1.
DC USA
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DC USA is an 890, 000-square-foot retail development in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D. C. A Washington City Paper poll named DC USA the Best Designed Retail Space of 2009, the development is adjacent to the Columbia Heights station on the Yellow and Green Lines of the Washington Metro. It is also served by 10 bus routes and has a 1, anchored by Big Box retail stores typically associated with suburban developments, the complex is accessible to more than 36,000 residents within a 10-minute walk of the site. A total of 335,000 residents live within a 3-mile radius, the development has been designed to fit into its urban setting, with the buildings holding the street line to frame the sidewalks and continue the urban scale. Target, one of the anchors, has expanded its urban store concept to numerous cities across the country, in 2013 it opened a store in a redeveloped historic office building in the heart of Portland, Oregon. Target Bed Bath & Beyond Best Buy Staples Marshalls Five Below Modells Petco Washington Sports Clubs Media related to DC USA at Wikimedia Commons Official website
2.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
5.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
6.
Ireland (state)
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
7.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
8.
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
9.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
10.
Thanksgiving (United States)
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Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. It originated as a harvest festival, Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, after a proclamation by George Washington. Together with Christmas and the New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the holiday season. The event that Americans commonly call the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621 and this feast lasted three days, and—as accounted by attendee Edward Winslow—it was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating thanksgivings—days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought. Setting aside time to give thanks for blessings, along with holding feasts to celebrate a harvest, are both practices that long predate the European settlement of North America. The first documented thanksgiving services in territory belonging to the United States were conducted by Spaniards. Thanksgiving services were routine in what became the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607, with the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, in 1619,38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia. The groups London Company charter specifically required that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned, in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God. Americans also trace the Thanksgiving holiday to a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, autumn or early winter feasts continued sporadically in later years, first as an impromptu religious observance, and later as a civil tradition. Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn, squanto had learned the English language during his enslavement in England. The Wampanoag leader Massasoit had given food to the colonists during the first winter when supplies brought from England were insufficient, the Pilgrims celebrated at Plymouth for three days after their first harvest in 1621. Seventeenth-century accounts do not identify this as a thanksgiving observance, rather it followed the harvest and it included 50 persons who were on the Mayflower and 90 Native Americans. The feast was cooked by the four adult Pilgrim women who survived their first winter in the New World, along with young daughters, two colonists gave personal accounts of the 1621 feast in Plymouth. The Pilgrims, most of whom were Separatists, are not to be confused with Puritans, both groups were strict Calvinists, but differed in their views regarding the Church of England. Puritans wished to remain in the Anglican Church and reform it, for as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want, and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, and besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports
11.
Small Business Saturday
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Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday held on the Saturday after US Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed in the United States on November 27,2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, by contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local. Small Business Saturday is a trademark of American Express corporation. The first event was sponsored by American Express, in partnership with the non-profit National Trust for Historic Preservation, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, in 2010, the holiday was promoted by American Express via a nationwide radio and television advertising campaign. That year Amex bought advertising inventory on Facebook, which it in turn gave to its small merchant account holders, American Express publicized the initiative using social media, advertising, and public relations. The Twitter hashtag #SmallBusinessSaturday has existed since early 2010 and was used to small businesses on any Saturday. The hashtag is used in a similar to #FollowFriday to highlight favorite local businesses. Small Business Saturday UK began in the United Kingdom in 2013 after the success of Small Business Saturday in the United States of America, Facebook page US Small Business Administration
12.
Christmas and holiday season
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It incorporates a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector, and a period of sales at the end of the season. Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments, the term Advent calendar survives in secular Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December. Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn, held on December 17 of the Julian calendar, the poet Catullus called it the best of days. The tradition of celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25 appears to date from the 4th century when Christianity was adopted as the religion of the Roman Empire. In the Christian tradition the Christmas season is a beginning on Christmas Day. In some churches the season continues until the day before the Epiphany, If the Epiphany is kept on January 6, the Church of Englands use of the term Christmas season corresponds to the Twelve Days of Christmas, and ends on Twelfth Night. This short Christmas season is preceded by Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, the Anglican Communion and some Protestant churches follow the Christmas season with an Epiphany season which lasts until Shrove Tuesday which is also known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. Other European cultures have their own carnival festivities between new year and Lent, according to Yanovski et al. in the United States the holiday season is generally considered to begin with the day after Thanksgiving and end after New Years Day. According to Axelrad, the season in the United States encompasses at least Christmas and New Years Day, fire Administration defines the Winter Holiday Season as the period from December 1 to January 7. According to Chen et al. in China the Christmas and holiday season is considered to begin with the winter solstice. Some stores and shopping malls advertise their Christmas merchandise beginning after Halloween or even in late October, the precise definition of feasts and festival days that are encompassed by the Christmas and holiday season has become controversial in the United States over recent decades. The exchange of gifts is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and this comprises a peak time for the retail sector at the start of the holiday season and a period of sales at the end of the season, the January sales. Although once dedicated mostly to white sales and clearance sales, the January sales now comprise both winter close-out sales and sales comprising the redemption of gift cards given as presents. Young-Bean Song, director of analytics at the Atlas Institute in Seattle, states that it is a myth that the shopping season starts with Thanksgiving. January is a key part of the holiday season, stating that for the U. S. e-commerce sector January sales volumes matched December sales volumes in the 2004/2005 Christmas and holiday season. Many people find this time particularly stressful, as a remedy, and as a return to what they perceive as the root of Christmas, some practice alternative giving. During the 2014 holiday shopping season, retail sales in the United States are forecast to increase to a total of over $616 billion, the average US holiday shopper is expected to spend over $800, of which close to 73 percent will be in gifts. In 2015, retail sales in the United States increased to a total of over $630 billion, the average US holiday shopper spent on average $805
13.
