Manu Uncle
Manu Uncle is a 1988 Malayalam children's film directed by Dennis Joseph starring Mammootty in title role. The film is regarded as one of the best children's film in Malayalam cinema and it won a National Award for Best Children's Film, it was produced by Joy Thomas. Mammootty plays the lead role Manu, M. A. L. L. B. BTech Electronics, researching in astronomy. Manu's father is a police officer. Lisi plays the role of Manu's sister Uma. Prathapachandran plays a family friend. Antony and Mary are neighbours of Manu, their children are Ikru. Manu's elder sister's children comes from Delhi for their vacation, they with Dany and Ikru make up a four-member team headed by Dany. The children happened to visit the Art Museum on the same time when the Marthandavarma's crown was stolen. Ikru noticed the robbers, Gomas and Kittu but was not able to describe them to his grandpa. Manu who has a well equipped communication system once happened to hear a conversation between Kittu and Gomas planning to loot Marthandavarmas's sword.
Manu and his father rush to the palace. Gomas meanwhile gets hold of the sword when he encounters Manu and his dad. A fight follows, but the robbers kill the police officer in a planned lorry accident. The viewers are just now able to know. For him though, the incident was witnessed by Khader, a young orphan who happened to be in that lorry; the robbers go after him. The boy manages to escape from them and in the process ends up meeting the four children, tell them that their grandpa was not dead in an accident but was killed; the curious children decide to investigate the murder. Ikru who had met Gomas drew his picture, noticed by Manu and Ravunni. Ravunni gets shocked and Manu started developing doubts about Ravunni after watching his tensed face. Manu makes sure his doubts were true; the children meanwhile decide to go to the gang's hideout as per the directions from Khader. They get shocked on knowing; the gang sees the children who crossed Ravunni directs his cronies to kill them. But, soon Manu saves the children.
The climax scene has a funny fight scene, enhanced by the funny inspector role of Suresh Gopi as'Minnal' Prathapan. The movie ends. Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi had special appearance in the film. Mohanlal played Suresh Gopi as SI'Minnal' Prathapan, a comic inspector. Mammootty as Manu Master Kuriyachan as Dany aka Lother Master Amit as Ikru Master Anoop as Shanku Baby Sonia as Renu Master Sandeep as Khader Lizzy as Uma M. G. Soman as DySP Azeez as Antony K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Mary Prathapachandran as Ravunni Menon B. Thyagarajan as Gomas Murali Menon as Kittu Mohan Jose as Security guard of Ravunni Menon Jalaja as Manu's elder sisterSpecial appearances Mohanlal as himself Suresh Gopi as SI'Minnal' Prathapan Story,Direction..... Dennis Joseph Screenplay and Lyrics.... Shibu Chakraborthy Producer.... Joy Thomas Distribution.... Jubilee Productions Cinematography.... Jayanan Vincent Editor.... K. Shankunny Stunt.... A. R. Basha Art Direction.... Sabu Pravadas Associate direction.... Jimmy P. R. O..... Ranji Kottayam Stills....
R. Sukumar Make up.... Thomas Costume Design.... Kumar National Film Award for Best Children's Film Kerala State Film Award for Best Children's Film Composer: Shyam. K. S. Chithra "Oru Kili".... K. S. Chithra & M. G. Sreekumar Manu Uncle on IMDb
Rajashekhara (Chera king)
Rajashekhara, proposed full name Rama Rajashekhara, was a Chera/Kulasekhara ruler at Kodungallur in medieval Kerala, southern India. Rajashekhara is reputed to have issued the Vazhapalli copper plate — the earliest epigraphical record of a Chera king to be discovered from Kerala. Shivanandalahari, attributed to Hindu saint Shankara, indirectly mentions the Chera ruler as Rajashekhara. Sanskrit poet Vasubhatta in his Yuddhisthira Vijaya refers to his first royal patron as "Rama Varma" and "Rajasekhara". Rajashekhara was succeeded by king Sthanu Ravi "Kulasekhara" in 844 CE. Political authority of the Chera Perumals, like Rajasekhara, over medieval Kerala is a matter of debate, it has variously been described as a monarchy supported by a Brahmin oligarchy, or as a ritual monarchy under a bold and visible Brahmin oligarchy. Rajasekhara is identified by historians with Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, the venerated Shaiva poet-musician, he is the author of three devotional hymns - Ponvannattandadi, Tiruvarur Mummanikkovai, Adiyula/Tirukkailayajnana Ula.
