1.
Liechtenstein
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Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein, is a doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in Central Europe. It is a monarchy with the rank of principality, headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and Austria to the east and it has an area of just over 160 square kilometres and an estimated population of 37,000. Divided into 11 municipalities, its capital is Vaduz and its largest municipality is Schaan, the unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the world at 1. 5%. Liechtenstein has been known in the past as a tax haven, however. An alpine country, Liechtenstein is mainly mountainous, making it a winter sport destination, many cultivated fields and small farms are found both in the south and north. The country has a financial sector centered in Vaduz. Liechtenstein is a member of the European Free Trade Association, and while not being a member of the European Union and it also has a customs union and a monetary union with Switzerland. The oldest traces of human existence in Liechtenstein date back to the Middle Paleolithic era, neolithic farming settlements were founded in the valleys around 5300 BC. Hallstatt and La Tène cultures flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC possibly under influence from the Greek. One of the most important tribal groups in the Alpine region were the Helvetii, in 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesar defeated the Alpine tribes, bringing the region under closer control of the Roman Empire. By 15 BC, Tiberius, who was destined to be the second Roman emperor, Liechtenstein was integrated into the Roman province of Raetia. The area was maintained by the Roman military, which maintained a large legionary camp called Brigantium near Lake Constance, a Roman road ran through the territory. In 259/60 Brigantium was destroyed by the Alemanni, a Germanic people who settled in the area in around 450. In the Early Middle Ages, the Alemanni had settled the eastern Swiss plateau by the 5th century, Liechtenstein was at the eastern edge of Alemannia. In the 6th century, the region became part of the Frankish Empire following Clovis Is victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504. The area that later became Liechtenstein remained under Frankish hegemony until the empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD following the death of Charlemagne. The territory of present-day Liechtenstein belonged to East Francia until it was reunified with Middle Francia under the Holy Roman Empire around 1000 AD
2.
Internet
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The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite to link devices worldwide. The origins of the Internet date back to research commissioned by the United States federal government in the 1960s to build robust, the primary precursor network, the ARPANET, initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1980s. Although the Internet was widely used by academia since the 1980s, Internet use grew rapidly in the West from the mid-1990s and from the late 1990s in the developing world. In the two decades since then, Internet use has grown 100-times, measured for the period of one year, newspaper, book, and other print publishing are adapting to website technology, or are reshaped into blogging, web feeds and online news aggregators. The entertainment industry was initially the fastest growing segment on the Internet, the Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries, the Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage, each constituent network sets its own policies. The term Internet, when used to refer to the global system of interconnected Internet Protocol networks, is a proper noun. In common use and the media, it is not capitalized. Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized when used as a noun, the Internet is also often referred to as the Net, as a short form of network. Historically, as early as 1849, the word internetted was used uncapitalized as an adjective, the designers of early computer networks used internet both as a noun and as a verb in shorthand form of internetwork or internetworking, meaning interconnecting computer networks. The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably in everyday speech, however, the World Wide Web or the Web is only one of a large number of Internet services. The Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other web resources, linked by hyperlinks, the term Interweb is a portmanteau of Internet and World Wide Web typically used sarcastically to parody a technically unsavvy user. The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, the third site was the Culler-Fried Interactive Mathematics Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by the University of Utah Graphics Department. In an early sign of growth, fifteen sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks, early international collaborations on the ARPANET were rare. European developers were concerned with developing the X.25 networks, in December 1974, RFC675, by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine, used the term internet as a shorthand for internetworking and later RFCs repeated this use. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation funded the Computer Science Network, in 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite was standardized, which permitted worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.5 Mbit/s and 45 Mbit/s. Commercial Internet service providers emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990
3.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
4.