Buy Nothing Day
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Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism. Buy Nothing Day was founded in Vancouver by artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by Adbusters magazine, the first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Canada in September 1992 as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption. In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, also called Black Friday, in 2000, some advertisements by Adbusters promoting Buy Nothing Day were denied advertising time by almost all major television networks except for CNN. Soon, campaigns started appearing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, participation now includes more than 65 nations. Namely, by destroying their credit card by cutting it with the scissors, free, non-commercial street parties Sit-in Zombie walk, Participant zombies wander around shopping malls or other consumer havens with a blank stare. When asked what they are doing participants describe Buy Nothing Day, whirl-mart, Participants silently steer their shopping carts around a shopping mall or store in a long, baffling conga line without putting anything in the carts or actually making any purchases. Buy Nothing Day hike, Rather than celebrating consumerism by shopping, participants celebrate The Earth, Buy Nothing Critical Mass, As the monthly Critical Mass bicycle ride often falls on this day or near, rides in some cities acknowledge and celebrate Buy Nothing Day. Buy Nothing Day paddle along the San Francisco waterfront and this event is promoted by the Bay Area Sea Kayakers to kayak along the notoriously consumptive San Francisco waterfront. The Buy Nothing Coat Exchange began in Rhode Island and became part of the Buy Nothing Day some twenty years ago, coupling the two events was the brainchild of Greg Gerritt, an expert in environmental studies and long term activist in consumerism and global warming. Similar Winter Coat Exchanges take place on Buy Nothing Day in Kentucky, Utah, coats are collected throughout the month of November from anyone who wants to donate and brought to various locations within each state. On the day after Thanksgiving, many opt out of the Black Friday madness to donate and/or volunteer, on that day, anyone who needs a winter coat is welcome to exchange one or just take one. The lines in Providence RI form early and are long which punctuates the need that is prevalent in many cities, the combination of the two events has become a welcomed tradition in RI. Adbusters in 2011 renamed the event Occupy Xmas, a reference to the Occupy Movement, Buy Nothing Day was first joined with Adbusters Buy Nothing Christmas campaign. The union of these calls for a Buy Nothing Day to kick off a season of supporting local economy. The Buy Nothing Day site through the Adbusters Media Foundation BND UK information and support for UK campaigners
14.
Economics of Christmas
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The economics of Christmas is significant because Christmas is typically a peak selling season for retailers in many nations around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate, in the U. S. the Christmas shopping season starts as early as October. In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween, in the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on. In the United States, it has calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season. Figures from the U. S. Census Bureau reveal that expenditure in department stores nationwide rose from $20.8 billion in November 2004 to $31.9 billion in December 2004, an increase of 54 percent. In other sectors, the increase in spending was even greater. In the same year employment in American retail stores rose from 1.6 million to 1.8 million in the two leading up to Christmas. In the UK in 2010, up to £8 billion was expected to be spent online at Christmas, during the 2014 holiday shopping season, retail sales in the United States are forecast to increase to a total of over $616 billion, up from 2013s $602 billion. The average US holiday shopper is expected to spend over $800, in England and Wales, the Christmas Day Act 2004 prevents all large shops from trading on Christmas Day. Scotland is currently planning similar legislation, one economists analysis calculates that, despite increased overall spending, Christmas is a deadweight loss under orthodox microeconomic theory, because of the effect of gift-giving. This loss is calculated as the difference between what the gift giver spent on the item and what the receiver would have paid for the item. It is estimated that in 2001, Christmas resulted in a $4 billion deadweight loss in the U. S. alone, because of complicating factors, this analysis is sometimes used to discuss possible flaws in current microeconomic theory. Christmas clubs are programs, the first of which were offered by various banks in the United States during the Great Depression. The concept is that bank customers deposit a set amount of each week into a special savings account. For decades, financial institutions competed for the savings business, offering enticing premiums. The Dime Saving Bank of Toledo, Ohio, issued a brass token good for 25 cents in opening a Christmas account for 1922-1923. There were also numbered tokens issued by the Atlantic Country Trust Co. in Atlantic City, New Jersey, inscribed on the reverse, Join our Christmas Club, the Sears Wish Book is a popular Christmas-gift catalog released by Sears Holdings Corporation, annually in September. The catalog contains toys and other holiday-related merchandise, the first Sears Wish Book was printed in 1933, and was a separate big-book catalog from the annual Sears Christmas catalog
15.
Columbus Day
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Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries in the Americas and elsewhere which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus arrival in the Americas on October 12,1492. These holidays have been celebrated unofficially since the late 18th century, in 1792, New York City and other U. S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event, during the four hundredth anniversary in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals took themes such as boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation. Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, Columbus Day was first enshrined as a legal holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian, in Denver. The first statewide Columbus Day holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F, mcDonald in 1905, and it was made a statutory holiday in 1907. Since 1970, the holiday has been fixed to the second Monday in October and it is generally observed nowadays by banks, the bond market, the U. S. Postal Service, other federal agencies, most state government offices, many businesses, and most school districts. Some businesses and some stock exchanges remain open, and some states and municipalities abstain from observing the holiday. The traditional date of the holiday also adjoins the anniversary of the United States Navy, actual observance varies in different parts of the United States, ranging from large-scale parades and events to complete non-observance. Most states celebrate Columbus Day as a state holiday, though many mark it as a Day of Observance or Recognition. Most states that celebrate Columbus Day will close state services, while others operate as normal, as in the mainland U. S. Columbus Day is a legal holiday in the U. S. territory of Puerto Rico. In the United States Virgin Islands, the day is celebrated as both Columbus Day and Puerto Rico Friendship Day. Virginia also celebrates two legal holidays on the day, Columbus Day and Yorktown Victory Day, which honors the final victory at the Siege of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War. The state government does not treat either Columbus Day or Discoverers Day as a holiday, state, city and county government offices. Similarly, in 2016, Vermont started celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day, because this change was made by Governor Peter Shumlins executive proclamation, it only applies for 2016. In the future it would have to be issued by the governor on a yearly basis. On the other hand, South Dakota celebrates the day as a state holiday known as Native American Day rather than Columbus Day. Oregon does not recognize Columbus Day, neither as a holiday nor a commemoration, schools, several other states have removed Columbus Day as a paid holiday for government workers while still maintaining Columbus Day either as a day of recognition or a legal holiday for other purposes
16.
