1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
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
3.
Provinces of the Netherlands
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The most populous province is South Holland, with over 3.5 million inhabitants in 2009. With approximately 381,000 inhabitants, Zeeland has the smallest population, in terms of area, Friesland is the largest province with a total area of 5,749 km2. If water is excluded, Gelderland is the largest province in terms of area at 4,972 km2, Utrecht is the smallest at 1,449 km2. In total about 13,000 people were employed by the administrations in 2009. The provinces of the Netherlands are joined in the Association of Provinces of the Netherlands and this organisation promotes the common interests of the provinces in the national government of the Netherlands in The Hague and within the EU in Brussels. The government of each province consists of three parts, The States-Provincial is the provincial parliament elected every four years. The number of members varies between 39 and 55, depending on the number of inhabitants of the province, being a member is a part-time job. The main task of the States-Provincial is to scrutinise the work of the provincial government, the Provincial Executive is a college elected from among the members of the States-Provincial and charged with most executive tasks. Each province has three and seven deputies, each having their own portfolio. The task of the Provincial Executive is the management of the province. The Kings Commissioner is a person appointed by the Crown who presides over the States-Provincial as well as over the Provincial Executive. The Commissioner is appointed for a term of six years, after which reappointment for another term is possible, the members of the States-Provincial are elected every four years in direct elections. To a large extent, the political parties are enlisted in these elections in the national elections. The chosen provincial legislators elect the members of the national Senate within three months after the provincial elections, the elections for the water boards take place on the same date as the provincial elections. The last three elections were held in 2007,2011 and in 2015. The provinces of the Netherlands have 7 core tasks, Sustainable spatial development, also, provinces have income from a part of the Vehicle Excise Duty. Several provinces have made a profit in the past from privatising utility companies originally owned or partly owned by the provinces. An example is Essent, which was owned by six provinces
4.
North Holland
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North Holland is a province in the northwest of the Netherlands. It is situated on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, in 2015, it had a population of 2,762,163 and a total area of 2,670 km2. From the 9th to the 16th century, the area was a part of the County of Holland. During this period West Friesland was incorporated, in the 17th and 18th century, the area was part of the province of Holland. At that time, the distinction between the Noorderkwartier and the Zuiderkwartier became common, in 1840, the province of Holland was split into the two provinces of North Holland and South Holland. In 1855, the Haarlemmermeer was drained and turned into land, the capital and seat of the provincial government is Haarlem, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands capital city, is the provinces largest city. The Kings Commissioner of North Holland is Johan Remkes, there are 51 municipalities and three water boards in the province. For most of its history, the province of North Holland was an integral part of Holland. From the 9th century to the 16th century, Holland was a county ruled by the counts of Holland, during this period an area known as West Friesland was conquered and integrated into Holland. For centuries afterwards Holland would be officially called Holland and West Friesland, the people of West Friesland had a strong sense of identity as a region within Holland. From the 16th century to 1795, Holland was the wealthiest and most important province in the United Provinces in the Dutch Republic, as the richest and most powerful province, Holland dominated the union. During this period a distinction was made between the North Quarter and the South Quarter, areas that roughly correspond to the two modern provinces. The province of North Holland as it is today has its origins in the period of French rule from 1795 to 1813 and this was a time of bewildering changes to the Dutch system of provinces. In 1795 the old order was swept away and the Batavian Republic was established, in the Constitution enacted on 23 April 1798, the old borders were radically changed. The republic was reorganised into eight departments with roughly equal populations, Holland was split up into five departments named Texel, Amstel, Delf, Schelde en Maas, and Rijn. The first three of these lay within the borders of the old Holland, the two were made up of parts of different provinces. In 1801 the old borders were restored when the department of Holland was created and this reorganisation had been short-lived, but it gave birth to the concept of breaking up Holland and making it a less powerful province. This time the two departments were called Amstelland and Maasland and this also did not last long
5.
Municipal council (Netherlands)
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In the Netherlands the municipal council is the elected assembly of the municipality. Its main role is laying down the guidelines for the policy of the council of mayor and aldermen and exercising control over its execution by the council of mayor and aldermen. The municipal councils range in size from nine to 45 seats, depending on the municipalitys population, in many municipalities all major political parties contest in the election in addition to local parties. All citizens and foreigners who live in the Netherlands for at least four years in a municipality have the right to vote, ministers and state secretaries in the national government are barred from standing in elections as well as mayors and civil servants employed by the municipality. After the elections the parties in the elect the aldermen. The municipal council is supported by its own civil service headed by the raadsgriffier, members of the council are not paid as full-time politicians, instead, most of them have day job. As in most legislatures, the members of municipal council work in political groups and policy area related committees. The mayor chairs the meetings of the council, some municipalities allow parties to have dual councillors, politicians who are not elected into the city council but are allowed to speak in committees
6.
Burgemeester
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In the Netherlands and Belgium, the mayor is an appointed government position, whose main responsibility is chairing the executive and legislative councils of a municipality. The title is translated in English as burgomaster. In the Netherlands, mayors chair both the council of mayor and aldermen and the municipal council and they are members of the council of mayor and aldermen and have their own portfolios, always including safety and public order. They also have a role for the municipal government, both to its civilians and to other authorities on the local, regional and national level. A large majority of mayors are members of a political party and this can be the majority party in the municipal council, but there are many exceptions on this. However, the mayors are expected to exercise their office in a non-partisan way, the mayor is appointed by the national government for a renewable six-year term. In the past, mayors for important cities were chosen after negotiations between the national parties. This appointment procedure has been criticised because it was seen by some as undemocratic, especially the party D66 had a direct election of the mayor as one of the main objectives in its platform. In the early 2000s, proposals for change were discussed in the national parliament, however, opponents of the status quo were divided between two alternatives, direct election of the mayor by the people or appointment by the municipal council. A constitutional change to direct election gained a majority in both chambers but failed to pass the vote in the Senate in March 2005. In the meantime, although the law remained the same, the practice changed, nowadays, when a vacancy occurs, a special committee of the municipal council interviews candidates, which are pre-selected by the provincial governor. After advice by the committee, the council express its preferences to the Minister of the Interior, who almost always follows this recommendation
7.