The latter one is first of the Ulas, a form of poetic composition in Tamil. According to Chekkizhar, a courtier of Kulottunga Chola II and the author of Periyapuranam, Cheraman Perumal made a pilgrimage to the major Shaiva shrines of southern India with his friend Nayanar lyricist Chundaramurti in his years; the two saints are believed to have died at the city of Thiruvanchikkulam. The Tiruvanchikkulam Siva Temple in Kodungallur is associated with the Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, it was during Rajashekhara's reign - in 825 CE - the calendar known as the Kollam Era commenced in the port of Kollam. The calendar is known as "Malayalam Era"; the exact events that lead to the foundation of the era is still matter of scholarly debate. According to historian Noburu Karashima, it commemorated the "foundation" of Kollam harbour city after the "liberation" of Venatu from the Pandya rule, it is possible that the king "Rahappa", an unidentified monarch, whom Rashtrakuta ruler Krishna I Akalavarsha is stated to have defeated was Rama Rajasekhara.
Krishna I is stated to have obtained the title "Rajadhiraja Parameswara" after defeating Rahappa. The Vazhappally Copper Plate from Thiruvattuvay in Vazhappally village is regarded as the earliest Kodungallur-Chera inscription; the plate is engraved in an old form of Malayalam in Grantha scripts. It records a temple committee resolution in the 12th regnal year of king "Rajadhiraja Parameswara Bhattaraka" Rajashekhara Deva; the resolution describes Thiruvattuvay Pathinettu Nattar, Vazhappally Urar and king Rajashekhara deciding on land grant for muttappali. The inscription begins with "namassivaya" in place of the usual "swasti sri" and mentions a coin called "dinara". Mathew, Alex - Political identities in History Unpublished Doctoral Thesis
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore was an Indian kingdom from 1500 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, Thiruvananthapuram. At its zenith, the kingdom covered most of modern-day central and southern Kerala with the Thachudaya Kaimal's enclave of Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikkam temple in the neighbouring Kingdom of Cochin, as well as the district of Kanyakumari, now in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu; the official flag of the state was red with a dextrally-coiled silver conch shell at its center. In the early 19th century, the kingdom became a princely state of the British Empire; the Travancore Government took many progressive steps on the socio-economic front and during the reign of Maharajah Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Travancore became the second most prosperous princely state in British India, with reputed achievements in education, political administration, public work and social reforms. The regions had many small independent kingdoms. During the peak time of Chera-Chola-Pandya, this region became a part of the Chera Kingdom.
During that era, when the region was part of the Chera empire, it was still known as Thiruvazhumkode. It was contracted to Thiruvankode, anglicised by the English to Travancore. In course of time, the Ay kingdom, part of the Chera empire, which ruled the Thiruvazhumkode area, became independent, the land was called Aayi desam or Aayi rajyam, meaning'Aayi territory'; the Aayis controlled the land from present-day Kollam district in the north, through Thiruvananthapuram district, all in Kerala, to the Kanyakumari district. There were the major one at Kollam and a subsidiary one at Thrippapur; the kingdom was thus called Venad. Kings of Venad had, at various times, travelled from Kollam and built residential palaces in Thiruvithamcode and Kalkulam. Thiruvithamcode became the capital of the Thrippapur Swaroopam, the country was referred to as Thiruvithamcode by Europeans after the capital had been moved in 1601 to Padmanabhapuram, near Kalkulam; the Chera empire had dissolved by around 1100 and thereafter the territory comprised numerous small kingdoms until the time of Marthanda Varma who, as king of Venad from 1729, employed brutal methods to unify them.
