South Wind (train)
The South Wind was a named passenger train equipped and operated jointly by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the Florida East Coast Railway. The South Wind began operations in December 1940, providing streamliner service between Chicago and Miami, Florida; this was one of three seven-car streamlined trains operating every third day along different routes between Chicago and Miami. The other two trains were the City of the Dixie Flagler and the Dixie Flyer; the South Wind remained in service through the creation of Amtrak in 1971 but was soon replaced by the Floridian. The South Wind departed Chicago Union Station and ran through Logansport and Indianapolis to Louisville Union Station, it proceeded down the Louisville & Nashville main line through Bowling Green and Birmingham to Montgomery. From Montgomery, it ran down the Atlantic Coast Line through Dothan, Thomasville and Waycross to Jacksonville; the final trip to Miami was over the Florida East Coast.
After a number of schedule changes throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, the train was running every other day opposite the City of Miami, both trains carrying sleeping cars. Following the discontinuance of the Southland in 1957, Florida West Coast service was added, using cars added to the West Coast Champion trains in Jacksonville; the train, beginning service in December 1940, used a seven-car trainset built by the Budd Company. The set, which did not include sleepers, was similar to trains built for the Seaboard Air Line's New York-Miami Silver Meteor and the Southern's New York-New Orleans Southerner, except that it was painted in the Pennsylvania's Tuscan Red, which required special preparation of the stainless steel that composed the cars' sides; the South Wind, like most trains that operated in the South, was racially segregated. As required by law in Southern states the train passed through, the combination baggage/coach - called the "Colored Coach" - was reserved for black passengers.
Blacks were not allowed in the observation lounge and were restricted to two tables behind a curtain in the dining car. The curtains came down after President Truman's 1948 mandate forced railway dining cars to integrate; the South Wind ran every third day between its respective endpoint cities, in coordination with the Dixie Flagler and the City of Miami—another colorful seven car Illinois Central Railroad train, which ran south of Birmingham by the Central of Georgia Railroad and ACL to Jacksonville on to Miami via the FEC. Additionally, when service was initiated, there were three every-third-day trains on each route; the Dixie Flagler was accompanied by the Dixiana. This coordination enabled passengers to have the convenience of daily service all along their respective routes between Chicago and Miami; the additional two trains per route were discontinued during World War II. Like the Florida Arrow, the South Wind was a winter months-only service; the coordinated schedules of the three streamliners left Chicago in the morning, arriving Miami early the next afternoon.
The trains were turned and left Miami in the late afternoon arriving back in Chicago just before bedtime the next day. After World War II, the Dixieland and Florida Arrow were reinstated. Upon their discontinuation, the City of Miami and South Wind trains began running two days out of three. However, the tight Miami turnaround hampered operations, after adding trainsets, the City of Miami and South Wind changed to every-other-day operation; the Dixie Flyer remained every third day. In 1954, it was renamed the "new" Dixieland. At least into the mid-1960s, the Chicago segment was supplemented by a segment north of Louisville that continued to Cincinnati. While it was a coach-only service, by the 1960s its consists included modern sleeping cars. In December 1957 both the Dixie Flagler and the Southland were discontinued; the Southland had run daily from various midwestern cities through Atlanta and Albany directly to the west coast cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, thus bypassing Jacksonville. At that time, west coast cars were added to the City of South Wind.
These cars were attached to the West Coast Champion sections going from Jacksonville to Tampa-Sarasota and to St. Petersburg via Trilby, now dismantled. After the merger of the ACL and Seaboard, the combined Seaboard Coast Line changed the west coast operations, in April 1968, to the single section to St. Petersburg with a motor connection to Tampa; the 1963 strike of non-operating unions on the Florida East Coast Railway resulted in the abrupt end of all passenger services on that railroad. While passenger trains would return in two short E9-powered consists that operated due to a requirement in FEC's charter to provide such trains, the South Wind along with other named trains such as the City of Miami, Florida Special and East Coast Champion shifted from using the FEC Railway coastal route to use internal lines: the Atlantic Coast Line's Jacksonville-Palatka-Tampa main line between Jacksonville and Auburndale and the Seaboard Air Line route from Auburdale to Miami; this would be a harbinger of the future with the upcoming Seaboard Coast Line merger and the
Pike County, Alabama
Pike County is a county of the U. S. state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census the population was 32,899, its county seat is Troy. Its name is in honor of General Zebulon Pike, of New Jersey, an explorer who led an expedition to southern Colorado and discovered Pikes Peak in 1806. Pike County comprises AL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Between the years of 1763 and 1783 the area, now Pike County was part of the colony of British West Florida. After 1783 the region fell under the jurisdiction of the newly created United States of America. In 1819 the State of Alabama was soon organized into counties. Named after General Zebulon Montgomery Pike of New Jersey, Pike County was one of the oldest in the state, organized on December 17, 1821; the temporary county seat was established at the house of Andrew Townsend. Pike County comprised a large tract of country, so large that it was called the State of Pike, including a part of what are now Crenshaw, Macon and Barbour counties, extended to the Chattahoochie River on the east.
