1.
Sarcococca
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Sarcococca is a genus of 16–20 species of flowering plants in the box family Buxaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia and the Himalayas. They are slow-growing, monoecious, evergreen shrubs 1–2 m tall, the leaves are borne alternately, 3–12 cm long and 1–4 cm broad. They bear fragrant flowers, often in winter, the fruit is a red or black drupe containing 1–3 seeds. Some species are cultivated as groundcover or low hedging in moist, the basic chromosome number for genus is 14. The genus name Sarcococca comes from the Greek σάρξ and κόκκος for fleshy berry, Sarcococca confusa Sealy - Sweet Box Sarcococca hookeriana Baill. Sarcococca longifolia M. Cheng Sarcococca longipetiolata M. Cheng Sarcococca orientalis C. Y, wu Sarcococca ruscifolia Stapf Sarcococca saligna Mull. -Arg. Sarcococca vagans Stapf Sarcococca wallichii Stapf Sarcococca zeylanica Baill, Flora of Pakistan, Sarcococca Flora of China, Sarcococca species list Sarcococcus confusa
2.
Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
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The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 52 independent and sovereign states. Most are former British colonies or dependencies of these colonies, no one government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others as is the case in a political union. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who serves as the Head of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was first officially formed in 1931 when the Statute of Westminster gave legal recognition to the sovereignty of dominions, in 1949, the London Declaration was signed and marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth and the adoption of its present name. The newest member is Rwanda, which joined on 29 November 2009, the most recent departure was the Maldives, which severed its connection with the Commonwealth on 13 October 2016. Presently, of the states that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, three are in Europe, twelve in North America, one in South America, eighteen in Africa, seven in Asia, and eleven in Oceania. There are eight members, four of which no longer exist as independent entities. The members have a population of 2.4 billion people, almost a third of the world population, of which 1.21 billion live in India. All table information based on figures provided by the Commonwealth of Nations Secretariat members list, most population figures are based on 2007 estimates, unless otherwise noted, independence was gained from the United Kingdom on the date of joining the Commonwealth. ^ B. Not a member of the Commonwealth Foundation. ^ C, the population figure is based on 2004 estimates. ^ D. The population figure is based on 2005 estimates. ^ E, though Pakistan celebrates 14 August 1947 as its independence day, independence was officially granted at midnight,15 August 1947. Therefore, its date of joining the Commonwealth would be 15 August 1947. ^ F, Commonwealth realms, recognising Elizabeth II as their head of state since the day of their independence, distinctly from her being the sovereign of United Kingdom. Other states which have expressed an interest in joining the Commonwealth over the years include Algeria, Cambodia, Madagascar, Palestine, and Yemen
3.
Bank holiday
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A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, some Commonwealth countries, other European countries, and a colloquialism for a public holiday in Hong Kong and Ireland. Until 1834, the Bank of England observed about 33 saints days and religious festivals as holidays, the English people were so thankful that some called the first Bank Holidays St Lubbocks Days for a while. Scotland was treated separately because of its traditions, for example. In 1903, the Bank Holiday Act added 17 March, Saint Patricks Day, New Years Day did not become a bank holiday in England until 1 January 1974. Commencing in 1965, on a basis, the August Bank Holiday weekend was observed at the end of August to give a lead in extending British holidays over a longer summer period. Each years date was announced in Parliament on a basis, to the despair of the calendar. The rule seems to have been to select the weekend of the last Saturday in August, a century after the 1871 Act, the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which currently regulates bank holidays in the UK, was passed. The majority of the current bank holidays were specified in the 1971 Act, in 1978 the first Monday in May in the rest of the UK, and the final Monday of May in Scotland, were designated as bank holidays. In January 2007, the St Andrews Day Bank Holiday Act 2007 was given royal assent, under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, bank holidays are proclaimed each year by the legal device of a royal proclamation. Royal proclamation is also used to move bank holidays that would fall on a weekend. In this way, public holidays are not lost in years when they coincide with weekends and these deferred bank holiday days are termed a bank holiday in lieu of the typical anniversary date. In the legislation they are known as substitute days, the movement of the St Andrews Day Scottish holiday to the nearest Monday when 30 November is a weekend day is statutory and does not require a proclamation. A number of differences apply in Scotland relative to the rest of the United Kingdom, for example, Easter Monday is not a bank holiday. Also, although they share the name, the Summer Bank Holiday falls on the first Monday of August in Scotland, as opposed to the last Monday in England, Wales. Despite this, it is custom and practice to follow the rest of the UK and banks close on the last Monday, Bank holidays do not, however, assume the same importance in Scotland as they do elsewhere. The number of holidays in the UK is relatively small compared to many other European countries, however, direct comparison is inaccurate since the substitute day scheme of deferment does not apply in most European countries, where holidays that coincide with a weekend are lost. In fact, the number of non-weekend holidays in such countries is only marginally higher than the UK. There have been calls for more bank holidays, among the most notable dates absent from the existing list are the feast days of patron saints,23 April in England and 1 March in Wales are not currently recognised
4.
Saint Stephen's Day
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In Latin Christian denominations, Saint Stephens Day marks the second day of Christmastide. The date is also a holiday in those countries that celebrate Boxing Day on the day in addition to or instead of St. Stephens Day, such as Australia, Canada. In the Republic of Ireland, the day is one of nine official public holidays, in Irish, it is called Lá Fhéile Stiofáin or Lá an Dreoilín, meaning the Wren Day. When used in context, wren is often pronounced ran. This name alludes to legends, including those found in Irish mythology. People dress up in old clothes, wear hats and travel from door to door with fake wrens and they dance, sing. This tradition is less common than it was a couple of generations ago, depending on which region of the country, they are called wrenboys and mummers. A Mummers Festival is held at this time every year in the village of New Inn, County Galway, mumming is also a big tradition in County Fermanagh in Ulster. St. Stephens Day is a day for visiting family members. In most of Ulster in the north of Ireland, the day is known as Boxing Day, especially in Northern Ireland. St. Stephens Day in Wales is known as Gŵyl San Steffan, one ancient Welsh custom, discontinued in the 19th century, included bleeding of livestock and holming by beating with holly branches of late risers and female servants. The ceremony reputedly brought good luck, St. Stephens Day on 26 December is a traditional Catalan holiday. It is celebrated right after Christmas, with a big meal including canelons and these are stuffed with the ground remaining meat from the escudella i carn dolla, turkey, or capó of the previous day. St. Stephens Day is marked as part of its shared culture across the Rhine River with Germany, stephanitag is a public holiday in mainly Catholic Austria. In the Archdiocese of Vienna, the day of patron saint Saint Stephen is even celebrated on a Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, the 26th of December is – as Second Day of Christmas – a public holiday in Germany and the Czech Republic. Saint Stephen is the saint of Serbia. St. Stephens Day falls on 9 January because the Serbian Orthodox Church adheres to the Julian calendar, Serbian medieval rulers title was Stefan. The day is not a holiday in Serbia
5.