During his reign, Thiruvithamcode or Travancore became the official name. The Kingdom of Travancore was located at the extreme southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, Travancore was divided into three climatically distinct regions: the eastern highlands, the central midlands, the western lowlands. Venad was a former state at the tip of the Indian Subcontinent, traditionally ruled by rajas known as the Venattadis. Till the end of the 11th century AD, it was a small principality in the Ay Kingdom; the Ays were the earliest ruling dynasty in southern Kerala, who, at their zenith, ruled over a region from Nagercoil in the south to Trivandrum in the north. Their capital during the first Sangam age was in Aykudi and towards the end of the 8th century AD, was at Quilon. Though a series of attacks by the resurgent Pandyas between the 7th and 8th centuries caused the decline of the Ays, the dynasty was powerful till the beginning of the 10th century; when the Ay power diminished, Venad became the southernmost principality of the Second Chera Kingdom.
An invasion of the Cholas into Venad caused the destruction of Kollam in 1096. However, the Chera capital, Mahodayapuram fell in the subsequent Chola attack, which compelled the Chera king, Rama varma Kulasekara, to shift his capital to Kollam. Thus, Rama Varma Kulasekara, the last emperor of the Chera dynasty, is the founder of the Venad royal house, the title of the Chera kings, was thenceforth kept by the rulers of Venad, thus the end of the Second Chera dynasty in the 12th century marks the independence of Venad. In the second half of the 12th century, two branches of the Ay Dynasty and Chirava, merged in the Venad family, which set up the tradition of designating the ruler of Venad as Chirava Moopan and the heir-apparent as Thrippappur Moopan. While the Chrirava Moopan had his residence at Kollam, the Thrippappur Moopan resided at his palace in Thrippappur, 9 miles north of Thiruvananthapuram, was vested with the authority over the temples of Venad kingdom the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple.
The history of Travancore began with Marthanda Varma, who inherited the kingdom of Venad, expanded it into Travancore during his reign. After defeating a union of feudal lords and establishing internal peace, he expanded the kingdom of Venad through a series of military campaigns from Kanyakumari in the south to the borders of Kochi in the north during his 29-year rule; this rule included Travancore-Dutch War between the Dutch East India Company, allied to some of these kingdoms and Travancore. In 1741, Travancore won the Battle of Colachel against the Dutch East India Company, resulting in the complete eclipse of Dutch power in the region. In this battle, the admiral of the Dutch, Eustachius De Lannoy, was captured and defected to Travancore. De Lannoy was appointed as Captain of His Highness' Body-guard and Senior Admiral and he modernised the Travancore army by introducing firearms and artillery. Travancore became the most dominant state in the Kerala region by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of Purakkad in 1755.
Ramayyan Dalawa, the Prime Minister of Marthanda Varma played an important role in this consolidation and expansion. On 3 J
Kollam Port
Kollam Port is one of the historic ports situated 4 kilometres away from Downtown Kollam. It is the second largest port in Kerala by volume of cargo facilities. Located on the south-west coast of India, under the name of Quilon Port it became one of the country's most important trade hubs from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries. Kollam was one, it was founded by Mar Abo at Thangasseri in 825 as an alternative to reopening the inland seaport near Backare known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and Greeks and Thondi to the Tamils. V. Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual records that in 822, two Nestorian Bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, settled in Quilon with their followers. Two years the Malabar Era began and Quilon became the premier city of the Malabar Coast region ahead of Travancore and Cochin Kollam was a port city of the Chera Dynasty until the formation of the independent Venad kingdom, of which it became the capital. Prior to that, Kollam was considered one of the four early entrepots in the global sea trade around the 13th century, along with Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, the Chinese city of Quanzhou, Malacca in the Malaysian archipelago.
The port was founded by Mar Abo with sanction from Udayamarthandavarma the Tamil king of the Venad in 825 as an alternative to reopening the inland seaport of Kore-ke-ni Kollam near Backare known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and the Greeks and Thondi to the Tamils and is the foundation of the new city. It is believed that Mar Abo volunteered to the Chera king to create a new seaport town near at Kollam instead of his request for renewing the vanishing Tyndis or Nelcynda inland seaport at Kollam, lying idle without trade for a few centuries because of the Cheras being overrun by Pallavas in the 6th century AD ending the spice trade from Malabar coast; this allowed Mar Abo to stay for many decades in Chera kingdom and streamline Christian faith among the Nampoothiri Vaishnavites &Nair sub-castes in the St. Thomas tradition with Syrian liturgy as Reference for the Doctrine of Trinity without replacing the Sanskrit and Vedic prayers; the Chinese traders were one of the oldest foreign communities to settle in Kollam.