According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 673 square miles, of which 672 square miles is land and 0.9 square miles is water. U. S. Highway 29 U. S. Highway 231 State Route 10 State Route 87 State Route 93 State Route 125 State Route 130 State Route 167 State Route 201 State Route 223 Bullock County Barbour County Dale County Coffee County Crenshaw County Montgomery County As of the census of 2000, there were 29,605 people, 11,933 households, 7,649 families residing in the county; the population density was 44 people per square mile. There were 13,981 housing units at an average density of 21 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 60.77% White, 36.60% Black or African American, 0.66% Native American, 0.35% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.26% from other races, 1.35% from two or more races. 1.23% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 11,933 households out of which 29.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.60% were married couples living together, 16.80% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.90% were non-families.
29.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.00% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.98. In the county, the population was spread out with 24.40% under the age of 18, 15.80% from 18 to 24, 26.00% from 25 to 44, 21.20% from 45 to 64, 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 89.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $25,551, the median income for a family was $34,132. Males had a median income of $27,094 versus $18,758 for females; the per capita income for the county was $14,904. About 18.50% of families and 23.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.90% of those under age 18 and 21.90% of those age 65 or over. As of the census of 2010, there were 32,899 people, 13,210 households, 7,759 families residing in the county; the population density was 49 people per square mile.
There were 15,267 housing units at an average density of 22.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 58.2% White, 36.6% Black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 2.0% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.0% from other races, 1.5% from two or more races. 2.2% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 13,210 households out of which 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 16.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.3% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.5% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.94. In the county, the population was spread out with 20.3% under the age of 18, 21.2% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.4 years. For every 100 females there were 91.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $29,181, the median income for a family was $41,570. Males had a median income of $38,605 versus $26,495 for females; the per capita income for the county was $19,013. About 20.5% of families and 28.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.8% of those under age 18 and 16.9% of those age 65 or over. Brundidge Troy Banks Goshen Curry Jonesville Kent Orion Pronto River Ridge Spring Hill China Grove, Pike County, Alabama National Register of Historic Places listings in Pike County, Alabama Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in Pike County, Alabama Pike County Chamber of Commerce Pike County Sheriff's Office
15th Regiment Alabama Infantry
The 15th Regiment of Alabama Infantry was a Confederate volunteer infantry unit from the state of Alabama during the American Civil War. Recruited from six counties in the southeastern part of the state, it fought with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, though it saw brief service with Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee in late 1863 before returning to Virginia in early 1864 for the duration of the war. Out of 1958 men listed on the regimental rolls throughout the conflict, 261 are known to have fallen in battle, with sources listing an additional 416 deaths due to disease. 218 were captured, 66 deserted and 61 were discharged. By the end of the war, only 170 men remained to be paroled; the 15th Alabama is most famous for being the regiment that confronted the 20th Maine on Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. Despite several ferocious assaults, the 15th Alabama was unable to dislodge the Union troops, was forced to retreat in the face of a desperate bayonet charge led by the 20th Maine's commander, Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain.
This assault was recreated in Ronald F. Maxwell's 1993 film Gettysburg; the 15th Alabama was organized by James Cantey, a planter from South Carolina, residing in Russell County, Alabama, at the outset of the Civil War. "Cantey's Rifles" formed at Ft. Mitchell, on the Chattahoochee River, in May 1861. Cantey's company was joined by ten other militia companies, all of which were sworn into state service by governor Andrew B. Moore on July 3, 1861, with Cantey as Regimental Commander. One of these companies, from Henry County, was formed by William C. Oates, a lawyer and newspaperman from Abbeville. Oates, who would command the whole regiment at Little Round Top, put together a company composed of Irishmen recruited from the area, calling them "Henry Pioneers" or "Henry County Pioneers". Other observers, after seeing their colorful uniforms, dubbed them "Oates' Zouaves". According to one source, the youngest private in the 15th Alabama was only thirteen years old; the 15th consisted of 900 men. "A", known as "Cantey's Rifles", from Russell County.
