Barack Obama is not the first nor the youngest US president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. That distinction belongs to Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt who was awarded the honor in 1906 for his role ending the Russo-Japanese War. But “Peace” has never been a word associated with Roosevelt’s policies and world view, especially as they affected the Philippines.
Roosevelt was a young author (“The Naval War of 1812”) and noted adventurer in 1891 during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison when he and close friends Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan and Commodore George Dewey had lunch in Washington DC to discuss the question: “How can we be a first-rate nation if we are a second-rate military power?”
Their solution was for the US to “become a first-tier naval power.” In Roosevelt’s words: “We build modern cruisers to start with…Then we build more powerful fighting vessels” which he proposed to call “coastal defense battleships.” They agreed that the US need to establish a string of naval bases from the Hawaiian Islands to the Philippine Islands so that the US could become a Pacific power.
To implement their imperial ambitions, Roosevelt secured an appointment from US Pres. William McKinley to the post of Assistant Secretary of the Navy in January of 1898. After securing the appointment, Roosevelt wrote Mahan: “What this country needs is a war – any little war will do.”
Their dream of war would be realized when the USS Maine was “blown up” in Havana harbor on February 16, 1898. The Spanish authorities who investigated the explosion determined that it was an accident in the boiler room of the American naval ship. But Roosevelt did not care what caused the explosion as it was the answer to his prayers.
On February 25, 1898, US Secretary of the Navy John Long took the afternoon off to see his physician. Taking advantage of Long's absence, Roosevelt immediately sent a cable to his friend, Commodore Dewey, ordering him to assemble the Asiatic Squadron in Hongkong and prepare it for offensive operations in the Philippine Islands in the event of a declaration of war with Spain. He then issued orders to US squadron commanders throughout the world to “keep full of coal”. He ordered ammunition in war-sized quantities to be purchased and he sent requests to both houses of Congress to pass bills authorizing the recruitment of enough sailors to man the expanded naval fleet he envisioned. He did all this in one afternoon.
As Roosevelt would later write, “Whenever I was left as Acting Secretary, I did everything in my power to put us in readiness. I knew that in the event of war, Dewey could be slipped like a wolf-hound from a leash, I was sure that if he were given half a chance he would strike instantly and with telling effect.”
When Sec. Long came back to work the next morning, he was shocked “because during my short absence, Roosevelt had come very near causing more of an explosion than happened to the Maine.” But, politically, neither Sec. Long nor Pres. McKinley could reverse the orders issued by Roosevelt.
The lust to avenge the Maine explosion, fanned by the yellow press of William Randolph Hearst, with cries of “Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain!” pushed the US Congress to declare war on Spain on April 24, 1898, just as Roosevelt had calculated.
Admiral Dewey was dispatched to Manila on May 1, 1898 with orders to destroy what was left of the Spanish Navy which he accomplished without losing a man, making him a national hero overnight.
The Filipinos had waged a war of independence against Spain since 1896 and were on the verge of successfully driving the Spaniards out of their isolated fortress in Manila in August of 1898 when the Spaniards worked out a deal with the Americans to surrender to them if they would keep the Filipinos out of Intramuros. The Spaniards and the Americans then negotiated and signed the Treaty of Paris on December 12, 1898 where Spain "ceded" the Philippine Islands to the US for $20-M.
On December 21, 1898, Pres. McKinley issued his Benevolent Assimilation proclamation ordering his military forces to seize control of the entire Philippine archipelago in order to "Christianize" the population.
When the US had enough soldiers in Manila in February of 1899, newly promoted Rear Admiral Dewey trained his cannons on the Filipino positions and began the naval bombardment that signalled the start of the Filipino-American War. The US would send a total of 130,000 soldiers to invade and colonize the islands suffering casualties of 1,250 men. Estimates are that anywhere from 250,000 to 600,000 Filipinos were killed resisting US colonial occupation.
After the Spanish-American War broke out, Roosevelt resigned his post and led a small US Army regiment in Cuba called “the Rough Riders” earning the Medal of Honor at the Battle of San Juan Hill. As a war hero, Roosevelt returned to New York and was elected governor. Two years later, he was nominated for and elected Vice-President of the US. After Pres. McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Roosevelt at 42 became the youngest US president in history and in 1906, the first and youngest to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, one year younger than Obama is today.