Positive feedback
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Positive feedback is a process that occurs in a feedback loop in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation. That is, A produces more of B which in turn more of A. In contrast, a system in which the results of an act to reduce or counteract it has negative feedback. Both concepts play an important role in science and engineering, including biology, chemistry, mathematically, positive feedback is defined as a positive loop gain around a closed loop of cause and effect. That is, positive feedback is in phase with the input, Positive feedback tends to cause system instability. When the loop gain is positive and above 1, there will typically be exponential growth, increasing oscillations, system parameters will typically accelerate towards extreme values, which may damage or destroy the system, or may end with the system latched into a new stable state. Positive feedback may be controlled by signals in the system being filtered, damped, or limited, Positive feedback is used in digital electronics to force voltages away from intermediate voltages into 0 and 1 states. On the other hand, thermal runaway is a positive feedback that can destroy semiconductor junctions, Positive feedback in chemical reactions can increase the rate of reactions, and in some cases can lead to explosions. Positive feedback in mechanical design causes tipping-point, or over-centre, mechanisms to snap into position, for example in switches, out of control, it can cause bridges to collapse. Positive feedback in systems can cause boom-then-bust cycles. Positive feedback enhances or amplifies an effect by it having an influence on the process gave rise to it. For example, when part of an output signal returns to the input, and is in phase with it. The feedback from the outcome to the process can be direct. Such systems can give rich qualitative behaviors, but whether the feedback is positive or negative in sign has an extremely important influence on the results. Positive feedback reinforces and negative feedback moderates the original process, Positive and negative in this sense refer to loop gains greater than or less than zero, and do not imply any value judgements as to the desirability of the outcomes or effects. A key feature of positive feedback is thus that small disturbances get bigger, when a change occurs in a system, positive feedback causes further change, in the same direction. A simple feedback loop is shown in the diagram, if the loop gain AB is positive, then a condition of positive or regenerative feedback exists. If the functions A and B are linear and AB is smaller than unity, then the system gain from the input to output is finite
17.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
18.
Target Corporation
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Target Corporation is the second-largest discount store retailer in the United States, behind Walmart, and a component of the S&P500 Index. The first Target store opened in Roseville, Minnesota in 1962 while the parent company was renamed the Dayton Corporation in 1967, the company has found success as a cheap-chic player in the industry. The parent company was renamed the Target Corporation in 2000 and divested itself of its last department store chains in 2004, as of 2017, Target operates 1,806 locations throughout the United States. Target is often recognized for its emphasis on the needs of its younger, image-conscious shoppers, the Westminster Presbyterian Church from downtown Minneapolis burned down during the Panic of 1893. Without insurance coverage to cover the loss, the congregation found itself unable to rebuild. The store was renamed the Dayton Dry Goods Company in 1903, Dayton died in 1938 and was succeeded by his son Nelson as the president of the $14 million business. Nelson died in 1950 and was replaced by his own son Donald, the company acquired the Lipmans department store company during the 1950s and operated it as a separate division. John F. Geisse developed the concept of upscale discount retailing while working for the Dayton Company. Using his concepts, the company opened its first Target discount store at 1515 West County Road B in the Saint Paul suburb of Roseville, Minnesota, Douglas Dayton was its first president. The name Target originated from publicity director Stewart K. Widdess and it opened three additional units in the first year, and reported its first gain in 1965 with sales reaching $39 million. Later that decade, B. Dalton Bookseller was formed as a subsidiary of the Dayton Company, the parent company acquired the jewelers Shreve & Co. and J. E. Caldwell, the Pickwick Book Shops, and the electronics and appliances chain Lechmere. It also went public with its first offering of common stock, in 1969, the Dayton Company itself merged with the Detroit-based J. L. Hudson Company, and together formed the Dayton-Hudson Corporation. The new company, at the time the 14th-largest retailer in the United States, consisted of Target and the department stores Daytons, Diamonds, Hudsons, John A. Brown, Target reached $200 million in sales while Dayton-Hudson acquired Team Electronics and the jewelers C. D. Peacock, Inc. and Jessop and Sons in the 1970s, Target reported a decrease in profits in 1972, due to the rapid pace of expansion with the purchase and conversion of several former Arlans department store locations. New management marked down merchandise to reduce its overstock and only opened one new location that year, Dayton-Hudson was established as the seventh-largest general merchandise retailer in the United States with its acquisition of Mervyns in 1978. It sold the Dayton-Hudson Jewelers subsidiary to Henry Birks & Sons of Montreal, Target was established as the dominant retailer in southern California after purchasing fifty Gemco stores in the state in 1986, that year, Dayton-Hudson sold B. Dalton Bookseller to Barnes & Noble. The acquisition of several Gold Circle and Richway stores assisted its expansion into northwestern and southeastern United States, later that year, Dayton-Hudson sold Lechmere to a group of investors. In 1990, Dayton-Hudson acquired Marshall Fields and opened its first Target Greatland store in Apple Valley and it started the Everyday Hero clothing specialty store with two locations in Minneapolis in 1992, although they were closed in 1997
19.
Kohl's
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The Kohls Corporation is an American department store retailing chain. The first Kohls store was a grocery store opened in Milwaukee. The companys first department store opened in September 1962, british American Tobacco Company took a controlling interest in the company in 1972, and in 1979, the Kohl family left the management of the company. A group of investors purchased the company in 1986 from British-American Tobacco, Kohls is the second-largest department store by retail sales in the United States. The company is headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, Kohls is Americas largest department store chain by the number of stores as of February 2013—surpassing its biggest competitor, J. C. Penney in May 2012. In 1998, it entered the S&P500 list, and is listed in the Fortune 500. The chain was the 20th-largest retailer in the United States in 2013 in terms of revenue, as of 2013, Kohls was the second largest U. S. department store company by retail sales. Maxwell Kohl, who had operated grocery stores since 1927, built his first supermarket in 1946. In 1962, after building Kohls Food Stores into the largest supermarket chain in the Milwaukee area, Kohl opened his first department store, Kohls Department Store, in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He positioned Kohls between the department stores and the discounters, selling everything from candy to engine oil to sporting equipment. The Kohl family, led by Allen and Herb Kohl, continued to manage the company, the family left the management in 1979, and Herbert Kohl became a United States Senator and owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. The firm then expanded Kohls presence from 10 to 39 stores in Wisconsin, Illinois, the grocery stores were sold to A&P in 1983, operating under the name Kohls Food Store, and later Kohls Food Emporium. In February 2003, A&P put the Kohls Food Stores up for sale, in 2003, A&P closed all Kohls Food Stores locations. A group of investors led by the management, purchased the company consisting of 40 department stores. The company added 27 more stores over the two years. In 1988, the chain acquired 26 locations from Chicago-based MainStreet, gaining several stores in Chicagos suburbs, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Kohls completed its initial public offering on May 19,1992 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KSS. During the 2000s, Kohls expanded nationwide to have a presence in 49 states, to raise money to repurchase its stock and open new stores, Kohls sold its credit card division in 2006 to J. P. Morgan Chase for $1.5 billion. In 2011, Kohls replaced Chase with Capital One as their credit card processing partner for an undisclosed sum
20.