Twelve Days of Christmas
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The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus Christ. In most Western ecclesiastical traditions, Christmas Day is considered the First Day of Christmas, the Oriental Orthodox, other than the Armenians, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Eastern Catholics who follow the same traditions do have the interval of twelve days between the two feasts. For the Eastern Orthodox, both Christmas and Epiphany are among the Twelve Great Feasts that are second to Easter in importance. The period between Christmas and Epiphany is fast-free, during this period one celebration leads into another. 29 December is the Orthodox Feast of the Holy Innocents, the Afterfeast of the Nativity continues until 31 December. The Saturday following the Nativity is commemorated by special readings from the Epistle, the Sunday after the Nativity has its own liturgical commemoration in honour of The Righteous Ones, Joseph the Betrothed, David the King and James the Brother of the Lord. Another of the prominent festivals that are included among the Twelve Great Feasts is that of the Circumcision of Christ on 1 January. On this same day is the feast day of Saint Basil the Great,2 January begins the Forefeast of the Theophany. The Eve of the Theophany on 5 January is a day of strict fasting and this day is known as Paramony, and follows the same general outline as Christmas Eve. That night the All-Night Vigil is served for the Feast of the Theophany, within the Twelve Days of Christmas, there are celebrations both secular and religious. It is a holiday in many nations, including some where the majority of the population is not Christian. On this see the articles on Christmas and Christmas traditions,26 December is St. Stephens Day, a feast day in the Western Church. In Great Britain and its colonies, it is also the secular holiday of Boxing Day. In some parts of Ireland it is denominated Wren Day, New Years Eve on 31 December is the feast of Pope St. Sylvester I and is known also as Silvester. The transition that evening to the new year is an occasion for festivities in many nations. New Years Day on 1 January is an occasion for secular festivities or for rest from the celebrations of the night before. In the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, it is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and this day, or some day proximate to it, is also celebrated by the Pope and Roman Catholics as World Day of Peace. In many nations, e. g. the United States of America, the Solemnity of Epiphany is transferred to the first Sunday after 1 January, which can occur as early as 2 January
6.
Christmas
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In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family. Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25. Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December 25. Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year. Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. Christmas is a form of Christs mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, crīst is from Greek Khrīstos, a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ, Messiah, meaning anointed, and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as midwinter, or, more rarely, Nativity, meaning birth, is from Latin nātīvitās. In Old English, Gēola referred to the corresponding to December and January. Noel entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis, the canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew both describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem in Judea, to a virgin mother. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in 336. Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after 800, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day
7.
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
8.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
9.
Liturgical year
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Distinct liturgical colours may appear in connection with different seasons of the liturgical year. The dates of the festivals vary somewhat between the different churches, though the sequence and logic is largely the same, in churches that follow the liturgical year, the scripture passages for each Sunday are specified in a lectionary. After the Protestant Reformation, Anglicans and Lutherans continued to follow the lectionary of the Roman Rite, following a decision of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church revised that lectionary in 1969, adopting a three-year cycle of readings for Sundays and a two-year cycle for weekdays. This has led to an awareness of the traditional Christian year among Protestants. The first month of the year was called אביב, meaning the month of green ears of grain and it thus occurred in the spring. At about the time of the Babylonian captivity, the Jews adopted as the name for the month the term ניסן, thomas J Talley says that the adoption of the Babylonian term occurred even before the captivity. In the earlier calendar, most of the months were called by a number. On the historical life of Jesus Christ, the believers are led to the eschatological fulfilment, viz. the heavenly bliss, the liturgical year is divided into 9 seasons mostly having 7 weeks each in principle, but with necessary adjustments. The arrangement of the Seasons in the Liturgical Year is based on seven central events on celebrations of the Salvation History, various Seasons in the liturgical calendar of Syro Malabar Church and Chaldean Catholic Church are given below Weeks of Annunciation is the first season of the liturgical year. The liturgical year begins with the proclamation and celebration of the encounter between God and man in the person of Jesus Christ, the human appearance of the Divine Person. The season begins on the Sunday just before fist of December and this season is developed in the context of the mystery of incarnation completed in the fullness of time. The Church recalls during these days the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, the predecessor of Jesus, during this season we also meditate on the role of Mary in the history of the plan of salvation. The whole importance of Mary, and hence her veneration in the Church, depends on her relation to Jesus, the most special being His mother. Her celebration is also underlined with two very solemn festivals of her, Immaculate Conception on December 8 and Congratulation to Mary as Mother of Jesus on the last Friday of this season, Church practice abstinence December 1–25 in preparation for Christmas, this period is called 25 days Lent. The word Denha in Syriac means sunrise, during the period the faithful meditates on the manifestation of Holy trinity and revelation of Christ the light of the world. Baptism in Jordan was the first historical event when the Holy Trinity is revealed to humans in the humanity of Jesus Christ, during the season church celebrate the feasts of Saints in connection with the manifestation of the Lord. The season begins 50 days before Easter on Peturta Sunday and comprises whole period of Great Lent, Word Peturta in Syriac means looking back or reconciliation. Faithful enter the weeks of Great Fast, celebrating the memory of all the Faithful Departed on the last Friday of Denha
10.
Western Christianity
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Western Christianity consists of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, and a variety of Protestant denominations. The name has applied in order to distinguish these from Eastern Christianity. Today, the distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is not nearly as absolute, due to the spread of missionary activities, migrations. The adjectives Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity are thus used to refer to historical origins rather than present geographical locations. For most of its history the church in Europe has been divided between the Latin-speaking west, whose centre was Rome, and the Greek-speaking east, whose centre was Constantinople. Cultural differences and political rivalry created tensions between the two churches, leading to disagreement over doctrine and ecclesiology and ultimately to schism, like Eastern Christianity, Western Christianity traces its roots, directly or indirectly, to the apostles and other early preachers of the religion. In Western Christianitys original area Latin was the principal language, Christian writers in Latin had more influence there than those who wrote in Greek, Syriac, or other Eastern languages. With the last-named form of Eastern Christianity, reunion agreements were signed at the Second Council of Lyon and the Council of Florence, but these proved ineffective. The rise of Protestantism led to divisions within Western Christianity, which still persist, and wars—for example. In and after the Age of Discovery, Europeans spread Western Christianity to the New World, Roman Catholicism came to the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Protestantism, including Anglicanism, came to North America, Australia-Pacific and this Western version also has the additional phrase God from God, which was in the Creed as adopted by the First Council of Nicaea, but which was dropped by the First Council of Constantinople. The date of Easter usually differs between Eastern and Western Christianity, because the calculations are based on the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendar respectively, for example, the Church of England continued to observe Easter on the same date as the Eastern Church until 1753. Even the dates of other Christian holidays differ between Eastern and Western Christianity, Western Christianity makes up about 90% of Christians worldwide, with the Roman Catholic Church accounting for over half and various Protestant denominations making up another 40%. Hussite movements of 15th century Bohemia preceded the main Protestant uprising by 100 years and evolved into several small Protestant churches, waldensians survived also, but blended into the Reformed tradition
11.