Bas Eenhoorn
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Herman Bastiaan Eenhoorn is a Dutch politician and former civil servant. He is a member of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy and he currently serves as interim mayor of Vlaardingen. Previously he was mayor of Alphen Aan Den Rijn, Schiermonnikoog and Voorburg as well as acting mayor of Lansingerland, Eenhoorn became well-known after giving press conferences in his function as acting mayor after the Alphen aan den Rijn shopping mall shooting on April 9,2011. Eenhoorn studied social and economic geography with a specialization in public administration at the University of Groningen
8.
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
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The Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, supports private enterprise, Mark Rutte has been the partys leader since 31 May 2006 and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010. Therefore, an election was held in September 2012. The VVD remained the largest party, with 41 seats, from November 2012 until March 2017, the VVD was the senior partner in the Second Rutte cabinet, a purple coalition government with the Labour Party. The VVD was founded in 1948 as a continuation of the Freedom Party, which was a continuation of the interbellum Liberal State Party and they were joined by the Comité-Oud, a group of liberal members of the Labour Party, led by Pieter Oud. The liberals within the Labour Party were primarily members of the pre-war social-liberal Free-thinking Democratic League and they were unhappy with the social-democratic orientation of the Labour Party. Between 1948 and 1952 the VVD took part in the cabinets led by the Labour Party Prime Minister Willem Drees. The party was a partner with only eight seats to the Catholic Peoples Party and Labour Party. The partys leadership was in the hands of the respected former Labour Party member Oud, the Drees cabinet laid the foundation for the welfare state and decolonization of the Dutch East Indies. In the Dutch general election of 1952 the VVD gained one seat and this time they gained nineteen seats and the party entered government alongside the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, Christian Historical Union CHU and the Roman Catholic KVP. In 1963, Oud left politics, and was succeeded by the minister of Home Affairs Edzo Toxopeus, with the lead of Toxopeus VVD lost three seats in the 1963 elections, but remained in government. In 1966, frustrated with their hopeless efforts, LDC-members departed the VVD altogether, in 1965, there also occurred a conflict between VVD-ministers and their counterparts from KVP and ARP in Cabinet Marijnen. The cabinet fell and without elections it was replaced by the KVP-ARP-Labour Party cabinet under Cals, in the following 1967 elections the VVD remained relatively stable and entered yet again the cabinet under Prime Minister Piet de Jong. During this period the VVD had loose ties with other liberal organisations and this included the liberal papers Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and the Algemeen Handelsblad, the broadcaster AVRO and the employers organisation VNO. In the Dutch general election of 1971 the VVD lost one seat, a cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic parties, the VVD and the Labour Party offshoot Democratic Socialists 70. This cabinet fell after a few months, meanwhile, the charismatic young MP Hans Wiegel had attracted considerable attention. He became the new leader of the VVD, in 1971 he became the new Parliamentary group leader, with Wiegel the VVD oriented towards a new political course, reforming the welfare state, cutting taxes etc. Wiegel did not shrink from conflict with the Labour Party and the trade unions, with this new course came a new electorate, working class and middle-class voters, who because of individualization and depillarization were more easy to attract
9.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
10.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
11.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
12.
Suburb
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A suburb is a residential area or a mixed use area, either existing as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city. In some areas, such as Australia, China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and a few U. S. states, new suburbs are routinely annexed by adjacent cities. In others, such as Arabia, Canada, France, and much of the United States, Suburbs first emerged on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of improved rail and road transport, which led to an increase in commuting. Suburbs tend to proliferate around cities that have an abundance of adjacent flat land, the English word is derived from the Old French subburbe, which is in turn derived from the Latin suburbium, formed from sub and urbs. The first recorded usage of the term in English, was made by John Wycliffe in 1380, in Australia and New Zealand, suburbs have become formalised as geographic subdivisions of a city and are used by postal services in addressing. In rural areas in both countries, their equivalents are called localities, the terms inner suburb and outer suburb are used to differentiate between the higher-density suburbs in proximity to the city center, and the lower-density suburbs on the outskirts of the urban area. The term middle suburbs is also used, Suburbs, in this sense, can range from areas that seem more like residential areas of a city proper to areas separated by open countryside from the city centre. In large cities such as London, suburbs include formerly separate towns and villages that have been gradually absorbed during a growth and expansion. In the United States and Canada, suburb can refer either to an residential area of a city or town or to a separate municipality or unincorporated area outside a town or city. The earliest appearance of suburbs coincided with the spread of the first urban settlements, large walled towns tended to be the focus around which smaller villages grew up in a symbiotic relationship with the market town. The word suburbani was first used by the Roman statesman Cicero in reference to the large villas, as populations grew during the Early Modern Period in Europe, urban towns swelled with a steady influx of people from the countryside. In some places, nearby settlements were swallowed up as the city expanded. The peripheral areas on the outskirts of the city were generally inhabited by the very poorest, by the mid-19th century, the first major suburban areas were springing up around London as the city became more overcrowded and unsanitary. A major catalyst in suburban growth came from the opening of the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s, the line joined the capitals financial heart in the City to what were to become the suburbs of Middlesex. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles from Baker Street. Unlike other railway companies, which were required to dispose of surplus land, in 1912, it was suggested that a specially formed company should take over from the Surplus Lands Committee and develop suburban estates near the railway. However, World War I delayed these plans and it was only in 1919, with expectation of a housing boom. The term Metro-land was coined by the Mets marketing department in 1915 when the Guide to the Extension Line became the Metro-land guide and this promoted the land served by the Met for the walker, visitor and later the house-hunter
13.
Amsterdam
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Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
14.
Nes aan de Amstel
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Nes aan de Amstel, is a small village which is part of the municipality of Amstelveen in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. The villages name indicates its located on the River Amstel, and is situated on the edge of the Rond Hoep polder and it was established in the 16th century gradually developing since 1947. The landscape is determined by the villages Catholic church, St. Urbanuskerk. Each year in the summer during the festival, the slob en sloot race is organized where approximately 50 participants submit an itinerary through the fields
15.
