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MyFamily.com, Inc.

MyFamily.com, Inc.

__NOTOC__ Myfamily.com, Inc. is an Internet company based in Provo, Utah, and the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world. They run a growing network of genealogy and family-related websites, including:
- Ancestry.com
- Ancestry.co.uk
- FamilyTreeMaker.com
- Genealogy.com
- HeritageMakers.com
- MyFamily.com
- RootsWeb.com In addition to the sites above, MyFamily.com also runs [http://www.familyhistory.com/ FamilyHistory.com], which contains some basic free information, but is mostly a portal to Ancestry.com.

History

In May 1996, Infobases, Inc. invested in Ancestry, a 13-year old print publishing company, and became its managing shareholder. Infobases later acquired 100% of Ancestry from its original founder, John Sittner. By July 1997, Paul Allen (not the Microsoft co-founder) and Dan Taggart were running Ancestry as a company independent from Infobases and began building the world's largest online genealogy database and subscription service. Ancestry.com changed its name to MyFamily.com in November 1999. MyFamily.com launched in December 1998, becoming one of the fastest growing community web sites in history, gaining 1 million registered users in its first 140 days. Led by CEO Curt Allen, the company raised more than $90 million in venture capital from investors such as Intel, CMGI, AOL, Kodak, Compaq, Sorenson, Esnet, Vspring and Tango Partners. According to the New York Times (Oct 2002), sales for 2002 were projected at $62 million. 2003 sales were $99 million. It is believed that Infobase Ventures still holds a large percentage of stock in this privately-held company. [http://www.infobaseventures.com/our_companies.html] In March 2004, the company opened a new call center in Provo due to outgrowing their old call center in Orem. The new call center can accommodate approximately 700 agents at one time. [http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595055685,00.html]

Ancestry.com

leftAncestry.com is a subscription-based genealogy research website with nearly 5 billion records online and more being added almost daily. [http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.aspx] The majority of records are from the United States, though a growing number of records are being added for other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and various European countries. Some of these records are free for anyone to access, but the majority are accessible only by paid subscription. Subscriptions are automatically renewed unless you call and cancel, a policy explained in their terms of service (called Terms and Conditions on the Ancestry.com site). [http://www.ancestry.com/legal/terms.htm] As commonly happens with the terms of service on many Internet sites, most members do not pay attention to or read them and are therefore surprised when their subscriptions automatically renew. The automatic renewal system has caused some controversy, as documented on the sites below. Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com (the companies) merged in November 1999.

Ancestry.co.uk

leftAncestry.co.uk allows for access to only those records from the United Kingdom and Ireland. This allows those accessing the site from those countries to avoid search results containing records from elsewhere in the world.

Family Tree Maker

leftAdvertised as "the #1-selling family tree software on the market." As with other genealogy software, Family Tree Maker allows you to keep track of all of the information you collect as you are researching, and then create reports, charts, and books containing that information. Currently, it is offered for users of Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP only, with no plans to release it on any other platforms.

Genealogy.com

leftA genealogy research website with some records not found on Ancestry.com, though the total number of records available is smaller and the site is more difficult to navigate. Genealogy.com was acquired from A&E Networks by MyFamily.com in 2003.

Heritage Makers

leftA scrapbooking resource website that offers publishing services for those who wish to create their own cookbooks, scrapbooks, storybooks, etc. Heritage Makers was acquired by MyFamily.com in September 2005.

MyFamily.com

leftAn Internet website which allows anyone to create a family or group website within a matter of minutes. A basic template for the site can be manipulated to turn on or off various modules for the main page. Their stated goal is to help you "keep in touch with family and friends."

RootsWeb.com

leftA free genealogy community which makes excellent use of online forums and mailing lists to help people research their family history. RootsWeb was founded in 1993 by Dr. Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson as the Roots Surname List, and quickly grew from there. It is the oldest free community genealogy research site. RootsWeb was acquired by MyFamily.com in June 2000.

Controversy

As with many large commercial websites, there are some individuals who dislike the policies and business practices of MyFamily.com and its subsidiaries. There are some sites that catalog these stories, though it should be noted that MyFamily.com rarely posts anything in defense of its policies on the following websites. As such, the information found on these sites may be skewed to only one point of view, and may not contain all of the facts in any give case.
- [http://www.gensuck.com/ GenSuck.com]
- [http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/ BadBusinessBureau.com] Because the company is based in Utah, there are many people who believe it is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons"). This is an incorrect assumption, however, according to their Public Relations Senior Manager, Peggy Hayes. The company is privately held and the LDS Church has no stake in it.

External links

- [http://www.ancestry.com Ancestry.com]
- [http://www.ancestry.co.uk Ancestry.co.uk] (UK-only version)
- [http://www.familytreemaker.com/ Family Tree Maker] genealogy software
- [http://www.heritagemakers.com/ Heritage Makers]
- [http://www.genealogy.com Genealogy.com]
- [http://www.myfamily.com MyFamily.com]
- [http://www.rootsweb.com/ RootsWeb.com]

Reference

- September 21, 2005: [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=147509&TICK=MYFAM&STORY=/www/story/09-21-2005/0004112253&EDATE=Sep+21,+2005 Acquisition of Heritage Makers]
- September 19, 2005: [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-19-2005/0004110060&EDATE= MyFamily.com names Tim Sullivan as President and CEO]
- April 8, 2003: [http://genealogy.about.com/cs/ukrecords/a/monopoly.htm Acquisition of Genealogy.com]
- June 21, 2000: [http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=1797 Acquisition of RootsWeb]
- March 11, 1999: [http://trends.masie.com/archives/1999/03/110_updates_on.html MyFamily.com begins offering free sites] Category:Genealogy Category:Family Category:Internet companies of the United States Category:Utah

Internet company

An Internet service provider (ISP, also called Internet access provider) is a business or organization that offers users access to the Internet and related services. Many but not all ISPs are telephone companies. They provide services such as Internet transit, domain name registration and hosting, dial-up access, leased line access and colocation.

