Rulers.org
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rulers.org, is a website which contains information about political leaders of all countries from about 1700 to the present. The website was founded in 1995 and was located at the address http://www.geocities.com/athens/1058/rulers.html, until July of 2001, when the website was moved to the rulers.org location. The website is always being expanded and updated. It began with only the leaders of all countries from the 1960s through the 1990s, but by 1999, it contained information going back to 1900, and by 2001, it contained information going back to 1700. Also, in about 1999, information began to be added about government departments and territories of many countries. At this time all countries have heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers, and most countries have information about regional divisions and past colonial governors. Perhaps the website owner's most ambitious project began in late 2001, when an index to the website, with biographies of political leaders, began being added. It was completed early in 2002, but was almost immediately removed due to what the owner explained was a lack of space on the servers. The index is still gradually being re-added (as of 2006). Another important feature of the website is the chronicle of relevant political events, which began in January of 1996, and is still updated almost daily. This chronicle, sorted by month, indicates election results, as well as resignations, retirements and deaths of heads of state and government, regional leaders and important cabinet ministers of all countries, as well as military coups and deaths of former political leaders.
The website is used by many other websites on the Internet for information about political leaders, and sites with similar information such as worldstatesmen.org have been established. It is unknown if some of the content from these websites was copied from rulers.org. Benjamin Schemmel of Heidelberg is the owner and editor of the site. No sources have been given for the information on the website, but there have been no major issues about the site's reliability.