Amstel
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The Amstel is a river in the Netherlands which runs through the city of Amsterdam. The rivers name is derived from Aeme-stelle, old Dutch for water-area, namely, the well-known bridge Magere Brug in Amsterdam crosses the river, as do the bridges Blauwbrug, Hoge Sluis and Berlagebrug. The Stopera city hall and opera house and Carré theatre are located on the banks of the river. A nationally televised concert is held on the every year on Bevrijdingsdag. The rowing races Head of the River Amstel and Heineken Roeivierkamp are held on the river annually, the river also forms part of the route of the Canal Parade, Amsterdams annual floating gay pride parade. Amstel beer is named after the river, the Amstel brewery, as many other breweries, was situated close to the Amstel river because river water was used to produce the beer. The river originally began where two rivers, the Drecht and Kromme Mijdrecht, joined together, a little south of Uithoorn. After the construction of a canal, the Amstel-Drecht Kanaal, the river now begins where the Drecht and another canal, tributary rivers are the Kromme Mijdrecht, Bullewijk and Waver. The rivers outlet is in Amsterdam, where it meets the IJ bay, however, during 1936 the last part of the river was filled in, so the river now ends near Muntplein square, although it remains connected to the bay through subterranean pipes. The river contains one island, Amsteleiland, at 52°17′15″N 4°53′15″E. The only road leading to it belongs to the village of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel and it has an area of about 0.05 km². Amsterdam took its name from the river, the city developed from a small fishing village named Amstelredam, built during the 13th century alongside a dam at the mouth of the river. The town was granted city rights about 1300, the hamlet developed into the small town Amsteldam, which later became Amsterdam. The area through which the river passes is known as the Amstelland, the city and municipality of Amstelveen, the municipality of Ouder-Amstel, the towns of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel and Nes aan de Amstel are all named for the river as well. Amsterdam has a street named Amstel, a square named Amstelveld, in the former Dutch colonies in North America, a town was captured from the Swedes in 1655 and renamed Nieuw-Amstel. It is now known as New Castle, Delaware, the river has been depicted by many artists, including, Aert van der Neer Rembrandt Willem Witsen George Hendrik Breitner Piet Mondrian Media related to Amstel at Wikimedia Commons
16.
KLM
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KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N. V. is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and it is part of the Air France–KLM group, and is a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance. KLM was founded in 1919, it is the oldest airline in the still operating under its original name and had 32,505 employees as of 2013. KLM operates scheduled passenger and cargo services to approximately 130 destinations, in 1919, a young aviator lieutenant named Albert Plesman sponsored the ELTA aviation exhibition in Amsterdam. The exhibition was a success, after it closed several Dutch commercial interests intended to establish a Dutch airline. In September 1919, Queen Wilhelmina awarded the yet-to-be-founded KLM its Royal predicate, Plesman became its first administrator and director. The first KLM flight took place on 17 May 1920, KLMs first pilot, Jerry Shaw, flew from Croydon Airport, London, to Amsterdam. The flight was using a leased Aircraft Transport and Travel De Haviland DH-16, registration G-EALU. In 1920, KLM carried 440 passengers and 22 tons of freight, in April 1921, after a winter hiatus, KLM resumed its services using its own pilots, and Fokker F. II and Fokker F. III aircraft. In 1921, KLM started scheduled services, KLMs first intercontinental flight took off on 1 October 1924. The final destination was Jakarta, Java, in the Dutch East Indies, in September 1929, regular scheduled services between Amsterdam and Batavia commenced. Until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, this was the worlds longest-distance scheduled service by airplane. By 1926, it was offering flights to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Paris, London, Bremen, Copenhagen, in 1930, KLM carried 15,143 passengers. The Douglas DC-2 was introduced on the Batavia service in 1934, the first experimental transatlantic KLM flight was between Amsterdam and Curaçao in December 1934 using the Fokker F. XVIII Snip. The first of the airlines Douglas DC-3 aircraft were delivered in 1936, KLM was the first airline to serve Manchesters new Ringway airport, starting June 1938. When Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, a number of KLM aircraft—mostly DC-3s, five DC-3s and one DC-2 were taken to England. During the war, these aircraft and crew members flew scheduled flights between Bristol and Lisbon under BOAC registration. Some KLM aircraft and their crews ended up in the Australia-Dutch East Indies region, after the end of the Second World War in August 1945, KLM immediately started to rebuild its network
17.
KPMG
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KPMG is a professional service company and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Seated in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, KPMG employs 189,000 people and has three lines of services, audit, tax, and advisory and its tax and advisory services are further divided into various service groups. The name KPMG stands for Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler and it was chosen when KMG merged with Peat Marwick. The firms history dates back to 1870 when William Barclay Peat joined a firm in London and took it over. In 1877 accountancy firm Thomson McLintock opened an office in Glasgow, in 1897 Marwick Mitchell & Co. was founded by James Marwick and Roger Mitchell in New York City. In 1899 Ferdinand William LaFrentz founded the American Audit Co. in New York, meanwhile, in 1917 Piet Klijnveld and Jaap Kraayenhof opened an accounting firm called Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. in Amsterdam. On the other side of the Atlantic, Frank Wilber Main founded Main & Co. in Pittsburgh in about 1913, in 1925 William Barclay Peat & Co. and Marwick Mitchell & Co. merged to form Peat Marwick Mitchell & Company. In 1963 Main LaFrentz & Co was formed by the merger of Main & Co, in 1969 Thomson McLintock and Main LaFrentz merged forming McLintock Main LaFrentz International. In 1979 Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co, McLintock Main LaFrentz and Deutsche Treuhandgesellschaft formed KMG as a grouping of independent national practices to create a strong European-based international firm. In the United States, Main Lafrentz & Co. merged with Hurdman, in 1990 the two firms settled on the common name of KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock but in 1991 the firm was renamed KPMG Peat Marwick, and in 1999 the name was reduced again to KPMG. In October 1997, KPMG and Ernst & Young announced that they were to merge, however, while the merger to form PricewaterhouseCoopers was granted regulatory approval, the KPMG/Ernst & Young tie-up was later abandoned. In 2001 KPMG divested its U. S. consulting firm through a public offering of KPMG Consulting Inc. In early 2009, BearingPoint filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the UK and Dutch consulting arms were sold to Atos Origin in 2002. In 2003 KPMG divested itself of its arm, Klegal. KPMGs member firms in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and these member firms were followed by Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, CIS, Turkey, Norway, and Saudi Arabia. They appointed joint Chairmen, John Griffith-Jones and Ralf Nonnenmacher, each national KPMG firm is an independent legal entity and is a member of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity registered in the Swiss Canton of Zug. KPMG International changed its structure from a Swiss Verein to a co-operative under Swiss law in 2003. This structure in which the Cooperative provides support only to the member firms is similar to other professional services networks
18.