Christmastide
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Christmastide, also known as Twelvetide, is a season of the liturgical year in most Christian churches. Customs of the Christmas season include carol singing, gift giving, seeing Nativity plays, attending church services, traditional examples of Christmas greetings include the Western Christian phrase Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. and the Eastern Christian greeting Christ is born. To which others respond, Glorify Him, Christmastide begins very early on 25 December. Historically, the ending of Christmastide was 5 January, however, the ending is defined differently by some Christian denominations. In 1969, the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church expanded Christmastide by a number of days. Up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after 6 January, in 567, the Council of Tours proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast. The Council held at Tours also spoke of a three-day fast at the beginning of January as an ancient custom, in that canon, which dealt with the fasts to be observed by monks, the council decreed, De ieiuniis. In Augusto, quia quotidie missae sanctorum sunt, prandium habeant, De Decembri usque ad natale Domini, omni die ieiunent. Et quia inter natale Domini et epiphania omni die festivitates sunt, excipitur triduum illud, quo ad calcandam gentilium consuetudinem, patres nostri statuerunt privatas in Kalendis Ianuarii fieri litanias. In medieval era Christendom, Christmastide lasted from the Nativity to the Purification, many Churches refer to the period after the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas and up to Candlemas, as Epiphanytide, also called the Epiphany season. During the Christmas season, various festivities are traditionally enjoyed and buildings are adorned with Christmas decorations and these Christmas decorations include the Nativity Scene, Christmas tree, jingle bells, as well as various Christmas ornaments. In the Western Christian world, the two days on which Christmas decorations are removed are Twelfth Night and Candlemas. Any not removed on the first occasion should be left undisturbed until the second, leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas is considered to be inauspicious. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the start of Christmastide, it is customary for most households in Christendom to attend a service of worship or Mass, in which they receive Holy Communion. The practice of giving gifts during Christmastide, according to Christian tradition, is symbolic of the presentation of the gifts by the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus. In the Anglian city of Oxford, many Christian families, after attending church, in several parts of the world, it is common to have a large family feast on Christmas Day, preceded with grace. Throughout the twelve days of Christmastide, many people view Nativity plays, in Russia, Christmastide, understood as the period between Orthodox Christmas and Epiphany, is often referred to as Svyatki. During this period, Russians perform fortunetelling by the use of shadows, candles, wax, maidens who participate in the ceremony have to shed everything that “hinders” the flow of spirits including their belts and rings
12.
Oxford English Dictionary
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The Oxford English Dictionary is a descriptive dictionary of the English language, published by the Oxford University Press. The second edition came to 21,728 pages in 20 volumes, in 1895, the title The Oxford English Dictionary was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in ten bound volumes. In 1933, the title The Oxford English Dictionary fully replaced the name in all occurrences in its reprinting as twelve volumes with a one-volume supplement. More supplements came over the years until 1989, when the edition was published. Since 2000, an edition of the dictionary has been underway. The first electronic version of the dictionary was available in 1988. The online version has been available since 2000, and as of April 2014 was receiving two million hits per month. The third edition of the dictionary will probably appear in electronic form, Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press. As a historical dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary explains words by showing their development rather than merely their present-day usages, therefore, it shows definitions in the order that the sense of the word began being used, including word meanings which are no longer used. The format of the OEDs entries has influenced numerous other historical lexicography projects and this influenced later volumes of this and other lexicographical works. As of 30 November 2005, the Oxford English Dictionary contained approximately 301,100 main entries, the dictionarys latest, complete print edition was printed in 20 volumes, comprising 291,500 entries in 21,730 pages. The longest entry in the OED2 was for the verb set, as entries began to be revised for the OED3 in sequence starting from M, the longest entry became make in 2000, then put in 2007, then run in 2011. Despite its impressive size, the OED is neither the worlds largest nor the earliest exhaustive dictionary of a language, the Dutch dictionary Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal is the worlds largest dictionary, has similar aims to the OED and took twice as long to complete. Another earlier large dictionary is the Grimm brothers dictionary of the German language, begun in 1838, the official dictionary of Spanish is the Diccionario de la lengua española, and its first edition was published in 1780. The Kangxi dictionary of Chinese was published in 1716, trench suggested that a new, truly comprehensive dictionary was needed. On 7 January 1858, the Society formally adopted the idea of a new dictionary. Volunteer readers would be assigned particular books, copying passages illustrating word usage onto quotation slips, later the same year, the Society agreed to the project in principle, with the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. He withdrew and Herbert Coleridge became the first editor, on 12 May 1860, Coleridges dictionary plan was published and research was started
13.
Samuel Pepys
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Samuel Pepys FRS was an administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary that he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. Pepys had no experience, but he rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, hard work, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy, the detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War. Pepys was born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London on 23 February 1633, the son of John Pepys, a tailor and his great uncle Talbot Pepys was Recorder and briefly Member of Parliament for Cambridge in 1625. His fathers first cousin Sir Richard Pepys was elected MP for Sudbury in 1640, appointed Baron of the Exchequer on 30 May 1654, Pepys was the fifth of eleven children, but child mortality was high and he was soon the oldest survivor. He was baptised at St Brides Church on 3 March, Pepys did not spend all of his infancy in London, for a while, he was sent to live with nurse Goody Lawrence at Kingsland, just north of the city. In about 1644, Pepys attended Huntingdon Grammar School before being educated at St Pauls School, London and he attended the execution of Charles I in 1649. In 1650, he went to Cambridge University, having received two exhibitions from St Pauls School and a grant from the Mercers Company. In October, he was admitted as a sizar to Magdalene College, he moved there in March 1651, later in 1654 or early in 1655, he entered the household of another of his fathers cousins, Sir Edward Montagu, who was later created 1st Earl of Sandwich. From a young age, Pepys suffered from stones in his urinary tract – a condition from which his mother and brother John also later suffered. He was almost never without pain, as well as other symptoms, by the time of his marriage, the condition was very severe. In 1657 Pepys decided to undergo surgery, not an option, as the operation was known to be especially painful. Nevertheless, Pepys consulted surgeon Thomas Hollier and, on 26 March 1658, Pepys stone was successfully removed and he resolved to hold a celebration on every anniversary of the operation, which he did for several years. However, there were long-term effects from the operation, the incision on his bladder broke open again late in his life. The procedure may have left him sterile, though there is no evidence for this. In mid-1658 Pepys moved to Axe Yard, near the modern Downing Street and he worked as a teller in the Exchequer under George Downing. On 1 January 1660, Pepys began to keep a diary and he recorded his daily life for almost ten years
14.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
15.
