However, it was the Conselho da Fazenda which dealt with naval expeditions, the buying and selling of pepper and the collection of the royal revenues, in fact with all economic business. The Conselho da Índia, therefore, exercised only limited powers. As a creation of the Spanish king, it was regarded with disfavour by the Portuguese and because of the jealousy of the Mesa da Consciência e Ordens disappeared in 1614.
Nevertheless, the political conjuncture need urgent reactions, and in this context a system of meetings appeared for specific issues, as the Junta for the reform of the Council of Portugal (1606–1607, 1610), the Junta for the classification of the debts to the treasury (since 1627) or the Juntas for the organization of the navies of succor of Brazil (since 1637)... [18]
Main article: Dutch–Portuguese War
"Map of the Portuguese liberation of the city of Salvador in Brazil in 1625", João Teixeira Albernaz, o velho, 1631
1630: Dutch siege of Olinda, located in the Brazilian captaincy of Pernambuco, the largest and richest sugar-producing area in the world.
Throughout the 17th century, the increasing predations and surrounding of Portuguese trading posts in the East by the Dutch, English and French, and their rapidly growing intrusion into the Atlantic slave trade, undermined Portugal's near monopoly on the lucrative oceanic spice and slave trades. This sent the Portuguese spice trade into a long decline. The diversion of wealth from Portugal by the Habsburg monarchy to support the Catholic side of the Thirty Years' War also created strains within the union, although Portugal did also benefit from Spanish military power in helping to retain Brazil and in disrupting Dutch trade. These events, and those that occurred at the end of Aviz dynasty and the Iberian Union, led Portugal to a state of dependency on its colonies, first India and then Brazil.
The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign policy, and Spain's enemies became Portugal's. England had been an ally of Portugal since the Treaty of Windsor in 1386. War between Spain and England led to a deterioration of the relations with Portugal's oldest ally, and the loss of Hormuz. English help provided by Elizabeth I of England in a rebellion against the kings assured the survival of the alliance. War with the Dutch led to invasions of many countries in Asia, including Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka), and commercial interests in Japan, Africa (Mina), and South America. Even though Portuguese were unable to capture the entire island of Ceylon, they were able to keep the coastal regions of Ceylon under their control for a considerable time. Brazil was partially conquered by both France and the Seventeen Provinces.
In the 17th Century, taking advantage of this period of Portuguese weakness, many Portuguese territories in Brazil were occupied by the Dutch who gained access to the sugarcane plantations. John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen was appointed as the governor of the Dutch possessions in Brazil in 1637 by the Dutch West India Company. He landed at Recife, the port of Pernambuco, in January 1637. By a series of successful expeditions, he gradually extended the Dutch possessions from Sergipe on the south to São Luís de Maranhão in the north. He likewise conquered the Portuguese possessions of Elmina Castle, Saint Thomas, and Luanda, Angola, on the west coast of Africa. After the dissolution of the Union in 1640, Portugal reestablished its authority over the lost territories of the Portuguese Empire. The Dutch intrusion into Brazil was long lasting and troublesome to Portugal. The Seventeen Provinces captured a large portion of the Brazilian coast including Bahia (and its capital Salvador) and Pernambuco (and its capital Olinda). The whole Brazilian northeast was occupied but the Dutch conquest was short lived. The recapture of Salvador by a Spanish-Portuguese fleet in 1625 was followed by a rapid recovery of the lost territories. The Dutch returned in 1630 and captured Recife and Olinda in the captaincy of Pernambuco, the largest and richest sugar-producing area in the world. This began a war over Brazil, which would see the Dutch establish a colony called New Holland. However, the Second Battle of Guararapes, second and decisive battle in a conflict called Pernambucana Insurrection, ended the Dutch occupation of the Portuguese colony of Brazil.
On the other hand, the Iberian Union opened to both countries a worldwide span of control, as Portugal dominated the African and Asian coasts that surrounded the Indian Ocean, and Spain the Pacific Ocean and both sides of Central and South America, while both shared the Atlantic Ocean space.
Acclamation of John IV as King of Portugal, painting by Veloso Salgado in the Military Museum, Lisbon.
