1.
Politics of Denmark
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Denmark is described as a nation state. Danish politics and governance are characterized by a striving for broad consensus on important issues. Executive power is exercised by the cabinet of Denmark, presided over by the Prime Minister who is first among equals, legislative power is vested in both the executive and the national parliament. Members of the judiciary are nominated by the executive, formally appointed by the monarch, Denmark has a multi-party system, with two strong parties, and four or five other significant parties. No single party has held a majority in the Folketing since the beginning of the 20th century. Since only four coalition governments have enjoyed a majority, government bills rarely become law without negotiations. Hence the Folketing tends to be powerful than legislatures in other EU countries. The Constitution does not grant the power of judicial review of legislation. Since there are no constitutional or administrative courts, the Supreme Court deals with a constitutional dimension, on many issues the political parties tend to opt for co-operation, and the Danish state welfare model receives broad parliamentary support. This ensures a focus on efficiency and devolved responsibilities of local government on regional and municipal levels. Margrethe II has ruled as Queen Regnant and head of state since 14 January 1972, in accordance with the Danish Constitution the Danish monarch, as head of state, is the theoretical source of all executive and legislative power. However, since the introduction of parliamentary sovereignty in 1901, a de facto separation of powers has been in effect, the text of the Danish constitution dates back to 1849. Therefore, it has been interpreted by jurists to suit modern conditions, in a formal sense, the monarch retains the ability to deny giving a bill royal assent. In order for a bill to law, a royal signature. The monarch also chooses and dismisses the Prime Minister, although in modern times a dismissal would cause a constitutional crisis, on 28 March 1920, King Christian X was the last monarch to exercise the power of dismissal, sparking the 1920 Easter Crisis. When a new government is to be formed, the monarch calls the party leaders to a conference of deliberation, on the basis of the advice the monarch then appoints the party leader who commands a majority of recommendation to lead negotiations for forming a new government. However, the monarch does continue to exercise three rights, the right to be consulted, the right to advise, and the right to warn, pursuant to these ideals, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet attend the regular meeting of the Council of State. Nine parties are represented in parliament, the four oldest and in history most influential parties are the Conservative Peoples Party, the Social Democrats, Venstre and the Danish Social Liberal Party
2.
Coop amba
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FDB is a cooperative based in Denmark. In 2011, the coop had over 1.6 million members out of a Danish population of 5.5 million,1.1 million of whom used active accounts and 3,400 of whom were involved in the decision making. In 1897, it began forming its own factories and brands, in 1918, it helped form the NAF which later became Coop Norden AB. In 1952, it opened the first viable supermarket in the Faroes at Thorshavn, FDB originally focused on manufacturing and wholesaling, branding its retail operations simply Brugsen. In 1961, it opened the Kvickly chain in Aalborg, which sold clothes and it merged with the large HB supermarket chain in 1971 and opened the discount OBS. chain in 1972 at Høje Tåstrup. By the 1980s, the company began shuttering its factories and focusing more on retail operations and it purchased Irma in 1982 and Fakta in 1987. Between 1991 and 1995, it rebranded its own stores as the SuperBrugsen supermarkets, the DagliBrugsen local markets, and the LokalBrugsen convenience stores. All of these outlets were placed under Coop Denmark in 2001 in preparation for the 2002 union of its operations with those of Norways NKL, FDB held a 38% stake in the new unitary company, but its poor performance caused the parent companies to redivide its operations by 2008. FDB continued to organize its retailers under the Coop Denmark heading, FDB wholly owns Severin Kursuscenter A/S, a training center, and FDB Ejendomme A/S, its real estate management company. Through two separate holding companies, it also wholly owns Republica A/S and Coop Danmark A/S, Coop Danmark A/S is Denmarks largest supermarket conglomerate, with DKK39.6 billion in revenue and DKK520 million in profit during fiscal 2011. Its operating divisions are SuperBrugsen, Kvickly, and DagliBrugsen and LokalBrugsen, the company is also beginning to open convenience stores under the brand C. Its wholly owned subsidiaries are Fakta A/S and Irma A/S and it has a one-third stake in Coop Trading A/S. Republica A/S is a company focused on retail sales. It has been affected by the economy, but posted a before-tax profit of DKK5.4 million in 2011 owing to relocation of production to Bangladesh. Severin Kursuscenter A/S is a training center first built in 1932 and it posted pre-tax earnings of DKK2.2 million in 2011. FDB Ejendomme A/S was established as a company in 2011. Its earnings were DKK32.6 million in 2011, list of cooperatives FDB, official website
3.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
4.
Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia
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Borken is a town and the capital of the district of the same name, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Borken is situated 10 km east of the Dutch border, Borken station is the northern terminus on the remaining section of the Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck–Winterswijk railway. Raesfeld Heiden Südlohn Rhede Velen Borken consists of 12 districts, The name comes from the German word Burg or Burk and gradually changed to Burke, then Burken, around the year 800 the village was being used by Charles The Great as a stopover place on his travels. In 1226 City rights were granted by Bishop Dietrich II of Isenberg-Limburg, fortification of the city with walls and towers was first noted in 1391. In the last years of the Holy Roman Empire it was the capital of the principality of Salm. From 1810 to 1814 it was part of the French Empire, in 1815 Borken came under the jurisdiction of the Prussian Province of Westphalia. At the same time it became the seat of government for the newly formed district or county of Borken, between 1880 and 1905 the area experienced the building of railroad connections. Near the end of World War Two the historic center of the city was heavily destroyed, after the war, community rearrangements followed in 1969, including annexation of Gemen and other towns in the vicinity. Between 1975 and 1978 came the cleaning up and rebuilding of the part of the old city. There, buildings which had outlasted the destruction of the Second World War were finally demolished, in 2001 Borken celebrated its 775th anniversary
5.
Grabow
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Grabow is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Elde,7 km southeast of Ludwigslust and it is twinned with Whitstable, in Kent. The name Grabow is of Slavic Polabian origin, grab means hornbeam, names with this root occur often in Mecklenburg. It was only changed as Grabowe and Grabow. Mentions castle Grabow for the first time in a letter from February 23,1186, the city received city law in 1252 from the Count of Dannenberg. On 3 June 1725 the city was destroyed by a great fire, at least since the 18th century there were Jews in the city, who left behind a synagogue and a cemetery. Both of them were damaged during the Kristallnacht, the historical center of Grabow is distinguished by its close core of timber-framed houses of the 18th century. From 1815 to 1918, Grabow was part of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, otto Plath, the father of Sylvia Plath, emigrated from Grabow to America. On 1 January 2016, the former municipality Steesow became part of Grabow
6.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
7.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
8.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
9.
Whitstable
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Whitstable is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England,8 kilometres north of Canterbury and 3 kilometres west of Herne Bay. It has a population of about 32,000, Whitstable was famous for its Native Oysters which were collected from beds beyond the low water mark from Roman times until the mid-20th century. This is celebrated at the annual Whitstable Oyster Festival, in 1830, one of the earliest passenger railway services was opened by the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway Company. In 1832, the built an harbour and extended the line to handle coal. The railway has since closed but the harbour still plays an important role in the towns economy, archaeological finds indicate that the Whitstable area was inhabited during the Palaeolithic era, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Oysters were harvested in the area in Roman times, the remains of a Roman building have been found in the centre of the town. Charters indicate that there were Saxon settlements where salt production and coastal trade occurred, the town was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, under the name Witenestaple, meaning the meeting place of the white post, which referred to a local landmark. At that time, Witenestaple was the center of the hundred of Witenestaple which stretched from the coast to the village of Blean,3 kilometres north of Canterbury. In addition to Witenestaple, the hundred contained three manors at Seasalter, Northwood and Swalecliffe, the Seasalter and Swalecliffe manors were owned by the church, and the manor at Northwood was run by a noble family on behalf of the king. Fisheries were located at the Seasalter manor, saltworks were at the Northwood manor, by 1226, the name of the area had evolved into Whitstaple. Saltworks were opened at the Seasalter manor around the turn of the 14th century, by 1413, the three manors had combined to form the Whitstaple manor, and had been sold to a religious foundation in Essex. The manor was seized by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, and was given to the Minter family. A Royal Patent was granted in 1574 to the owner for the fishing of its oyster beds, and in the same year. A copperas works was established at Tankerton in 1588, which operated until about 1830, by 1610, the name Whitstaple had become Whitstable. Around the mid-18th century, goods and passengers began to be transported by ship between London and Whitstable, and a road was built to the cathedral city of Canterbury. These improvements in transport led to the development as a seaside resort. Whelks suspended in net bags in the well could live for a due to circulating fresh water. On 3 May 1830, the worlds first steam-hauled passenger and freight service was opened by the Canterbury
10.