Latin Church
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The Latin Church, commonly called Roman Catholic Church, sometimes Western Church, is the largest autonomous particular church sui iuris within the Catholic Church, applying Latin liturgical rites. There are 24 such sui iuris particular churches within the Catholic Church, all the other particular churches sui iuris, of which there are 23, originated farther east and are, therefore, collectively known as the Eastern Catholic Churches. Because of the migrations, members of all of these particular churches sui iuris are no longer confined to their areas of origin. A person is a member of or belongs to a particular church, a person also inherits or is of, a particular patrimony or rite. Since the rite has liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary elements, Particular churches that inherit and perpetuate a particular patrimony are identified by metonymy with that patrimony. Accordingly, rite has been defined as a division of the Christian church using a distinctive liturgy, is considered equal to the Latin rite within the Church. It thus used the rite as a technical designation of what may now be called a particular church. Church or rite is used as a single heading in the United States Library of Congress classification of works. The last known use was Pope Pius XII in Humani generis who taught that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one. Most ecclesiologists - experts in the theology of the Church itself - instead use Roman Catholic to refer exclusively to the Latin Church. The reasons for this are that each of the 24 Catholic Churches sui iuris have a modifier - Maronite, Ukrainian, Roman, etc. - and that Latin and Roman are virtually interchangeable. Further, as Adrian Fortescue noted in his article in the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia, today, the most common Latin liturgical rites are the Roman Rite, the Ambrosian Rite, the Mozarabic Rite, and variations of the Roman Rite. The 23 Eastern Catholic Churches share five families of liturgical rites, the Latin liturgical rites, like the Armenian, are used only in a single sui iuris particular church. In the Eastern Churches these sacraments are usually administered immediately after baptism, celibacy, as a consequence of the duty to observe perfect continence, is obligatory for priests in the Latin Church. Rare exceptions are permitted for men who, after ministering as clergy in other churches and this contrasts with the discipline in most Eastern Catholic Churches. In the Latin Church, a man may not be admitted even to the diaconate unless he is legitimately destined to remain a deacon. Marriage after ordination is not possible, and attempting it can result in canonical penalties, Latin Mass Church of Rome Particular church General Roman Calendar Eastern Catholic Churches Catholic Encyclopedia, Latin Church
16.
Proclamation
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A proclamation is an official declaration. In many British protectorates the high commissioner or administrator was empowered to legislate by proclamation, in the old system of real property law in England, fines, levied with proclamations, i. e. These proclamations were originally made sixteen times, four times in the term in which the fine was levied, afterwards the number of proclamations was reduced to one in each of the four terms. The proclamations were endorsed on the back of the record, the system was abolished by the Fines and Recoveries Act 1833. Introduction, Proclamations of Accession of English and British Sovereigns, Heraldica,2007
17.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
18.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
19.
Bank Holidays Act 1871
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The Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the first bank holidays in the United Kingdom. The Act designated four bank holidays in England, Wales and Ireland, in England, Wales and Ireland, Good Friday and Christmas Day were considered traditional days of rest and therefore it was felt unnecessary to include them in the Act. The Act was repealed in 1971 and superseded by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, history of Bank & Public Holidays. Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, archived from the original on 7 December 2008
20.
Saint Stephen
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Accused of blasphemy, at his trial he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. His martyrdom was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who would himself become a follower of Jesus. The only primary source for information about Stephen is the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen is mentioned in Acts 6 as one of the Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews selected to participate in a fairer distribution of welfare to the Greek-speaking widows. The Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Stephens name in the original Greek of the Acts of the Apostles is given as Stephanos, meaning crown. Traditionally, Stephen is invested with a crown of martyrdom, artistic representations often depict him with three stones and the palm frond. Eastern Christian iconography shows him as a young, beardless man with a tonsure, wearing a deacons vestments, according to Orthodox belief, he was the eldest and is therefore called archdeacon. As another deacon, Nicholas of Antioch, is stated to have been a convert to Judaism, it may be assumed that Stephen was born Jewish. Since the name Stephanos is Greek, it has assumed that he was one of these Hellenistic Jews. Stephen is stated to have full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Members of these synagogues had challenged Stephens teachings, but Stephen had bested them in debate, furious at this humiliation, they suborned false testimony that Stephen had preached blasphemy against Moses and God. They dragged him to appear before the Sanhedrin, the legal court of Jewish elders, accusing him of preaching against the Temple. Stephen is said to have been unperturbed, his face looking like that of an angel, robert Eisenman puts forward the theory that the stoning of Stephen is in fact an account of the stoning of James, first Bishop of Jerusalem, as recounted by Josephus, in 62CE. In a long speech to the Sanhedrin comprising almost the whole of Acts Chapter 7, Stephen presents his view of the history of Israel. The God of glory, he says, appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, thus establishing at the beginning of the one of its major themes. Stephen recounts the stories of the patriarchs in some depth, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and inspired Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. Nevertheless, the Israelites turned to other gods and this establishes the second main theme of Stephens speech, Israels disobedience to God. Stephen faced two accusations, that he had declared that Jesus would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and that he had changed the customs of Moses. The Roman Catholic Church states that St. Stephen appealed to the Jewish scriptures to prove how the laws of Moses were not subverted by Jesus but and he denounces his listeners as stiff-necked people who, just as their ancestors had done, resist the Holy Spirit
21.
Partition of Ireland
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The partition of Ireland was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct jurisdictions, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. It took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, today the former is still known as Northern Ireland and forms part of the United Kingdom while the latter is now a sovereign state also named Ireland, formally known as the Republic of Ireland. The Act of 1920 was intended to create two self-governing territories within Ireland, with both remaining within the United Kingdom and it also contained provisions for co-operation between the two territories and for the eventual reunification of Ireland. Since partition, a key aspiration of Irish nationalists has been to bring about a reunited Ireland and this goal conflicts with that of the unionists in Northern Ireland, who want the region to remain part of the United Kingdom. The British and Irish government agreed, under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, in its white paper on Brexit the United Kingdom government reiterated its commitment to the Belfast Agreement. The unionist MP Horace Plunkett, who would later support home rule, exclusion was first considered by the British cabinet in 1912, in the context of Ulster unionist opposition to the Third Home Rule Bill, which was then in preparation. The Curragh incident on 20 March 1914 had already led Westminster to believe that the British Army could not be trusted to carry out their orders in Ireland, the Home Rule Crisis was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Westminster passed the Home Rule Bill on 18 September 1914 and it immediately received Royal Assent, at the time it was widely believed that the conflict would only last for a few months. Concurrent with the Conscription Crisis of 1918, support for Irish republicanism had risen in Ireland due to the length of the war, Irish republicans were further emboldened by successful revolutions in the Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. Meanwhile, Irish unionists – most of whom lived in the northeast of the island – were just as determined to maintain the Union and it was intended that each jurisdiction would be granted home rule but remain within the United Kingdom. The government of Southern Ireland never functioned, the war for independence continued until the two agreed a truce in July 1921, ending with the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. The new state had the status of a dominion of the British Empire, on 7 December 1922 the houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland approved an address to George V, requesting that its territory not be included in the Irish Free State. This was presented to the king the day on 8 December 1922. Following independence, the state gradually severed all remaining constitutional links with the United Kingdom. In 1937 the Free State was renamed Ireland in its new constitution, in 1949 the state was declared to be a republic, under the Republic of Ireland Act. The Government of Ireland Act 1920, which came into effect on 3 May 1921, provided for separate self-governing parliaments for Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, the Irish War of Independence led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The treaty was given effect in the United Kingdom through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. Under the former Act, at 1pm on 6 December 1922, the treaty, and the laws which implemented it, allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the Irish Free State
22.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
23.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour, literally means Little Hong Kong)—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
24.