When Philip II of Portugal (Philip III of Spain) died, he was succeeded by Philip III (and IV of Spain) who had a different approach on Portuguese issues. Taxes raised affected mainly the Portuguese merchants (Carmo Reis 1987). The Portuguese nobility began to lose its importance at the Spanish Cortes, and government posts in Portugal were occupied by Spaniards. Ultimately, Philip III tried to make Portugal a royal province, and Portuguese nobles lost all of their power.
Several other problems also damaged Portuguese support of their union with Spain. One of these was certainly the pressure from the center, especially from the Count-Duke of Olivares, towards uniformity and sharing the financial and military burden of Castile's wars in Europe. However, the Portuguese were hardly inclined to help with that, as Spain had failed to prevent the Dutch occupation of several of Portugal's colonial holdings, despite the fact that both the Portuguese and the Spanish were nominally under the same crown. [20]
This situation culminated in a revolution by the nobility and high bourgeoisie on December 1, 1640, 60 years after the crowning of Philip I. This revolution, while foreseeable, was most immediately sparked by a popular Catalan Revolt against the Crown. The plot was planned by Antão Vaz de Almada, Miguel de Almeida and João Pinto Ribeiro. They, together with several associates, known as the Forty Conspirators, took advantage of the fact that the Castilian troops were occupied in the other side of the peninsula. The rebels killed Secretary of State Miguel de Vasconcelos and imprisoned the king's cousin, the Duchess of Mantua, who had governed Portugal in his name. The moment was well chosen, as Philip's troops were at the time fighting the Thirty Years' War in addition to the previously mentioned revolution in Catalonia. [21]
The support of the people became apparent almost immediately and soon John, 8th Duke of Braganza, was acclaimed King of Portugal throughout the country as John IV. By December 2, 1640, John had already sent a letter to the Municipal Chamber of Évora as sovereign of the country.
The subsequent Portuguese Restoration War against Philip III (Portuguese : Guerra da Restauração) consisted mainly of small skirmishes near the border. The most significant battles were the Battle of the Lines of Elvas (1659), the Battle of Ameixial (1663), the Battle of Castelo Rodrigo (1664), and the Battle of Montes Claros (1665); the Portuguese were victorious in all of these battles. However, the Spaniards won the Battle of Vilanova (1658) and the Battle of the Berlengas (1666). The Battle of Montijo (1644) was indecisive, starting out with great Spanish success and ending with Portuguese success; the number of casualties were nearly equal.
Several decisions made by John IV to strengthen his forces made these victories possible. On December 11, 1640, the Council of War was created to organize all the operations. [22] Next, the king created the Junta of the Frontiers, to take care of the fortresses near the border, the hypothetical defense of Lisbon, and the garrisons and sea ports. In December 1641, a tenancy was created to assure upgrades on all fortresses that would be paid with regional taxes. John IV also organized the army, established the Military Laws of King Sebastian, and developed intense diplomatic activity focused on restoring good relations with England. Meanwhile, the best Spanish forces were pre-occupied with their battles against the French in Catalonia, along the Pyrenees, Italy and the Low Countries. The Spanish forces in Portugal never received adequate support. Nevertheless, Philip IV felt he could not give up what he regarded as his rightful inheritance. By the time the war with France ended in 1659, the Portuguese military were well established and ready to confront the last major attempt of a worn out Spanish regime to reclaim control.
English soldiers were sent to Portugal and helped the Portuguese rout Don John's army at Ameixial near Estremoz on June 8, 1663. The Spaniards lost 8,000 men and all their artillery while the Portuguese had only 2,000 casualties. On July 7, 1664 about 3,000 Portuguese met 7,000 Spaniards near Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo and killed 2,000 and took 500 prisoners. Many Spanish communities lost population and blamed their decline on the war against Portugal. Louis XIV sent French troops to Lisbon, and on June 17, 1665 the German General Friedrich Hermann Schomberg led about 20,000 Portuguese forces to victory at Montes Claros near Vila Viçosa with only 700 killed and 2,000 wounded. The Spanish army of 22,600 men was devastated with 4,000 dead and 6,000 captured. Protests erupted in Madrid as Spain had wasted 25 million ducats on the disastrous Portuguese war. The Spanish tried to carry on the war for two years more. Spain recognized Portugal's sovereignty and made peace on February 13, 1668.
