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"Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus Myristica. Myristica fragrans (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, and mace, from the seed covering. It is also a commercial source of an essential oil and nutmeg butter. The California nutmeg, Torreya californica, has a seed of similar appearance, but is not closely related to Myristica fragrans, and is not used as a spice. Indonesia is the main producers of nutmeg and mace. If consumed in amounts exceeding its typical use as a spice, nutmeg powder may produce allergic reactions, cause contact dermatitis, or have psychoactive effects. Although used in traditional medicine for treating various disorders, nutmeg has no known medicinal value. Common nutmeg Nutmeg is the spice made by grinding the seed of the fragrant nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) tree into powder. The spice has a distinctive pungent fragrance and a warm slightly sweet taste; it is used to flavor many kinds of baked goods, confections, puddings, potatoes, meats, sausages, sauces, vegetables, and such beverages as eggnog. The seeds are dried gradually in the sun over a period of six to eight weeks. During this time the nutmeg shrinks away from its hard seed coat until the kernels rattle in their shells when shaken. The shell is then broken with a wooden club and the nutmegs are picked out. Dried nutmegs are grayish brown ovals with furrowed surfaces. The nutmegs are roughly egg-shaped, about long and wide, weighing dried. Two other species of genus Myristica with different flavors, M. malabarica and M. argentea, are sometimes used to adulterate nutmeg as a spice. Mace Mace Mace is the spice made from the reddish seed covering (aril) of the nutmeg seed. Its flavour is similar to nutmeg but more delicate; it is used to flavour baked goods, meat, fish, vegetables and in preserving and pickling. In the processing of mace, the crimson-colored aril is removed from the nutmeg seed that it envelops and is flattened out and dried for 10 to 14 days. Its color changes to pale yellow, orange, or tan. Whole dry mace consists of flat pieces—smooth, horny, and brittle—about 40 mm (1.6 in) long. Botany and cultivation Nutmeg tree (Myristica fragrans) The most important commercial species is the common, true or fragrant nutmeg, Myristica fragrans (Myristicaceae), native to the Moluccas (or Spice Islands) of Indonesia. It is also cultivated on Penang Island in Malaysia, in the Caribbean, especially in Grenada, and in Kerala, a state formerly known as Malabar in ancient writings as the hub of spice trading, in southern India. In the 17th-century work Hortus Botanicus Malabaricus, Hendrik van Rheede records that Indians learned the usage of nutmeg from the Indonesians through ancient trade routes. Nutmeg trees are dioecious plants which are propagated sexually (seeds) and asexually (cuttings or grafting). Sexual propagation yields 50% male seedlings, which are unproductive. As there is no reliable method of determining plant sex before flowering in the sixth to eighth year, and sexual reproduction bears inconsistent yields, grafting is the preferred method of propagation. Epicotyl grafting (a variation of cleft grafting using seedlings), approach grafting, and patch budding have proved successful, with epicotyl grafting being the most widely adopted standard. Air layering is an alternative though not preferred method because of its low (35–40%) success rate. The first harvest of nutmeg trees takes place seven to nine years after planting, and the trees reach full production after twenty years. Culinary uses Indonesian manisan pala (nutmeg sweets) =Spice= Nutmeg and mace have similar sensory qualities, with nutmeg having a slightly sweeter and mace a more delicate flavour. Mace is often preferred in light dishes for the bright orange, saffron-like hue it imparts. Nutmeg is used for flavouring many dishes, and nowadays is mostly found in Western supermarkets in ground or grated form. Whole nutmeg can also be ground at home using a grater specifically designed for nutmeg or a multi-purpose grating tool. In Indonesian cuisine, nutmeg is used in various dishes, mainly in many spicy soups, such as some variant of soto, konro, oxtail soup, sup iga (ribs soup), bakso and sup kambing. It is also used in gravy for meat dishes, such as semur beef stew, ribs with tomato, and European derived dishes such as bistik (beef steak), rolade (minced meat roll) and bistik lidah (beef tongue steak). In Indian cuisine, nutmeg is used in many sweet, as well as savoury, dishes. In Kerala Malabar region, grated nutmeg is used in meat preparations and also sparingly added to desserts for the flavour. It may also be used in small quantities in garam masala. Ground nutmeg is also smoked in India. In traditional European cuisine, nutmeg and mace are used especially in potato dishes and in processed