That was the period when Kollam evolved as a major trade center and an important port along the Malabar coast. In January 2014, the port trust discovered thousands of Chinese coins and stone age weapons at Kollam Port, revealing the historical background and trade culture of the port city; this was the first discovery of such a quantity of artifacts at a port in India. These finds reveal that Kollam was the most important port city in India, which served as the business hub of people from China, Middle East, the Netherlands, Portugal and other Eastern Mediterranean countries. Archaeologists believe. Today, ships anchor at the port for shipping operations as well for urgent repairs when required. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy launched the Coastal Shipping Project at Kollam Port on 9 November 2013 while passenger ships began operations in 2014; the first container ship, MV Suryamukhi arrived at Kollam port as part of the coastal shipping project on 18 January 2014, after a two-month delay. Major shipping companies are now showing interest in the port to commence shipping operations.
The companies have plans to choose the port as an intermediate base. At present, about four companies have assured their frequent presence at the port. Sooryamukhi, the chartered ship of Kerala State Maritime Development Corporation has sailed to Mudra Port in Gujarat to load tiles and building materials; the Great Sea Shipping Company will berth at the port soon, carrying cashew from Kochi. After modernization of the port, the first foreign ship anchored in the port on 4 April 2014. Now it is proven that huge foreign ships can operate from Kollam Port; the tugs MT Chaliyar and MT Kerala along with a new German-made Rs. 12 crore crane is used for the maritime operations in the port. The wharf at Kollam Port is 177 metres in length and 12 metres wide with an available draught of 6.5 metres, whereby vessels up to 15,000 DWT can berth directly. Dredging works are underway at the port to increase the draught to 10 metres at a cost of Rs.5.7 crores so that ships of 170 metres and above can anchor without the need to travel further to Kochi, Thoothukudi or Chennai.
The wharf is protected from the waves by a 2,100 metres seaboard breakwater and a 500 metres leeward breakwater. The length of the wharf will be increased to 200 metres in due course. In 2007, Kollam Port handled about 500,000 tonnes of cargo; the primary hinterland of Kollam Port extends to Pathanamthitta and the southern parts of the Kottayam and Idukki districts. Commodities handled or planned for the port include marble, sand, titanium ore, cashew nuts and nut shell liquid, clay, timber logs, titanium dioxide, blood products and waste paper, cement and muriate of potash for fertilizer, food, agricultural products and cement as well as other commodities and products for local companies such as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Trivandrum and Kerala Minerals and Metals. Several major modernization projects have been proposed for Kollam with Maldives port in order to transform it into the "port city of Kerala". Projects p
Kollam
Kollam pronunciation known by its former name Quilon pronunciation and Coulão and Desinganadu, is an old seaport and city on the Laccadive Sea coast of the Indian state of Kerala. The city is on the banks Ashtamudi Lake. Kollam has a strong commercial reputation since the days of the Romans. Fed by the Chinese trade, it was mentioned by Ibn Battuta in the 14th century as one of the five Indian ports he had seen during the course of his twenty-four year travels. Desinganadu's rajas exchanged embassies with Chinese rulers while there was a flourishing Chinese settlement at Kollam. In the 9th Century, on his way to Canton, Persian merchant Sulaiman al-Tajir found Kollam to be the only port in India visited by huge Chinese junks. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, in Chinese service under Kublai Khan in 1275, visited Kollam and other towns on the west coast, in his capacity as a Chinese mandarin. V. Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual records that in 822 AD two East Syriac bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, settled in Quilon with their followers.
Two years the Malabar Era began and Quilon became the premier city of the Malabar region ahead of Travancore and Cochin. Kollam Port was founded by Mar Sabor at Tangasseri in 825 as an alternative to reopening the inland sea port of Kore-ke-ni Kollam near Backare, known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and Greeks and as Thondi to the Tamils. Kollam is a coastal city on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake that took the title God's Own Country without much demur; the Ashtamudi Lake lie about 71 kilometres north of Thiruvananthapuram. The city hosts the administrative offices of Kollam district and is a prominent trading city for the state; the proportion of females to males in Kollam city is second highest among the 500 most populous cities in India. Kollam is the least polluted city in India. Four major trading centers around Kollam are Kottarakara, Punalur and Karunagapally. Kollam is an ancient trading town – trading with Romans, Chinese and other Orientals – mentioned in historical citations dating back to Biblical times and the reign of Solomon, connecting with Red Sea ports of the Arabian Sea.