Jac. P. Thijsse
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P. Thijsse was a Dutch conservationist and botanist. He is sometimes referred to as J. P. Thijssse and he founded Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland. In 1925, on the occasion of his 60th birthday he was honored by his friends with the gift of Thijsses Hof and this was the first wildlife garden in the Netherlands, and one of the oldest worldwide. P. Thijssepark in Amstelveen, another garden, was named after him He was placed 87th on De Grootste Nederlander list in 2004
19.
Amsterdamse Bos
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The Amsterdamse Bos is an English park or landscape park in the municipalities Amstelveen and Amsterdam. And although most of the park is located in Amstelveen, the owner of the park is the City of Amsterdam, the park was mainly build in the early thirties, mostly by the forced labour of the unemployed, who risked to lose their benefits. Annually, almost 4.5 million people visit the park, in it, one can find animal parks, several sporting clubs, a rowing course, gardens and remembrance monuments. Throughout the decades, the location has seen different gatherings, political manifestations and these often took place on the so-called Vietnam Meadow. Despite extensive protests, this part was turned into a venue in 1994. Bosbaan An important part of the park is the course called de Bosbaan. The course was an alternative for rowing on the Amstel river, or on the surrounding the polder of the Haarlemmermeer. It is the world’s oldest artificial rowing course, in 1977 it hosted the World Rowing championships. In order to meet international competition regulation, the Bosbaan was widened to 118 meters, in 2014 the Bosbaan hosted the World Rowing Championship for a second time. The area of the park called Zonneweide is a designated for naturist recreation. Official website Live weather in Amsterdamse Bos
20.
1999 Cricket World Cup
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The 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, the seventh edition of the tournament, was hosted primarily by England, with some games being hosted in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the Netherlands. The World Cup was won by Australia, who beat Pakistan by 8 wickets at Lords Cricket Ground in London, New Zealand and South Africa were the other semi-finalists. The 12 contesting teams were divided into two groups, each team played all the others in their group during the league stage. The top three from each advanced to the Super Sixes, a new concept for the 1999 World Cup. The teams also carried forward their points from the games against the qualifiers from their group. The top four in the Super Sixes contested the semi-finals, the nine full members contested the World Cup along with three associate members, Kenya, and for the first time, Bangladesh and Scotland who all qualified through the 1997 ICC Trophy. Scotland played two of their Group B matches in their home becoming the first associate nation to host games in a World Cup. One Group B match was played in Wales and Ireland, while one Group A match was played in the Netherlands, points carried forward did not change once in the Super Sixes. Lance Klusener of South Africa was declared the Player of the Tournament, rahul Dravid of India scored most runs in the tournament. Geoff Allott of New Zealand and Shane Warne of Australia tied each other for most wickets taken in the tournament, a controversial new type of cricket ball, the white ‘Duke’, was introduced for the first time in the 1999 World Cup. Despite claims from makers British Cricket Balls Ltd that the balls behaved identically to the used in previous World Cups, they were proven to be harder. The host broadcasters for television coverage of the tournament were Sky, in the UK, live games were divided between the broadcasters, with both screening the final live. This was BBC Televisions last live cricket coverage, with England home Test series being on Channel 4 or Sky from 1999 onwards, Cricket World Cup 1999 Scorecards in CricketFundas Cricket World Cup 1999 from Cricinfo
21.
Netherlands national cricket team
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The Dutch cricket team is a national cricket team representing the Netherlands. Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since at least the 19th century, other sports - notably football - have long since surpassed cricket in popularity amongst the Dutch, but today there are around 6,000 cricketers in the Netherlands. The Netherlands have taken part in all ten ICC Trophy/World Cup Qualifier tournaments, winning the competition in Canada in 2001 and finishing as runners-up twice. The Netherlands also participated in the 1996,2003,2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, in 2004 they played first-class cricket in the ICC Intercontinental Cup, drawing with Scotland in Aberdeen and then going down to an innings defeat against Ireland in Deventer. The Netherlands enjoyed full One Day International status from 1 January 2006 until 1 February 2014 and they have had Twenty20 International status since June 2014, having played their first match in this format in 2008. Cricket was introduced to the Netherlands by British soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century, further clubs came into existence in the 1870s. The Netherlands national team played their first game in 1881 and they fielded 22 players against an Uxbridge Cricket Club XI, but still lost by an innings. The Dutch Cricket Union was formed in 1883, with 18 member clubs, the first national tournament was held the following year, and was won by Haagsche CC. English touring teams then began visiting in 1886 including one in 1891 that featured the author of Sherlock Holmes, in 1894, the Gentlemen of Holland were the first Dutch team to visit England. The tour included a game against the MCC at Lords, which the MCC won by an innings and 169 runs. Tours by English sides continued for the rest of the 1890s, which saw the emergence of Carst Posthuma. He took 2339 wickets at an average of 8.66 in his career in the Netherlands,1901 saw another visit to England by the Gentlemen of Holland. They played five games on the tour, drawing two and losing the remainder,1905 saw the first international game against Belgium, which finished in a draw. In 1910, the Dutch team visited Belgium to take part in an exhibition tournament and they lost to the MCC by 2 wickets, and to France by 63 runs, but beat Belgium by 116 runs. During World War I, in which the Netherlands remained neutral, large numbers of British officers were interned in the country, a team made up of these players even won the Dutch championship in 1918. The Flamingos, a Dutch touring side, was formed in 1921, tours by English teams also continued in this period. The 1930s are said to be the heyday of Dutch cricket, in 1934, the first Dutch womens league was formed, and the womens national team played two games against Australia in 1937, losing heavily in both. Cricket was of course curtailed after the German invasion in 1940, the 1950s saw visits to the Netherlands by Australia and the West Indies, in addition to their first match against Denmark
22.