After Roosevelt received his Nobel Peace Prize, he dispatched the US Great White Fleet (16 Navy battleships of the Atlantic Fleet) on a worldwide tour to showcase US military might.
If Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, had instead established the Nobel War Prize, Roosevelt would have been hands down the perfect choice for the award in 1906.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
422 Years Ago
Almost a century after Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the Bahamas Islands on October 12, 1492 and claimed for the king of Spain what would later be called “the Americas ”, Spanish Captain Pedro de Unamuno “discovered” California on the other side of the continent.
Although Columbus’ discovery is celebrated as a national holiday in the United States, in Spain , and throughout South America, no such honor is bestowed on de Unamuno for his discovery of California on October 18, 1587.
In fact, de Unamuno’s historic voyage has been largely ignored by historians and is only commemorated by the Filipino American community and only because de Unamuno reported in his ship’s log that his crew was composed of “Luzon Indios”.
This historical fact was revealed in Henry R. Wagner’s Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century which was published by the California Historical Society in San Francisco in 1929. The book included an English translation of de Unamuno’s account of his voyage to California.
The Spanish interest in finding California stemmed from the development of the Manila-Acapulco trade route, through which Chinese goods were ultimately delivered to Spain. In 1565, with Father Andres Urdaneta at the helm, a return route to Acapulco was found that passed by what we now know as the California coast. On the way back, Urdaneta sighted land, but lost sight of it in the mist.
Over the next 20 years, Urdaneta’s route was used by more Spanish vessels- mostly Manila galleon ships made in Philippine islands - and staffed by crews of “Luzon Indios.”
In 1585, Archbishop of Mexico Pedro Moya de Contreras dispatched Spanish Captain Francisco Gali to proceed to Manila from Acapulco and, on his return voyage, “to reconnoiter down the coast” in hopes of finding the land that Urdaneta and others reported sighting.
Archbishop Contreras also instructed Gali not to stop by China, mindful of the intense interest by Acapulco merchants in establishing direct commercial trade with China instead of having to go through the Spanish “middle men” merchants in Manila .
The Acapulco merchants had given money to Gali’s second in command, Pedro de Unamuno, to make the trade connections with China. Fortuitously for the merchants, Gali died while in Manila , giving command of his two ships to de Unamuno. Before leaving Manila in 1586, the Spanish authorities there reminded de Unamuno again of the Archbishop’s order not to go to China under any circumstances.
De Unamuno’s crew on his return trip to Acapulco was composed mostly of Luzon Indios who were conscripted by the Spanish authorities in Manila to build the galleon ships and to man the crews that would sail on those ships.
The church authorities in Manila were concerned that if the merchants in Acapulco established direct trade relations with China , they would not need to go to Manila to pick up Chinese goods and the Spanish colonial outpost in the Philippine islands would be abandoned.
Despite repeated warnings, de Unamuno disregarded the instructions of the Acapulco Archbishop and the Manila authorities and proceeded to Macao, a destination he later claimed was due to “bad weather and lack of supplies.”
The Portuguese authorities saw direct Spanish trade with China as inimical to their own trade interests so they confiscated de Unamuno’s ships and reported his China incursion to the Spanish authorities in Manila. The Royal Audiencia in Manila dispatched Captain Juan de Argumedo to Macao to arrest de Unamuno and his cohorts and to recover the two Spanish ships. The penalty for de Unamuno’s insubordination was death.
But de Unamuno and his men were able to elude capture and managed to connect with two Franciscan priests who wanted to return to Mexico . One of the priests, Father Martin Ignacio de Loyola (the nephew of the founder of the Jesuit order), loaned de Unamuno money to buy a small Portuguese-built ship in Macao , which de Unamuno christened “Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza”.
With his new ship loaded with Chinese goods purchased with the funds provided by the Acapulco merchants and with his crew of Luzon Indios, a few Spanish soldiers, and two priests, de Unamuno sailed for Acapulco from Macao on July 12, 1587.