ISP connection options

Generally, an ISP charges a monthly access fee to the consumer. The consumer then has access to the Internet, although the speed at which this data is transferred varies widely. Internet connection speed can generally be divided into two categories: dialup and broadband. Dialup connections require the use of a phone line, and usually have connections of 56Kbs or less. Broadband connections can be either ISDN, Broadband wireless access, Cable modem, DSL, Satellite or Ethernet. Broadband is always on (except ISDN that is a circuit switching technology), and varies in speed between 64Kb and 20+Mb per second. In the early 2000s, ISPs in the United States faced serious challenges. Telecommunications and IT-related stocks fell sharply, and many ISPs were forced to close, restructure, sell, or merge. Some telcos like Worldcom were spectacular collapses. The slower-than-expected growth of broadband services and key decisions on broadband open access matters all added to the industry's problems. By late 2005 a 1Mb connection was being described as slow within the United Kingdom. Many modern software add ons demand minimum speeds of 256K or 512K. With the increasing popularity of file sharing and downloading music and the general demand for faster page loads, higher bandwidth connections are becoming more popular.

Virtual ISP

A Virtual ISP (vISP) re-sells to the general public Internet access purchased from a wholesale ISP. The vISP's role is to provide any services beyond Internet connectivity, such as e-mail, web hosting, and technical support. The vISP must perform all authentication and accounting functions necessary to provide access and then bill their users for it. This model allows for larger ISPs to increase returns on their investment into what is generally a geographically large, high capacity network, a network which smaller ISPs, as customers of the larger ISP, can use to serve customers in locations that would previously have been unavailable to them.

Other relevant acronyms

- IAP (Internet Access Provider)
- NSP (Network Service Provider)

Related services

- Broadband access
- Digital Subscriber Line
- Fixed wireless access
- Cable
- Triple play
- Web hosting services
- Usenet servers
- Email services
- DNS
- Dynamic DNS

Utah

Utah is a western state of the United States, in the Rocky Mountains region. Its capital is Salt Lake City. The state had a population of 2,547,389 in 2005 according to a Census Bureau estimate. The state is generally rugged and arid, and has spectacular natural scenery. It is a popular summer and winter tourist destination. Salt Lake City, the ski resorts in the Wasatch Range, and the national parks of the south are the most popular destinations. The name Utah is from the Southern Ute language and means "higher up." The Paiute, Navajo, and Goshute nations also inhabit portions of the state. Salt Lake City, Utah is the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church), of which approximately 60% of the residents are members. The LDS Church has a strong cultural influence on the state and has contributed to such measures as strict restrictions on alcohol and to Utah being one of just two states (the other being Hawaii) where all forms of gambling are illegal. Residents are called Utahns. Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics, which gave a significant boost to the state's tourist industry (especially the ski resorts).

History of Utah

Early history

Native Americans have lived in Utah for several thousand years; most archeological evidence dates such habitation about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Some left petroglyphs and pictographs which exist throughout the state. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cibola. A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition travelled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. Fur trappers—including Jim Bridger—explored some regions of Utah in the early 1800s. The city of Provo, Utah was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825.

Mormon settlement

Mormon settlers first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, Utah was still Mexican territory. As a consequence of the Mexican-American War, the land became the territory of the United States upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The Treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10. In 1850 the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital. Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants, who had settled in the area in 1847 and were pushing for the establishment of the State of Deseret, and the US Government, intensified after Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly admitted to the practice of polygamy among their members. The U.S. Government, which was reluctant to admit a state the size of the proposed Deseret into the union, opposed the polygamous practices of the Mormons. After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a false rebellion spread, the government sent troops in the "Utah expedition" to quell the supposed rebellion and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The resulting conflict is known as the Utah War. As troops approached Salt Lake in Northern Utah, nervous Mormon settlers and Paiutes attacked and killed 120 immigrants from Missouri in Southern Utah. The attack became known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The Massacre became a point of contention between LDS leaders and the federal government for decades. Twenty years later one man, John D. Lee was executed for the massacre. Before troops led by Albert Sidney Johnston entered the state, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City to evacuate southward to Utah Valley and sent out a force, known as the Nauvoo Legion, to delay the government's advance. Although wagons and supplies were burned, eventually the troops arrived and Young surrendered official control to Cumming, although most subsequent commentators claim Young retained true power in the territory. A steady stream of presidential-appointed governors quit the position, often citing unresponsiveness of their supposed territorial government. By agreement with Young, Johnston established Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest. Salt Lake City was the last link of the transcontinental telegraph, completed in October of 1861. Brigham Young was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Due to the Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory, leaving the territory in LDS hands until Patrick E. Connor arrived with a regiment of California volunteers in 1862. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles east of Salt Lake City, and encouraged his men to discover mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and miners began to flock to the territory. Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk surrendered in 1867, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk exploiting the mutual distrust between federal and LDS authorities. On May 10, 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of non-Mormons into the state, and several influential non-Mormon businessmen would make fortunes in the territory. During the 1870s and 1880s a number of laws were set to punish polygamists, and in the 1890 Manifesto the LDS Church finally agreed to ban polygamy. When Utah applied for statehood again, it was accepted. One of the conditions to granting Utah's statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into the Utah Constitution. This was a condition required of other western states that were also admitted later into the Union. Statehood of Utah was officially granted on January 4, 1896.

1900s

Beginning in the early 1900s, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier. Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city. During the late 1900s, the state has been growing quickly. The fastest-growing areas have been Utah County, western and southern Salt Lake County, eastern Tooele County, northern Davis County, northern Utah County, Summit County, and Iron and Washington counties in Southern Utah. In the 1970s growth was phenomenal in the surburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time. Today many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.

Politics

:See: List of Utah Governors, Utah State Senate, and Utah State House of Representatives In large part due to the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Utah is one of the most conservative and Republican states in the nation. Practicing Mormons comprise about 60% of the population of Utah according to recent studies (with others being of a Mormon background but not practicing), yet they control well over 90% of elected political offices in the state. The state has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964. In 2004, Republican George W. Bush won every county in the state and Utah gave him his largest margin of victory of any state. He won the state's 5 electoral votes by an overwhelming margin of 46 percentage points with 71.5% of the vote.