South Africa national cricket team
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The South African national cricket team, nicknamed the Proteas, represents South Africa in international cricket. It is administered by Cricket South Africa, South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status. As of 27 November 2016, South Africa has played 405 Test matches, winning 148, the team has played 564 ODIs, winning 348, losing 194 and tying six, with 16 no-results. Finally, it has played 91 Twenty20 Internationals, winning 54 and losing 36, on 20 August 2012, South Africa became the top ranked team in test cricket for the first time. 8 days later, on 28 August 2012, it became the first team to top the rankings in all three formats of the game, South Africa is currently ranked third in Tests, first in ODIs and third in T20Is by the ICC. South Africa first played cricket in 1889, though the players participating at the time were not aware of the fact. The South African cricket team toured England in 1947, at Trent Bridge, Captain Alan Melville and vice-captain, Dudley Nourse achieved a Test match record for a third wicket partnership of 319. The following year Nourse, 38-year-old captain of Natal, was appointed Captain for the 1948 MCC Test matches in South Africa and they continued to play regularly series of matches against England, Australia and New Zealand until 1970. The membership rules of the Imperial Cricket Conference meant that when South Africa left the Commonwealth in May 1961, despite the rules being changed in 1964 to allow other nations to be Associate members, South Africa did not reapply. Due to South African apartheid laws, which introduced legal racial segregation to the country in 1948, the anti-apartheid movement led the ICC to impose a moratorium on tours in 1970. This decision excluded players such as Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, World class cricketers of their day like Clive Rice, Vintcent van der Bijl also never played Test Cricket despite their first class records. The ICC reinstated South Africa as a Test nation in 1991, South Africas first Test match after re-admission was played against the West Indies in April 1992. The match was played in Bridgetown, Barbados and South Africa lost by 52 runs, since South Africa have been reinstated they have achieved mixed success, and hosted the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup in 2003. In 2003, South Africa were one of the favourites but were eliminated by one run in the stages after they had mistakenly counted the number of runs they needed. They have also had bad press for failing in vital matches in tournaments including the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. With Donald retiring, Cronje banned for match-fixing and later killed in a crash, and Pollock also retiring from international cricket. Graeme Smith was made captain, although following injuries to Smith and Jacques Kallis, at the age of 29, he became the first non-white man to captain the once all-white South African cricket team. Due to a racial policy, the side was once required to contain black players
23.
Kenya national cricket team
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The Kenya national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Kenya in international cricket matches. Kenya has been a member of the International Cricket Council since 1981, it played its first One Day International in 1996. At one time it was considered one of the strongest of the members of the ICC. It lost ODI and T20I status in 2014, after failing to qualify for the 2015 World Cup, full article, East Africa cricket team Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda combined to form the East Africa cricket team, which became an associate member of the ICC in 1966. They continued playing amongst themselves, and were joined by Zambia in a tournament played annually between 1966 and 1980. India toured East Africa in 1967 and played a match against Kenya on 5 August. The 1975 Cricket World Cup took place in England, and East Africa were one of two non-test teams invited to the tournament, the other being Sri Lanka, Kenya provided half of the fourteen man squad for the tournament. After warm-up matches against Somerset, Wales, Glamorgan and various sides, they played in the same first round group as England, India and New Zealand. The World Cup was followed by a match against Sri Lanka at the County Ground. East Africa then took part in the 1979 ICC Trophy, the first ICC Trophy tournament, but did not progress beyond the first round, thus missing out on qualification for the 1979 World Cup. Long considered the strongest part of the East Africa team, Kenya broke away in 1981 and joined the ICC in their own right as an associate member and they played two three-day matches against Zimbabwe on that tour, losing both. Kenya played in the ICC Trophy in their own right in 1982,1986, the 1994 ICC Trophy was hosted in Nairobi and Kenya finished as runners-up to the UAE, thus qualifying for the 1996 World Cup. Kenya were in the group as Australia, India, Sri Lanka. In what at the time was described as the most startling upsets in the history of the World Cup, Kenya bowled out the West Indies for just 93 and won by 73 runs. Following their World Cup performance, Kenya were given full ODI status by the ICC, the Netherlands toured in December, playing four one-day matches, with the Kenyans winning them all. They played in the finals of South Africas Standard Bank Cup in March 1997. Following this was the 1997 ICC Trophy, hosted in Malaysia, Kenya reached the final, where they lost to Bangladesh by two wickets. This was followed by a tri-series against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in October the same year in Nairobi, England A were the first opposition in 1998, touring Kenya in January
24.