En route to Acapulco, the mast of his ship broke which compelled de Unamuno to dock in the nearest land to replace the broken mast and to replenish his food supplies. When his crew sighted land on October 18, 1587, de Unamuno entered the bay of what he called “Port San Lucas”. He took possession of the port and the land in the name of the Spanish king much as Columbus did on the other side of the continent a century before.
De Unamuno dispatched his Luzon Indios to act as his scouts as he explored the new land. Two days later, on October 20, his crew encountered natives who attacked them. In the battle that ensued, a Spanish soldier and a Luzon Indio were killed, before de Unamuno's crew was able to safely return to their ship.
On October 21, de Unamuno decided to leave and continue on to Acapulco. About a month later, de Unamuno wrote: “We entered the port of Acapulco on November 22 whence we wrote to Your Excellency and reported at length on the events and hardships of our voyage.”
After researching navigational maps of California and the geographic descriptions provided in de Unamuno’s narrative, members of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) determined that de Unamuno’s “Port San Lucas” is the city of Morro Bay.
On October 18, 1995, Morro Bay City Mayor William Yates officially dedicated a historical marker to commemorate de Unamuno’s landing. In part, the marker reads: “ A landing party was sent to shore which included ‘Luzon Indios’ marking the first landing of Filipinos in the Continental United States.”
On September 25, 2009, the state of California officially declared October as “Filipino American History Month” to honor the first Filipinos to set foot in California.
(This article, in its original form, first appeared in the Op-Ed page of the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17, 1997.)
Although Columbus’ discovery is celebrated as a national holiday in the United States, in Spain , and throughout South America, no such honor is bestowed on de Unamuno for his discovery of California on October 18, 1587.
In fact, de Unamuno’s historic voyage has been largely ignored by historians and is only commemorated by the Filipino American community and only because de Unamuno reported in his ship’s log that his crew was composed of “Luzon Indios”.
This historical fact was revealed in Henry R. Wagner’s Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century which was published by the California Historical Society in San Francisco in 1929. The book included an English translation of de Unamuno’s account of his voyage to California.
The Spanish interest in finding California stemmed from the development of the Manila-Acapulco trade route, through which Chinese goods were ultimately delivered to Spain. In 1565, with Father Andres Urdaneta at the helm, a return route to Acapulco was found that passed by what we now know as the California coast. On the way back, Urdaneta sighted land, but lost sight of it in the mist.
Over the next 20 years, Urdaneta’s route was used by more Spanish vessels- mostly Manila galleon ships made in Philippine islands - and staffed by crews of “Luzon Indios.”
In 1585, Archbishop of Mexico Pedro Moya de Contreras dispatched Spanish Captain Francisco Gali to proceed to Manila from Acapulco and, on his return voyage, “to reconnoiter down the coast” in hopes of finding the land that Urdaneta and others reported sighting.
Archbishop Contreras also instructed Gali not to stop by China, mindful of the intense interest by Acapulco merchants in establishing direct commercial trade with China instead of having to go through the Spanish “middle men” merchants in Manila .
The Acapulco merchants had given money to Gali’s second in command, Pedro de Unamuno, to make the trade connections with China. Fortuitously for the merchants, Gali died while in Manila , giving command of his two ships to de Unamuno. Before leaving Manila in 1586, the Spanish authorities there reminded de Unamuno again of the Archbishop’s order not to go to China under any circumstances.
De Unamuno’s crew on his return trip to Acapulco was composed mostly of Luzon Indios who were conscripted by the Spanish authorities in Manila to build the galleon ships and to man the crews that would sail on those ships.
The church authorities in Manila were concerned that if the merchants in Acapulco established direct trade relations with China , they would not need to go to Manila to pick up Chinese goods and the Spanish colonial outpost in the Philippine islands would be abandoned.
Despite repeated warnings, de Unamuno disregarded the instructions of the Acapulco Archbishop and the Manila authorities and proceeded to Macao, a destination he later claimed was due to “bad weather and lack of supplies.”