History of Portugal
Dom John V, known as the Magnanimous and the Portuguese Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Braganza who ruled as King of Portugal during the first half of the 18th century. John V's reign saw the rise of Portugal and its monarchy to new levels of prosperity, wealth, and prestige among European courts.
John IV, nicknamed John the Restorer, was the King of Portugal whose reign, lasting from 1640 until his death, led to the Portuguese "restoration" of independence from Spanish rule. His accession established the house of Braganza on the Portuguese throne, and marked the end of the 60-year-old Iberian Union, by which Portugal and Spain shared the same monarch.
DomPedro II, nicknamed "the Pacific", was the King of Portugal from 1683 until his death, previously serving as regent for his brother Afonso VI from 1668 until his own accession. He was the fifth and last child of John IV and Luisa de Guzmán.
The Most Serene House of Braganza, also known as the Brigantine Dynasty, is a dynasty of emperors, kings, princes, and dukes of Portuguese origin which reigned in Europe and the Americas.
The Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 came about as a result of the deaths of young King Sebastian I of Portugal in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578 and his successor and great-uncle Henry I in 1580. As Sebastian and Henry had no immediate heirs, these events prompted a dynastic crisis, with internal and external battles between several pretenders to the Portuguese throne; in addition, because Sebastian's body was never found, several impostors emerged over the next several years claiming to be the young king, further confusing the situation. Ultimately, Philip II of Spain gained control of the country, uniting the Portuguese and Spanish Crowns in the Iberian Union, a personal union that would last for sixty years, during which time the Portuguese Empire declined.
The Philippine Dynasty, also known as the House of Habsburg in Portugal, was the third royal house of Portugal. It was named after the three Spanish kings who ruled Portugal between 1581 and 1640 in a dynastic union of the two crowns. The three kings, all named Philip, were from the House of Habsburg.
Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal and Prince of Asturias was a Portuguese royal prince, son of King Manuel I of Portugal and his first wife, Isabella of Aragon, Princess of Asturias (1470-1498).
From the restoration of the House of Braganza in 1640 until the end of the reign of the Marquis of Pombal in 1777, the kingdom of Portugal was in a period of transition. Having been near its height at the start of the Iberian Union, the Portuguese Empire continued to enjoy the widespread influence in the world during this period that had characterized the period of the Discoveries. By the end of this period, however, the fortunes of Portugal and its empire had declined, culminating with the Távora affair, the catastrophic 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and the accession of Maria I, the first ruling Queen of Portugal.
The Portuguese Restoration War was the name given by nineteenth-century Romantic historians to the war between Portugal and Spain that began with the Portuguese revolution of 1640 and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668, bringing a formal end to the Iberian Union. The period from 1640 to 1668 was marked by periodic skirmishes between Portugal and Spain, as well as short episodes of more serious warfare, much of it occasioned by Spanish and Portuguese entanglements with non-Iberian powers. Spain was involved in the Thirty Years' War until 1648 and the Franco–Spanish War until 1659, while Portugal was involved in the Dutch–Portuguese War until 1663.
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza.
Portugal–Spain relations describes relations between the governments of the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain. The two states make up the vast majority of the Iberian Peninsula and as such, the relationship between the two is sometimes known as Iberian relations.
The Portuguese East India Company was a short-lived ill-fated attempt by Philip III of Portugal to create a national chartered company to look after interests in Portuguese India in the face of encroachment by the Dutch and English following the personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish Crowns.
In the Medieval Kingdom of Portugal, the Cortes was an assembly of representatives of the estates of the realm – the nobility, clergy and bourgeoisie. It was called and dismissed by the King of Portugal at will, at a place of his choosing. Cortes which brought all three estates together are sometimes distinguished as Cortes-Gerais, in contrast to smaller assemblies which brought only one or two estates, to negotiate a specific point relevant only to them.