Macy's
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Macys, originally R. H. Macy & Co. is a department store owned by Macys, Inc. It is one of two owned by the company, with the other being Bloomingdales. Macys has conducted the annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City since 1924 and has sponsored the citys annual Fourth of July fireworks display since 1976, Macys Herald Square is one of the largest department stores in the world. The value of Herald Square has been estimated at around $3 billion, in 2015 Macys was the largest U. S. department store company by retail sales. Macys was the 15th-largest retailer in the United States for 2014 by revenue and they all failed, but he learned from his mistakes. On the companys first day of business on October 28,1858 sales totaled US$11.08, equal to $306.15 today. From the beginning, Macys logo has included a star, which comes from a tattoo that Macy got as a teenager when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship and it also offered a money back guarantee, although it accepted only cash into the 1950s. The store also produced its own clothing for both men and women, assembled in an on-site factory. In 1875, Macy took on two partners, Robert M. Valentine, a nephew, and Abiel T, la Forge of Wisconsin, who was the husband of a cousin. Macy died in 1877 from inflammatory kidney disease, la Forge died the following year, and Valentine died in 1879. This latter 5-story building was purchased by Robert H. Macys ignored the tactic, and simply built around the building, in 1912, Isidor Straus died in the sinking of the Titanic at the age of 67 with his wife, Ida. The original Broadway store was designed by architects De Lemos & Cordes, was built in 1901–02 by the Fuller Company and has a Palladian facade, but has been updated in many details. There were further additions to the west in 1924 and 1928, and the Seventh Avenue building in 1931, all designed by architect Robert D. Kohn, the newer buildings were increasingly Art Deco in style. In 2012, Macys began the first full renovation of the iconic Herald Square flagship store at a reported cost of US$400,000,000, STUDIO V Architecture, a New York-based firm, was the overall Master Plan architect of the project. STUDIO Vs fresh design of the department store raised controversy over the nature of contemporary design, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The store has several wooden escalators still in operation, the problem of pre-existing buildings also presented itself when Macys built a store on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, in the New York City borough of Queens. This resulted in a unique round department store on 90 percent of the lot, Macys no longer fully occupies this building, which now contains the Queens Place Mall, with Macys Furniture Gallery as a tenant, instead it moved its full outlet to the nearby Queens Center. This relocation was the result of Macys merger with Federated Department Stores, the parent company of Abraham & Straus, in 1994, more distant acquisitions included Lasalle & Koch, Davison-Paxon-Stokes, L. Bamberger & Co
21.
Best Buy
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Best Buy Co. Inc. is a U. S transnational consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb. Internationally, it operates in Canada and Mexico. It was formerly operational in China until February 2011 and in Europe until 2012, the company was founded by Richard M. Schulze and Gary Smoliak in 1966 as an audio specialty store. In 1983, it was renamed and rebranded with more emphasis placed on consumer electronics, Best Buys subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales. Best Buy sells cellular phones from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint Corporation, Boost Mobile, Hubert Joly serves as Best Buys chairman and CEO. In August 1966, Richard M. Schulze and a partner opened Sound of Music. Schulze financed the opening of his first store with his personal savings, in 1967, Sound of Music acquired Kencraft Hi-Fi Company and Bergo Company. Sound of Music earned $1 million in revenue and made about $58,000 in profits in its first year, in 1969, Schulze bought out his business partner. Sound of Music had three stores and became a publicly held company listed on the NASDAQ exchange, Sound of Music operated nine stores throughout Minnesota by 1978. In 1981, the Roseville, Minnesota, Sound of Music location, the store’s roof was sheared off and showroom destroyed, but the storeroom was left intact. In response, Schulze decided to have a “Tornado Sale” of damaged and he poured the remainder of his marketing budget into advertising the sale, promising “best buys” on everything. Sound of Music made more money during the four-day sale than it did in a typical month, in 1983, with seven stores and $10 million in annual sales, Sound of Music was renamed Best Buy Company, Inc. The company also expanded its offerings to include home appliances and VCRs. Later that year Best Buy opened its first superstore in Burnsville, the Burnsville location featured a high-volume, low price business model, which was borrowed partially from Schulze’s successful Tornado Sale in 1981. In its first year, the Burnsville store out-performed all other Best Buy stores combined, Best Buy debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987. In 1989, the company introduced a new store concept dubbed “Concept II. ”Concept II replaced dimly lit industrial-style stores with brighter and more fashionably fixtured stores. Stores also began placing all stock on the floor rather than in a stock room, had fewer salespersons. Best Buy also did away with commissioned salespeople, the commission-free sales environment “created a more relaxed shopping environment free of the high-pressure sales tactics used in other stores, ” but was unpopular with salespersons and suppliers
22.