meat products; they are also used in soups, sauces, and baked goods. It is also commonly used in rice pudding. In Dutch cuisine, nutmeg is added to vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and string beans. Nutmeg is a traditional ingredient in mulled cider, mulled wine, and eggnog. In Scotland, mace and nutmeg are usually both ingredients in haggis. In Italian cuisine, nutmeg is used as part of the stuffing for many regional meat-filled dumplings like tortellini, as well as for the traditional meatloaf. Nutmeg is a common spice for pumpkin pie and in recipes for other winter squashes, such as baked acorn squash. In the Caribbean, nutmeg is often used in drinks, such as the Bushwacker, Painkiller, and Barbados rum punch. Typically, it is a sprinkle on top of the drink. =Fruit= The pericarp (fruit covering) is used to make jam, or is finely sliced, cooked with sugar, and crystallised to make a fragrant candy. Sliced nutmeg fruit flesh is made as manisan (sweets), either wet, which is seasoned in sugary syrup liquid, or dry coated with sugar, a dessert called manisan pala in Indonesia. In Penang cuisine, dried, shredded nutmeg rind with sugar coating is used as toppings on the uniquely Penang ais kacang. Nutmeg rind is also blended (creating a fresh, green, tangy taste and white colour juice) or boiled (resulting in a much sweeter and brown juice) to make iced nutmeg juice. In Kerala Malabar region of India, it is used for juice, pickles and chutney. Essential oil The essential oil obtained by steam distillation of ground nutmeg is used in the perfumery and pharmaceutical industries. The volatile fraction contains dozens of terpenes and phenylpropanoids, including d-pinene, limonene, d-borneol, l-terpineol, geraniol, safrol, and myristicin. In its pure form, myristicin is a toxin, and consumption of excessive amounts of nutmeg can result in myristicin poisoning. The oil is colorless or light yellow, and smells and tastes of nutmeg. It is used as a natural food flavoring in baked goods, syrups, beverages, and sweets. It is used to replace ground nutmeg, as it leaves no particles in the food. The essential oil is also used in the manufacturing of toothpaste and cough syrups. Nutmeg butter Nutmeg butter is obtained from the nut by expression. It is semisolid, reddish-brown in colour, and has the taste and smell of nutmeg itself. About 75% (by weight) of nutmeg butter is trimyristin, which can be turned into myristic acid, a 14-carbon fatty acid, which can be used as a replacement for cocoa butter, can be mixed with other fats like cottonseed oil or palm oil, and has applications as an industrial lubricant. History Map of the Banda Islands The earliest evidence of nutmeg usage comes in the form of 3,500 year old potsherd residues from the island of Pulau Ai, one of the Banda Islands in eastern Indonesia. The Banda Islands consist of eleven small volcanic islands, and are part of the larger Maluku Islands group. These islands were the only source of nutmeg and mace production until the mid-19th century. In the 6th century AD, nutmeg spread to India, then further west to Constantinople. By the 13th century, Arab traders had pinpointed the origin of nutmeg to the Indonesian islands, but kept this location a secret from European traders. = Colonial era = The Banda Islands became the scene of the earliest European ventures in Asia, in order to get a grip on the spice trade. In August 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca, which at the time was the hub of Asian trade, on behalf of the king of Portugal. In November of the same year, after having secured Malacca and learning of Banda's location, Albuquerque sent an expedition of three ships led by his friend António de Abreu to find it. Malay pilots, either recruited or forcibly conscripted, guided them via Java, the Lesser Sundas, and Ambon to the Banda Islands, arriving in early 1512. The first Europeans to reach the Banda Islands, the expedition remained for about a month, buying and filling their ships with Banda's nutmeg and mace, and with cloves in which Banda had a thriving entrepôt trade. An early account of Banda is in Suma Oriental, a book written by the Portuguese apothecary Tomé Pires, based in Malacca from 1512 to 1515. Full control of this trade by the Portuguese was not possible, and they remained participants without a foothold in the islands. In order to obtain a monopoly on the production and trade of nutmeg, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) waged a bloody battle with the Bandanese in 1621. Historian Willard Hanna estimated that before this struggle the islands were populated by approximately 15,000 people, and only 1,000 were left (the Bandanese were killed, starved while fleeing, exiled or sold as slaves). The Company constructed a comprehensive nutmeg plantation system on the islands during the 17th century. As a result of the Dutch interregnum during