The Third Fernandine War was the last conflict of the Fernandine Wars, and took place between 1381–1382, between the Crown of Castile and the Kingdoms of Portugal and England. When Henry II of Castile died in 1379, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster claimed their rights of the throne of the Kingdom of Castile, and again found an ally in Ferdinand I of Portugal.
Francisco de Lucena was a Portuguese nobleman and King John IV's first Secretary of State, and the first after the Restoration War and end of the Iberian Union. He made many enemies during his term in office, and was rumoured to be fraternising with the Spanish Crown, which led to his imprisonment and, later, his execution.
The Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa is a royal palace in Portugal, located in the civil parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, in the municipality of Vila Viçosa, in the Alentejo, situated about 150 km east of the capital Lisbon. It was for many centuries the seat of House of Braganza, one of the most important noble houses in Portugal which was the ruling house of the Kingdom of Portugal from 1640 until 1910 when King Manuel II, titular head of the family, was deposed in the 5 October 1910 Revolution which brought in a Republican government.
The Portuguese Crown Jewels were the pieces of jewelry, regalia, and vestments worn by the Monarchs of Portugal during the time of the Portuguese Monarchy. Over the nine centuries of Portuguese history, the Portuguese Crown Jewels have lost and gained many pieces. Most of the current set of the Portuguese Crown Jewels are from the reigns of King João VI and King Luís I.
D. Cristóvão de Moura e Távora was a Portuguese nobleman who led the Spanish party during the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580.
↑ António Henrique R. de Oliveira Marques, History of Portugal. 1972, page 322. Boris Fausto, A Concise History of Brazil, page 40.
↑ Indicaciones sobre la investigacion "Ciudadanía, identidades complejas y cultura política en los manuales escolares españoles".Centro de Investigación MANES
there is consensus among professional historians that the most adequate term is Hispanic monarchy
↑ The "Spanish Century" [ unreliable source? ]
↑ Valdés, Manuel Alvarez-Valdés y (1991). La extranjería en la historia del derecho español (in Spanish). Universidad de Oviedo. ISBN 9788474687378.
↑ LA CONDICIÓN JURÍDICA DE "ESPANOL" COMO PRODUCTO DEL DERECHO INDIANO
↑ DEBATE SOBRE LA IDENTIDAD DE ESPAÑA. El Mundo
↑ Notice that, before the emergence of the modern country of Spain (beginning with the dynastic union of Castile and Aragon in 1479, followed by political unification in 1516), the Latin word Hispania , in any of the Iberian Romance languages, either in singular or plural forms (also rendered in English as Spain or Spains), was used to refer to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, and not, as in modern usage, for a country of Spain to the exclusion of Portugal.
↑ Geoffrey Parker The army of Flanders and the Spanish road, London, 1972 ISBN 0-521-08462-8, p. 35
↑ Henry Kamen, The duke of Alba (New Haven–London: Yale University Press, 2004), Pp. x + 204.
↑ "The Tudor Invasion of Spain: How Elizabeth I's English Armada ended in humiliation".
↑ Madrid - Google Libros. Books.google.es. 2006. ISBN 9781740598590 . Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ John Horace Parry, ''The Spanish seaborne empire'', University of California Press, 1990. Books.google.es. 1990. ISBN 9780520071407 . Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ Stephen J. Lee, ''Aspects of European history, 1494-1789'', Routledge (1984). Books.google.es. 1984. ISBN 9780415027847 . Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ Torbjørn L. Knutsen, ''The rise and fall of world orders'', Manchester University Press (1999). Books.google.es. 1999. ISBN 9780719040580 . Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ Alastair Boyd, ''The Companion guide to Madrid and central Spain'', Companion Guides (2002). Books.google.es. 2002. ISBN 9781900639378 . Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ "Stephen J. Lee, ''Aspects of European history, 1494-1789'', Routledge (1984)". Google.es. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ "Santiago de Luxán Meléndez, ''La pervivencia del Consejo de Portugal durante la Restauración: 1640-1668'', Norba. Revista de historia, ISSN 0213-375X, Nº 8-9, 1987-1988, p.61-86". Dialnet.unirioja.es. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ Julio Valdeón Baruque, ''Revueltas y revoluciones en la historia'', Universidad de Salamanca (1990). Books.google.es. 1990. ISBN 9788474815863 . Retrieved 2010-08-22.