Jan Peter Balkenende
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Jan Pieter Jan Peter Balkenende, Jr. is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, Balkenende, a jurist by occupation, worked for the Academic Council and the Christian Democratic Appeal Think tank from 1982 until 1998. Balkenende became a professor of Christian theology at the VU University Amsterdam in 1993 and he was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the Dutch general election of 1998, serving from 19 May 1998 until 22 July 2002. The Christian Democratic Appeal became the winner of the election. The Cabinet Balkenende I collapsed on 16 October after just 87 days in office after internal conflicts within the Pim Fortuyn List that destabilized the government, on 7 July 2006 a rump cabinet Balkenende III was formed and stayed in office until the Dutch general election of 2006. Balkenende again as Lijsttrekker lost three seats but the Christian Democratic Appeal remained by far the largest party with 41 seats, the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal, the Labour Party and the ChristianUnion that formed the Cabinet Balkenende IV. On 20 February 2010 the Labour Party retracted their support for the Cabinet Balkenende IV after a disagreement over the extension of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, Balkenende remained Prime Minister of the Netherlands until the Cabinet Rutte I was installed on 14 October 2010. During his childhood, Balkenende was a supporter of the Dutch football team PSV Eindhoven. He also regularly visited the music school and theatre. Balkenende went to a Reformed Protestant primary school in Kapelle and he attended secondary school at the Christian Lyceum for Zeeland in Goes, graduating in 1974. Balkenende resides with his wife, Bianca Hoogendijk, and his daughter, Amelie, in Capelle aan den IJssel, during his tenure as Prime Minister, he did not use the Catshuis, the formal residency of the Prime Minister. He began his career on the staff of the institute of the CDA. In 1992 he received his PhD with a thesis on Governance regulation and social organisations, one year later in 1993, he became an extraordinary professor of Christian-Social Thought at the Free University of Amsterdam. Balkenende first entered the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 while the CDA was in opposition and he became the CDAs financial spokesman and was also involved with social affairs, justice, and domestic affairs. In this role he advocated a reduction of the national debt. He was elected Chairman of the CDA parliamentary fraction on 1 October 2001, on 3 November 2001, he was appointed lijsttrekker for the CDA in the tumultuous May 2002 parliamentary elections. These elections restored the CDAs former position as the largest political party in the Dutch parliament, Balkenende has been prime minister of four successive cabinets. On 4 July 2002 Queen Beatrix asked Balkenende to form a new government after the elections following the resignation of Prime Minister Wim Kok
25.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
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Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the main international airport of the Netherlands, located 9 kilometres southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, province of North Holland. It is the third busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers, the airport is built as a single-terminal concept, one large terminal split into three large departure halls. Schiphol is the hub for KLM and its regional affiliate KLM Cityhopper as well as for Corendon Dutch Airlines, Martinair, Transavia, the airport also serves as a European hub for Delta Air Lines and Jet Airways and as a base for EasyJet and Vueling. Schiphol opened on 16 September 1916 as a military airbase, the end of the First World War also saw the beginning of civilian use of Schiphol Airport and the airport eventually lost its military role completely. By 1940, Schiphol had four runways at 45-degree angles. The airport was captured by the German military that same year, the airport was destroyed through bombing but at the end of the war the airfield was restored quickly. In 1949, it was decided that Schiphol was to become the airport of the Netherlands. The airports official English name, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, reflects the original Dutch word order, Schiphol Airport is an important European airport, ranking as Europes third busiest and the worlds fourteenth busiest by total passenger traffic in 2015. It also ranks as the fifth busiest by international passenger traffic. 58.285 million passengers passed through the airport in 2015. In 2010,65. 9% of passengers using the airport flew to and from Europe,11. 7% to and from North America and 8. 8% to and from Asia, in 2010,106 carriers provided a total of 301 destinations on a regular basis. Passenger destinations were offered by 91 airlines, direct destinations grew by 9 to a total of 274. Regular destinations serviced exclusively by full freighters grew by eight to a total of twenty-seven, the airport is built as one large terminal, split into three large departure halls, which connect again once airside. The most recent of these was completed in 1994 and expanded in 2007 with a new section, called Terminal 4, plans for further terminal expansion exist, including the construction of a separate new terminal between the Zwanenburgbaan and Polderbaan runways that would end the one-terminal concept. Because of intense traffic and high landing fees, some low-cost carriers decided to move their flights to airports, such as Rotterdam The Hague Airport. Many low-cost carriers, such as EasyJet, however, continue to operate from Schiphol, there have been talks about using the Lelystad Airport for low-cost carriers. Schiphol is equipped with eighteen double jetway gates in preparation for airlines introducing the Airbus A380, Emirates was the first airline to fly the A380 to Schiphol in August 2012, deploying the aircraft on its double daily Dubai–Amsterdam service. During the summer, China Southern Airlines also uses the A380 on its Beijing–Amsterdam route, Schiphols name is derived from a former fortification named Fort Schiphol, which was part of the Stelling van Amsterdam defence works
26.
Rural area
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In general, a rural area or countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Whatever is not urban is considered rural, typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas are rural, though so are others such as forests. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes, in Canada, the census division has been used to represent regions and census consolidated sub-divisions have been used to represent communities. Intermediate regions have 15 to 49 percent of their living in a rural community. Predominantly urban regions have less than 15 percent of their living in a rural community. Predominantly rural regions are classified as rural metro-adjacent, rural non-metro-adjacent and rural northern, following Ehrensaft, as well, rural northern regions encompass all of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Statistics Canada defines rural for their population counts and this definition has changed over time. Typically, it has referred to the population living outside settlements of 1,000 or less inhabitants, the current definition states that census rural is the population outside settlements with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and a population density below 400 people per square kilometre. 84% of the United States inhabitants live in suburban and urban areas, Rural areas occupy the remaining 90 percent. The U. S. Census Bureau, the USDAs Economic Research Service, an urbanized area consists of a central surrounding areas whose population is greater than 50,000. USDA The USDAs Office of Rural Development may define rural by various population thresholds, for example, a metropolitan county is one that contains an urbanized area, or one that has a twenty-five percent commuter rate to an urbanized area regardless of population. In 2014, the USDA updated their rural / non-rural area definitions based on the 2010 Census counts, Rural health definitions can be different for establishing under-served areas or health care accessibility in rural areas of the United States. This became the Goldsmith Modification definition of rural, health care delivery in rural areas of the United States can be challenging. From 2005-2011, the rate of potentially preventable hospitalizations for acute conditions was highest in rural areas, in Brazil, theres different notions of rural area and countryside. Rural areas are any place outside an urban development and its carried by informal usage. Otherwise, countryside are officially defined as all municipalities outside the capitals metropolitan region. Some states as Mato Grosso do Sul doesnt have any metropolitan region, thus all of the state, Rio de Janeiro is singular in Brazil and its de facto a metropolitan state, as circa 70% of its population are located in Greater Rio
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Peat
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Peat, also called turf, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter that is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet because peatland plants capture the CO2 which is released from the peat. Sphagnum moss is one of the most common components in peat, soils that contain mostly peat are known as histosols. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere, Peatlands, particularly bogs, are the most important source of peat. That said, other less common types, including fens, pocosins. Landscapes covered in peat are home to specific kinds of plants including Sphagnum moss, ericaceous shrubs, because organic matter accumulates over thousands of years, peat deposits also provide records of past vegetation and climates stored in plant remains like pollen. This allows humans to reconstruct past environments and study changes in land use. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world, by volume, there are about 4 trillion cubic metres of peat in the world, covering a total of around 2% of the global land area, containing about 8 billion terajoules of energy. Over time, the formation of peat is often the first step in the formation of other fossil fuels such as coal. This is also the commonly used in the peat industry. At 106 g CO2/MJ, the carbon dioxide emission intensity of peat is higher than that of coal and natural gas, lastly, peat fires have been responsible for large public health disasters including the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. Peat forms when plant material does not fully decay in acidic and anaerobic conditions and it is composed mainly of wetland vegetation, principally bog plants including mosses, sedges, and shrubs. As it accumulates, the peat holds water and this slowly creates wetter conditions that allow the area of wetland to expand. Peatland features can include ponds, ridges, and raised bogs, most modern peat bogs formed 12,000 years ago in high latitudes after the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age. Peat usually accumulates slowly at the rate of about a millimetre per year, using Carbon-dating, scientists found that Peat in peatlands started forming 360 million years ago based on it currently containing 550 Gt of carbon. Peat material is either fibric, hemic, or sapric, fibric peats are the least decomposed and consist of intact fiber. Hemic peats are partially decomposed and sapric are the most decomposed, Phragmites peat is one composed of reed grass, Phragmites australis, and other grasses. It is denser than other types of peat
28.