The Portuguese authorities saw direct Spanish trade with China as inimical to their own trade interests so they confiscated de Unamuno’s ships and reported his China incursion to the Spanish authorities in Manila. The Royal Audiencia in Manila dispatched Captain Juan de Argumedo to Macao to arrest de Unamuno and his cohorts and to recover the two Spanish ships. The penalty for de Unamuno’s insubordination was death.
But de Unamuno and his men were able to elude capture and managed to connect with two Franciscan priests who wanted to return to Mexico . One of the priests, Father Martin Ignacio de Loyola (the nephew of the founder of the Jesuit order), loaned de Unamuno money to buy a small Portuguese-built ship in Macao , which de Unamuno christened “Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza”.
With his new ship loaded with Chinese goods purchased with the funds provided by the Acapulco merchants and with his crew of Luzon Indios, a few Spanish soldiers, and two priests, de Unamuno sailed for Acapulco from Macao on July 12, 1587.
En route to Acapulco, the mast of his ship broke which compelled de Unamuno to dock in the nearest land to replace the broken mast and to replenish his food supplies. When his crew sighted land on October 18, 1587, de Unamuno entered the bay of what he called “Port San Lucas”. He took possession of the port and the land in the name of the Spanish king much as Columbus did on the other side of the continent a century before.
De Unamuno dispatched his Luzon Indios to act as his scouts as he explored the new land. Two days later, on October 20, his crew encountered natives who attacked them. In the battle that ensued, a Spanish soldier and a Luzon Indio were killed, before de Unamuno's crew was able to safely return to their ship.
On October 21, de Unamuno decided to leave and continue on to Acapulco. About a month later, de Unamuno wrote: “We entered the port of Acapulco on November 22 whence we wrote to Your Excellency and reported at length on the events and hardships of our voyage.”
After researching navigational maps of California and the geographic descriptions provided in de Unamuno’s narrative, members of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) determined that de Unamuno’s “Port San Lucas” is the city of Morro Bay.
On October 18, 1995, Morro Bay City Mayor William Yates officially dedicated a historical marker to commemorate de Unamuno’s landing. In part, the marker reads: “ A landing party was sent to shore which included ‘Luzon Indios’ marking the first landing of Filipinos in the Continental United States.”
On September 25, 2009, the state of California officially declared October as “Filipino American History Month” to honor the first Filipinos to set foot in California.
(This article, in its original form, first appeared in the Op-Ed page of the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17, 1997.)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
First Filipinos to Set Foot in California
Almost a century after Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the Bahamas Islands on October 12, 1492 and claimed for the king of Spain what would later be called “the Americas ”, Spanish Captain Pedro de Unamuno “discovered” California on the other side of the continent. Although Columbus ’ discovery is celebrated as a national holiday in the United States , in Spain , and throughout South America, no such honor is bestowed on de Unamuno for his discovery of California on October 18, 1587.
In fact, de Unamuno’s historic voyage has been largely ignored by historians and is only commemorated by the Filipino American community and only because de Unamuno reported in his ship’s log that his crew was composed of “Luzon Indios”.
This historical fact was revealed in Henry R. Wagner’s Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century which was published by the California Historical Society in San Francisco in 1929. The book included an English translation of de Unamuno’s account of his voyage to California.
The Spanish interest in finding California stemmed from the development of the Manila-Acapulco trade route, through which Chinese goods were ultimately delivered to Spain. In 1565, with Father Andres Urdaneta at the helm, a return route to Acapulco was found that passed by what we now know as the California coast. On the way back, Urdaneta sighted land, but lost sight of it in the mist.
Over the next 20 years, Urdaneta’s route was used by more Spanish vessels- mostly Manila galleon ships made in Philippine islands - and staffed by crews of “Luzon Indios.”
In 1585, Archbishop of Mexico Pedro Moya de Contreras dispatched Spanish Captain Francisco Gali to proceed to Manila from Acapulco and, on his return voyage, “to reconnoiter down the coast” in hopes of finding the land that Urdaneta and others reported sighting.
Archbishop Contreras also instructed Gali not to stop by China , mindful of the intense interest by Acapulco merchants in establishing direct commercial trade with China instead of having to go through the Spanish “middle men” merchants in Manila .