South Australia
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South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country, with a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres, it is the fourth-largest of Australias states and territories. Other population centres in the state are relatively small, the state comprises less than 8 percent of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the six states and two territories. The majority of its people reside in Adelaide, most of the remainder are settled in fertile areas along the south-eastern coast and River Murray. The states colonial origins are unique in Australia as a settled, planned British province. Official settlement began on 28 December 1836, when the colony was proclaimed at the Old Gum Tree by Governor John Hindmarsh, as with the rest of the continent, the region had been long occupied by Aboriginal peoples, who were organised into numerous tribes and languages. The first British settlement to be established was Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, on 26 July 1836, the guiding principle behind settlement was that of systematic colonisation, a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon Wakefield that was later employed by the New Zealand Company. The goal was to establish the province as a centre of civilisation for free immigrants, promising civil liberties, although its history is marked by economic hardship, South Australia has remained politically innovative and culturally vibrant. Today, it is known for its wine and numerous cultural festivals. The states economy is dominated by the agricultural, manufacturing and mining industries, the state has an increasingly significant finance sector as well. Evidence of human activity in South Australia dates back as far as 20,000 years, with flint mining activity, in addition wooden spears and tools were made in an area now covered in peat bog in the South East. Kangaroo Island was inhabited long before the island was cut off by rising sea levels, thijssen named his discovery Pieter Nuyts Land, after the highest ranking individual on board. The complete coastline of South Australia was first mapped by Matthew Flinders, the land which now forms the state of South Australia was claimed for Britain in 1788 as part of the colony of New South Wales. Although the new colony included almost two-thirds of the continent, early settlements were all on the eastern coast and it took more than forty years before any serious proposal to establish settlements in the south-western portion of New South Wales were put forward. In 1834, the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act 1834, the act stated that 802,511 square kilometres would be allotted to the colony and it would be convict-free. In contrast to the rest of Australia, terra nullius did not apply to the new province, although the patent guaranteed land rights under force of law for the indigenous inhabitants it was ignored by the South Australian Company authorities and squatters. Settlement of seven vessels and 636 people was made at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island. The first immigrants arrived at Holdfast Bay in November 1836, the Colonisation Commissioners intended to establish a police service as soon as misconduct within the increasing population warranted it
25.
Proclamation Day
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Proclamation Day is the name of official or unofficial holidays or other anniversaries which commemorate or mark an important proclamation. In some cases it may be the day of, or the anniversary of, a proclamation day may also celebrate the independence of a country, the end of a war, or the ratification of an important treaty. Proclamation Day in South Australia celebrates the establishment of government in South Australia as a British province, the proclamation was made by Captain John Hindmarsh beside The Old Gum Tree at the present-day suburb of Glenelg North on 28 December 1836. The proclamation specified the same protection under the law for the native population as for the settlers. The date 28 December as a holiday in South Australia was modified to the first otherwise working day after the Christmas Day public holiday. Formal ceremonies involving the most senior current officials and politicians, followed by public celebrations, the proclamation was printed by Robert Thomas, who came from England with his family on the Africaine, arriving at Holdfast Bay on 8 November 1836. Thomas brought with him the first printing press to reach South Australia, the press was a Stanhope Invenit No. 200, and was on display in the State Library until 2001, the colonising fleet consisted of 10 vessels which had gathered at Nepean Bay before being directed to Holdfast Bay. The Africaine was the first to arrive, discharging settlers on 9 November 1836, followed by the Emma, the John Pirie, and the Tam OShanter. These deliberately preceded Governor John Hindmarsh on the Buffalo to enable preparations including the printing of the proclamation in advance of his arrival on 28 December. Thomass wife Mary published The Diary of Mary Thomas, in which she described the journey on the Africaine and the early years in South Australia. An extract from the reads, About December 20th 1836. And in this place the first printing in South Australia was produced, one of the children of Robert and Mary Thomas was a surveyor who assisted Colonel William Light in the survey which led to the founding of the City of Adelaide. Another son, William Kyffin Thomas, inherited from his father the newspaper of the time, The Register, William had a son, also called Robert, who became senior proprietor of The Register. He was knighted by King Edward VII in 1909 when President of the first great Press Conference in London, a majestic statue of that king stands prominently outside the South Australian Institute building in North Terrace, Adelaide. Proclamation Day also refers to October 21,1836, the day that government was proclaimed in Western Australia. It used to be a holiday in Western Australia. In 1919 it was renamed Labour Day, and shortly afterwards the celebration date changed, privy Council of the United Kingdom)
26.
Massachusetts
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It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the Massachusett tribe, which inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston, over 80% of Massachusetts population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, during the 20th century, Massachusetts economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance. Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, in 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of Americas most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, in 1786, Shays Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic World, in the late 18th century, Boston became known as the Cradle of Liberty for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution. The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a commercial and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, in the late 19th century, the sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the state, including the Adams, both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts public school students place among the top nations in the world in academic performance, the official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While this designation is part of the official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the position and powers within the United States as other states. Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems. Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans, the first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people. This was the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, the event known as the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World which lasted for three days
27.
Bill Weld
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William Floyd Bill Weld is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who was the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. He was the Libertarian Partys nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2016 election and he resigned from the latter position in 1988, along with the Deputy Attorney General, in protest of an ethics scandal and associated investigations of Attorney General Ed Meese III. He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1990 and was Governor from 1991 to 1997 and he was re-elected by the largest margin in Massachusetts history in 1994 and was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in 1996, losing to incumbent Democrat John Kerry. Weld was born in Smithtown, New York and his ancestor Edmund Weld was among the earliest students at Harvard College. He would be followed by eighteen more Welds at Harvard, where two buildings are named for the family, General Stephen Minot Weld Jr. fought with distinction in many major battles of the Civil War. They sent the servants over first to get the cottage ready, Welds father David was an investment banker, his mother, Mary Nichols Weld, was a descendant of William Floyd, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His siblings are Dr. Francis Tim Weld, David Weld and his maternal grandfather was ichthyologist and ornithologist John Treadwell Nichols, and his first cousin is novelist John Nichols. Weld was educated at Middlesex School, Weld began his legal career as a counsel with the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate impeachment inquiry, where one of his colleagues was Hillary Rodham. In 1978, he ran unsuccessfully for Massachusetts Attorney General, losing to Democratic incumbent Francis X. Bellotti by 1,532,835 votes to 421,417. He was appointed as United States Attorney for Massachusetts in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, in that capacity, Weld expanded an ongoing public corruption investigation of the administration of Boston Mayor Kevin White. More than 20 city employees were indicted, pleaded guilty, or were convicted of a range of charges, including several key political supporters of the Mayor. In 1981, Weld was recommended to President Reagan by Rudolph W. Giuliani, then Associate U. S. Attorney General, during Welds tenure, the Attorney Generals office prosecuted some of New Englands largest banks in cases involving money laundering and other white-collar crimes. In 1985, the Boston Globe said Weld has been by far the most visible figure in the prosecution of financial institutions, Weld gained national recognition in fighting public corruption, he won 109 convictions out of 111 cases. In 1986, President Reagan promoted Weld to head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, where Weld oversaw 700 employees. Weld was responsible for supervising all federal prosecutions, including those investigated by the FBI, during this time, Weld worked on some of the Reagan administrations most significant prosecutions and investigations, including the capture of Panamas Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges. Meese resigned from office in July 1988 shortly after Welds and Burns testimony, in 1990, Weld announced his candidacy for Governor of Massachusetts, to replace the out-going Michael Dukakis. At the state Republican convention, party officials backed Steven Pierce over Weld, Weld gained enough support to force a primary, and in an upset election, Weld won the Republican nomination over Pierce by a 60–40 margin. In the general election, he faced John Silber, the president of Boston University, polls showed Weld anywhere from a statistical tie to trailing by as many as ten points
28.