the Napoleonic Wars, the British invaded and temporarily took control of the Banda Islands from the Dutch and transplanted nutmeg trees, complete with soil, to Sri Lanka, Penang, Bencoolen, and Singapore.Giles Milton, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, 1999, London: Hodder and Stoughton, From these locations they were transplanted to their other colonial holdings elsewhere, notably Zanzibar and Grenada. The national flag of Grenada, adopted in 1974, shows a stylised split-open nutmeg fruit. The Dutch retained control of the Spice Islands until World War II. It has been suggested that Connecticut received its nickname ("the Nutmeg State", "Nutmegger") from the claim that some unscrupulous Connecticut traders would whittle "nutmeg" out of wood, creating a "wooden nutmeg", a term which later came to mean any type of fraud. This narrative may have to do with the issue that one has to grate to obtain the spice powder, not crack a nutmeg, and this may not have been widely known by some purchasers of the product. Production In 2019, world production of nutmeg was an estimated 52 tonnes, led by Indonesia with over 90% of the world total. Adverse effects In the 19th century, nutmeg was thought to be an abortifacient, which led to numerous recorded cases of nutmeg poisoning. Although used as a folk treatment for other ailments, nutmeg has no proven medicinal value. In amounts exceeding its usual use as a spice, nutmeg may interact with anxiolytic drugs, produce allergic reactions, cause contact dermatitis, and evoke acute episodes of psychosis. Psychoactivity and toxicity =Effects= In low doses, nutmeg produces no noticeable physiological or neurological response, but in large doses, both raw nutmeg freshly ground from kernels and nutmeg oil have psychoactive effects, which appear to derive from anticholinergic-like hallucinogenic mechanisms attributed to myristicin and elemicin. Myristicin—a monoamine oxidase inhibitor and psychoactive substance—can cause convulsions, palpitations, nausea, eventual dehydration, and generalized body pain when consumed in large amounts. Nutmeg poisonings occur by accidental consumption in children and by intentional recreational use. Varying considerably from person to person, nutmeg intoxication may occur with side effects, such as delirium, anxiety, confusion, headaches, nausea, dizziness, dry mouth, eye irritation, and amnesia. Intoxication takes several hours to reach maximum effect, and effects may last for several days. Rarely, nutmeg overdose causes death, especially if the nutmeg is combined with other drugs. Incidents of fatal poisoning from nutmeg and myristicin individually are uncommon. =Toxicity during pregnancy= Nutmeg was once considered an abortifacient, but may be safe during pregnancy if used only in flavoring amounts. But it may cause hallucinations (if it is consumed in large amounts), premature labor, and miscarriage, and during labor it may interact with such pain-relievers as pethidine, so it is recommended that nutmeg be avoided during pregnancy. =Toxicity to pets= The spicy scent of nutmeg may attract pets, and it can be poisonous to them if they consume much. References Category:Myristica Category:Flora of the Maluku Islands Category:Medicinal plants Category:Spices Category:National symbols of Grenada Category:Non-timber forest products Category:Indian spices "
"July 27: Battle of Gangut. Events Europe in 1714. =January–June= * March 7 – The Treaty of Rastatt is signed between Austria and France, concluding the War of the Spanish Succession between them. Austria receives the Spanish territories in Italy (the Kingdom of Naples, Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Sardinia), as well as the Southern Netherlands; and from France, Freiburg and Landau. The Austrian Habsburg Empire reaches its largest territorial extent yet, with Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor succeeding Philip V of Spain, as ruler in the ceded territories. * May 19 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, refuses to allow members of the House of Hanover to settle in Britain during her lifetime. =July–December= * July – Longitude prize: The Parliament of Great Britain votes "to offer a reward for such person or persons as shall discover the Longitude" (£10,000 for any method capable of determining a ship's longitude within 1 degree; £15,000, within 40 minutes, and £20,000 within ½ a degree). * July 27 – The Imperial Russian Navy gains its first important victory against the Swedish Navy in the Battle of Gangut. * August 1 – George, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain and Ireland, on the death of Queen Anne. * September 11 – War of the Spanish Succession: Barcelona is taken after a long siege, and Catalonia surrenders to Spanish and French Bourbon armies. * December 9 – Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718): The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Republic