The Acapulco merchants had given money to Gali’s second in command, Pedro de Unamuno, to make the trade connections with China . Fortuitously for the merchants, Gali died while in Manila , giving command of his two ships to de Unamuno. Before leaving Manila in 1586, the Spanish authorities there reminded de Unamuno again of the Archbishop’s order not to go to China under any circumstances.
De Unamuno’s crew on his return trip to Acapulco was composed mostly of Luzon Indios who were conscripted by the Spanish authorities in Manila to build the galleon ships and to man the crews that would sail on those ships.
The church authorities in Manila were concerned that if the merchants in Acapulco established direct trade relations with China , they would not need to go to Manila to pick up Chinese goods and the Spanish colonial outpost in the Philippine islands would be abandoned.
Despite repeated warnings, de Unamuno disregarded the instructions of the Acapulco Archbishop and the Manila authorities and proceeded to Macao , a destination he later claimed was due to “bad weather and lack of supplies.”
The Portuguese authorities saw direct Spanish trade with China as inimical to their own trade interests so they confiscated de Unamuno’s ships and reported his China incursion to the Spanish authorities in Manila. The Royal Audiencia in Manila dispatched Captain Juan de Argumedo to Macao to arrest de Unamuno and his cohorts and to recover the two Spanish ships. The penalty for de Unamuno’s insubordination was death.
But de Unamuno and his men were able to elude capture and managed to connect with two Franciscan priests who wanted to return to Mexico . One of the priests, Father Martin Ignacio de Loyola (the nephew of the founder of the Jesuit order), loaned de Unamuno money to buy a small Portuguese-built ship in Macao , which de Unamuno christened “Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza”.
With his new ship loaded with Chinese goods purchased with the funds provided by the Acapulco merchants and with his crew of Luzon Indios, a few Spanish soldiers, and two priests, de Unamuno sailed for Acapulco from Macao on July 12, 1587.
En route to Acapulco, the mast of his ship broke which compelled de Unamuno to dock in the nearest land to replace the broken mast and to replenish his food supplies. When his crew sighted land on October 18, 1587, de Unamuno entered the bay of what he called “Port San Lucas”. He took possession of the port and the land in the name of the Spanish king much as Columbus did on the other side of the continent a century before.
De Unamuno dispatched his Luzon Indios to act as his scouts as he explored the new land. Two days later, on October 20, his crew encountered natives who attacked them. In the battle that ensued, a Spanish soldier and a Luzon Indio were killed, before de Unamuno's crew was able to safely return to their ship.
On October 21, de Unamuno decided to leave and continue on to Acapulco . About a month later, de Unamuno wrote: “We entered the port of Acapulco on November 22 whence we wrote to Your Excellency and reported at length on the events and hardships of our voyage.”
After researching navigational maps of California and the geographic descriptions provided in de Unamuno’s narrative, members of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) determined that de Unamuno’s “Port San Lucas” is the city of Morro Bay.
On October 18, 1995, Morro Bay City Mayor William Yates officially dedicated a historical marker to commemorate de Unamuno’s landing. In part, the marker reads: “ A landing party was sent to shore which included ‘Luzon Indios’ marking the first landing of Filipinos in the Continental United States.”
On September 25, 2009, the state of California officially declared October as “Filipino American History Month” to honor the first Filipinos to set foot in California .
(This article, in its original form, first appeared in the Op-Ed page of the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17, 1997.)
In fact, de Unamuno’s historic voyage has been largely ignored by historians and is only commemorated by the Filipino American community and only because de Unamuno reported in his ship’s log that his crew was composed of “Luzon Indios”.
This historical fact was revealed in Henry R. Wagner’s Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century which was published by the California Historical Society in San Francisco in 1929. The book included an English translation of de Unamuno’s account of his voyage to California.
The Spanish interest in finding California stemmed from the development of the Manila-Acapulco trade route, through which Chinese goods were ultimately delivered to Spain. In 1565, with Father Andres Urdaneta at the helm, a return route to Acapulco was found that passed by what we now know as the California coast. On the way back, Urdaneta sighted land, but lost sight of it in the mist.