Utah constitution

The constitution of Utah was enacted in 1895. Notably, the constitution outlawed polygamy and continued the territorial practice of women's suffrage. [http://www.archives.state.ut.us/exhibits/Statehood/1896text.htm Full text of the Utah state constitution.]

Amendments

2004 was the first time that the state constitution was amended since its inception.[http://elections.utah.gov/ConstitutionalAmendments.htm] Three amendments were put on the Utah election ballot: Amendment 1 would allow the state legislature to convene special sessions to impeach authority, Amendment 2 would allow state or public institutions of higher learning to acquire ownership interest in private businesses in exchange for intellectual property rights that are developed by those institutions, and Amendment 3 defined marriage as a civil union between one man and one woman and provided no legal recognition for other forms of civil unions. All three amendments passed and went into effect on January 1, 2005.

Geography

2005 Utah is one of the Four Corners states, and is bordered by: Idaho (at 42°N) and Wyoming (at 41°N and 111°W) in the north, by Colorado (at 109°W) in the east, at a single point by New Mexico to the southeast (at the Four Corners Monument), by Arizona (at 37°N) in the south, and by Nevada (at 114°W) in the west. It covers an area of 84,899 square miles (219,887km²). One of Utah's defining characteristics is the variety of its terrain. Running down the center of the state is the Wasatch Range, which rises to heights of about 12,000 feet (3,650 meters) above sea level. Portions of these mountains receive more than 500 inches (1,250 cm) of snow a year and are home to world-renowned ski resorts, made popular by the light, fluffy snow which is considered good for skiing. In the northeastern section of the state, running east to west, are the Uinta Mountains, which rise to heights of 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) or more. The highest point in the state, Kings Peak, at an elevation of 13,526 feet (4,123 meters), lies within the Uinta Mountains. Popular recreational destinations within the mountains besides the ski resorts include Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Bear Lake, and Jordanelle, Strawberry, East Canyon, and Rockport reservoirs. The mountains are popular camping, rock-climbing, skiing, snowboarding, and hiking destinations. At the western base of the Wasatch Range is the Wasatch Front, a series of valleys and basins that are home to the most populous parts of the state. The major cities of Ogden, Salt Lake City, Layton, West Valley City, Sandy, West Jordan, Orem, and Provo are located within this region, which stretches approximately from Brigham City at the north end to Spanish Fork at the south end. Approximately 75% of the population of the state lies in this corridor, and urban sprawl continues to expand along the edges of these valleys. Western Utah is mostly arid desert with a basin and range geology. Small mountain ranges and rugged terrain punctuate the landscape. However, the Bonneville Salt Flats are an exception, being comparetively flat. Most of western Utah was once covered in Lake Bonneville. The Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake are the only two significant remains of this ancient freshwater lake which once covered most of the eastern Great Basin. West of the Great Salt Lake, stretching to the Nevada border, lies the Great Salt Lake Desert, the driest, most arid area in Utah. Much of the scenic southern landscape is sandstone, more specifically Kayenta sandstone and Navajo sandstone. The Colorado River and its tributaries wind their way through the sandstone, creating some of the most striking and wild terrain in the world. Wind and rain have also scuplted the soft sandstone over millions of years. Canyons, gullies, arches, pinnacles, buttes, bluffs, and mesas are the common sight throughout south-central and southeast Utah. This terrain is accentuated in protected parks such as Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion national parks, Cedar Breaks, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Hovenweep, and Natural Bridges national monuments, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (site of the popular tourist destination, Lake Powell), Dead Horse Point and Goblin Valley state parks, and Monument Valley, a popular photographic and filming site. Southwestern Utah is the lowest and hottest spot in Utah. It is known as Dixie because early settlers were able to grow limited amounts of cotton there. Beaverdam Wash in far southwestern Utah is the lowest point in the state, at an elevation of exactly 2,000 ft (610 m). Dixie is quickly becoming a popular recreational and retirement destination, and the population is growing rapidly. Eastern Utah is a high elevation area covered mostly by plateaus and basins. They have economies dominated by mining, oil and natural gas-drilling, ranching, and recreation. Much of eastern Utah is covered in the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. The most popular destination within eastern Utah is Dinosaur National Monument. Like most of the west and southwest states, the federal government owns much of the land in Utah. In Utah over seventy percent of the land is either BLM land or U.S. National Forest, park, U.S. National Monument, National Recreation Area or U.S. Wilderness Area area. Under Article IV, § 3, cl. 2 of the United States Constitution, the federal government has plenary and supreme—although concurrent—civil and criminal jurisdiction over these federal lands within the borders of each state. See also: List of Utah counties

Climate

Most of Utah is arid and high in elevation. Most of eastern and southern Utah receive 12 inches (300 mm) or less of precipitation per year, while many mountain areas receive more than 40 in (1000 mm) per year, with some areas receiving up to 60 in (1500 mm). Much of western Utah receives less than 10 in (250 mm), while the Wasatch Front receives approximately 15 in (380 mm). The Great Salt Lake Desert is especially dry, receiving less than 5 in (130 mm) a year. Snowfall is common in winter everywhere except the southern border and the Great Salt Lake Desert. Saint George averages about 3 in (7.5 cm) of snow per year, while Salt Lake City receives almost 60 in (150 cm) a year (amplified by the lake effect from the Great Salt Lake). Many mountain areas receive in excess of 350 in (900 cm) of snow in a year, while portions of the Wasatch Range receive up to 500 in (1,250 cm). Snowfall is common from late November through March in the lower elevations and from October through May in the mountains. The mountains often remain snow-covered into July. Fog and haze often caused by temperature inversions are common in the valleys and basins during winter, especially the Uinta Basin, just south of the Uinta Mountains. During summer and fall, most of the precipitation is received from the monsoon coming from the south and consists of short, sporadic, and intense thunderstorms that can cause wildfires and flash floods. Most precipitation during the rest of the year is received from the Pacific Ocean. Spring is the wettest season across the north while late summer and early fall are the wettest times in the south and winter is the wettest season in most of the mountain areas. Temperatures during the winter across much of Utah are below freezing. High temperatures average between 25 °F (-4 °C) and 50 °F (10 °C) across the state. Days below 0 °F (-18 °C) can be expected in many areas at least once a year, but they are usually short in duration and not terribly severe. Mountains to the north and east of the state serve as barriers to Arctic air. In the summer, high temperatures average between 85 °F (29 °C) and 100 °F (38 °C). Days over 100 °F (38 °C) can be expected in most areas below 5,000 ft (1,500 m) at least once per year, and are expected frequently in the south. The record high temperature in Utah was 117 °F (47 °C), recorded at Saint George on Friday, July 5, 1985, and the record low was -69 °F (-56 °C), recorded at Peter's Sink in the Bear River Mountains of northern Utah on Friday, February 1, 1985.