↑ "Recife—A City Made by Sugar". Awake!. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
↑ Elliot, J.H. (2002). Imperial Spain: 1469-1716. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 337–338. ISBN 0-14-100703-6.
↑ (Mattoso Vol. VIII 1993)
Leslie Bethell, The Cambridge history of Latin America, Cambridge University Press (1984)
Jean-Frédéric Schaub, Le Portugal Au Temps Du Conde-duc D'olivares, Casa de Velázquez (2001)
Luis Suárez Fernández, José Andrés Gallego, La Crisis de la hegemonía española, siglo XVII, Ediciones Rialp (1986)
Topics related to the Portuguese monarchy
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Home » Encyclopedia Entry » Mount Mitchell
Mount Mitchell
Written by Jonathan Martin
Found in Yancey County, Mount Mitchell is the largest mountain in North Carolina. The tall peak is part of the 15-mile long Black Mountain Range; the range itself contains six of the ten tallest mountains in the eastern United States. At 6,684 feet, Mt. Mitchell remains the highest point in the state as well as in the eastern part of the country.
Of the many mountain Native American tribes, the Cherokee were the prominent tribe to hunt and explore Mt. Mitchell before the arrival of European settlers. After the American Revolution, white settlers had crowded the Cherokee out of the Black Mountain Region and away from the state's tallest peak.
Andre Michaux, a French scientist and botanist, is believed by some historians to be the first European to climb Mt. Mitchell in 1789. John Fraser, an English counterpart to the French botanist Michaux, explored the region during the late 1700s. Fraser fir trees, naturally found in the Black Mountains, are named for the English botanist.
Mt. Mitchell is named in honor of Elisha Mitchell, a professor who taught at the University of North Carolina. In the mid-1830s, Mitchell explored the Black Mountains and studied its height of through barometer readings. During this time, many scientists had assumed Grandfather was the tallest peak in North Carolina, but these claims were eventually rebutted by Mitchell's study.
After Professor Mitchell revisited the region in 1838 and 1844, he "determined that the highest point in eastern America was in the Black Mountains, rather than in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, as was previously believed" (Powell, p. 769). Mitchell concluded that Mt. Mitchell was 6,672 feet tall, only twelve feet off the true height of the mountain.
Congressman and former student of Mitchell's, Thomas Clingman, debated whether Mitchell's calculations were correct. After Mitchell had made his calculations, Professor Mitchell and Congressman Clingman argued over the location of North Carolina's highest mountain. During the summer months of 1857, Mitchell sought to build upon his claim and he embarked on a hike on Mount Mitchell. However, his journey proved fatal "when he slipped and fell from cliff near a 40-foot waterfall, hitting his head and drowning"; he was sixty-three years old (Powell, p. 770).
After Mitchell's death his body was eventually interred at the summit of Mt. Mitchell. Governor Zebulon Vance became an ardent support of Mitchell's evidence, and the mountain was named in his honor.
In 1940, the North Carolina public finally had access to the tallest peak in the state when a public road was completed. Eight years later, N.C. Highway 128 was finished offering tourists a new parkway to view and travel to the mountain. The greatest boost to tourism occurred with the completion of the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1950. That same year 200,000 tourists visited the peak.
Mt. Mitchell became a national park in the 1970s. Yet, the community around the mountain fought the idea, and Mt. Mitchell remained a state park. In the mid 1990s, pollution and insect problems caused an extinction of the balsam forests at Mt. Mitchell's summit. Scientists speculated that pollution had weakened the balsam trees's defense to insect predators. Today, it remains uncertain whether the balsam forests will grow back in the Mt. Mitchell region.
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, declared Mt. Mitchell an International Biosphere Resources in 1993. Since its distinction, Mt. Mitchell entered "an elite group of sites throughout the world that are protected for the purpose of discovering the solutions to problems of conservation, sustainable development, and other issues" (Powell, p. 770).
"Elisha Mitchell." North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program website. A Division of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. (Accessed March 7, 2012).
