The Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine was a monthly magazine[1] founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731.[2] It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term magazine (from the French magazine, meaning "storehouse") for a periodical.[3] Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer was with The Gentleman's Magazine.
History
The original complete title was The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Trader's monthly intelligencer. Cave's innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic the educated public might be interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry. It carried original content from a stable of regular contributors, as well as extensive quotations and extracts from other periodicals and books. Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazineunder the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term magazine (meaning "storehouse") for a periodical. Contributions to the magazine frequently took the form of letters, addressed to "Mr. Urban". The iconic illustration of St. John's Gate on the front of each issue (occasionally updated over the years) depicted Cave's home, in effect, the magazine's "office".
Before the founding of The Gentleman's Magazine, there were specialised journals, but no such wide-ranging publications (although there had been attempts, such as The Gentleman's Journal, which was edited by Peter Motteux and ran from 1692 to 1694).
Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer was with The Gentleman's Magazine. During a time when parliamentary reporting was banned, Johnson regularly contributed parliamentary reports as "Debates of the Senate of Magna Lilliputia". Though they reflected the positions of the participants, the words of the debates were mostly Johnson's own. The name "Columbia", a poetic name for America coined by Johnson, first appears in a 1738 weekly publication of the debates of the British Parliament in the magazine.[4][5]
The magazine's long-running motto, E pluribus unum, Latin for "Out of many, one", is thought to have inspired the use of the phrase as an unofficial motto of the United States. Motteux's The Gentleman's Journal had previously used the phrase.[6][7][8]
A skilled businessman, Edward Cave developed an extensive distribution system for The Gentleman's Magazine. It was read throughout the English-speaking world and continued to flourish through the 18th century and much of the 19th century under a series of different editors and publishers. It went into decline towards the end of the 19th century and finally ceased general publication in September 1907. However, issues consisting of four pages each were printed in very small editions between late 1907 and 1922 in order to keep the title formally "in print
Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands Pitkern Ailen (Pitcairn-Norfolk) | |
|---|---|
| Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands | |
| Anthem: "God Save the King" | |
| Local anthem: "Come Ye Blessed" | |
 Map showing location of the Pitcairn Islands (circled at the lower-right and magnified in an inset) | |
| Sovereign state |  United Kingdom |
| Settlement | 15 January 1790 |
| British colony | 30 November 1838 |
| Capital and largest settlement | Adamstown[note 1] 25°04′S 130°06′W |
| Official languages | |
| Ethnic groups | Pitcairn Islanders |
| Demonym(s) |
|
| Government | Devolved locally governingdependency |
• Monarch | Charles III |
• Governor | Iona Thomas |
| Rachael Midlen[2] | |
• Mayor | Shawn Christian |
| Legislature | Island Council |
| Government of the United Kingdom | |
• Minister | Stephen Doughty |
| Area | |
• Total | 47 km2 (18 sq mi) (not ranked) |
| Highest elevation | 330 m (1,080 ft) |
| Population | |
• 2023 estimate | 35,[3] (195th) |
• Density | 0.74/km2 (1.9/sq mi) (not ranked) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2005 estimate |
• Total | NZ$217,000[4] |
• Per capita | NZ$4,617.02 |
| Currency | New Zealand dollar (NZ$)[a] (NZD) |
| Time zone | UTC-08:00 |
| Driving side | Left |
| Calling code | Country code 64 of New Zealand |
| UK postcode | PCRN 1ZZ |
| ISO 3166 code | PN |
| Internet TLD | .pn |
| Website | www.government.pn |
| |
The Pitcairn Islands (/ˈpɪtkɛərn/ PIT-kairn;[5] Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen), officially Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands,[6][7][8][9] are a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four islands—Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno—are scattered across several hundred kilometres (miles) of ocean and have a combined land area of about 47 square kilometres (18 square miles). Henderson Island accounts for 86% of the land area, but only Pitcairn Island is inhabited. The inhabited islands nearest to the Pitcairn Islands are Mangareva (of French Polynesia), 688 km (428 miles) to the west,[note 2] as well as Easter Island, 1,929 km (1199 miles) to the east.
The Pitcairn Islanders are descended primarily from nine British HMS Bountymutineers and twelve Tahitian women. In 2023, the territory had a permanent population of 35, making it the smallest territory in the world by number of permanent residents.[3] Owing to the island's extreme isolation and small population, incidents of widespread sexual abuse went undetected until 1999, culminating in a high-profile sexual assault trial in 2004.