Demographics

As of 2004, the population of Utah was estimated to be 2,389,039 people, a growth of 156,000 since 2000. Much of the population lives in cities and towns along the Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region that runs north-south with the Wasatch Mountains rising on the eastern side. The rest of the state is mostly rural or wilderness. Utah has a higher percentage of people sharing a single religious denomination than any other American state. Image:Utah_Municipality_Population_Density.png|Population density Image:Utah_Counties.png|County boundaries

Race and Ancestry

The racial makeup of Utah is:
- 85.3% White non-Hispanic
- 9.0% Hispanic
- 1.7% Asian
- 1.3% Native American
- 0.8% Black
- 2.1% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in the state are:
- 29.0% English
- 11.6% German
- 6.8% Native American
- 6.5% Danish
- 6.1% Mexican Most Utahns are of Northern European descent. The state has the largest percentage of residents who claim British ancestry and the largest percentage of residents of Danish ancestry in the nation. Anglo-Utahns are the largest group in every county except for San Juan county which has a large Navajo Indian population.

Religion

Utah is well-known for being a heavily Mormon state, and most residents of the state are affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are also members of other smaller Mormon denominations, such as the Fundamentalist, Reorganized, and Remnant Mormon Churches. It should be noted that these smaller denominations are not affiliated with the mainstream LDS religion in any way. Many of the non-religious in the state are originally of a Mormon background. There are Catholics and Protestants (as well as Jews) present in the state as well, but their numbers are relatively small. However, membership tallies acquired by the Salt Lake Tribune suggest that Latter-day Saints will become the minority as early as the year 2030. [http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2886596] The religious affiliations of the people of Utah are:
- Christian – 81%
- LDS – 60%
- Protestant – 15%
- Episcopal – 3%
- Baptist – 2%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 10%
- Roman Catholic – 6%
- Other Christian – <1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 18%

Age and Sex

Due to its high total fertility rate (highest of any state in the U.S.), Utah has the youngest population of any state. The age distribution in Utah is:
- 9.4% under age 5
- 32.2% under age 18
- 8.5% 65 or older The gender makeup of Utah is:
- 49.9% female
- 50.1% male

Parks and monuments

Roman Catholic The desert plateaus of Southern Utah contain five U.S. National Parks:
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Zion National Park
- Canyonlands National Park
- Arches National Park
- Capitol Reef National Park U.S. National Monuments in Utah include:
- Cedar Breaks National Monument
- Dinosaur National Monument
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
- Rainbow Bridge National Monument
- Timpanogos Cave National Monument In addition, Utah contains several notable state parks and monuments:
- Dead Horse Point State Park
- Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument
- Snow Canyon State Park
- Goblin Valley State Park
- Dead Horse Point State Park
- Antelope Island State Park
- This Is The Place Heritage Park

Transportation

: See: List of Utah state highways List of Utah state highways Interstate 15 is the main interstate highway in the state, stretching from Arizona to Idaho and serving such cities as Saint George, Provo, Salt Lake City, and Ogden. Interstate 84 enters from Idaho at Snowville and merges with I-15 at Tremonton, staying merged until Roy. I-84 then heads southeast through the mountains, terminating at Interstate 80 at Echo. I-80 enters Nevada at Wendover and heads east through Salt Lake City, briefly merging with I-15 before climbing into the mountains and weaving through canyons and across plateaus into Wyoming just before reaching Evanston ending in New York City. Interstate 70 begins at Cove Fort and heads east through mostly uninhabited areas, providing access to many of southern Utah's recreation areas before entering Colorado. The stretch of I-70 between Salina and Green River is the longest stretch of interstate in the nation without any services. A light rail system in the Salt Lake Valley known as TRAX provides access between downtown Salt Lake City and Sandy and the University of Utah. The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) operates a bus system stretching across the Wasatch Front and into Tooele, and also provides winter service to the ski resorts above Salt Lake City. Several bus companies provide access to the ski resorts in winter, and local bus services also serve Logan and Saint George. The Legacy Highway is a controversial freeway that is planned to eventually run down the entire length of the Wasatch Front. A commuter rail is planned to also eventually run the length of the Wasatch Front.

Major population centres

See: List of cities in Utah According the 2000 Census, Utah is the fourth fastest growing state (at 29.6%) in the United States between 1990 and 2000. Saint George, in the southwest, is the second-fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States, trailing Las Vegas, Nevada. Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group (at an increase of 138.3%; 67.7% of which are Mexican) in Utah. The fastest growing race is the Asian-Pacific Islander category, which increased 56.6%, with Chinese forming the largest group. The state's two fastest growing counties are: Summit (at 91.6%; ranking it 8th in the country) and Washington (at 86.1%; ranking it 12th). The cities (defined as having at least 9,000 residents in 2000) that saw the greatest increases between 1990 and 2000 were: Draper (248%), South Jordan (141%), Lehi (125%), Riverton (122%), and Syracuse (102%). According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the three fastest-growing cities of any size between 2000 and 2004 were Saratoga Springs (437%), Herriman (414%), and Eagle Mountain (280%).