"Mount Mitchell State Park – History." North Carolina State Parks website. http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/momi/history.php, (accessed March 7, 2012).
"Mount Mitchell." William S. Powell, ed. Encyclopedia of North Carolina (University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, NC 2006).


Isabella County Parks offer a picture perfect setting for your wedding. If a wedding on the beach is what you dream of, consider the sandy beaches at Coldwater Lake Family Park. Perhaps a rustic setting is more your style? Featured here is the Covered Bridge at Deerfield Nature Park.
For more information on weddings at Isabella County Parks, call the parks main office at (989) 317-4083.


The Accountant is an important member of the Laurel Aggregates team who provides support to the Controller through various tasks. This position will serve as an integral part of our General Accounting staff and will assist in accounting procedures abiding by GAAP regulations, in addition to any special projects, as needed.
Additional duties may include but are not limited to: maintaining company vehicle listing, ensuring vehicles have up-to-date registrations, and assisting in daily procedure reviews to maximize efficiencies, along with other various duties.


'These findings may be important for the use of a bed of nails as a device for physiologic recovery and increased relaxation'. Book 1 - Reflexo-Therapy from Kuznetsov's applicator to Shakti Mats The author, Tanya Zilberter, is a PhD graduate in Neurophysiology.
If you've never used a bed of nails or an acupressure mat, you'd be pleasantly surprised at how little pain is involved. There is initial discomfort in the beginning followed by blissful relaxation. There is initial discomfort in the beginning followed by blissful relaxation.


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Kourtney Kardashian annoyed by fans who keep asking if she's pregnant
United States,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood
International, Cinema/Showbiz, National, United States, Hollywood Read Latest News and Articles
Los Angeles, Dec 2 (IANS) Reality TV personality Kourtney Kardashian seemingly gets annoyed by her fans who keep asking her if she's pregnant.
Taking to her social media account, the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" alum shut down the swirling rumours, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Kourtney posted a racy photograph of herself swimming in a pool in a purple bikini with Travis Barker.
In the picture, the mom of three could be seen packing on some PDA with her fiance.
"Life with you," she simply captioned her post.
In the comment section, one of her fans left a comment that read, "Not to be that girl but? is that a preg belly."
The message led a frustrated Kourtney to clap back, "Are we really gonna do this every time I post a photo?"
Prior to this, it's reported that Kourtney, who shares 10-year-old Mason, 7-year-old Penelope and 5-year-old Reign with her ex Scott Disick, would "love nothing more than to have a baby together" with Barker.
It's also said that the soon-to-be-married couple, who got engaged at the Rosewood Miramar in Montecito, California on October 19, was hoping to be "expecting" by next year.
"Kourtney has always wanted another baby and never felt like she was done. Now that she's with Travis, she wants it even more," a source said in October.
Another source shared that the Kardashian-Jenner family wholeheartedly supports the lovebirds to have a baby as they stepped on a new level in their relationship.
The source said: "They are both really great parents and enjoy spending time with their families."
The so-called inside source added that Barker "has been known to be such an amazing dad, so it seems like the natural thing for them to do."
"Ideally, Kourtney would like a natural birth. She's confident it won't be a problem because she's always been lucky to conceive naturally and has taken great care of herself physically," the source claimed.
"Certainly though, she and Travis want to bring their own child into the picture, and if she can't conceive, they'll look at other alternatives. He's been so kind and gracious to her and Scott's (kids) too."
dc/


| In recent years there have been rising concerns on the ways we raise cattle being incredibly water intensive and inhumane at best. Some conscientious consumers are moving away from beef consumption and switching their main protein source to fish, the industry surrounding which is free of those particular problems. But if I tell you that illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, which takes up a large proportion of the fish we consume daily, leads to massive human trafficking problems, starvation of huge population in the Global South and various irreversible environmental problems, would you still think consuming more fish is a good idea?
Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, or IUU for short, has been causing a series of problems that are extremely resistant to enforcement, causing $23.5 billion of loss worldwide every year. Its environmental damage has been known to us for a long time. With 84 percent of the world fish stocks already fully exploited, overexploited or depleted by fishing industries, IUU pushes things over the edge. Unregulated pirate ships and opportunistic fishermen catching in illegal territories constitute only a limited portion of IUU in the world. Much of unreported fishing is done by legitimate fishing vessels. The most common type of unreported fishing is bycatch, which refers to non-targeted species being caught during the fishing process, and it has resulted in enormous amount of unnecessary marine life loss. For instance, the average discard rate of shrimp trawling in the world is 5.7:1, which means 1 pound of fish die for every 6 pounds of shrimps we capture. Many marine species have severely been endangered because of bycatch, including sea turtles, dolphins and albatross.
However, there are darker secrets of IUU that are not known to most people. In a study carried out by United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime in 2011 called "Transnational Organized Crime in the Fishing Industry", a variety of human rights violations and methods of human trafficking are revealed, and the paper commented that "perhaps the most disturbing finding of the study was the severity of the abuse of fishers trafficked for the purpose of forced labor on board fishing vessels. These practices can only be described as cruel and inhumane treatment in the extreme… A particularly disturbing facet of this form of exploitation is the frequency of trafficking in children in the fishing industry." The paper also pointed out that illicit drug trafficking is also a prominent phenomenon among illegal fishing vessels.
The impacts of IUU on the Global South have been especially catastrophic. For instance, West Africa suffers disproportionately from illegal fishing, annually losing over $1.3 billion worth of fish to it. IUU left millions of people with small fragile fish stocks and a run-down job market. It imperils the main source of protein of their population, threatens a quarter of their jobs and trade, and destroys their communities.
How are we responsible for all these abominations, one might ask. Just in 2012 alone, it is estimated that consumers in the United States spent $82.6 billion for fishery products, of which more than 90 percent is actually imported. The primary reason why we imported so much of our seafood was that fishery goods are cheaper when captured by countries from the Global South which are far much less likely to monitor and enforce fishing regulations. Africa has been the prime victim of IUU particularly because of this. What's worse, it's been indicated by United Nations that there might be corruption in the fishing licensing and control system, leading to foreign corporate entities operating ships with flags registered under developing countries unable or unwilling to enforce their criminal jurisdiction. This means that a lot of these so-called imported fishery products are in fact caught by vessels from developed countries flying flags of developing countries, and these illegal procedures are left neglected and uninvestigated when the goods are imported. Make no mistake. We knowingly chose to ignore the IUU that goes on in the fishing industries, just like how we knowingly chose to outsource so much basic industrial manufacturing to the Global South where countries don't have the capability or intention to tackle issues regarding human rights and the environment.
The effects of IUU show us once more that the living standards we are enjoying have been, not figuratively, not hyperbolically, but truly, at the devastating expense of so many others' well-being. There is no doubt that fishery regulations and enforcement need to be improved. But more importantly, we have to recognize that industries surrounding IUU are only there because of our infinite need of consumption. We have to realize there is no simple responsible alternative for consumption left. Our only responsible option is to start consuming less.


The final UCI World Championships of 2018 take place this weekend in Liège, Belgium, where artistic cyclists and cycle-ball teams will battle for the rainbow jersey.
Five artistic cycling World titles are up for grabs at the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships, with four of the reigning UCI World Champions in Liège to defend their titles.
Friday evening will be special for defending ACT 4 Open UCI World Champions RV Sirnach (Switzerland). Céline Burlet, Jennifer Schmid, Melanie Schmid and Flavia Zuber will be taking their curtain call after a glorious career that has seen them win the World title three times since 2014, missing out only in 2015.
Again favourites in Liège, they will face fierce competition from RSV Steinhöring/GER. The team boasts another new line-up for this year's event, with Katharina Gülich the only rider to have represented the side since 2010. The team from Slovakia, SKC Kolarovo also has some new members, while the only mixed team in the competition (Höchst/AUT) will be determined to finally take home a medal this year in their third bid for a podium place.
In the Women Single competition, another two Swiss riders will be making their final appearances at the Worlds: Swiss National Champion Nathalie Walter (Löhningen) and Switzerland's record holder Seraina Waibel (Pfungen).