Over the next 20 years, Urdaneta’s route was used by more Spanish vessels- mostly Manila galleon ships made in Philippine islands - and staffed by crews of “Luzon Indios.”
In 1585, Archbishop of Mexico Pedro Moya de Contreras dispatched Spanish Captain Francisco Gali to proceed to Manila from Acapulco and, on his return voyage, “to reconnoiter down the coast” in hopes of finding the land that Urdaneta and others reported sighting.
Archbishop Contreras also instructed Gali not to stop by China , mindful of the intense interest by Acapulco merchants in establishing direct commercial trade with China instead of having to go through the Spanish “middle men” merchants in Manila .
The Acapulco merchants had given money to Gali’s second in command, Pedro de Unamuno, to make the trade connections with China . Fortuitously for the merchants, Gali died while in Manila , giving command of his two ships to de Unamuno. Before leaving Manila in 1586, the Spanish authorities there reminded de Unamuno again of the Archbishop’s order not to go to China under any circumstances.
De Unamuno’s crew on his return trip to Acapulco was composed mostly of Luzon Indios who were conscripted by the Spanish authorities in Manila to build the galleon ships and to man the crews that would sail on those ships.
The church authorities in Manila were concerned that if the merchants in Acapulco established direct trade relations with China , they would not need to go to Manila to pick up Chinese goods and the Spanish colonial outpost in the Philippine islands would be abandoned.
Despite repeated warnings, de Unamuno disregarded the instructions of the Acapulco Archbishop and the Manila authorities and proceeded to Macao , a destination he later claimed was due to “bad weather and lack of supplies.”
The Portuguese authorities saw direct Spanish trade with China as inimical to their own trade interests so they confiscated de Unamuno’s ships and reported his China incursion to the Spanish authorities in Manila. The Royal Audiencia in Manila dispatched Captain Juan de Argumedo to Macao to arrest de Unamuno and his cohorts and to recover the two Spanish ships. The penalty for de Unamuno’s insubordination was death.
But de Unamuno and his men were able to elude capture and managed to connect with two Franciscan priests who wanted to return to Mexico . One of the priests, Father Martin Ignacio de Loyola (the nephew of the founder of the Jesuit order), loaned de Unamuno money to buy a small Portuguese-built ship in Macao , which de Unamuno christened “Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza”.
With his new ship loaded with Chinese goods purchased with the funds provided by the Acapulco merchants and with his crew of Luzon Indios, a few Spanish soldiers, and two priests, de Unamuno sailed for Acapulco from Macao on July 12, 1587.
En route to Acapulco, the mast of his ship broke which compelled de Unamuno to dock in the nearest land to replace the broken mast and to replenish his food supplies. When his crew sighted land on October 18, 1587, de Unamuno entered the bay of what he called “Port San Lucas”. He took possession of the port and the land in the name of the Spanish king much as Columbus did on the other side of the continent a century before.
De Unamuno dispatched his Luzon Indios to act as his scouts as he explored the new land. Two days later, on October 20, his crew encountered natives who attacked them. In the battle that ensued, a Spanish soldier and a Luzon Indio were killed, before de Unamuno's crew was able to safely return to their ship.
On October 21, de Unamuno decided to leave and continue on to Acapulco . About a month later, de Unamuno wrote: “We entered the port of Acapulco on November 22 whence we wrote to Your Excellency and reported at length on the events and hardships of our voyage.”
After researching navigational maps of California and the geographic descriptions provided in de Unamuno’s narrative, members of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) determined that de Unamuno’s “Port San Lucas” is the city of Morro Bay.
On October 18, 1995, Morro Bay City Mayor William Yates officially dedicated a historical marker to commemorate de Unamuno’s landing. In part, the marker reads: “ A landing party was sent to shore which included ‘Luzon Indios’ marking the first landing of Filipinos in the Continental United States.”
On September 25, 2009, the state of California officially declared October as “Filipino American History Month” to honor the first Filipinos to set foot in California .
(This article, in its original form, first appeared in the Op-Ed page of the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17, 1997.)
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