"B", known as the "Midway Southern Guards", from Barbour County. "C", no nickname given, from Macon County. "D", known as the "Fort Browder Roughs", from Barbour County. "E", known as the "Beauregards", from Dale County. "F", known as the "Brundidge Guards", from Pike County. "G", known as the "Henry Pioneers", from Henry County. "H", known as the "Glenville Guards", from Barbour and Dale counties. "I", "Quitman Guards", from Pike County. "K", known as the "Eufaula City Guard", from Barbour County. Following its formal swearing-in, the 15th Alabama was ordered to Pageland Field, for training and drill. During their sojourn at Pageland, the regiment lost 150 men to measles. In September 1861, the 15th was transferred to Camp Toombes, Virginia, in part to escape the measles outbreak. Companies "A" and "B" of the 15th Alabama were equipped with the M1841 Mississippi Rifle, a.54 caliber percussion rifle that had seen extensive service in the Mexican–American War and was regarded for its accuracy and ease of use.
The other companies in the regiment were given older "George Law" smoothbore muskets, converted from flintlocks to percussion rifles. The regiment received British Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle-muskets and Springfield Model 1861 rifled muskets. Since the 15th had enlisted for three years, it received its arms from the Confederate government, which refused to provide weapons to any regiment enlisting for a lesser period. While details of the specific uniforms worn by other companies of the 15th has not been preserved, Oates' Co. "G" is recorded to have sported, in addition to their red and gray clothing, a "colorful and diverse attire of headgear". Each cap bore an "HP" insignia, which stood for "Henry Pioneers"; each soldier wore a "secession badge", with the motto: "Liberty and Fraternity", the motto of the French Revolution. At Camp Toombs, the 15th Alabama was brigaded with the 21st Georgia Volunteer Infantry, the 21st North Carolina Infantry and the 16th Mississippi Infantry regiments in Trimble's Brigade of Ewell's Division, part of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
After that force moved over toward Yorktown, the 15th was transferred to Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's division, where it participated in his Valley Campaign. During this time, the 15th participated in the following engagements: Battle of Front Royal on May 23, 1862. First Battle of Winchester on May 25, 1862. Battle of Cross Keys on June 8, 1862. Following the Battle of Cross Keys, the 15th was mentioned in dispatches by its division commander, Maj. Gen. Ewell, who stated that "the regiment made a gallant resistance, enabling me to take position at leisure", its brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Trimble singled out the regiment for honors during this engagement: "to Colonel Cantey for his skillful retreat from picket, prompt flank maneuver, I think special praise is due". During this particular engagement, soldiers of the 15th Alabama had the unusual opportunity of participating in every major phase of a single battle, starting with the opening skirmish at Union Church on the forward
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation is a Class I railroad operating in the eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates 21,000 route miles of track; the company operates as a subsidiary of CSX Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. CSX Corporation was formed on November 1, 1980, by combining the railroads of the former Chessie System with Seaboard Coast Line Industries; the name came about during merger talks between Chessie System and SCL called "Chessie" and "Seaboard". The company chairmen said it was important for the new name to include neither of those names because it was a partnership. Employees were asked for suggestions. At the same time a temporary shorthand name was needed for discussions with the Interstate Commerce Commission. "CSC" was belonged to a trucking company in Virginia. "CSM" was taken. The lawyers decided to use "CSX", the name stuck. In the public announcement, it was said. C can stand for Chessie, S for Seaboard, X, which has no meaning."
However, an August 9, 2016, article on the Railway Age website stated that "... the'X' was for'Consolidated' ". The T had to be added to CSX when used as a reporting mark because reporting marks that end in X means that the car is owned by a leasing company or private car owner; the company introduced its current slogan, "How Tomorrow Moves", in 2008. The originator of SCL was the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1967 to form the Seaboard Coast Line. In years, it merged with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, as well as several smaller subsidiaries such as the Clinchfield Railroad, Atlanta & West Point Railroad, Monon Railroad and the Georgia Railroad. From the late 1960s onward these railroads were known collectively as the Family Lines. In 1982, they were merged into the Seaboard System Railroad; the origin of the Chessie System was the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, which had merged with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the Western Maryland Railway.
Despite the merger in 1980, CSX Transportation never had its own identity as a common carrier railroad until 1986. In that year, Seaboard System changed its name to CSX Transportation. On April 30, 1987, the B&O merged into the C&O. With the Western Maryland having merged into the C&O, this left the C&O as the sole operating railroad under the Chessie System banner. On August 31, 1987, C&O/Chessie System merged into CSX Transportation, bringing all of the major CSX railroads under one banner. On June 23, 1997, CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway filed a joint application with the Surface Transportation Board for authority to purchase and operate the assets of the 11,000-mile Conrail, created in 1976 by bringing together several ailing Northeastern railway systems into a government-owned corporation. On June 6, 1998, the STB approved the CSX–NS application and set August 22, 1998, as the effective date of its decision. CSX acquired 42 percent of Conrail's assets, NS received the remaining 58 percent.