The leading favourite for gold in this category is defending UCI World Champion Milena Slupina (Bernlohe/GER). Her challengers include World Championships new-comer Iris Schwarzhaupt (Stuttgart/GER) and 2015 UCI World Champion Adriana Mathis (Meiningen/AUT). Fans are eagerly anticipating the return of Denise Boller (Gisingen/AUT), who has had two children since winning the competition in 2010 and last competed at the event in 2013.
All eyes will be on two-time UCI World Champion Lukas Kohl (Kirchehrenbach/GER) in the Men Single category. 2017 runner-up Moritz Herbst (Wendlingen/GER) is expected to provide a solid challenge to his superiority, with Chin To Wong (HKG), Lukas Burri (SUI) and Martin Schön (HUN) also in the mix.
In the Pairs Open event, reigning UCI World Champions Serafin Schefold and Max Hanselmann (Öhringen) will have to fend off up-and-coming European Champions Patrick Tisch and Nina Stapf (Magstadt), while Swiss mixed duo Lukas Burri and Fabienne Hammerschmidt (Uzwil) and brothers Hin Jeff and Leung Lim Tsz (HKG) will also be vying for a place on the podium.
The retirement of sisters Nadja and Julia Thürmer (GER) means there will be new UCI World Champions in the Pairs Women event this year. Main contenders include UCI World Cup winners Caroline Wurth and Sophie-Marie Nattmann (Gutach/GER), and their compatriots Lena and Lea Bringsken (Böhl-Iggelheim/GER), who will also have their eyes on gold after three successive silver medals.
The cycle-ball tournament in Liège promises to be exciting with the presence of reigning UCI World Champions – cousins Bernd and Gerhard Mlady (RMC Stein/GER)) – but also the Austrian pairing of Patrick Schnetzer and Markus Bröll from RC Höchst who will be doing their level best to win back the rainbow jersey.
Schnetzer/Bröll won four titles together between 2013 and 2016 before their run came to an end last year – on home soil, of all places, in Dornbirn. This season, the two of them again went unbeaten right up until the final UCI World Cup ranking tournament in their own stadium, ensuring that they will be looking for revenge over the Germans in Liège.
Switzerland has an outside chance of success with the newly-formed partnership of Roman Schneider and Paul Looser (RS Altdorf). The two have plenty of World Cup success with previous partners and will be a force to be reckoned with.
Experience is also the order of the day for the Czechs, who are banking on two-time World Champion Jiri Hrdlicka Sr. (2003/2008) and Pavel Loskot (SC Svitavka). Local favourites Brecht Damen/Niels Dirikx (Beringen) will make the most of home advantage, while Quentin Seyfried will be hoping to create an upset or two when he teams up with his brother Mathias for the first time.
In Group B, Liechtenstein are eyeing promotion in just their second appearance. Lukas and Markus Schönenberger won the B category in their World Cup debut in 2017 but lost the relegation play-off against France on penalties.


Telesales and database marketing firm TMone.com has announced licensing availability of its proprietary broadband marketing database. The database will be available for direct mail marketing use, and the companys telesales division will maintain exclusivity regarding the use of the database's telephone numbers.
TMone, which has acquired new subscribers for companies such as Packet8 and Cordia, will continue to execute telesales on behalf of companies wishing to use the database.
The database consists of high-speed Internet consumers that have purchased broadband access such as cable, DSL or FTTH from companies like AT&T Inc., BellSouth Corp. and others. It is equipped with demographic and lifestyle information, which is overlaid with traditional files to enable multiple selection options. The broadband file is passed regularly through hygiene processes and can be suppressed against or appended to current customer and prospect files, which allows the licensee to generate records under a net name scenario. In addition, the database is scrubbed against the NCOA (national change of address) database provided by the United States Postal Service to maintain high deliverability.
For the first time in the history of the program, households can obtain subsidies for standalone broadband service as well as bundled voice and data service packages.
Fifty professionally-designed layouts change every month automatically without clients doing anything.
Telesystem's new Elite Agent coordinator will serve as dedicated support for the company's partner program.