Rail transport
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Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. It is also referred to as train transport. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles run on a flat surface. Tracks usually consist of rails, installed on ties and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels. Other variations are possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than road vehicles, so passenger. The operation is carried out by a company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway system or produce their own power. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system, Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. The oldest, man-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC, with Periander, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Rail transport blossomed after the British development of the steam locomotive as a viable source of power in the 19th centuries. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution, also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for markets in which prices varied very little from city to city. In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, and also the first tramways, starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by 2000. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan, other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use. The history of the growth, decline and restoration to use of transport can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used. The earliest evidence of a railway was a 6-kilometre Diolkos wagonway, trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element. The Diolkos operated for over 600 years, Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages. The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany
29.
Waterway
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A waterway is any navigable body of water. A shipping route consists of one or several waterways, Waterways can include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals. Vessels using waterways vary from small animal-drawn barges to immense ocean tankers and ocean liners, media related to Waterways at Wikimedia Commons Waterscape - Britains official guide to canals, rivers and lakes
30.
Livestock
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Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber, and labor. The term is used to refer solely to those raised for food. In recent years, some organizations have also raised livestock to promote the survival of rare breeds, animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and time periods. Originally, livestock were not confined by fences or enclosures, but these practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming and these practices increase yield of the various commercial outputs, but have led to increased concerns about animal welfare and environmental impact. Livestock production continues to play an economic and cultural role in numerous rural communities. Livestock as a word was first used between 1650 and 1660, as a merger between the live and stock. Older English sources, such as the King James Version of the Bible, the word cattle is derived from Old North French catel, which meant all kinds of movable personal property, including livestock, which was differentiated from immovable real estate. In later English, sometimes smaller livestock such as chickens and pigs were referred to as small cattle, today, the modern meaning of cattle, without a modifier, usually refers to domesticated bovines, but sometimes livestock refers only to this subgroup. Legal definition United States federal legislation sometimes more narrowly defines the term to make specified agricultural commodities either eligible or ineligible for a program or activity, for example, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 defines livestock only as cattle, swine, and sheep. Animal-rearing originated during the transition to settled farming communities from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animals are domesticated when their breeding and living conditions are controlled by humans, over time, the collective behaviour, lifecycle and physiology of livestock have changed radically. Many modern farm animals are unsuited to life in the wild, dogs were domesticated in East Asia about 15,000 years ago. Goats and sheep were domesticated around 8000 BC in Asia, swine or pigs were domesticated by 7000 BC in the Middle East and China. The earliest evidence of horse domestication dates to around 4000 BC, the term livestock is nebulous and may be defined narrowly or broadly. Broadly, livestock refers to any breed or population of animal kept by humans for a useful and this can mean domestic animals, semidomestic animals, or captive wild animals. Semidomesticated refers to animals which are only lightly domesticated or of disputed status and these populations may also be in the process of domestication. Some people may use the term livestock to refer to only used for red meat. Livestock are used by humans for a variety of purposes, many of which have an economic value, Livestock products include, Meat A useful form of dietary protein and energy, meat is the edible tissue of the animal carcass
31.
Horticulture
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Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of growing plants. It includes the cultivation of plants, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and non-food crops such as grass and ornamental trees. It also includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, landscape and garden design, construction, and maintenance, inside agriculture, horticulture contrasts with extensive field farming as well as animal husbandry. Horticulturists apply their knowledge, skills, and technologies used to grow intensively produced plants for food and non-food uses. Their work involves plant propagation and cultivation with the aim of improving plant growth, yields, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases and they work as gardeners, growers, therapists, designers, and technical advisors in the food and non-food sectors of horticulture. Horticulture even refers to the growing of plants in a field or garden, hortus is cognate with the native English word yard and also the borrowed word garden. Turf management includes all aspects of the production and maintenance of grass for sports. Floriculture includes the production and marketing of floral crops, landscape horticulture includes the production, marketing and maintenance of landscape plants. Olericulture includes the production and marketing of vegetables, pomology includes the production and marketing of pome fruits. Viticulture includes the production and marketing of grapes, oenology includes all aspects of wine and winemaking. Postharvest physiology involves maintaining the quality of and preventing the spoilage of plants, Horticulture has a very long history. The practice of horticulture can be retraced for many thousands of years, the cultivation of taro and yam in Papua New Guinea dates back to at least 6950–6440 cal BP. In the Pre-Columbian Amazon Rainforest, natives are believed to have used biochar to enhance productivity by smoldering plant waste. European settlers called it Terra Preta de Indio, in forest areas such horticulture is often carried out in swiddens. A characteristic of horticultural communities is that trees are often to be found planted around communities or specially retained from the natural ecosystem. Horticulture primarily differs from agriculture in two ways, first, it generally encompasses a smaller scale of cultivation, using small plots of mixed crops rather than large fields of single crops. Secondly, horticultural cultivations generally include a variety of crops. Agricultural cultivations however as a focus on one primary crop
32.