As a result of the transaction, CSX's rail operations grew to include some 3,800 miles of the Conrail system. CSX began operating its trains on its portion of the Conrail network on June 1, 1999. CSX now serves much of the Eastern United States, with a few routes into nearby Canadian cities. In 2014, Canadian Pacific Railway approached CSX with an offer to merge the two companies, but CSX declined, in 2015 Canadian Pacific made an attempt to purchase and merge with Norfolk Southern, but NS declined to do so as well. In 2017, CSX announced. CSX added five new directors including Harrison and Mantle Ridge founder Paul Hilal. Mantle Ridge owns 4.9 percent of CSX. On December 14, 2017, CSX announced. Two days after the announcement, Harrison died, one day after being hospitalized for complications of an ongoing illness. CSX saw a 10% drop in its stock price, but turned around to hit a new 52-week high less than a month later. CSX operates the Juice Train which consists of Tropicana cars that carry fresh orange juice between Bradenton and the Greenville section of Jersey City, New Jersey.
The train runs from Bradenton to Fort Pierce, via the Florida East Coast Railway. In the 21st century, the Juice Train has been studied as a model of efficient rail transportation that can compete with trucks and other modes in the perishable-goods trade. All Tropicana trains are now added to Intermodal Trains such as Q188 and Q124. Coke Express trains run between Pittsburgh and Chicago, other places in the Rust Belt, carrying coke to industries steel mills. CSX runs daily trash trains Q702 and Q703 from The Bronx to Philadelphia and Petersburg, where they interchange with NS; these trains consist of 89-foot flatcars loaded with four containers of trash. Another pair of trains, Q710 and Q711, originate in Kearny, New Jersey, terminate in Russell, Kentucky. Another style of unit train is a local trash train, D765, that runs between the Maryland towns of Derwood and Dickerson; the train runs daily except on Sundays. Trash is carried from Montgomery County's Shady Grove Transfer Station to a was
1930 United States Census
The Fifteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during the 1920 Census. The 1930 Census collected the following information: address name relationship to head of family home owned or rented if owned, value of home if rented, monthly rent whether owned a radio set whether on a farm sex race age marital status and, if married, age at first marriage school attendance literacy birthplace of person, their parents if foreign born: language spoken at home before coming to the U. S. year of immigration whether naturalized ability to speak English occupation and class of worker whether at work previous day veteran status if Indian: whether of full or mixed blood tribal affiliationFull documentation for the 1930 census, including census forms and enumerator instructions, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series.
The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau in 1949. The microfilmed census is located on 2,667 rolls of microfilm, available from the National Archives and Records Administration. Several organizations host images of the microfilmed census online, digital indices. Microdata from the 1930 census are available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. 1930 Census Questions Hosted at CensusFinder.com 1931 U. S Census Report Contains 1930 Census results Historic US Census data 1930Census.com: 1930 United States Census for Genealogy & Family History Research 1930 Interactive US Census Find stories and more attached to names on the 1930 US census
Alabama
Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. With a total of 1,500 miles of inland waterways, Alabama has among the most of any state. Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is known as the "Heart of Dixie" and the "Cotton State"; the state tree is the longleaf pine, the state flower is the camellia. Alabama's capital is Montgomery; the largest city by population is Birmingham. The oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, in part because of its continued dependence on agriculture. Similar to other former slave states, Alabamian legislators employed Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise and otherwise discriminate against African Americans from the end of the Reconstruction Era up until at least the 1970s.
Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature from 1901 to the 1960s. During this time, urban interests and African Americans were markedly under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the state's economy changed from one based on agriculture to one with diversified interests; the state's economy in the 21st century is based on management, finance, aerospace, mineral extraction, education and technology. The European-American naming of the Alabama River and state was derived from the Alabama people, a Muskogean-speaking tribe whose members lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers on the upper reaches of the river. In the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo; the suggestion that "Alabama" was borrowed from the Choctaw language is unlikely. The word's spelling varies among historical sources; the first usage appears in three accounts of the Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540: Garcilaso de la Vega used Alibamo, while the Knight of Elvas and Rodrigo Ranjel wrote Alibamu and Limamu in transliterations of the term.