Vaduz
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Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein and also the seat of the national parliament. The town, which is located along the Rhine River, has about 5,100 residents as of 2009, although Vaduz is the best known town internationally in the principality, it is not the largest, neighbouring Schaan has a larger population. Vaduz is said to be mentioned in historic 12th-century manuscripts as Farduzes and it is, however, commonly believed to have been founded circa 1322 by the Counts of Werdenberg. In 1322 a mention of the castle is made, which was sacked by the Swiss in 1499 during the Swabian War, the entire town was also destroyed. In the 17th century the Liechtenstein family was seeking a seat in the Imperial diet, however, since they did not hold any territory that was directly under the Imperial throne, they were unable to meet the primary requirement to qualify. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft of Schellenberg, tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than the Emperor. It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the political expediency of the purchases. The most prominent landmark of Vaduz is Vaduz Castle, the home of the prince of Liechtenstein. The castle is visible from almost any location in Vaduz, being perched atop a hill in the middle of the city. The Cathedral of St. Florin, Government House and City Hall are also well-known landmarks, displaying the various styles, Vaduz has a lively tourist industry, despite being one of the very few capital cities in the world without an airport or railway station. The closest railway station is Schaan–Vaduz located around 2 kilometres from the city centre in the town of Schaan, however, very few trains stop here except for a local service between Buchs in Switzerland and Feldkirch in Austria. There are extremely frequent bus connections between nearby mainline railway stations including Buchs, Sargans, and Feldkirch, operated by Liechtenstein Bus, the nearest airport is Zürich Airport located around 120 km away from Vaduz. It could take 2 hours by train and 2.30 hours by car, the National Art Gallery as well as the National Museum are located in Vaduz. The art gallery is a museum of modern and contemporary art, also showing displays from the private princely Liechtenstein Collection, the building is an architectural landmark built by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a “black box” of tinted concrete, the museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein. The Liechtenstein National Museum is showing a permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions, there are also the Postage Stamp Museum and a Ski Museum. Vaduz also has a professional association football club, FC Vaduz which, as the other clubs in Liechtenstein
5.
Long Island
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Long Island is an island located just off the northeast coast of the United States and a region within the U. S. state of New York. Stretching east-northeast from New York Harbor into the Atlantic Ocean, the island comprises four counties, Kings and Queens to the west, then Nassau, more generally, Long Island may also refer collectively both to the main Island as well as its nearby, surrounding outer barrier islands. North of the island is the Long Island Sound, across from which lie the states of Connecticut, across the Sound, to the northwest, lies Westchester County on mainland New York. To the west, Long Island is separated from the Bronx and the island of Manhattan by the East River. To the extreme southwest, it is separated from the New York City borough of Staten Island and the U. S. state of New Jersey by Upper New York Bay, the Narrows, to the east lie Block Island and numerous smaller islands. Its population density is 5,595.1 inhabitants per square mile, Long Island is culturally and ethnically diverse. Some of the wealthiest and most expensive neighborhoods in the Western Hemisphere are located on Long Island, nine bridges and 13 tunnels connect Brooklyn and Queens to the three other boroughs of New York City. Ferries connect Suffolk County northward across Long Island Sound to the state of Connecticut, the Long Island Rail Road is the busiest commuter railroad in North America and operates 24/7. At the time of European contact, the Lenape people inhabited the western end of Long Island, giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to record an encounter with the Lenapes, after entering what is now New York Bay in 1524. In 1609, the English navigator Henry Hudson explored the harbor, adriaen Block followed in 1615 and is credited as the first European to determine that both Manhattan and Long Island are islands. Native American land deeds recorded by the Dutch from 1636 state that the Indians referred to Long Island as Sewanhaka, sewan was one of the terms for wampum, and is also translated as loose or scattered, which may refer either to the wampum or to Long Island. The name t Lange Eylandt alias Matouwacs appears in Dutch maps from the 1650s, later, the English referred to the land as Nassau Island, after the Dutch Prince William of Nassau, Prince of Orange. It is unclear when the name Nassau Island was discontinued, the very first settlements on Long Island were by settlers from England and its colonies in present-day New England. Lion Gardiner settled nearby Gardiners Island, the first settlement on the geographic Long Island itself was on October 21,1640, when Southold was established by the Rev. John Youngs and settlers from New Haven, Connecticut. Peter Hallock, one of the settlers, drew the long straw and was granted the honor to step ashore first and he is considered the first New World settler on Long Island. Southampton was settled in the same year, Hempstead followed in 1644, East Hampton in 1648, Huntington in 1653, and Brookhaven in 1655. While the eastern region of Long Island was first settled by the English, until 1664, the jurisdiction of Long Island was split, roughly at the present border between Nassau County and Suffolk County. The Dutch founded six towns in present-day Brooklyn beginning in 1645 and these included, Brooklyn, Gravesend, Flatlands, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Bushwick
Liechtenstein