Education

Colleges and universities

- Brigham Young University in Provo
- College of Eastern Utah in Price
- Dixie State College of Utah (formerly Dixie College) in Saint George
- LDS Business College in Salt Lake City
- Neumont University in South Jordan
- Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake City
- Snow College in Ephraim
- Southern Utah University (formerly Southern Utah State College) in Cedar City

- University of Utah in Salt Lake City
- Utah College of Massage Therapy in Salt Lake City
- Utah State University in Logan
- Utah Valley State College (formerly Utah Valley Community College) in Orem
- Weber State University in Ogden
- Westminster College in Salt Lake City

Cultural institutions and events

- Ballet West
- Mormon Tabernacle Choir
- Pioneer Theatre Company
- Ririe Woodbury Dance Company
- Salt Lake Acting Company
- Sundance Film Festival
- Tuacahn Summer Festival of Theater, which takes place in the Tuacahn Amphitheater in Snow Canyon, near Saint George
- Utah Ballet
- Utah Opera
- Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City
- Utah Symphony Orchestra, which performs in Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City See also: Music of Utah

Professional sports teams

The Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association play in the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Utah is by far the least populous U.S. state to have a major professional sports league franchise, although the District of Columbia has fewer people. Other teams include:
- Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer in Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City (although a soccer-specific stadium has been approved for Sandy
- Salt Lake Bees of the Pacific Coast League in Franklin Covey Field in Salt Lake City
- Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League in Lindquist Field in Ogden
- Orem Owlz of the Pioneer League in Parkway Crossings in Orem
- Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL in the E Center in West Valley City
- Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League, to begin play in the 2006 season in the Delta Center in Salt Lake City

Miscellaneous information

- The continental meeting of the railroads happened at Promontory Summit, Utah
- Utah native Philo Farnsworth invented the electronic television in 1927
- Utah native John Moses Browning designed a number of popular firearms like the M2 .50 caliber machine gun and the Colt Model 1911 .45 semi-automatic handgun
- The 2002 Winter Olympics were hosted by Salt Lake City
- The USS Utah was named in honor of this state
- Utah ranks first in antidepressant use and personal bankruptcies per capita in the United States; it ranks 47th in teen pregnancy, last in percentage of births out of wedlock, last in number of abortions per capita, and last in percentage of teen pregnancies terminated in abortion [http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/2911597.html], [http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/ib22.html].

External links

- [http://www.state.ut.us/ Official state website]
- [http://www.singletracktreks.com Mountain Bike Trails in Utah]
- [http://www.utahoutloud.com Local Utah Music]- Utah Out Loud
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/49000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.utahmediadirectory.com Utah Media Directory]
- [http://www.utah-newspapers.com Utah Newspapers]
- [http://scenicutah.com Pictures of Utah]
- [http://www.Untraveledroad.com/USA/Utah.htm Photographic virtual tour of Utah.]
- Source for religious information: [http://www.adherents.com/adhloc/Wh_342.html#775 Adherents.com] (Kosmin, B.)
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/america/utah/ Photos of Utah - Terra Galleria]
- [http://utahstate.scout.com/index.html UStateAgs.com] - USU sports discussion
- [http://www.usuaggies.com/ USUAggies.com: Utah State News, Commentary & Satire]
- [http://www.utahsearch.com/ UtahSearch.Com Useful & Interesting Utah Links] Category:States of the American West
- Category:States of the United States ko:유타 주 ja:ユタ州 th:มลรัฐยูทาห์

For-profit

A For-profit organization is an organization whose primary objective is the generation of profit. This profit is then re-invested in the company and/or given to the shareholders or owners. This phrase is used to emphasis that that the organization is NOT a non-profit organization. There are currently millions of for-profit organizations that exist in the world today.

Family

:This article is about the human domestic group. For other uses, see Family (disambiguation). Family (disambiguation) in 1997]] A family is a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups, typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by comparable legal relationships including domestic partnership, adoption, surname and in some cases ownership (as was the case in the Roman Empire). Although many people (including social scientists) have understood familial relationships in terms of "blood," many anthropologists have argued that the notion of "blood" must be understood metaphorically, and in that in many societies family is understood through other concepts rather than "blood." Article 16(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State".

Family cross-culturally

According to sociology and anthropology, the primary function of the family is to reproduce society, either biologically, socially, or both. Thus, one's experience of one's family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a family of orientation: the family serves to locate children socially, and plays a major role in their enculturation and socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a family of procreation the goal of which is to produce and enculturate and socialize children. However, producing children is not the only function of the family. In societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage, and the resulting relationship between a husband and wife, is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household. In modern societies marriage entails particular rights and privilege that encourage the formation of new families even when there is no intention of having children. The structure of families traditionally hinges on relations between parents and children, between spouses, or both. Consequently, there are four major types of family: patrifocal, matrifocal, consanguineal and conjugal. (Note: these are ideal families. In all societies there are acceptable deviations from the ideal or statistical norm, owing either to incidental circumstances, such as the death of a member of the family, infertility or personal preferences). A patrifocal family consists of a father and his children and is found in societies where men take multiple wives (polygamy or polygyny)and/or remain involved with each for a relatively short time. This type of family is rare from a worldwide perspective but occurs in Islamic states with considerable frequency. In some emirates the laws encourage this structure by allowing a maximum of four wives per man at any given time, and automatic deflection of custody rights to the father in the case of a divorce. In these societies a man will often take a wife and may conceive a child with her, but after a relatively short time put her out of his harem so he can take another woman without exceeding the quota of 4. The man then keeps his child and thus a patrifocal structure emerges. Even without the expulsion of the mother, the structure may be patrifocal because the children (often as infants) are removed from the harem structure and placed into the father's family. A matrifocal family consists of a mother and her children. Generally, these children are her biological offspring, although adoption of children is a practice in nearly every society. This kind of family is common where women have the resources to rear their children by themselves, or where men are more mobile than women. A consanguineal family consists of a mother and her children, and other people — usually the family of the mother. This kind of family is common where mothers do not have the resources to rear their children on their own, and especially where property is inherited. When important property is owned by men, consanguineal families commonly consist of a husband and wife, their children and other members of the husband's family. A conjugal family consists of one or more mothers and their children, and/or one or more spouses (usually husbands). This kind of family is common where there is a division of labor requiring the participation of both men and women, and where families are relatively mobile. A notable subset of this family type is the nuclear family, in which one woman has one husband and they raise their children together.