Bealls (Florida)
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Bealls /ˈbɛlz/ is a United States retail corporation of 500 stores founded in 1915 in Bradenton, Florida. Bealls consists of three chains, Bealls Department Stores, Bealls Outlet Stores, and Bunulu, Bealls Inc. serves as the parent corporation. The group is not affiliated with Bealls Texas, although the two overlap in some markets, where there is overlap, Bealls Outlet operates as Burkes Outlet. The CEO of Bealls Inc. is Steve Knopik, Bealls Department Stores, Inc. and Bealls Outlet Stores, Inc. are headed by Presidents Dan Love and Dave Alves, respectively. Still owned by the family, all are headquartered in Bradenton. In 1915, 22-year-old Robert M. Beall Sr. opened a dry goods store in Bradenton, investing his entire savings in merchandise, he used empty wooden packing crates as his first display tables. Because the store sold nothing for more than one dollar he called his store The Dollar Limit, following World War I inflation, in 1920 Beall renamed his store The Five Dollar Limit. The Florida boom ended in a few years, only to be followed by the market crash. Hard hit and unable to pay his debts, Robert Beall lost his business to the bank and he stayed on as manager through the depression. By 1944 he had saved enough to repurchase it, for many years the store lived up to its motto, We Outfit the Family for Less. After the war, Robert was joined by his son E. R. as junior partner and they christened the business Bealls Department Store. Air conditioning and an influx of new residents in the 50s began to transform the face of Florida, in 1956, the second Bealls Department store was opened in Bradentons Westgate Shopping Center and a third store followed in 1961 at the Venice Shopping Center in Venice, Florida. E. R. developed the new chain while his father ran the original downtown store until just prior to his death in 1979, during the 1960s and 1970s Florida experienced amazing growth and Bealls stores grew with it. In 1980, Robert M. Beall II became president of the third generation. E. R. became Chairman of the Board, by 1981 the chain had 23 stores. A year later, seven new stores enabled the chain to double its selling space, Bealls continued to grow into new communities and adopt new technologies, introducing in-store kiosks and launching http, //www. beallsflorida. com in 1998. Striving to deliver the merchandise for Florida customers, Bealls opened its own design studio in 2004. Lines exclusive to Bealls include Reel Legends, Coral Bay, E. R. Beall having observed the growth of outlet stores in North Carolina, Bealls ventured into the off-price channel in 1987
23.
Walmart
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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. doing business as Walmart, is an American multinational retailing corporation that operates as a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, as of January 31,2017, Walmart has 11,695 stores and clubs in 28 countries, under a total of 63 banners. The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and it operates as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, as Asda in the United Kingdom, as the Seiyu Group in Japan, and as Best Price in India. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada and it also owns and operates the Sams Club retail warehouses. Walmart is the worlds largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2016 and it is a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Waltons heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through their company, Walton Enterprises. Walmart is also one of the worlds most valuable companies by market value, in 2016,62.3 percent of Walmarts US$478.614 billion sales came from its U. S. operations. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972, by 1988, Walmart was the most profitable retailer in the U. S. and by October 1989, it had become the largest in terms of revenue. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania opened in October 1990, bringing the store to the Northeast. In 1945, a businessman and a former J. C. Penney employee, Sam Walton and his primary focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower profit margin, portraying it as a crusade for the consumer. He experienced setbacks, because the price and branch purchase were unusually high. He passed on the savings in the product pricing, sales increased 45 percent in his first year of ownership to US$105,000 in revenue, which increased to US$140,000 the next year and US$175,000 the year after that. Within the fifth year, the store was generating US$250,000 in revenue, when the lease for the location expired, Walton was unable to reach an agreement for renewal, so he opened up a new store at 105 N. Main Street in Bentonville, naming it Waltons Five and Dime and that store is now the Walmart Museum. On July 2,1962, Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City store at 719 W. Walnut Street in Rogers, within its first five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and reached US$12.6 million in sales. In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, the company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31,1969. In 1970, it opened its office and first distribution center in Bentonville. It had 38 stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of US$44.2 million and it began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1,1970, and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange
24.
J. C. Penney
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J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a department store with 1,014 locations in 49 U. S. states and Puerto Rico. Most JCPenney stores are located in shopping malls. Before 1966, most of its stores were located in downtown areas, as shopping malls became more popular during the latter half of the 20th century, JCPenney followed the trend by relocating and developing stores to anchor the malls. In more recent years, the chain has continued to follow consumer traffic, echoing the retailing trend of opening some freestanding stores, certain stores are located in power centers. The company has been an Internet retailer since 1998 and it has streamlined its catalog and distribution while undergoing renovation improvements at store level. James Cash Penney was born in Hamilton, Missouri, after graduating from high school, Penney worked for a local retailer. He relocated to Colorado at the advice of a doctor, hoping that a better climate would improve his health, in 1898, Penney went to work for Thomas Callahan and Guy Johnson, who owned dry goods stores called Golden Rule stores in Colorado and Wyoming. In 1899, Callahan sent Penney to Evanston, Wyoming, to work with Johnson in another Golden Rule store, Callahan and Johnson asked Penney to join them in opening a new Golden Rule store. Using money from savings and a loan, Penney joined the partnership and moved with his wife and infant son to Kemmerer, Wyoming, Penney opened the store on April 14,1902. He participated in the creation of two stores, and purchased full interest in all three locations when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907. In 1909, Penney moved his headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks. By 1912, Penney had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States, in 1913, all stores were consolidated under the J. C. Penney banner. The so-called mother store, in Kemmerer, opened as the second location in 1904. It still operates, as of 2011, albeit with shorter hours than other locations. In 1913, the company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company, in 1914, the headquarters was moved to New York City to simplify buying, financing, and transportation of goods. By 1917, the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the United States, J. C. Penney acquired The Crescent Corset Company in 1920, the companys first wholly owned subsidiary. In 1922, the companys oldest active private brand, Big Mac work clothes, was launched, the company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penneys hometown. By the opening of the 1, 000th store in 1928, in 1940, Sam Walton began working at a J. C. Penney in Des Moines, Iowa
25.