Trinidad and Tobago
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During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers, more times than any other island in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago were ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens, the country Trinidad and Tobago obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976. Trinidad and Tobago is the third richest country by GDP per capita in the Americas after the United States, furthermore, it is recognised as a high-income economy by the World Bank. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, the economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum. The countrys wealth is attributed to its reserves and exploitation of oil. Historian E. L. Joseph claimed that Trinidads Amerindian name was Iere or Land of the Humming Bird, derived from the Arawak name for hummingbird, however, Boomert claims that neither cairi nor caeri means hummingbird and tukusi or tucuchi does. Others have reported that kairi and iere simply mean island, christopher Columbus renamed it La Isla de la Trinidad, fulfilling a vow made before setting out on his third voyage of exploration. Trinidad and Tobago are islands situated between 10°2 and 11°12 N latitude and 60°30 and 61°56 W longitude, at the closest point, Trinidad is just 11 kilometres from Venezuelan territory. Trinidad is 4,768 km2 in area with a length of 80 km. Tobago has an area of about 300 km2, or 5. 8% of the area, is 41 km long and 12 km at its greatest width. Trinidad and Tobago lie on the shelf of South America. The terrain of the islands is a mixture of mountains and plains, the highest point in the country is found on the Northern Range at El Cerro del Aripo, which is 940 metres above sea level. As the majority of the live in the island of Trinidad. There are four municipalities in Trinidad, Port of Spain. The main town in Tobago is Scarborough, Trinidad is made up of a variety of soil types, the majority being fine sands and heavy clays. The alluvial valleys of the Northern Range and the soils of the East-West Corridor are the most fertile, the Northern Range consists mainly of Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous metamorphic rocks. The Northern Lowlands consist of shallow marine clastic sediments. South of this, the Central Range fold and thrust belt consists of Cretaceous and Eocene sedimentary rocks, the Naparima Plains and the Nariva Swamp form the southern shoulder of this uplift
29.
Bermuda
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Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 1,070 km east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,1,236 km south of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Bermuda is an associate member of Caribbean Community. The first person known to have reached Bermuda was the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez in 1503 and he claimed the islands for the Spanish Empire. Bermúdez never landed on the islands, but made two visits to the archipelago, of which he created a recognisable map, shipwrecked Portuguese mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on Portuguese Rock. Subsequent Spanish or other European parties are believed to have released pigs there, the island was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614. Its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company, took over in 1615, at that time, the companys charter was revoked, and the English Crown took over administration. The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, after 1949, when Newfoundland became part of Canada, Bermuda became the oldest remaining British Overseas Territory. Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, it is the most populous Territory and its first capital, St. Georges, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the New World. Bermudas economy is based on insurance and reinsurance, and tourism. Bermuda had one of the worlds highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century, recently, its economic status has been affected by the global recession. The island is in the belt and prone to severe weather. However, it is protected from the full force of a hurricane by the coral reef that surrounds the island. It is 898 nautical miles northeast of Miami, Florida, and 667 nautical miles from Cape Sable Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada. The islands lie due east of Fripp Island, South Carolina, west-northwest of Cape Verde, southeast of New York City, New York, north-northwest of Brazil and north of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The archipelago is formed by points on the rim of the caldera of a submarine volcano that forms a seamount. The volcano is one part of a range that was formed as part of the process that formed the floor of the Atlantic. It has 103 km of coastline, the two incorporated municipalities in Bermuda are the City of Hamilton and the Town of St George. Bermuda is divided into nine parishes, which have some localities called villages, such as Flatts Village, although usually referred to in the singular, the territory consists of 181 islands, with a total area of 53.3 square kilometres
30.
Gombey
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Dancers are usually male, and perform in groups of 10-30 though in modern times female groups have emerged. The traditions have been passed orally from one generation to the next within families. Thus within troupes there can be found subtle but distinct differences in beats, dances, costumes, headdresses, historically, the Gombeys were not viewed as a respectable art form by the islands ruling class and were banned by the slave masters. Slaves were allowed to only once a year and did so in masks in order to protest, without fear of retribution. Also performances could be seen on Easter, New Years Day, Bermuda Day and in modern times at soccer and cricket matches and other festivals, the word Gombey is related to the Bahamian Goombay, a similar musical tradition. It also refers to a drum of African origin. In addition to the Bahamian Goombay tradition, Gombey is similar to some other Afro-Caribbean styles, afro-Caribbeans came to Bermuda primarily from former Spanish colonies as free, but indentured, servants in the Seventeenth Century. Most of these arrived as Spanish-speaking Catholics, but acculturated to become English-speaking protestants, smaller numbers of slaves, many of African birth, were also captured from the Spanish and Portuguese and sold in Bermuda, and smaller numbers deliberately imported. Over time, the blacks, Native Americans, Irish and some of the English merged together to form a single demographic, originally referred to as coloured. In addition to the bass, or “Mother” drum, typically home-made the modern Bermudian Gombey is distinguished by the use of the snare drum, in addition, a kettle drum, a fife are integral parts of Gombey accompaniment d whistles are used by leaders to issue commands. The snare drummers play complicated riffs over the steady pulse of the drum, often employing call and response patterns. Gombey’s costumes cover their bodies from head to toe and are decorated with tassels, mirrors, bells, the peacock feather headdresses, the painted masks, and the capes are distinguishing features of Gombey costumes. Freedom dance, junkanoo, cockfights, biblical stories, slow dance, fast dance, snake dance, in February 2000, the Smithsonian Institution conducted training in folklife fieldwork for Bermuda-based researchers to prepare them to survey the cultural traditions of the island. Dr. Richard Kurin writes in the foreword that his education kit grows out of Bermuda’s participation in the 2001 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and it is based on the important research that went into the Festival and the documentation that resulted from it. Included in this document is a chapter on Gombeys, Bands, since 2010 the entire Bermuda Connections Resource Guide has been made available for download in the Folklife section of Bermuda’s Department of Community and Cultural Affairs website. One of the first major publications on the Gombeys was a book published in 1987 by Louise A. Jackson entitled The Bermuda Gombey. It contains pictures and sketches of Gombeys, and outlines details of history, group roles, performance, Jackson subsequently also published another book, entitled Gombey Boy, and a short narrative film on VHS. More recently a children’s book called Gombey Baby was written and illustrated by Bermudian J. K. Aspinall, in 2008 a feature-length documentary on the Gombeys was created by the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, Bermuda
31.