of Venice. =Date unknown= * Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is established by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Croydon, south of London, England. * Louis Juchereau de St. Denis establishes Fort St. Jean Baptiste, at the site of present day Natchitoches, Louisiana (the first permanent European settlement in the Louisiana Territory, after Biloxi (1699) and Mobile, Alabama (1702) were separated). * Worcester College, University of Oxford is founded (formerly Gloucester College, closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries). * Stockholm County is founded. * The river Kander (Switzerland) is redirected into Lake Thun. Births * January 1 ** Kristijonas Donelaitis, Prussian-Lithuanian Lutheran pastor, poet, author of The Seasons (d. 1780) ** Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano castrato, voice teacher and author of books on singing (d. 1800) * January 6 ** John Christopher Hartwick, Lutheran minister in Colonial America, founder of Hartwick College (d. 1796) ** Percivall Pott, English surgeon (d. 1788) * January 9 – Elisabeth Stierncrona, Swedish noble (d. 1769) * January 10 – Johann Georg Dominicus von Linprun, German scientist (d. 1787) * January 16 ** Francis V de Beauharnais, French nobleman, soldier, politician, colonial governor and admiral (d. 1800) ** Carl Jesper Benzelius, Swedish bishop (d. 1793) * January 20 – Hugh Farmer, British theologian (d. 1787) * January 21 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, internationally known Italian anatomist and anatomical wax modeler (d. 1774) * January 24 – Henri Joseph Bouchard d'Esparbès de Lussan d'Aubeterre, Marshal of France (d. 1788) * January 26 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (d. 1785) * February 1 ** Nicolaus Christian Friis, Norwegian priest and writer (d. 1777) ** Ralph Verney, 2nd Earl Verney of Ireland (d. 1791) * February 2 – Gottfried August Homilius, German composer, cantor and organist (d. 1785) * February 5 – Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch, German botanist (d. 1786) * February 11 – Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein, German-Prussian diplomat and later Prime Minister of Prussia (d. 1800) * February 12 – Sebastian Sailer, German Premonstratensian preacher, writer (d. 1777) * February 14 – William Vane, 2nd Viscount Vane of Ireland (d. 1789) * February 18 – John Howe, 2nd Baron Chedworth of England, eldest son of John Howe (d. 1762) * February 22 ** Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French scholar (d. 1795) ** Sarah Osborn, American writer (d. 1796) * February 25 ** René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France (d. 1792) ** Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet, Royal Navy vice admiral (d. 1782) * February 26 – James Hervey, English clergyman and writer (d. 1758) * February 28 – Gioacchino Conti, Italian opera singer (d. 1761) * March 1 – Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Menshikov, Russian army officer (d. 1764) * March 2 – John Hamilton, Royal Navy officer (d. 1755) * March 6 – Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, French painter (d. 1789) * March 7 – Charles Thomas, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort, German nobleman, head of the House of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (d. 1789) * March 8 – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German Classical composer (d. 1788) * March 11 – Cornelis Elout, Dutch regent (d. 1779) * March 17 – Maximilian Reichsgraf von Hamilton, German-born Czech Catholic bishop (d. 1776) * March 19 – Aymar Joseph de Roquefeuil et du Bousquet, French admiral (d. 1782) * March 21 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, British judge (d. 1794) * March 25 ** Friedrich Christian Glume, German artist (d. 1752) ** Matthew Griswold (governor), 17th Governor of Connecticut (1784–1786) (d. 1799) * March 27 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian (d. 1795) * March 29 – Mahadhammaraza Dipadi, last Toungoo Dynasty king of Burma (Myanmar) (1733–1752) (d. 1754) * April 1 – Jean-François de Neufforge, Flemish architect and engraver (d. 1791) * April 7 – John Elwes (politician), British politician (d. 1789) * April 14 – Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (d. 1788) * April 15 – Claude Yvon, French encyclopedist (d. 1791) * April 16 – Pedro António Avondano, Italian composer (d. 1782) * April 18 – Jacques-Nompar III de Caumont, duc de La Force, French nobleman (d. 1755) * April 25 – Emer de Vattel, Swiss philosopher (d. 1767) * May 6 ** Anton Raaff, German opera tenor (d. 1797) ** James Townley, British dramatist (d. 1778) * May 10 – Sophie Charlotte Ackermann, German actress from Berlin (d. 1792) * May 12 – Johan Daniel Berlin, Norwegian composer and organist (d. 1787) * May 14 – William Whitmore, British general (d. 1771) * May 17 – Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorraine, French royal (d. 1773) * May 20 – Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, British lawyer and politician (d. 1794) * June 3 – John Conder, Independent English minister at Cambridge (later President of the Independent College) (d. 1781) * June 6 – Joseph I of Portugal, Prince of Brazil (d. 1777) * June 17 – César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer and cartographer (d. 1784) * June 23 – Giovanni Sarnelli, Italian painter (d. 1793) * July 1 – Michael Lally (brigadier-general), Irish-born French brigadier-general (d. 1773) * July 2 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (d. 1787) * July 8 ** Friedrich Gottfried Abel, German physician (d. 1794) ** Pieter van Reede van Oudtshoorn, Dutch administrator of the Cape Colony (d. 1773) * July 12 – Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov, Russian noble, politician (d. 1767) * July 16 – Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer (d. 1800) * July 17 ** Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher (d. 1762) ** John Forbes (Royal Navy officer), British admiral of the fleet (d. 1796) * July 21 – Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia (1714–1728), Russian grand duchess (d. 1728) * August 1 ** Edward Penny, British painter (d. 1791) ** Richard Wilson (painter), Welsh landscape painter (d. 1782) * August 3 – William Cole (antiquary), British antiquarian (d. 1782) * August 14 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789) * August 15 – Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope of Great Britain (d. 1786) * August 18 – Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg, German noble (d. 1741) * August 23 – Hans Jacob Scheel, Norwegian general (d. 1774) * August 28 ** Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, Russian general (d. 1774) ** Jean- Baptiste Descamps, Flemish painter and art historian (d. 1791) * August 29 – Princess Friederike Luise of Prussia, Prussian princess (d. 1784) * September 1 – Samuel Martin (Secretary to the Treasury), British politician (d. 1788) * September 10 – Niccolò Jommelli, Italian composer (d. 1774) * September 17 – Gottlieb Rabener, German writer of prose satires (d. 1771) * September 19 – Charles Humphreys, miller and statesman from Haverford Township, Pennsylvania (d. 1786) * September 23 – Eugene Jean, Count of Soissons, Prince of Savoy (d. 1734) * September 24 – Alaungpaya, King of Burma (d. 1760) * September 29 ** Petrus Albertus van der Parra, Dutch colonial governor (d. 1775) ** Johann Joachim Schwabe, German poet (d. 1784) * September 30 – Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French academic (d. 1780) * October 1 ** Georg David Anthon, Danish architect (d. 1781) ** António of Braganza, Child of Palhavã, Portuguese nobleman (d. 1800) * October 3 – Joseph Spencer, American general (d. 1789) * October 14 – Christoph Anton Migazzi, Austrian Catholic bishop (d. 1803) * October 16 – Giovanni Arduino (geologist), Italian geologist (d. 1795) * October 19 – Joseph von Petrasch, German philologist (d. 1772) * October 25 – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish judge, scholar of language evolution and philosopher (d. 1799) * October 26 – Princess Marie Victoire d'Arenberg, Margravine of Baden-Baden as consort of Augustus George (d. 1793) * October 27 – Fernando de Silva, 12th Duke of Alba, Spanish duke (d. 1776) Hedvig Taube * October 31 – Hedvig Taube, Swedish courtier (d. 1744) * November 1 – Johann Joachim Spalding, German theologian (d. 1804) * November 2 – Camillo Almici, Italian priest (d. 1779) * November 3 – Anica Bošković, Ragusan writer (d. 1804) * November 4 – John Boyle, 3rd Earl of Glasgow, Scottish nobleman (d. 1775) * November 10 – Mathieu Tillet, French botanist (d. 1791) * November 18 – William Shenstone, English poet and landscape gardener (d. 1763) * November 24 – Thomas Zebrowski, Lithuanian Jesuit scientist (d. 1758) * November 26 – Pierre-François Brice, French artist (d. 1794) * November 27 – Jean Philippe Goujon de Grondel, French general (d. 1819) * December 1 – Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye, French-Canadian explorer (d. 1755) * December 3 – Edward Pickard, British minister (d. 1778) * December 4 – Israel Acrelius, Swedish missionary and clergyman (d. 1800) * December 14 – Leonard Lispenard, American politician (d. 1790) * December 15 – Étienne Mignot de Montigny, French engineer, geographer (d. 1782) * December 16 – George Whitefield, English Anglican priest (d. 1770) * December 18 ** Philippine Élisabeth d'Orléans, French princess (d. 1734) ** Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, Hungarian prince (d. 1790) * December 19 – John Winthrop (educator), 2nd Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Harvard College (d. 1779) * December 21 ** John Bradstreet, British Army officer during King George's War (d. 