RadioShack
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General Wireless Operations Inc. was an American chain of wireless and electronics stores, founded in 1921 and since 2015 owned by the Standard General affiliate General Wireless. It is partnered with Sprint, and most stores are co-branded as Sprint at RadioShack though also selling RadioShack brand items, at its peak in 1999 it operated stores in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. On February 5,2015, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy law after 11 consecutive quarterly losses, by then it was operating only in the United States and Mexico. The company was started as Radio Shack in 1921 by two brothers, Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, who wanted to provide equipment for the then-nascent field of amateur, the brothers opened a one-store retail and mail-order operation in the heart of downtown Boston at 46 Brattle Street. They chose the name Radio Shack, which was the term for a small, the Deutschmanns thought the name was appropriate for a store that would supply the needs of radio officers aboard ships, as well as hams. The term was already in use — and is to this day — by hams when referring to the location of their stations, the company issued its first catalog in 1939 as it entered the high fidelity music market. In 1954, Radio Shack began selling its own products under the brand name Realist. After expanding to nine stores plus an extensive business, the company fell on hard times in the 1960s. Radio Shack was essentially bankrupt, but Charles D, Tandy saw the potential of Radio Shack and retail consumer electronics and bought the company for $300,000. The Tandy Corporation, a leather goods corporation, was looking for other hobbyist-related businesses into which it could expand, Tandy closed Radio Shacks unprofitable mail-order business, ended credit purchases and eliminated many top management positions, keeping the salespeople, merchandisers and advertisers. Private-label brands from lower-cost manufacturers displaced name brands to raise Radio Shack profit margins, customer data from the former Radio Shack mail-order business determined where Tandy would locate new stores. As an incentive for them to long hours and remain profitable. In markets too small to support a company-owned Radio Shack store, Charles D. Tandy, who had guided the firm through a period of growth in the 1960s and 1970s, died of a heart attack at age 60 in November 1978. In 1992, Tandy attempted to launch big-box electronics retailer Incredible Universe and its six profitable stores were sold to Frys Electronics in 1996, the others were closed. Tandy closed the McDuff stores and abandoned Incredible Universe in 1996, Len Roberts, president of the Radio Shack division since 1993, estimated that the new repair business could generate $500 million per year by 1999. Americas technology store was abandoned for the youve got questions, weve got answers slogan in 1994, in early summer 1995, the company launched a new logo, Radio Shack was spelled in CamelCase as RadioShack. In 1996, RadioShack successfully petitioned the US Federal Communications Commission to allocate frequencies for the Family Radio Service, from the 1960s until the early 1990s, Radio Shack promoted a battery of the month club, a free wallet-sized cardboard card offered one free Enercell a month in-store. Like the free tube testing offered in-store in the early 1970s, the cards also served as generic business cards for the salespeople
26.
Belk
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Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina with 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk. com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, Belk was founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The store was first called New York Racket and then Belk Brothers, after Belk made his brother, physician Dr. John Belk, Belk bought in volume to pass savings on and sold at fixed prices, then a relatively unusual practice. The business grew steadily, relying on sales and advertising to grow the business. Beginning in 1921 with the Leggett Bros. stores of South Boston, Virginia and this complex story is chronicled in a book published by Belk – Belk, Inc. The Company and the Family That Built It – about the evolution of the company and this structure allowed Belk to expand quickly and permitted local variation, but resulted in a diluted brand identity since most stores were co-branded. For example, the heirs of John G. Parks, majority owners of the Parks-Belk chain, sold their interests to Proffitts, a competitor. The Belks quickly sold their stake as well, although Belk would later purchase the stores back as part of its acquisition of the entire Proffitts chain. This move accelerated the trend of consolidating the stores ownership under the Belks. Slowly, Belk eliminated the dual brands, completing the process with a chain-wide Belk rebranding in the fall of 2010, on July 5,2005, Belk completed the purchase of 47 Proffitts and McRaes department stores from Saks Incorporated, primarily in Tennessee and Mississippi. Belk converted the 39 Proffitts and McRaes stores to the Belk nameplate on March 8,2006, just over a year later, Belk purchased 38 Parisian department stores from Saks on October 2,2006. Four Parisian stores in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, plus a store under construction at the time in Michigan, were sold by Belk to The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. Integrating the larger, more upscale Parisian stores proved a challenge for Belk, during the fourth quarter of 2005, Belk completed the sale of its private-label credit card division, Belk National Bank, to GE MoneyBank. Consumers were issued new Belk credit cards replacing the old ones issued by BNB, All new Belk cards are now issued by GE Money Bank. On October 3,2010, the News & Observer reported that Belk planned to update its logo, on October 12 at SouthPark Mall, Belk introduced the new logo, its first since 1967. The chain embarked on a $70 million marketing campaign that replaced the old slogan All for You. with a new slogan, sixty stores got new signs in the first phase, with the remainder getting new signs throughout 2011. Advertisements for Belk & Co. jewelry continue to use a variation of the old logo, on April 3,2015, news reports revealed that Belk was exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company. On August 24,2015, Belk announced that it had entered into a merger agreement to be acquired by New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners
27.
Arkansas
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Arkansas is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Its name is of Siouan derivation from the language of the Osage denoting their related kin, the states diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U. S. Interior Highlands, to the forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th largest by area and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States, the capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, such as the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population, education, the largest city in the eastern part of the state is Jonesboro. The largest city in the part of the state is Pine Bluff. The Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15,1836, in 1861 Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Upon returning to the Union in 1868, the state would continue to suffer due to its reliance on slavery. White rural interests continued to dominate the politics until the Civil Rights Movement. Arkansas began to diversify its economy following World War II and relies on its service industry, aircraft, poultry, steel, tourism, cotton, and rice. The culture of Arkansas is observable in museums, theaters, novels, television shows, restaurants, wright, and physicist William L. McMillan, who was a pioneer in superconductor research, have all lived in Arkansas. The name Arkansas derives from the root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains, the word Arkansas itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw word, akakaze, meaning land of downriver people or the Sioux word akakaze meaning people of the south wind. In 2007, the legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring the possessive form of the states name to be Arkansass which has been followed increasingly by the state government. Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, as well as Tennessee, the United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The state line along the Mississippi River is indeterminate along much of the border with Mississippi due to these changes. Arkansas can generally be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands of the southeastern half, the highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. The southern lowlands include the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Arkansas Delta and this dual split can yield to general regions named northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast, or central Arkansas
28.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
29.