Greenland
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Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Danish Realm between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, Greenland is the worlds largest island. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480, it is the least densely populated country in the world, the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements. Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada, Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century, soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it Terra do Lavrador. In the early 18th century, Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again, to strengthen trading and power, Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Greenland was settled by Vikings more than a thousand years ago, Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland, discovering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached Caribbean islands. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262, the Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century. Thus, the two kingdoms resources were directed at creating Copenhagen, Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814, and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark, in 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985, Greenland contains the worlds largest and most northernly national park, Northeast Greenland National Park. Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qaasuitsup and it also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK3.4 billion, which is planned to diminish gradually over time. Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources, the capital, Nuuk, held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, the early Viking settlers named the island as Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was said to be exiled from Iceland for manslaughter, along with his extended family and his thralls, he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding an area and settling there, he named it Grœnland
11.
Sisimiut
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Sisimiut, formerly Holsteinsborg, is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality, and the second-largest city in Greenland. It is located in central-western Greenland, on the coast of Davis Strait, although now a place-name, Sisimiut literally means the people at the fox burrows. The population of modern Greenlanders in Sisimiut is a mix of the Inuit and Danish peoples, today, Sisimiut is the largest business center north of the national capital of Nuuk and is one of the fastest growing cities in Greenland. Fishing is the industry in Sisimiut, although the town has a growing industrial base. KNI and its subsidiary Pilersuisoq, a chain of all-purpose general stores in Greenland, have their base in Sisimiut. Architecturally, Sisimiut is a mix of traditional, single-family houses, Sisimiut is still expanding, with the area north of the port, on the shore of the small Kangerluarsunnguaq Bay reserved for a modern suburb-style housing slated for construction in the 2010s. Several professional and general schools are based in Sisimiut, providing education to the inhabitants of the city, the new Taseralik Culture Center is the second cultural center to be established in Greenland, after Katuaq in Nuuk. The city has its own bus line, and is the northernmost year-round ice-free port in the country, supply ships head from the commercial port towards smaller settlements in more remote regions of Uummannaq Fjord, Upernavik Archipelago, and as far as Qaanaaq in northern Greenland. The town airport is served by Air Greenland, providing connections to towns on the western coast of Greenland. At that time, the shoreline was up to several meters above the present line. The Saqqaq remained in western Greenland for nearly two millennia, has uncovered the changing settlement pattern, exhibiting transition from the single-family dwellings to tiny villages of several families. The types of dwelling varied from tent rings made of the hides of hunted mammals, to stone hearths, despite recent advances in DNA research based on hair samples from the ancient Saqqaq migrants, the reason for the decline and subsequent disappearance of the culture are not yet known. After several hundred years of no permanent habitation, the wave of migration arrived from Canada. The first wave of immigrants, known as Dorset I, arrived around 500 BCE, the Inuit of the Thule culture—whose descendants form the majority of the current population—arrived nearly a thousand years ago, with the first arrivals dated to approximately 13th and 14th century. The shoreline was still at a higher altitude than today, with the Sisimiut valley east of the Kangerluarsunnguaq Bay, many artifacts and graves from the several centuries of permanent settlement remain scattered in the region. There are no signs of Norse settlement in the region, at the time of its founding, the Kalaallisut name of the place was Amerlok, after its fjord. The colonists formally established several villages in the region, of only two remain to this day, Itilleq and Sarfannguit. Under the Royal Greenland Trading Department, Holsteinsborg was a center of the trade in reindeer skins, several 18th-century buildings still stand in Sisimiut, among them the 1725 Gammelhuset and the 1775 Bethel-kirken or Blå Kirke, the oldest surviving church in Greenland
Borken, Germany
Mölndal, Sweden
Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland
Whitstable, England
Sisimiut, Greenland
Říčany, Czech Republic