Family in the West

polygyny middle American "nuclear" family.]] The preceding types of families are found in a wide variety of settings, and their specific functions and meanings depend largely on their relationship to other social institutions. Sociologists are especially interested in the function and status of these forms in stratified, especially capitalist, societies. Non-scholars, especially in the United States and Europe, use the term "nuclear family" to refer to conjugal families. Sociologists distinguish between conjugal families that are relatively independent of the kindreds of the parents and of other families in general, and nuclear families which maintain relatively close ties with their kindreds. Non-scholars, especially in the United States and Europe, also use the term "extended family". This term has two distinct meanings. First, it is used synonymously with consanguinal family. Second, in societies dominated by the conjugal family, it is used to refer to kindred (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family. These types refer to ideal or normative structures found in particular societies. In any society there is some variation in the actual composition and conception of families. Much sociological, historical and anthropological research is dedicated to understanding this variation, and changes over time in the family form. Thus, some speak of the bourgeois family, a family structure arising out of 16th and 17th century European households, in which the center of the family is a marriage between a man and woman, with strictly defined gender roles. The man typically is responsible for income and support, the woman for home and family matters. In contemporary Europe and the United States, people academic, political and civil sectors have called attention to single-father-headed households, and families headed by same-sex couples, although academics point out that these forms exist in other societies.

Economic function of the family

In traditional society the family is often supposed to have been the primary economic unit. This role has gradually diminished in modern times and in societies like the United States is much smaller except for certain sectors such as agriculture and a few upper class families. In China the family as an economic unit still plays a strong role in the countryside. However, the relations between the economic role of the family, its socio-economic mode of production and cultural values are highly complex. Chinaern U.S. family of Danish/German extraction]]

Kinship terminology

A kinship terminology is a specific system of familial relationships. The now rather dated anthropologist Louis Henry Morgan argued that kinship terminologies reflect different sets of distinctions. For example, most kinship terminologies distinguish between sexes (this is the difference between a brother and a sister) and between generation (this is the difference between a child and a parent). Moreover, he argued, kinship terminologies distinguish between relatives by blood and marriage (although recently some anthropologists have argued that many societies define kinship in terms other than "blood"). But Morgan also observed that different languages (and thus, societies) organize these distinctions differently. He thus proposed to describe kin terms and terminologies as either descriptive or classificatory. "Descriptive" terms refer to only one type of relationship, while "classificatory" terms refer to many types of relationships. Most kinship terminologies include both descriptive and classificatory terms. For example, in Western societies there is only one way to be related to one's brother (brother = parents' son); thus, in Western society, brother is a descriptive term. But there are many ways to be related to one's cousin (cousin = mother's brother's son, mother's sister's son, father's brother's son, father's sister's son, and so on); thus, in Western society, "cousin" is a classificatory term. Morgan discovered that what may be a descriptive term in one society can be a classificatory term in another society. For example, in some societies there are many different people that one would call "mother" (the woman of whom one was born, as well as her sister and husband's sister, and also one's father's sister). Moreover, some societies do not lump together relatives that the West classifies together (in other words, in some languages there is no word for cousin because mother's sister's children and father's sister's children are referred to in different terms). Armed with these different terms, Morgan identified six basic patterns of kinship terminologies:
- Hawaiian: the most classificatory; only distinguishes between sex and generation.
- Sudanese: the most descriptive; no two relatives are referred to by the same term.
- Eskimo: has both classificatory and descriptive terms; in addition to sex and generation, also distinguishes between lineal relatives (who are related directly by a line of descent) and collateral relatives (who are related by blood, but not directly in the line of descent). Lineal relatives have highly descriptive terms, collateral relatives have highly classificatory terms.
- Iroquois: has both classificatory and descriptive terms; in addition to sex and generation, also distinguishes between siblings of opposite sexes in the parental generation. Siblings of the same sex are considered blood relatives, but siblings of the opposite sex are considered relatives by marriage. Thus, one's mother's sister is also called mother, and one's father's brother is also called father; however, one's mother's brother is called father-in-law, and one's father's sister is called mother-in-law.
- Crow: like Iroquois, but further distinguishes between mother's side and father's side. Relatives on the mother's side of the family have more descriptive terms, and relatives on the father's side have more classificatory terms.
- Omaha: like Iroquois, but further distinguishes between mother's side and father's side. Relatives on the mother's side of the family have more classificatory terms, and relatives on the father's side have more descriptive terms. Societies in different parts of the world and using different languages may share the same basic terminology; in such cases it is very easy to translate the kinship terms of one language into another, although connatations may vary. But it is usually impossible to translate directly the kinship terms of a society that uses one system into the language of a society that uses a different system. Some languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Hungarian, add another dimension to some relations: relative age. There are, e.g., different words for "older brother" and "younger brother." Thus, although Westerners may naturally agree with Morgan that "brother" is descriptive rather than classificatory, speakers of these languages might disagree.

