1.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
2.
South Holland
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South Holland is a province in the midwestern Netherlands. It has a population of just over 3.6 million, situated on the North Sea in the west of the Netherlands, South Holland covers an area of 3,403 km2, of which 585 km2 is water. It borders North Holland to the north, Utrecht and Gelderland to the east, the provincial capital is The Hague, while its largest city is Rotterdam. Archaeological discoveries in Hardinxveld-Giessendam indicate that the area of South Holland has been inhabited since at least ca.7,500 years before present, agriculture and permanent settlements probably originated around 2,000 years later, based on excavations near Vlaardingen. In the classical antiquity, South Holland was part of the Roman Province of Germania Inferior, the Romans built fortresses along the border, such as Praetorium Agrippinae near modern-day Valkenburg, Matilo near modern-day Leiden, and Albaniana near modern-day Alphen aan den Rijn. A city was founded near modern-day Voorburg, Forum Hadriani and it was built according to the grid plan, and facilitated a square, a court, a bathhouse and several temples. After the departure of the Romans, the area belonged to the Frisian Kingdom, in 690, the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibrord arrived near Katwijk and was granted permission to spread Roman Catholicism by the Frankish king Pepin II. He accordingly founded a church in Oegstgeest, after which the area was gradually Christianised. The area was appointed to East Francia in the Treaty of Verdun in 843, after which the king granted lands to Gerolf and this was the birth of the County of Holland. Gerolf was later succeeded by Dirk I, who continued to rule Holland under the Frankish king, in 1248, count William II ordered the construction of the Ridderzaal, which was later finished by his son and successor Floris V. The first city in South Holland to receive city rights was Dordrecht, the city retained a dominant position in the area until it was struck by a series of floods in the late 14th century. The same century saw a series of civil wars, the Hook and Cod wars. Both his daughter Jaqueline and his brother John, the supported by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The conflict ended in 1490, with John victorious, overall, the area of South Holland remained largely agrarian throughout the late Middle Ages. This changed around 1500, when Holland became Europes most urbanised area, during the Eighty Years War, the area of South Holland was the scene of the Capture of Brielle, the Siege of Leiden and the assassination of William the Silent. The United Netherlands declared their independence in 1581, and Holland quickly emerged as the dominant province, with important trading cities such as Leiden, Delft, Gouda. In 1575, the Netherlands first university was founded in Leiden by William the Silent, the Hague, which had originated around the castle of the counts of Holland, became its new political centre. Both the States of Holland and the States General seated in the Binnenhof, the Dutch Golden Age blossomed in the 17th century
3.
Gravesend, Brooklyn
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Gravesend is a neighborhood in the south-central section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U. S. state of New York. As of 2010, Gravesend had a population of 29,436, Gravesend was one of the original towns in the Dutch colony of New Netherland and became one of the six original towns of Kings County in colonial New York. It was the only English chartered town in what became Kings County and was designated the Shire Town when the English assumed control, courts were removed to Flatbush in 1685. Gravesend is notable for being founded by a woman, Lady Deborah Moody, a prominent early settler was Anthony Janszoon van Salee. When the town was first laid out, almost half were salt marsh wetlands, Gravesend was annexed by the City of Brooklyn in 1894. The derivation of the name Gravesend is unclear, some speculate that it was named after the English seaport of Gravesend, Kent. An alternative explanation suggests that it was named by Willem Kieft for the Dutch settlement of s- Gravesande, there is also a town in the Netherlands called s-Gravenzande. The modern neighborhood of Gravesend lies between Coney Island Avenue to the east, Stillwell Avenue to the west, Kings Highway to the north, to the east of Gravesend is Sheepshead Bay, to the northeast Midwood, to the northwest Bensonhurst, and to the west Bath Beach. To the south, across Coney Island Creek, lies the neighborhood of Coney Island, next to, and parallel with the van Sicklen Family Cemetery is the Old Gravesend Cemetery, where Lady Moody is purported to be interred. Gravesend Cemeterys most exotic occupant is Egyptian émigré Mohammad Ben Misoud, Gravesend is served by three lines of the New York City Subway system. The Coney Island subway yard is in the neighborhood, Gravesend is patrolled by the NYPDs 60th, 61st, and 62nd Precincts. The island and its environs were first inhabited by bands of the Lenape, the first known European to set foot in the area that would become Gravesend was Henry Hudson, whose ship, the Half Moon, landed on Coney Island in the fall of 1609. Due to clashes with the native tribes the town wasnt completed until 1645. But when the charter was finally signed and granted it became one of the first such titles to ever be awarded to a woman in the new world. The town Lady Moody established was one of the earliest planned communities in America and it consisted of a perfect square surrounded by a 20-foot-high wooden palisade. The town was bisected by two roads, Gravesend Road running from north to south, and Gravesend Neck Road. These roads divided the town into four quadrants which were subdivided into ten plots of land each, at the center of town, where the two main roads met, a town hall was constructed where town meetings were held once a month. Today, Lady Moody is believed to be buried in Old Gravesend Cemetery, in 1654 the people of Gravesend purchased Coney Island from the local natives for about $15 worth of seashells, guns, and gunpowder
4.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
5.