Toronto Eaton Centre
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The Toronto Eaton Centre is a shopping mall and office complex located in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview and it was named after the Eatons department store chain that once anchored it before the chain became defunct in the late 1990s. The Toronto Eaton Centre attracts the most visitors of any of Torontos tourist attractions and it is North America’s busiest mall, largely because of extensive transit access and tourist traffic. The number of visitors to the Toronto Eaton Centre in 2015 exceeds the total 2015 passenger counts at Toronto Pearson International Airport, the main retail mall in the centre is organized around a long arcade, running parallel to Yonge Street. The complex also contains four buildings and the Ryerson University Ted Rogers School of Management. Additionally, the Eaton Centre is linked to a 17-storey Marriott hotel, Timothy Eaton founded a dry goods store on Yonge Street in the 19th century that revolutionized retailing in Canada, and became the largest department store chain in the country. By the 20th century, the Eatons chain owned most of the bounded by Yonge, Queen, Bay and Dundas streets, with the notable exceptions of Old City Hall. The Eatons land, once the site of Timothy Eatons first store, was occupied by Eatons large Main Store, the Eatons Annex and a number of related mail order and factory buildings. As the chains warehouse and support operations were increasingly shifting to cheaper suburban locales in the 1960s, Eatons wanted to make better use of its valuable downtown landholdings. In particular, the wanted to build a massive new flagship store to replace the aging Main Store at Yonge and Queen. In the mid-1960s, Eatons announced plans for a massive office, Eatons sought to demolish Torontos Old City Hall and the Church of the Holy Trinity. The plan required the closing of a number of city streets within the block, Albert Street, Louisa Street, Terauley Street, James Street, Albert Lane, Downeys Lane. At one point, even the Old City Hall clock tower was to be demolished, after a fierce local debate over the fate of the city hall and church buildings, Eatons put its plans on hiatus in 1967. The Eaton Centre plans were resuscitated in 1971, although these plans allowed for the preservation of Old City Hall, controversy erupted anew, however, as the congregation of the Church of the Holy Trinity exhibited an increased willingness to fight the demolition plans for its church. These amendments to the plans resulted in three significant changes to the centre from the 1960s concept. This resulted in the mall being constructed with Eatons and Simpsons acting as anchors at either end, finally, the bulk of the centre was shifted east to the Yonge Street frontage, and the complex was designed so that it no longer had any frontage along Bay Street. Old City Hall and the church were saved, as was the Salvation Army headquarters building by virtue of its location between the two other preserved buildings. Eatons partnered with the Cadillac Fairview development company and the Toronto-Dominion Bank in the construction of the Eaton Centre, the complex was designed by Eberhard Zeidler and Bregman + Hamann Architects as a multi-levelled, vaulted glass-ceiling galleria, modelled after the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy
32.
Black Friday (shopping)
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Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Since 1952, it has regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U. S. and most major retailers open very early. Similar stories resurface year upon year at this time, portraying hysteria and shortage of stock, in 2014, spending volume on Black Friday fell for the first time since the 2008 recession. $50.9 billion was spent during the 4-day Black Friday weekend, however, the U. S. economy was not in a recession. This usage dates to at least 1961, for many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6,00 a. m. but in the late 2000s many had crept to 5,00 or 4,00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers opened at midnight for the first time. In 2012, Walmart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 8,00 p. m. on Thanksgiving Day, prompting calls for a walkout among some workers. In 2014, stores such as JCPenney, Best Buy, and Radio Shack opened at 5,00 PM on Thanksgiving Day while stores such as Target, Walmart, Belk, and Sears opened at 6,00 PM on Thanksgiving Day. Three states, Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts, prohibit large supermarkets, big box stores, there have been reports of violence occurring between shoppers on Black Friday. Since 2006, there have been 7 reported deaths and 98 injuries throughout the United States and it is common for prospective shoppers to camp out over the Thanksgiving holiday in an effort to secure a place in front of the line and thus a better chance at getting desired items. The news media have described the day after Thanksgiving as the busiest shopping day of the year. In earlier years, this was not actually the case, in the period from 1993 through 2001, for example, Black Friday ranked from fifth to tenth on the list of busiest shopping days, with the last Saturday before Christmas usually taking first place. In 2003, however, Black Friday actually was the busiest shopping day of the year, and it has retained that position every year since, with the exception of 2004, when it ranked second. The SouthPark neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, is the most trafficked area of the United States on Black Friday, Black Friday is a shopping day for a combination of reasons. As the first day after the last major holiday before Christmas, additionally, many employers give their employees the day off as part of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In order to take advantage of this, virtually all retailers in the country, big and small, recent years have seen retailers extend beyond normal hours in order to maintain an edge, or to simply keep up with the competition. Such hours may include opening as early as 12,00 am or remaining open overnight on Thanksgiving Day, forever 21 went in the opposite direction, opening at normal hours on Friday, and running late sales until 2,00 am Saturday morning. Historically, it was common for Black Friday sales to extend throughout the following weekend, however, this practice has largely disappeared in recent years, perhaps because of an effort by retailers to create a greater sense of urgency
33.
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
34.
Value-added tax
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VATs raise about a fifth of total tax revenues both worldwide and among the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. As of 2014,160 of the worlds approximately 193 countries employ a VAT, there are two main methods of calculating VAT, the credit-invoice or invoice-based method and the subtraction or accounts-based method. The credit-invoice method is the most widely employed method, used by all national VATs except for Japan. The subtraction method VAT is currently used by Japan, although subtraction method VATs. With both methods, there are exceptions in the method for certain goods and transactions, created for either pragmatic collection reasons or to counter tax fraud. Initially directed at businesses, it was extended over time to include all business sectors. In France, it is the most important source of state finance, in this way, the total tax levied at each stage in the economic chain of supply is a constant fraction of the value added by a business. The standard way to implement a value-added tax involves assuming a business owes some fraction on the price of the product minus all taxes paid on the good. By the method of collection, VAT can be accounts-based or invoice-based, under the invoice method of collection, each seller charges VAT rate on his output and passes the buyer a special invoice that indicates the amount of tax charged. Buyers who are subject to VAT on their own sales, consider the tax on the purchase invoices as input tax, the difference between output tax and input tax is paid to the government. Under the accounts based method, no such specific invoices are used, instead, the tax is calculated on the value added, measured as a difference between revenues and allowable purchases. Most countries today use the method, the only exception being Japan. By the timing of collection, VAT can be either accrual or cash based, cash basis accounting is a very simple form of accounting. When a payment is received for the sale of goods or services, a deposit is made, cheques are written when funds are available to pay bills, and the expense is recorded as of the cheque date—regardless of when the expense had been incurred. The primary focus is on the amount of cash in the bank, little effort is made to match revenues to the time period in which they are earned, or to match expenses to the time period in which they are incurred. Accrual basis accounting matches revenues to the period in which they are earned. While it is more complex than cash basis accounting, it provides more information about your business. The accrual basis allows you to track receivables and payables, the accrual basis allows you to match revenues to the expenses incurred in earning them, giving you more meaningful financial reports
35.