There was internal trade through the Punalur Pass connecting the ancient town to Tamil Nadu. The overland trade in pepper by bullock cart and the trade over the waterways connecting Allepey and Cochin established trade linkages that enabled it to grow into one of the earliest Indian industrial townships; the rail links established to Tamil Nadu supported still stronger trade links. The factories processing marine exports and the processing and packaging of cashewnuts extended its trade across the globe. Kollam is the fifth largest in terms of corporation area, it is known for cashew coir manufacturing. Ashtamudi Lake is considered the southern gateway to the backwaters of Kerala and is a prominent tourist destination at Kollam; the Kollam urban area includes suburban towns such as Paravur in the south, Kundara in the east and Karunagapally in the north of the city. Other important towns in the city suburbs are Eravipuram, Kottiyam and Chavara. Kollam appeared as Palombe in Mandeville's Travels, where he claimed it contained a Fountain of Youth.
During the stages of the rule of the Chera monarchy in Kerala, Kollam emerged as the focal point of trade and politics. Kollam continues to be a major business and commercial centre in the Southern Kerala. In 825 CE, the Malayalam calendar, or Kollavarsham, was created in Kollam at meetings held in the city; the present Malayalam calendar is said to have begun with the re-founding of the town, rebuilt after its destruction by a fire. The name Kollam is believed meaning pepper; as the ancient city of Quilon, Kollam was a flourishing port during the Chera dynasty, became the capital of the independent Venad or Kingdom of Quilon on its foundation in c. 825. Kollam was considered one of the four early entrepots in global sea trade during the 13th century, along with Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, the Chinese city of Quanzhou, Malacca in the Malaysian archipelago Along with Pattanam, Quilon was an ancient seaport on the Malabar Coast of India from the early centuries before the Christian era; the city had a high commercial reputation from the days of the Phoenicians and Ancient Romans.
Pliny the Elder mentions Greek ships anchored at Nelcynda. There was a land route over the Western Ghats. Spices, pearls and silk were exported to Egypt and Rome from these ports. Pearls and diamonds came to the Chera Kingdom from Ceylon and the southeastern coast of India known as the Pandyan Kingdom. Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Greek Nestorian sailor, in his book the Christian Topography who visited the Malabar coast in 550, mentions an enclave of Christian believers in Male, he writes, "In the island of Tabropane, there is a church of Christians, clerics and faithful. At Male, where the pepper grows, in the farming community of Kalliana there is a bishop consecrated in Persia in accordance with the Nicea sunnahadose of 325 AD." The Nestorian Patriarch Jesujabus, who died in 660 AD, mentions Kollam in his letter to Simon, Metropolitan of Persia. The port at Kollam known as Quilon, was founded in 825 by the Nestorian Christians Mar Sabor and Mar Proth with sanction from Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal, the king of the independent Venad or State of Quilon, a feudatory under the Chera kingdom.
It is believed that Mar Sapor Iso also
Asramam
Asramam or Ashramam is one of the prime locations in Kollam city of Kerala, India. It is one among the 55 wards of Kollam Municipal Corporation. Asramam is a notable place in the city because of the presence of old airport, public/private institutions, tourism destinations, hospitals, maidan etc. Asramam Maidan, the biggest open space now existing in any of the Kerala Municipal Corporation limits is situated at Asramam; the first airport in the state of Kerala, Kollam Airport, was functioned in this maidan. Asramam is the headquarters of the Kollam branches of Indian Medical Association and Sports Authority of India. Link Road, one of the important roads in the city, passing through Asramam; the one and only International Hockey Stadium in the state is at Asramam. Asramam is one of the most important places of Kollam city; the city's biggest attractions like Adventure park, Children's park, Picnic Village and British Residency are situated at. The thick Mangrove forests in this area are popular all over the state.
