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In 1816 a British naval squadron under Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, Baron Exmouth, was fitted out and sent to Algiers where they arrived on 27 August 1816. They were accompanied by the small Dutch squadron of Vice-Admiral van Capellen, which had requested to join them at Gibraltar. Exmouth sought the release of the British Consul, who had been detained, and over 1000 Christian slaves, many being seamen
taken by the Algerines. When they received no reply the fleet bombarded Algiers in the most spectacular of several similar punitive actions of this period that
finally broke the power of the "Barbary pirates," who plagued European
commerce in the Mediterranean for centuries. The British and Dutch naval bombardment
of Algiers destroyed 33 ships in the harbor. In nine hours, the allied squadrons
fired more than fifty thousand round shot. The casualties were in proportion.
In the English ships, 818 men were wounded or killed; some 16 per cent of those
engaged.
As a result of the bombardment, negotiations for a treaty, signed on Sept.
24, 1816, reaffirmed the conditions imposed by American Commodore Stephen Decatur
in the treaty of 1815. In addition, the Dey agreed to end the practice of enslaving
Christians. All Exmouth's aims in the action were achieved: 1083 Christian slaves and the British Consul were liberated, massive restitution paid and peace made between Algiers and the Dutch. Exmouth was created viscount for his role. Ravensburger HistoryRavensburger Spieleverlag GmbH is a German game company and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market.
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier with seat in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract. He started publishing instruction folders for craftsmen and architects, which soon acquired him a solid financial basis. His first board game appeared in 1884, named "Journey around the world".
At the turn of the 20th century, his product line broadened to include picture books, books, children’s activity books, Art Instruction manuals, non-fiction books, and reference books as well as children’s games, Happy Families and activity kits. In 1900, the Ravensburger blue triangle trademark was registered with the Imperial Patent office. As of 1912, many board and activity games had an export version that was distributed to Western Europe, the countries of the Danube Monarchy as well as Russia.
Before the First World War, Ravensburger had around 800 products. The publishing house was damaged during the Second World War and continued to produce games in the years of the reconstruction. The company focused on children's games and books and specialized books for art, architecture and hobbies, and from 1962 grew strongly. The company started to produce jigsaw puzzle games in 1964, and in the same year opened subsidiaries in Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 1977 the company split into a book publishing arm and a game publishing arm.
Today there are approximately 1,800 available books and 850 games as well as puzzles, hobby products and CD-ROM titles at Ravensburger and its subsidiaries, which include Alea for "hobby and ardent game players" and FX Schmid for games and children's books. Ravensburger products are exported to more than fifty countries.
In September 2010, Ravensburger broke Educa's record for the world's largest jigsaw puzzle of 24,000 pieces. Ravensburger's new puzzle design by late pop artist Keith Haring titled, 'Keith Haring: Double Retrospect' breaks the Guinness Book of World Records measuring 17' × 6' built from 32,256 pieces and comes with its own dolly cart for toting. |