Westland (municipality), Netherlands
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Westland is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It covers an area of 90.58 km2 of which 11.05 km2 is covered by water and had a population of 103,716 in 2014. Towns and other settlements, De Lier, s-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk, Wateringen, Heenweg, Honselersdijk, Kwintsheul, Maasdijk, Poeldijk, Westland was created on 1 January 2004 by a merger of the municipalities De Lier, s-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen. These are also the names of five of the settlements, the others are Heenweg, Honselersdijk, Kwintsheul, Maasdijk, Poeldijk, and Ter Heijde. Westland itself is not the name of a settlement or town, the City hall is located in the middle of Westland, in Naaldwijk, the second largest settlement in Westland. The town of Honselersdijk also possesses the largest Flower Auction, FloraHolland and this is a very important sector of the Westland economy. Flowers produced in Westland are sold all over the world, coastal towns are Ter Heijde, Monster itself and s-Gravenzande. These towns are popular with Germans and people from the Eastern Netherlands and it is not unknown for every holiday campsite to be fully booked with tourists. This is because of their proximity to the more popular Scheveningen Westland is part of the Haaglanden conurbation. Westland is most known for its horticulture in greenhouses, growing flowers and vegetables
6.
Henry I, Duke of Brabant
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Henry I of Brabant, named The Courageous, was a member of the House of Reginar and first Duke of Brabant from 1183/84 until his death. He was possibly born in Leuven, the son of Count Godfrey III of Louvain and his wife Margaret and his father also held the title of a Landgrave of Brabant, Duke of Lower Lorraine and margrave of Antwerp. Henry early appeared as a co-ruler of his father, in 1179 he married Matilda of Boulogne, daughter of Marie of Boulogne and Matthew of Alsace and on this occasion received the County of Brussels from his father. He acted as a regent while Count Godfrey III went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem from 1182 to 1184, in 1183 Henry took the title of a Duke of Brabant. Upon the death of his father in 1190, King Henry VI confirmed the elevation of Brabant, Duke Henry sought to expand his power and soon picked several quarrels with the Count Baldwin V of Hainaut. He also was in opposition to the German king when his brother Albert of Louvain was elected Bishop of Liège and murdered shortly afterwards. Further conflicts with Duke Henry III of Limburg and Count Otto I of Guelders followed, here he acted as regent until the arrival of the new King, Amalric II. He fought against Philips seconders Count Dirk VII of Holland and Count Otto of Guelders, however, he switched sides in 1204, in 1208, after the assassination of Philip, Henry was proposed as successor by King Philip II. In the war followed, he finally reached a reconciliation with Emperor Otto IV. Together they fought against King Philip in the 1214 Battle of Bouvines, in 1213, Duke Henry also suffered a heavy defeat against the Bishopric of Liège in the Battle of Steppes. From 1217 to 1218 he joined the Fifth Crusade to Egypt, under Henry I, there was town policy and town planning. Among the towns to which the duke gave city rights and trade privileges was s-Hertogenbosch, in 1235 the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II appointed Henry to travel to England to bring him his fiancée Isabella Plantagenet, daughter of King John Lackland. Unfortunately, Henry fell ill on his way back and died at Cologne and he was buried in St. Peters Church at Leuven where his Late Romanesque effigy can still be seen