Delaware
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Delaware is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic and/or Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, the state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginias first colonial governor. Delaware occupies the portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second smallest, the sixth least populous. Delaware is divided into three counties, the lowest number of counties of any state, from north to south, the three counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties have historically been agricultural, New Castle County has been more industrialized. Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Delaware was inhabited by groups of Native Americans, including the Lenape in the north. It was initially colonized by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael, near the present town of Lewes, Delaware was one of the 13 colonies participating in the American Revolution. On December 7,1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, the Delaware Indians, a name used by Europeans for Lenape people indigenous to the Delaware Valley, also derive their name from the same source. The surname de La Warr comes from Sussex and is of Anglo-Norman origin and it came probably from a Norman lieu-dit La Guerre. This toponymic could derive from the Latin word ager, from the Breton gwern or from the Late Latin varectum, the toponyms Gara, Gare, Gaire also appear in old texts cited by Lucien Musset, where the word gara means gore. It could also be linked with a patronymic from the Old Norse verr, Delaware is 96 miles long and ranges from 9 miles to 35 miles across, totaling 1,954 square miles, making it the second-smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania, to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean, small portions of Delaware are also situated on the eastern side of the Delaware River sharing land boundaries with New Jersey. The state of Delaware, together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the definition of the northern boundary of the state is unusual. Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania was originally defined by an arc extending 12 miles from the cupola of the courthouse in the city of New Castle and this boundary is often referred to as the Twelve-Mile Circle. This is the only nominally circular state boundary in the United States, to the west, a portion of the arc extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland. The remaining western border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the arc, the Wedge of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921, when Delawares claim was confirmed. Delaware is on a plain, with the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation. Its highest elevation, located at Ebright Azimuth, near Concord High School, the northernmost part of the state is part of the Piedmont Plateau with hills and rolling surfaces
30.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
31.
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Georgia is a state in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1733, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies, named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2,1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 19,1861 and it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15,1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, from 2007 to 2008,14 of Georgias counties ranked among the nations 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, Atlanta is the states capital, its most populous city and has been named a global city. Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, to the west by Alabama, the states northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. Georgias highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level, Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures, the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12,1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II. The Trustees implemented a plan for the colonys settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan. In 1742 the colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins Ear, in 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a colony, with a governor appointed by the king. The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the State of Georgias first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24,1778, in 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains, which led to the Georgia Gold Rush and an established federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued its operation until 1861. The subsequent influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgias tribes. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that ruled U. S. states were not permitted to redraw the Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched troops to gather the Cherokee
32.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
33.
Indiana
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Indiana /ɪndiˈænə/ is a U. S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U. S. state on December 11,1816, before becoming a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Indiana has an economy with a gross state product of $298 billion in 2012. Indiana has several areas with populations greater than 100,000. The states name means Land of the Indians, or simply Indian Land and it also stems from Indianas territorial history. On May 7,1800, the United States Congress passed legislation to divide the Northwest Territory into two areas and named the section the Indiana Territory. In 1816, when Congress passed an Enabling Act to begin the process of establishing statehood for Indiana, a resident of Indiana is officially known as a Hoosier. The first inhabitants in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking, the Archaic period, which began between 5000 and 4000 BC, covered the next phase of indigenous culture. The people developed new tools as well as techniques to cook food, such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They made ground-stone tools such as axes, woodworking tools. During the latter part of the period, they built mounds and middens. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC, afterward, the Woodland period took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, the people created ceramics and pottery, an early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began developing long-range trade of goods, nearing the end of the stage, the people developed highly productive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture, growing such crops as corn and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD, the Mississippian culture emerged, lasting from 1000 until the 15th century, shortly before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, the people created large urban settlements designed according to their cosmology, with mounds and plazas defining ceremonial
34.
Iowa
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Iowa is a U. S. state in the Midwestern United States, bordered by the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west. Surrounding states include Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, in colonial times, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana, its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in area and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city by population is Des Moines, Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in which to live. Its nickname is the Hawkeye State, Iowa derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many Native American tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east, the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west, Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are formed entirely by rivers. Iowa has 99 counties, but 100 county seats because Lee County has two, the state capital, Des Moines, is in Polk County. Iowas bedrock geology generally increases in age from west to east, in northwest Iowa, Cretaceous bedrock can be 74 million years old, in eastern Iowa Cambrian bedrock dates to c.500 million years ago. Iowa is generally not flat, most of the consists of rolling hills. Iowa can be divided into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils, topography, Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick. Northeast Iowa along the Mississippi River is part of the Driftless Zone, consisting of steep hills, several natural lakes exist, most notably Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake, and East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa. To the east lies Clear Lake, man-made lakes include Lake Odessa, Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, Coralville Lake, Lake MacBride, and Rathbun Lake. The states northwest area has remnants of the once common wetlands. Iowas natural vegetation is tallgrass prairie and savanna in areas, with dense forest and wetlands in flood plains and protected river valleys. Most of Iowa is used for agriculture, crops cover 60% of the state, grasslands cover 30%, as of 2005 Iowa ranked 49th of U. S. states in public land holdings. Endangered or threatened plants include western prairie fringed orchid, eastern prairie fringed orchid, Meads milkweed, prairie bush clover, the explosion in the number of high-density livestock facilities in Iowa has led to increased rural water contamination and a decline in air quality. Iowa has a continental climate throughout the state
35.
Kentucky
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Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U. S. states constituted as a commonwealth, originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States, Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, a nickname based on the bluegrass found in many of its pastures due to the fertile soil. One of the regions in Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky. In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, the precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but likely based on an Iroquoian name meaning the meadow or the prairie. Kentucky is situated in the Upland South, a significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia. Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast, West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more, Kentuckys northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River. The official state borders are based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792, for instance, northbound travelers on U. S.41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about two miles. Ellis Park, a racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the land border between Indiana and Kentucky. Kentucky has a part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River requires a trip through Tennessee. The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills. The Jackson Purchase and western Pennyrile are home to several bald cypress/tupelo swamps, located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that can best be described as a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F to the low of 23 °F. The average precipitation is 46 inches a year, Kentucky experiences four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter. The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F at Greensburg on July 28,1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was −37 °F at Shelbyville on January 19,1994, due to its location, Kentucky has a moderate humid subtropical climate, with abundant rainfall
36.