1774) ** Paschen von Cossel, German lawyer (d. 1805) * December 23 ** Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Italian poet and librettist (d. 1795) ** William Howard, Viscount Andover, British MP (d. 1756) * December 31 ** Michel Ferdinand d'Albert d'Ailly, French astronomer (d. 1769) ** Arima Yoriyuki, Japanese daimyō (d. 1783) Deaths Prince Mamia III Gurieli Eugen Alexander Franz Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Charles, Duke of Berry Anne, Queen of Great Britain Christoffel Pierson Pedro, Prince of Brazil * January 4 – Atto Melani, Italian opera singer (b. 1626) * January 5 – Mamia III Gurieli, Prince of Guria * January 10 – Constantin Ranst de Jonge, son of Hieronimus Rans(t) (1607–1660) (b. 1635) * January 17 – Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo, Royal Librarian of King Felipe V of Spain (b. 1662) * February 2 – John Sharp, English Archbishop of Yorkshire (b. 1643) * February 21 – Eugen Alexander Franz, 1st Prince of Thurn and Taxis (b. 1652) * February 24 – Edmund Andros, English governor in North America (b. 1637) * March 3 – Hans Carl von Carlowitz, German forester (b. 1645) * March 13 – John Talbot of Lacock, British politician and general (b. 1630) * March 27 ** Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Consort of Denmark (1670–1699) (b. 1650) ** Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (b. 1633) * April 10 – Samuel Carpenter, Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania (b. 1649) * April 15 – Esther Liebmann, German banker (b. 1649) * April 17 ** Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, German composer (b. 1657) ** Haquin Spegel, Swedish bishop (b. 1645) * May 5 – Charles, Duke of Berry, grandson of Louis XIV of France (b. 1686) * May 15 – Roger Elliott, British general and Governor of Gibraltar (b. c. 1665) * May 18 – Ivan Botsis, Russian admiral of Greek origin (unknown birth date) * May 24 – Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort (b. 1684) * May 27 – George Saunderson, 5th Viscount Castleton, English Member of Parliament (b. 1631) * May 30 – Gottfried Arnold, German church historian (b. 1666) * June 8 – Electress Sophia of Hanover, heir to the throne of Great Britain (b. 1630) * June 22 – Matthew Henry, English non-conformist minister (b. 1662) * June 28 – Daniel Papebroch, Flemish Jesuit hagiographer (b. 1628) * July 4 – Antonio Magliabechi, Italian librarian (b. 1633) * August 1 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (b. 1665) * August 11 – Christoffel Pierson, Dutch painter (b. 1631) * August 26 – Constantin Brâncoveanu, Prince of Wallachia (b. 1654) * August 26 – Edward Fowler, English Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1632) * September 20 – Anna Waser, Swiss painter (b. 1678) * September 27 – Thomas Britton, English concert promoter (b. 1644) * October – Raja Sitaram Ray, autonomous king, vassal of the Mughal Empire * October 3 – Jeanne Le Ber, religious recluse in New France (b. 1662) * October 5 – Kaibara Ekiken, Japanese philosopher (b. 1630) * October 10 – Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (b. 1646) * October 25 – Sébastien Leclerc, French painter (b. 1637) * October 29 – Pedro, Prince of Brazil, second child of John V of Portugal and Maria Ana of Austria (b. 1712) * November 5 – Bernardino Ramazzini, Italian physician (b. 1633) * November 8 – Filippo II Colonna, Italian noble (b. 1663) * November 29 – Jerolim Kavanjin, Croatian poet (b. 1641) * December 10 – Anthony Günther, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (b. 1653) * December 29 – Charles Churchill, British general (b. 1656) * December 30 – François Adhémar de Monteil, Comte de Grignan, French aristocrat (b. 1632) * date unknown – Julianna Géczy, Hungarian heroine (b. 1680) References External link "
"Dotdash (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company that publishes articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, lifestyle, travel and education. It operates brands including Verywell, Investopedia, The Balance, Byrdie, MyDomaine, Brides, The Spruce, Simply Recipes, Serious Eats, Liquor.com, TripSavvy, TreeHugger, and ThoughtCo. The digital media company competes with other online resource sites. In August 2012, Dotdash became a property of IAC, owner of Ask.com and numerous other online brands, and its revenue is generated by advertising. Dotdash has offices in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. History =1997–2005: launch, renaming, Primedia acquisition= Founded in 1996 as The Mining Company, the site was launched on April 21, 1997, by Scott Kurnit, owner of General Internet, Bill Day, and a group of other entrepreneurs in New York City. The original goal was to maintain 1,800 topic areas, but after five years of operation, this number was reduced to around 700. The company changed its name to "About Inc.", and the website address from "miningco.com" to "about.com" in