English kinship terminology

Most Western societies employ English kinship terminology. This kinship terminology is common in societies based on conjugal (or nuclear) families, where nuclear families must be relatively mobile. Members of the nuclear family use descriptive kinship terms:
- Mother: the female parent
- Father: the male parent
- Son: the males born of the mother; sired by the father
- Daughter: the females born of the mother; sired by the father
- Brother: a male born of the same mother; sired by the same father
- Sister: a female born of the same mother; sired by the same father It is generally assumed that the mother's husband is also the genitor. In some families, a woman may have children with more than one man or a man may have children with more than one woman. Children who share one parent but not another are called "half-brothers" or "half-sisters." Children who do not share parents, but whose parents are married, are called "step-brothers" or "step-sisters." If a person is married to the parent of a child, but is not the parent of the child themselves, then they are the "step-parent" of the child, either the "stepmother" or "stepfather". Children who are adopted into a family are generally called by the same terms as children born into the family. Typically, societies with conjugal families also favor neolocal residence; thus upon marriage a person separates from the nuclear family of their childhood (family of orientation) and forms a new nuclear family (family of procreation). This practice means that members of one's own nuclear family were once members of another nuclear family, or may one day become members of another nuclear family. Members of the nuclear families of members of one's own nuclear family may be lineal or collateral. When they are lineal, they are referred to in terms that build on the terms used within the nuclear family:
- Grandfather: a parent's father
- Grandmother: a parent's mother
- Grandson: a child's son
- Granddaughter: a child's daughter When they are collateral, they are referred to in more classificatory terms that do not build on the terms used within the nuclear family:
- Uncle: father's brother, father's sister's husband, mother's brother, mother's sister's husband
- Aunt: father's sister, father's brother's wife, mother's sister, mother's brother's wife
- Nephew: sister's sons, brother's sons
- Niece: sister's daughters, brother's daughters When separated by additional generations (in other words, when one's collateral relatives belong to the same generation as one's grandparents or grandchildren), these terms are modified by the prefix "great". Most collateral relatives were never members of the nuclear family of the members of one's own nuclear family.
- Cousin: the most classificatory term; the children of aunts or uncles. Cousins may be further distinguished by degree of collaterality and generation. Two persons of the same generation who share a grandparent are "first cousins" (one degree of collaterality); if they share a great-grandparent they are "second cousins" (two degrees of collaterality) and so on. If the shared ancestor is the grandparent of one individual and the great-grandparent of the other, the individuals are said to be "first cousins once removed" (removed by one generation); if the shared ancestor is the grandparent of one individual and the great-great-grandparent of the other, the individuals are said to be "first cousins twice removed" (removed by two generations), and so on. Similarly, if the shared ancestor is the great-grandparent of one person and the great-great-grandparent of the other, the individuals are said to be "second cousins once removed." Distant cousins of an older generation (in other words, one's parents' first cousins) are technically first cousins once removed, but are often classified with "aunts" and "uncles". Similarly, a person may refer to close friends of one's parents as "aunt" or "uncle," or may refer to close friends as "brother" or "sister". This practice is called fictive kinship. Relationships by marriage, except for wife/husband, are qualified by the term "-in-law". The mother and father of one's spouse are one's mother-in-law and father-in-law; the spouse of one's son or daughter is one's son-in-law or daughter-in-law. The term "sister-in-law" refers to three essentially different relationships, either the wife of one's brother, or the sister of one's spouse, or the wife of one's spouse's sibling. "Brother-in-law" is similarly ambiguous. There are no special terms for the rest of one's spouse's family. Specific distinctions vary among Western societies. For instance, in French, the prefix beau- or belle- is used for both "-in-law" and "step-"; in other words, one's belle-soeur could be the sister of one's spouse, the wife of one's sibling, the wife of one's spouse's sibling, or the daughter of one's parent's spouse. In Spanish, each of the roles that English creates with the suffix "-in-law" has a different word (suegros- parents-in-law, yerno-son-in-law, nuera-daughter-in-law, cuñados-siblings-in-law), but there is a suffix -astro or -astra that is equivalent to "step-". In Swedish, terms for grandparents differ on the side of the parents, i.e., "farfar" and "farmor" (father-father, father-mother) vs. "mormor" and "morfar" (mother-mother, mother-father). There is also a term, "half-sibling" (and -brother, -sister) for siblings with whom one shares only one parent.

References

- American Kinship, David Schneider
- A Natural History of Families, Scott Forbes, Princeton University Press, 2005, ISBN 0691094829
- More Than Kin and Less Than Kind, Douglas W. Mock, Belknap Press, 2004, ISBN 0674012852

External links

- [http://wikitree.org WikiTree.org] - freely-edited family tree of all human beings.
- Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences: http://bitbucket.icaap.org/
- Cousins: http://www.tedpack.org/cousins.html
- [http://www.islamimatrimonials.com/muslim_matrimonials_family.htm Muslim Matrimonial] and Muslim Family
- Grandparent Connection: http://www.thegrandparentconnection.org
- The Good Enough Family: http://samvak.tripod.com/family.html
- Cousin marriages: http://www.cousincouples.com/
- Family Court: http://www.stephenbaskerville.net/
- [http://www.unh.edu/frl/ Family Research Laboratory]
- Wiktionary entries for Western kinship terminology providing multilingual translations
- mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister
- grandmother grandfather grandson granddaughter
- uncle aunt nephew niece
- cousin Category:Family Category:Divorce Category:Human development Category:Kinship and descent Category:Marriage ms:Keluarga ja:家族 simple:Family

1997

1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Designations

International organizations, including the United Nations, designated 1997 as the International Year of the Reef.

Events

January

- January 5 - NBC's Today Show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time
- January 8 - Mister Rogers receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- January 9 - Yachtsman Tony Bullimore found alive five days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean
- January 16 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California
- January 18 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
- January 19 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city
- January 20 - Bill Clinton starts his second term as President of the United States
- January 21 - Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct
- January 22 - Madeleine Albright becomes the first female secretary of state after confirmation by the United States Senate.
- January 23 - Mir Aimal Kasi receives the death sentence for a 1993 assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters that killed two and wounded three others.
- January 27 - It is revealed that French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis.
- January 28 - Clive Davis receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

February

- February 4
- O. J. Simpson is found in civil court to be liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Simpson is ordered to pay $35,000,000 in damages to the families of the two victims
- On their way to Lebanon two Israeli troop-transport helicopters collide killing 73
- After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections
- February 5
- The so-called "Big Three" banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families
- Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter investment banks announce a $10 billion merger.
- February 6 - British Diane Blood wins the right to use the sperm of her dead husband to have a child
- February 9 - The Simpsons surpasses The Flintstones as the longest-running prime-time animated series.
- February 10 - The United States Army suspends Sgt. Major Gene McKinney, its top-ranking enlisted soldier, after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct
- February 10 - Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of Papua New Guinea has brought mercenaries onto Bougainville - the Sandline affair goes public
- February 11 - Bill Parcells becomes head coach of New York Jets.
- February 13
- Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope is started by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 7,000 for the first time gaining 60.81 to 7,022.44.
- February 19 - The last of the People's Republic of China's major revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping dies at 92, this was followed by weeks of mourning for the leader.
- February 22 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned and was born in July 1996.
- February 23 - A large fire occurred in the Russian Space station, Mir.