Floriculture
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Floriculture, or flower farming, is a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. The development, via plant breeding, of new varieties is an occupation of floriculturists. Floriculture crops include bedding plants, houseplants, flowering garden and pot plants, cut cultivated greens, as distinguished from nursery crops, floriculture crops are generally herbaceous. Bedding and garden plants consist of young flowering plants and vegetable plants and they are grown in cell packs, in pots, or in hanging baskets, usually inside a controlled environment, and sold largely for gardens and landscaping. Pelargonium, Impatiens, and Petunia are the best-selling bedding plants, the many cultivars of Chrysanthemum are the major perennial garden plant in the United States. Flowering plants are sold in pots for indoor use. The major flowering plants are poinsettias, orchids, florist chrysanthemums, foliage plants are also sold in pots and hanging baskets for indoor and patio use, including larger specimens for office, hotel, and restaurant interiors. Cut flowers are sold in bunches or as bouquets with cut foliage. The production of cut flowers is known as the cut flower industry. In Australia and the United States some species are harvested from the wild for the cut flower market, the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia. Retrieved September 17,2012. researchgate. net/publication/295862115_Diversification_Through_Floriculture_in_Kashmir_Valley Open Directory Project, Cut Flowers and Greens Growers
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Haarlemmermeer
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Haarlemmermeer is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water, and it is one of the largest towns in the Netherlands whose name is not used as the name of a municipality. This town, together with the growing towns of Nieuw-Vennep and Badhoevedorp. The Netherlands main international airport Schiphol is located in Haarlemmermeer, the original Haarlemmer Lake is said to have been mostly a peat bog, a relic of a northern arm of the Rhine which passed through the district in Roman times. The four lakes were formed one by successive floods, with the Haarlemmermeer name being applied to the combined lake. One of those villages was Vennep, after which the modern Nieuw-Vennep was named, in Dutch, the tendency for lakes to grow over time is called the waterwolf. The waterwolf could be a place during storms. It claimed a victim on 7 January 1629, when Frederick Henry of the Palatinate, son and heir of Frederick V. By 1647 the new Haarlemmermeer had an area of about 150 square kilometres, in 1643, Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater proposed to dike and drain the lake. Similar schemes, among which those of Nicolaus Samuel Cruquius in 1742, first, a canal was dug around the lake, fittingly called Ringvaart, to carry the water drainage and boat and ship traffic which had previously gone across the lake. This canal was 61 kilometres long, and 2.40 metres deep, the area enclosed by the canal was more than 180 square kilometres, and the average depth of the lake 4 metres. As the water had no drainage, it was calculated that probably 1000 million tons would have to be raised by mechanical means. All of the pumping was done by steam mills, an innovation contrasting with the practice of draining polders using windmills. Three Cornish beam engines were imported from Hayle, the Leeghwater, the Cruquius, pumping began in 1848, and the lake was dry by July 1,1852,800 million tons were actually discharged. At the first sale of the highest lands along the banks on 16 August 1853, about 28 per acre was paid, the soil is of various kinds, loam, clay, sand, and peat. Most of it is enough, though in the lower portions there are barren patches where the scanty vegetation is covered with an ochreous deposit. Mineral springs occur containing a high percentage of common salt. In 1854, the city of Leiden laid claim to the possession of the new territory, Haarlemmermeer became incorporated as a municipality in the province of North Holland by law on July 16,1855
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Aalsmeer
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Aalsmeer is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Its name is derived from the Dutch for eel and lake, Aalsmeer is bordered by the Westeinderplassen lake, the largest open water of the Randstad, and the Ringvaart Canal. The town is located 13 km southwest of Amsterdam, Aalsmeer is located on the border of the former Haarlem Lake. The older portion of town is built on peat, and is surrounded by polders, the polders consist of loamy soil and are 9–15 feet below sea level. Aalsmeer is first referenced in a document from 1133 in which it is called Alsmar and is granted to the Abbey of Rijnsburg, diederik VII van Kleef confirmed this grant in an act in 1199. The area was then a wilderness with alders and willow forests, in its surroundings, large tracts of land were dug up for peat, creating large lakes and ponds such as Oosteinderpoel, Schinkelpoel, Stommeer, Hornmeer, Legmeer, and the Westeinderplassen. This left little land for agriculture, causing Aalsmeers inhabitants to switch to fishery, the land was cultivated intensely, mostly for tree nurseries. The lack of dry land was countered by reclaiming some of the lakes, starting with Stom Lake in 1650, in 1852, the large Haarlem Lake, bordering on Aalsmeer, was made into a polder. Then followed Schinkelpoel, Oosteinderpoel, and Legmeer, peat was no longer dug up and the fishing business declined. Yet horticulture increased, especially strawberry cultivation, which peaked between 1850 and 1885, the strawberry became the symbol for the flag of Aalsmeer, red, green, and black. The cultivation of flowers began circa 1880, first with roses in greenhouses, the growers would sell their strawberries and flowers to distributors who would bring them with barges to the market in Amsterdam. But the trade shifted to Aalsmeer where auctions began to be held in local cafés, in 1912 two auction businesses were established, Centrale Aalsmeerse Veiling in the towns centre and Bloemenlust in Aalsmeer East. During World War 2, Aalsmeer gained a reputation for its Nazi support, mostly because of its fanatical National Socialistic mayor, the highest supreme commander of the German Wehrmacht in the Netherlands, Friedrich Christiansen, was a regular visitor. Following the war, more than a hundred cases were held against Nazi supporters from Aalsmeer. In 1950 Aalsmeer had 12,500 inhabitants, in 1968 the two auction businesses merged and formed the Verenigde Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer. In 1972 a new large building was completed in South Aalsmeer. The current mayor is Jobke Vonk-Vedder, the bus interchange in Aalsmeer is called the Hortensiaplein, where the buses meet. Having 999,000 square metres of space, the flower auction building of FloraHolland is one of the largest commercial buildings in the world
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
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Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people
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North Holland
listen)) is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 89,918 (2017). It is a suburban part of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam.
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Woking in United Kingdom[8]
Villa El Salvador in Peru
Tempelhof in Germany
Óbuda-Békásmegyer in Hungary
Media related to Amstelveen at Wikimedia Commons
Amstelveen