May 1999. The company was acquired by Primedia, Inc. in 2000 through a deal valued at US$690 million, whereby Primedia swapped 45.2 million shares for About, Inc.'s 18.1 million shares. At the time of the acquisition announcement, About Inc. was measured at US$133 million in cash and no debt (Sept. 30, 2000), while the Media Metrix company tallied 21 million unique monthly visitors—making it the seventh-most-visited "network of sites" at the time—a network of over 700 topic sites, sorted into 36 areas and 50,000 subjects, and approximately 4,000 advertisers. Following the purchase, which was finalized in the first quarter of 2001, the combined company was called "Primedia" and Kurnit remained chief executive officer (CEO). =2005–2012: Times Co. acquisition, Abang.com, About en Español= In February 2005, The New York Times Company (Times Co.) announced it was buying About.com, a purchase that was completed in the first half of the year for US$410 million. Google and Yahoo were reportedly among the other bidders. Following the Times Co. acquisition, Peter C. Horan was appointed as About Inc.'s president and CEO, but he was soon replaced by Scott Meyer in May 2005. In March 2007, About.com's patronage was measured at 33.5 million unique visitors. On May 7, 2007, About Inc. acquired ConsumerSearch.com—a site that generated 3 million unique monthly visitors during the first quarter of 2007—for US$33 million in cash following two other purchases that were made in the preceding eight-month period: UCompareHealthCare.com and Calorie-Count.com. Initially conceived of in January 2007, About.com's first fully owned foreign venture, the China-based Abang.com, debuted in December 2007. At the time of the launch, the company had a Japan-based online entity, Allabout.co.jp, but it functioned under a licensing agreement. By January 2008, the China site consisted of around 25 employees, as well as 80 guides who were responsible for article production within seven categories: Fashion, Food, Health, Hobbies, Pets, Digital, and Travel. As part of the localization process, the China initiative—led by Matt Roberts, who became the CEO of Abang.com, and Wen-Wei Wang, the vice president of technology for the launch—was named "Abang" because the Chinese character "bang" refers to the concept of a group or community. The About Group generated US$102.7 million in 2007, which represented a 135-percent increase from the time of the Times Co. acquisition. Meyer stepped down from the chief executive role in March 2008 and was replaced by Cella Irvine, who previously worked for Hearst Corp. and Microsoft Corp. In April 2011, Irvine launched the About en Español website, which was About's first-ever Spanish-language channel and initially featured nine topics, including movies and makeup, that were to be expanded by around 100 by the start of 2012. The launch was part of an overall strategy that included a redesigned About.com homepage, a doubling of the number of "how-to" and do-it-yourself videos on About.com's 24 channels, and new outlets on About.com for advertisers. The significant impact of the global financial crisis upon online advertising was experienced shortly after Irvine's appointment and, despite her focus on video content and Hispanic consumers, she was removed from the CEO role after three years and three consecutive quarters in which revenue decreased. Martin Nisenholtz, SVP of digital operations, temporarily replaced Irvine following her departure in May 2011. In July 2011, Darline Jean was named CEO of the About Group, after the company's second-quarter revenues totaled US$27.8 million. Jean previously served as About's chief financial officer (CFO) and her new appointment became effective on September 1, 2011. =2012–2017: IAC acquisition, Neil Vogel appointment, relaunch= A media report published in August 2012 indicated that Answers.com had reached a preliminary agreement to acquire About.com for US$270 million. However, on August 26, Barry Diller's IAC announced that it would acquire About.com instead for US$300 million in cash. A source for TechCrunch later confirmed that Answers.com's offer was reportedly valued at US$270 million, but consisted of debt and equity in Answers.com. In the corresponding press release, IAC explained that the acquisition would help bolster and accompany its existing properties, such as the Ask.com web search engine. Jean fulfilled her role as chief executive during the transition period, while ownership was transferred to IAC, and then left About shortly after the sale was finalized. At the time of the IAC acquisition, which was signed on August 26, 2012, About.com consisted of nearly 1,000 topic sites and over three million unique articles, while, in traffic terms, Alexa ranked the site as number 37 in the U.S. and 80 in the global context. On April 2, 2013, Neil Vogel became the new CEO of About.com. Up until March 2003, Vogel was a key