10 So many renowned hospitals in the city are situated near Asramam. Sankar's Institute of Medical Science, Dr. Nair's Hospital, ESIC Model & Super Speciality Hospital etc. are the famous hospitals near Asramam. Biodiversity Heritage SiteAsramam is going to become the first Biodiversity Heritage Site in Kerala state; the 190 years old British Residency, rare varieties of mangrove spread on residency complex and the creek of Ashtamudi Lake would come under this heritage site. International Hockey Stadium, Kollam KTDC Tamarind Hotel Factories & Boilers Department - Kerala Headquarters Occupational Health and Research Centre Office of the Asst. Executive Engineer - Harbour Engineering Department Office of the Marine Surveyor - Southern Zonal Office Asramam Adventure Park Children's Park ESIC Model & Super Speciality Hospital Kerala Cricket Association Apparel Training and Design Centre Dr. Nair's Hospital Office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kollam Asramam Picnic Village Traffic control room, Kerala Police Kollam Airport Asramam Maidan International Hockey Stadium, Kollam Asramam Link Road Kadappakada Chinnakada Kollam KSRTC Bus Station
Urban park
An urban park or metropolitan park known as a municipal park or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens, is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of, visitors to, the municipality. The design and maintenance is done by government agencies on the local level, but may be contracted out to a park conservancy, friends of group, or private sector company. Common features of municipal parks include playgrounds, hiking and fitness trails or paths, bridle paths, sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, and/or picnic facilities, depending on the budget and natural features available. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within a 10-minute walk, provide multiple benefits. A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use owned and maintained by a local government. Grass is kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics and sporting activities.
Trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade, with an increasing emphasis on reducing an urban heat island effect. Some early parks include the La Alameda de Hércules, in Seville, a promenaded public mall, urban garden and park built in 1574, within the historic center of Seville; the Városliget in the City of Pest, what is today Budapest, was a city property when afforestation started in the middle of the 18th century, from the 1790s with the clear aim to create a public park. Between 1799 and 1805 it was rented out to the Batthyány family to carry out such a project but the city had taken back control and in 1813 announced a design competition to finish the park. An early purpose-built public park, although financed was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth; this was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842 and opened in 1843. The land on which the park was built was purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, an iron merchant and philanthropist, in 1841 for £50,000; the creation of Princes Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of influential ideas.
First and foremost was the provision of open space for the benefit of townspeople and local residents within an area, being built up. Secondly it took the concept of the designed landscape as a setting for the suburban domicile and re-fashioned it for the provincial town in a most original way. Nash's remodelling of St James's Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes he created to link The Mall with Regent's Park transformed the appearance of London's West End. With the establishment of Princes Park in 1842, Joseph Paxton did something similar for the benefit of a provincial town, albeit one of international stature by virtue of its flourishing mercantile sector. Liverpool had a burgeoning presence in global maritime trade before 1800, during the Victorian era its wealth rivalled that of London itself; the form and layout of Paxton's ornamental grounds, structured about an informal lake within the confines of a serpentine carriageway, put in place the essential elements of his much-imitated design for Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead.
The latter commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance and deployed the ideas which Paxton had pioneered at Princes Park on a more expansive scale. Frederick Law Olmsted praised its qualities. Indeed, Paxton is credited as having been one of the principal influences on Olmsted and Calvert's design for New York's Central Park of 1857. Another early public park, the Peel Park, England, opened on 22 August 1846. In The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America, Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U. S. In the late 19th century, city governments purchased large tracts of land on the outskirts of cities to form "pleasure grounds": semi-open, charmingly landscaped areas whose primary purpose was to allow city residents the workers, to relax in nature; as time passed and the urban area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses and museums. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks, because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks.
According to the Trust for Public Land, the three most visited municipal parks in the United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Mission Bay Park in San Diego. In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U. S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools and civic buildings, with the intention of Americanizing the immigrant residents. In the 1950s, when money became available after World War II, new parks continued to focus on both outdoor and indoor recreation with services, such as sports leagues using their ball fields and gymnasia; these smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults and children. Green space was of secondary importance; as urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been pocket parks. One example of a pocket park is Chess Park in California; the American Society of Landscape Architects gave this park a General Design Award of Honor in 2006. These small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, a playground for children.
All four types of park continue to exist in urban areas. Because of the large amount of open space and natural habitat in the former pleasure grounds, the