Maine
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Maine is the northernmost state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the U. S. states and territories and it is bordered by New Hampshire to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the north. Maine is the easternmost state in the contiguous United States, and it is known for its jagged, rocky coastline, low, rolling mountains, heavily forested interior, and picturesque waterways, and also its seafood cuisine, especially clams and lobster. There is a continental climate throughout the state, even in areas such as its most populous city of Portland. For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European arrival in what is now Maine, the first European settlement in the area was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement was the short-lived Popham Colony, established by the Plymouth Company in 1607, as Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements had survived. Loyalist and Patriot forces contended for Maines territory during the American Revolution, Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become an independent state. On March 15,1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise, there is no definitive explanation for the origin of the name Maine, but the most likely origin is the name given by early explorers after a province in France. Whatever the origin, the name was fixed for English settlers in 1665 when the English Kings Commissioners ordered that the Province of Maine be entered from then on in official records. The state legislature in 2001 adopted a resolution establishing Franco-American Day, other theories mention earlier places with similar names, or claim it is a nautical reference to the mainland. Attempts to uncover the history of the name of Maine began with James Sullivans 1795 History of the District of Maine. He made the allegation that the Province of Maine was a compliment to the queen of Charles I, Henrietta Maria. MAINE appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 in reference to the county of Dorset, the view generally held among British place name scholars is that Mayne in Dorset is Brythonic, corresponding to modern Welsh maen, plural main or meini. Some early spellings are, MAINE1086, MEINE1200, MEINES1204, mason had served with the Royal Navy in the Orkney Islands where the chief island is called Mainland, a possible name derivation for these English sailors. Initially, several tracts along the coast of New England were referred to as Main or Maine, Maine is the only state whose name has exactly one syllable. The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples, including the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Penobscot, who had a loose confederacy. European contact with what is now called Maine started around 1200 CE when Norwegians interacted with the native Penobscot in present-day Hancock County, most likely through trade
37.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
38.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
39.
Minnesota
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Minnesota is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U. S. state on May 11,1858, the state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan Land of 10,000 Lakes. Its official motto is LÉtoile du Nord, Minnesota is the 12th largest in area and the 21st most populous of the U. S. Minnesota is known for its progressive political orientation and its high rate of civic participation and voter turnout. Until European settlement, Minnesota was inhabited by the Dakota and Ojibwe/Anishinaabe, in recent decades, immigration from Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Latin America has broadened its historic demographic and cultural composition. Minnesotas standard of living index is among the highest in the United States, Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mnisota. Many places in the state have similar names, such as Minnehaha Falls, Minneiska, Minneota, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, and Minneapolis, a combination of mni and polis, Minnesota is the second northernmost U. S. state. Its isolated Northwest Angle in Lake of the Woods county is the part of the 48 contiguous states lying north of the 49th parallel. The state is part of the U. S. region known as the Upper Midwest and it shares a Lake Superior water border with Michigan and a land and water border with Wisconsin to the east. Iowa is to the south, North Dakota and South Dakota are to the west, with 86,943 square miles, or approximately 2.25 percent of the United States, Minnesota is the 12th-largest state. Minnesota has some of the Earths oldest rocks, gneisses that are about 3.6 billion years old. About 2.7 billion years ago, basaltic lava poured out of cracks in the floor of the primordial ocean, the roots of these volcanic mountains and the action of Precambrian seas formed the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. Following a period of volcanism 1, in more recent times, massive ice sheets at least one kilometer thick ravaged the landscape of the state and sculpted its terrain. The Wisconsin glaciation left 12,000 years ago and these glaciers covered all of Minnesota except the far southeast, an area characterized by steep hills and streams that cut into the bedrock. This area is known as the Driftless Zone for its absence of glacial drift, much of the remainder of the state outside the northeast has 50 feet or more of glacial till left behind as the last glaciers retreated. Gigantic Lake Agassiz formed in the northwest 13,000 years ago and its bed created the fertile Red River valley, and its outflow, glacial River Warren, carved the valley of the Minnesota River and the Upper Mississippi downstream from Fort Snelling. Minnesota is geologically quiet today, it experiences earthquakes infrequently, the states high point is Eagle Mountain at 2,301 feet, which is only 13 miles away from the low of 601 feet at the shore of Lake Superior. Notwithstanding dramatic local differences in elevation, much of the state is a rolling peneplain. Two major drainage divides meet in Minnesotas northeast in rural Hibbing, forming a triple watershed, precipitation can follow the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico, the Saint Lawrence Seaway east to the Atlantic Ocean, or the Hudson Bay watershed to the Arctic Ocean
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Nebraska
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Nebraska /nᵻˈbræskə/ is a state that lies in both the Great Plains and the Midwestern United States. Its area is just over 77,220 sq mi with almost 1.9 million people and its largest city is Omaha, which is on the Missouri River. The state is crossed by many trails and was explored by the Lewis. Nebraska was admitted as the 37th state of the United States in 1867 and it is the only state in the United States whose legislature is unicameral and officially nonpartisan. Nebraska is composed of two major regions, the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of rolling hills. The Great Plains occupy most of western Nebraska, characterized by treeless prairie, the state has a large agriculture sector and is a major producer of beef, pork, corn, and soybeans. Two major climatic zones are represented in Nebraska, the half of the state has a humid continental climate, and the western half. Indigenous peoples lived in the region of present-day Nebraska for thousands of years before European exploration. The historic tribes in the state included the Omaha, Missouria, Ponca, Pawnee, Otoe, when European exploration, trade, and settlement began, both Spain and France sought to control the region. In the 1690s, Spain established trade connections with the Apaches, by 1703, France had developed a regular trade with the native peoples along the Missouri River in Nebraska, and by 1719 had signed treaties with several of these peoples. After war broke out between the two countries, Spain dispatched an expedition to Nebraska under Lieutenant General Pedro de Villasur in 1720. The party was attacked and destroyed near present-day Columbus by a force of Pawnees and Otoes. The massacre of the Villasur expedition effectively put an end to Spanish exploration of Nebraska for the remainder of the 18th century, in 1762, during the Seven Years War, France ceded the Louisiana territory to Spain. Frances withdrawal from the area left Britain and Spain competing for dominance along the Mississippi, by 1773, later that year, Mackays party built a trading post, dubbed Fort Carlos IV, near present-day Homer. In 1819, the United States established Fort Atkinson as the first U. S. Army post west of the Missouri River, the army abandoned the fort in 1827 as migration moved further west. European-American settlement did not begin in any numbers until after 1848, on May 30,1854, the US Congress created the Kansas and the Nebraska territories, divided by the Parallel 40° North, under the Kansas–Nebraska Act. The Nebraska Territory included parts of the current states of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, the territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha
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Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