executive member of the marketing and media company Alloy Inc., a role that he left to cofound the Recognition Media marketing business that is responsible for producing the annual Webby Award event, as well as the Internet Week NY and Europe events. Vogel was selected by Business Insider for its 2012 "The Coolest People In New York Tech This Year" list, for his work as a venture partner of FirstMark Capital. , About.com was receiving about 84 million unique monthly visitors. Following his appointment, Vogel's overall plan for About focused on social, mobile, and user experience, with an emphasis on increasing the amount of time that users remain on the site, rather than attracting people in the first instance. Vogel also stressed the importance of monetization in his numerous post-appointment interviews and he included a summary of About's revenue model as part of his discussion of the future with Bloomberg: > [We make money] one way, in general: we're advertising-supported. And that's > monetized two ways: we do a lot of display advertising, and we do a lot of > people clicking on links that we get paid for from Google and from others > ... If we have all this traffic, and we have all this content, if we can > make people engage content more, and spend more time here [About.com], and > do more things, we're going to have more page views and much more of an > opportunity to monetize About. Vogel further explained that IAC has been able to create "compelling" content that manages to successfully engage Internet users, while About's content, in particular, is favored by the Google search engine. Furthermore, Vogel stated that native advertising is a marketing initiative that he would like to explore with caution, as "it’s a really big opportunity to let marketers talk to our audience in the voice that they’re already comfortable with." In April 2014, Vogel revealed to the media that the About.com team had grown from 100 employees to 176, and the number of site contributors had increased by 20 percent. In terms of the website, the company's developers updated the backend technology so that it is capable of handling a greater degree of interactivity at the front end, while a major emphasis was placed on responsive web design, as the traffic from mobile devices and tablets was measured at nearly 40 percent. The About.com website was relaunched in September 2014, following a significant redesign that expanded upon the new homepage that debuted in July 2014. Based on an analysis of the needs of both users and advertisers, the redesign sought to create an improved user experience and facilitate social sharing, including the addition of social media buttons that were not featured at the time of Vogel's appointment. = 2017–present: closure and rebranding = On May 2, 2017, IAC announced that they had renamed About.com to Dotdash,Dot-dash (or di-dah) represents the letter "A" in Morse code, evocative of the firm's previous name, About.com, which started with "A". after about a year of transition. CEO Neil Vogel said that the company had lost mind share and needed to change their marketing strategy. According to WIRED, About.com was killed despite its profitability, in order to make way for a new business model. The company refocused on vertical markets through its niche websites: The Balance (personal finance), Lifewire (tech), The Spruce (home and food), VeryWell (health), TripSavvy (travel), and ThoughtCo (education). On March 29, 2018, Dotdash won Digiday's Publisher of the Year. In July 2018, Investopedia joined the Dotdash family of brands. On October 15, 2018, TripSavvy (travel) launched the Editors' Choice Awards. On Tuesday, January 8, 2019, Dotdash announced the acquisition of Byrdie (beauty) and MyDomaine (women's lifestyle) from Clique Brands. On Wednesday, May 15, 2019, Dotdash announced the acquisition of Brides from Conde Nast. In the spring of 2019, Dotdash's home site, The Spruce, announced the launch of their first- ever paint collection, The Spruce Best Home, in partnership with KILZ and sold exclusively on Amazon. On Tuesday, October 1, 2019, Dotdash announced the acquisition of Liquor.com. On Tuesday, February 4, 2020, Dotdash announced the acquisition of TreeHugger and Mother Nature Network. In June 2020, Dotdash was named Digiday's Publisher of the Year in Digiday's Media Awards 2020.Digiday's Media Awards 2020 The Spruce, Dotdash's home and food site, won for Best User Experience and CEO Neil Vogel won Executive of the Year. On Tuesday, September 22, 2020, Dotdash announced that it acquired Simply Recipes and Serious Eats from Fexy Media. References External links * CrunchBase profile Category:Companies based in New York City Category:Digital mass media companies Category:English-language websites Category:IAC (company) Category:Internet properties established in 1997 Category:Knowledge markets Category:Online mass media companies of the United States "