March

- March 1 - Osaka Dome opens in Chiyozaki, Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan.
- March 4 - United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
- March 6 - Picasso's Tete de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (it was recovered a week later).
- March 6 - In Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers overrun a military base and kill more than 200
- March 9 - Rap legend Notorious B.I.G. is murdered in Los Angeles, just six months after the killing of Tupac Shakur.
- March 10 - The main office of Fuji TV moves from Kawadacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan to Odaiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
- March 11 - An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
- March 12 - Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby.
- March 13 - India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
- March 16 - Sandline affair - On Bougainville, soldiers of commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline International
- March 18 - The tail of a Russian An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash killing all 50 on board and later the grounding of all An-24s.
- March 21 - In Zaire, Etienne Tshiksekedi is appointed new prime minister - he ejects supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet
- March 21 - Mercenaries of Sandline International withdraw from Papua New Guinea
- March 22 - 14 year, 10 month old Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest champion of the women's world figure skating competition.
- March 24 - Roberto Sanchez Vilella, the second Democratically Elected Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 84.
- March 26
- Thirty-nine bodies found in Heaven's Gate cult suicide.
- Survey of a claimed gold site of Bre-X Minerals in Indonesia reveals it is worthless; Bre-X complains and accuses Internet rumours.
- March 26 - Julius Chan resigns as a prime minister of Papua New Guinea - the Sandline affair ends.
- March 30 - The UK's fifth terrestrial television channel, Channel Five begins broadcasting at 6pm

April

- April 3 - Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
- April 11 - Fire damages Turin Cathedral in Italy
- April 14
- Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, seven miles form Mecca - 343 dead
- Former SS captain Erich Priebke is retried. On July 22 he is sentenced for five years in prison
- April 16 - Houston, Texas socialite Doris McGowen Beck Angleton is murdered in her River Oaks home. Roger Nicholas Angleton admits to the crime in the suicide note. Despite being found innocent of the crime by a Texas jury, he later gets arrested by the Department of Justice for similar charges.
- April 18 - The Red River of the North breaks through dikes and floods Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing 2 billion USD in damage.
- April 21 - First space burial, carrying the remains of 24 people on a Pegasus rocket into earth orbit.
- April 22 - Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
- April 22 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire and all 14 Tupac Amaru rebels are slain
- April 22 - France supports new transitional government for Zaire, withdrawing its support of Zaire
- April 22 - In Lima, Peru, after four-month standoff, government troops storm the Japanese ambassador's residence - they release 71 hostages and kill one hostage and 14 captors
- April 23 - Omaria massacre in Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
- April 27 - Andrew Cunanan murders Jerffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that will last until July and terminate with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.
- April 31 - Mobutu and Laurent Kabila meet aboard South African warship Outenigus with Nelson Mandela and United Nations envoy Mohammad Sahnoun. They do not reach agreement

May

Mohammad Sahnoun on May 2, 1997]]
- May 1
- Tasmania becomes the last state in Australia to decriminalize homosexuality
- The UK's Labour Party end 18 years of Conservative rule in the 1997 UK general election
- HM Prison Pentridge in Melbourne, Australia is officially closed
- May 2 - Tony Blair appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- May 10 - An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran kills at least 2,400
- May 11 - IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beat a chess World champion in a match.
- May 12
- Barnes and Noble Inc. filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com, a day before Amazon launched its initial public offering.
- The Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty signed.
- May 14 - The Star Alliance is formed between Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International and United Airlines
- May 14 - Laurent Kabila does not attend a second meeting with Mobutu
- May 16- Mobutu Sese Seko leaves Kinshasa (eventually settles in Morocco)
- May 16 - US President Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and their families, 25 years after the 40 year "study" was exposed by reporter Jean Heller.
- May 17 - Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa
- May 22 - Women in the military: Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial
- May 25
- Strom Thurmond becomes the longest serving member in the history of the United States Senate (41 years and 10 months)
- A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
- May 27 - A strong tornado hits in Jarrell, Texas killing 27 people. It was the second deadliest tornado of the 1990s (see Jarrell Tornado).
- May 31 - Official opening of the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge spanning ice covered waters.

June

- June - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi military escorts on board an UNSCOM helicopter try to physically prevent the UNSCOM pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its planned destination, threatening the safety of the aircraft and their crews.
- June 2 - Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- June 5 - Kim Hyun Chul, son of Kim Young Sam, president of South Korea, is charged with bribery and corruption related to the awarding of government contracts
- June 6 - Melissa Drexler kills her newborn baby in a toilet
- June 7 - A computer user known as "_eci" published his Microsoft C source code on a Windows 95 and Windows NT exploit, which would later become WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the internet, and Microsoft is forced to release a security patch.
- June 7 - The Detroit Red Wings sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in 4 games in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 10 - Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen's family members before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold (the news did not reach outside Cambodia for three days)
- June 11 - The British House of Commons votes for a total ban on handguns
- June 12 - The United States Department of the Treasury unveils a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant
- June 13 - A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death penalty for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- June 16 - Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; some 50 people killed.
- June 19 - Fast food chain McDonald's won a partial victory in its libel trial, known as the McLibel case, against two environmental campaigners. The judge decided it was true that McDonald's targeted its advertising at children, who pestered their parents into visiting company's restaurants.
- June 25 - An unmanned Progress spacecraft collided with the Russian Space station, Mir.

July

Mir.]]
- July 1 - The United Kingdom hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China
- July 4 - NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
- July 5 - In Cambodia, Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party overthrows Norodom Ranariddh in a coup
- July 8 - Mayo Clinic researchers warn that the