As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, with French maps identifying the river as Rivière des Alibamons. Other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Albama, Alibama, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the word's meaning; some scholars suggest the word comes from amo. The meaning may have been "clearers of the thicket" or "herb gatherers", referring to clearing land for cultivation or collecting medicinal plants; the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language. An 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant "Here We Rest." This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek. Experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization. Trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact.
The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, the center of the culture. Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars' formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no direct links to Mesoamerican culture, but developed independently; the Ceremonial Complex represents a major component of the religion of the Mississippian peoples. Among the historical tribes of Native American people living in present-day Alabama at the time of European contact were the Cherokee, an Iroquoian language people. While part of the same large language family, the Muskogee tribes developed distinct cultures and languages. With exploration in the 16th century, the Spanish were the first Europeans to reach Alabama.
The expedition of Hernando de Soto passed through Mabila and other parts of the state in 1540. More than 160 years the French founded the region's first European settlement at Old Mobile in 1702; the city was moved to the current site of Mobile in 1711. This area was claimed by the French from 1702 to 1763 as part of La Louisiane. After the French lost to the British in the Seven Years' War, it became part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1783. After the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War, the territory was divided between the United States and Spain; the latter retained control of this western territory from 1783 until the surrender of the Spanish garrison at Mobile to U. S. forces on April 13, 1813. Thomas Bassett, a loyalist to the British monarchy during the Revolutionary era, was one of the earliest white settlers in the state
Marriage
Marriage called matrimony or wedlock, is a or ritually recognised union between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between those spouses, as well as between them and any resulting biological or adopted children and affinity. The definition of marriage varies around the world not only between cultures and between religions, but throughout the history of any given culture and religion, evolving to both expand and constrict in who and what is encompassed, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity; when defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal. A marriage ceremony is known as a wedding. Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, libidinal, financial and religious purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced by gender determined rules of incest, prescriptive marriage rules, parental choice and individual desire.
In some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child marriage and sometimes forced marriage, may be practiced as a cultural tradition. Conversely, such practices may be outlawed and penalized in parts of the world out of concerns of the infringement of women's rights, or the infringement of children's rights, because of international law. Around the world in developed democracies, there has been a general trend towards ensuring equal rights within marriage for women and recognizing the marriages of interfaith and same-sex couples; these trends coincide with the broader human rights movement. Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, a religious authority, a tribal group, a local community, or peers, it is viewed as a contract. When a marriage is performed and carried out by a government institution in accordance with the marriage laws of the jurisdiction, without religious content, it is a civil marriage. Civil marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony before the state.
When a marriage is performed with religious content under the auspices of a religious institution it is a religious marriage. Religious marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony before that religion. Religious marriage is known variously as sacramental marriage in Catholicism, nikah in Islam, nissuin in Judaism, various other names in other faith traditions, each with their own constraints as to what constitutes, who can enter into, a valid religious marriage; some countries do not recognize locally performed religious marriage on its own, require a separate civil marriage for official purposes. Conversely, civil marriage does not exist in some countries governed by a religious legal system, such as Saudi Arabia, where marriages contracted abroad might not be recognized if they were contracted contrary to Saudi interpretations of Islamic religious law. In countries governed by a mixed secular-religious legal system, such as in Lebanon and Israel, locally performed civil marriage does not exist within the country, preventing interfaith and various other marriages contradicting religious laws from being entered into in the country, civil marriages performed abroad are recognized by the state if they conflict with religious laws.
The act of marriage creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved, any offspring they may produce or adopt. In terms of legal recognition, most sovereign states and other jurisdictions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples and a diminishing number of these permit polygyny, child marriages, forced marriages. In modern times, a growing number of countries developed democracies, have lifted bans on and have established legal recognition for the marriages of interfaith and same-sex couples; some cultures allow the dissolution of marriage through annulment. In some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in spite of national laws against the practice. Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in Western countries have led to changes in the demographics of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer people marrying, more couples choosing to cohabit rather than marry. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005.
In most cultures, married women had few rights of their own, being considered, along with the family's children, the property of the husband. In Europe, the United States, other places in the developed world, beginning in the late 19th century and lasting through the 21st century, marriage has undergone gradual legal changes, aimed at improving the rights of the wife; these changes included giving wives legal identities of their own, abolishing the right of husbands to physically discipline their wives, giving wives property rights, liberalizing divorce laws, providing wives with reproductive rights of their own, requiring a wife's consent when sexual relations occur. These changes have occurred in Western countries. In the 21st century, there continue to be controversies regarding the legal status of married women, legal acceptance of or leniency towards violence within marriage, traditional marriage customs such as dowry and bride price, for