Big-box store
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A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. Typical architectural characteristics include the following, Large, free-standing, cuboid, the flat roof and ceiling trusses are generally made of steel, and the walls are concrete block clad in metal or masonry siding. The structure typically sits in the middle of a large, paved parking lot and it is meant to be accessed by vehicle, rather than by pedestrians. In countries where space is at a premium, such as the United Kingdom, labor unions oppose big-box development because the employees of such stores are usually not unionized. Unions are especially concerned about the market because stores such as Kmart, Target. Unions and cities are attempting to use ordinances to restrict these businesses. Because it is inaccessible to pedestrians and often can only be reached by motor vehicles, the big-box store is regarded as unsustainable. Some communities have adopted a higher level of treatment and regulations to ensure that the superstores relate better to their environment. There are also concerns surrounding traffic and roads, the increased traffic leads to more air pollution in an area and higher taxes in order to maintain the roads. The first company in Australia to use the model was IKEA beginning operation in Australia in 1975. Bunnings Warehouse followed in 1995 and Mitre 10 Australia adopted the model with the Mitre 10 Mega stores first opening at Beenleigh, Costco has since expanded across Australia since opening its first store in 2009. Apart from major American big-box stores such as Walmart Canada and briefly now-defunct Target Canada, in the early 21st century, commercial developers in Canada such as RioCan chose to build big-box stores in lieu of traditional shopping malls. Examples include Deerfoot Meadows, Stonegate Shopping Centre and Preston Crossing, South Edmonton Common, there are currently more than 300 power centres, which usually contain multiple big-box stores, located throughout Canada. To contend against Carrefour, PARKnSHOP opened the first superstore in 1996 based on the concept of a wet market, most superstores in Hong Kong emphasizes one-stop shopping, such as providing car park services. Today, PARKnSHOP has more than 50 superstores and megastores, making it the largest superstore network in Hong Kong, the first Wellcome superstore opened in 2000 and it has only 17 superstores. In addition, CRC has four superstores in Kong Kong, however, because Hong Kong is a very densely populated city, the sizes of superstores are considerablely smaller than those in other countries. Some superstores are running at deficit, such as Chelsea Heights which therefore has stopped selling fresh fish, furthermore, some PARKnSHOP superstores and megastores, such as Fortress World, belong to the same corporation, Hutchison Whampoa
36.
Great Recession
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The Great Recession was a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country, in terms of overall impact, the International Monetary Fund concluded that it was the worst global recession since World War II. According to the US National Bureau of Economic Research the recession, as experienced in that country, began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, the Great Recession was related to the financial crisis of 2007–08 and U. S. subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–09. The Great Recession has resulted in the scarcity of valuable assets in the market economy, under the academic definition, the recession ended in the United States in June or July 2009. In the broader, lay sense of the word however, many use the term to refer to ongoing hardship. The Great Recession met the IMF criteria for being a recession, requiring a decline in annual real world GDP per‑capita. According to the U. S. National Bureau of Economic Research the recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, the years leading up to the crisis were characterized by an exorbitant rise in asset prices and associated boom in economic demand. Further, the U. S. shadow banking system had grown to rival the depository system yet was not subject to the regulatory oversight. US mortgage-backed securities, which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around the world, the emergence of sub-prime loan losses in 2007 began the crisis and exposed other risky loans and over-inflated asset prices. With loan losses mounting and the fall of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008, the global recession that followed resulted in a sharp drop in international trade, rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. Several economists predicted that recovery might not appear until 2011 and that the recession would be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Economist Paul Krugman once commented on this as seemingly the beginning of a second Great Depression. Governments and central banks responded with fiscal and monetary policies to national economies. The recession has renewed interest in Keynesian economic ideas on how to combat recessionary conditions, economists advise that the stimulus should be withdrawn as soon as the economies recover enough to chart a path to sustainable growth. Income inequality in the United States has grown from 2005 to 2012 in more than 2 out of 3 metropolitan areas, median household wealth fell 35% in the US, from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011. The majority report of the U. S, Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, composed of six Democratic and four Republican appointees, reported its findings in January 2011. There were two Republican dissenting FCIC reports, one of them, signed by three Republican appointees, concluded that there were multiple causes. He wrote, When the bubble began to deflate in mid-2007, There are several narratives attempting to place the causes of the recession into context, with overlapping elements. Four such narratives include, There was the equivalent of a run on the shadow banking system
37.
Atlantic Canada
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The population of the four Atlantic provinces in 2016 was about 2,300,000 on half a million km2. The provinces combined had an approximate GDP of $110.308 billion in 2011, the first Premier of Newfoundland, Joey Smallwood, coined the term Atlantic Canada when Newfoundland joined the Dominion of Canada in 1949. Today Atlantic Canada is a distinct region of Canada, with the original founding cultures of Celtic, English and French remaining strong. Although Quebec has physical Atlantic coasts on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Ungava Bay,2016 census figures for Metropolitan Areas and Population Centres in Atlantic Canada. The list includes communities above 15,000, by Metropolitan Area population, or 10,000 by Population Centre population
38.
Northern Ontario
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Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of Northern Ontario is situated on the Canadian Shield, a vast rocky plateau, the climate is characterized by extremes of temperature, extremely cold in winter and hot in summer. The principal industries are mining, forestry, and hydroelectricity, for some purposes, Northern Ontario is further subdivided into Northeastern and Northwestern Ontario. When the region is divided in this way, the three westernmost districts constitute Northwestern Ontario and the other districts constitute Northeastern Ontario, Northeastern Ontario contains two thirds of Northern Ontarios population. In the early 20th century, Northern Ontario was often called New Ontario, the provinces boundaries were provisionally expanded northward and westward in 1874, while the Lake of the Woods region remained subject to a boundary dispute between Ontario and Manitoba. This region was established as the District of Patricia, but was merged into the Kenora District in 1927. The Province of Canada began creating districts in sparsely populated Northern Ontario with the establishment of Algoma District. These districts had no function, they were created for the provision of judicial. Nipissing had no seat until 1895. Up until that date, registry office and higher court services were available at Pembroke in Renfrew County, Nipissing Stipendiary Magistrate and land registrar William Doran established his residence at North Bay in 1885. Following the hotly contested district town election in 1895, North Bay earned the right to become the seat in the new Provisional District of Nipissing. After the creation of the province of Ontario in 1867, the first district to be established was Thunder Bay in 1871 which until then had formed part of Algoma District. The Ontario government was reluctant to establish new districts in the north, Ontarios right to Northwestern Ontario was determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1884 and confirmed by the Canada Act,1889 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. By 1899 there were seven districts, Algoma, Manitoulin, Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River. Five more northern districts were created between 1907 and 1922, Cochrane, Kenora, Sudbury, Temiskaming and Patricia, the Patricia District was then merged into the Kenora District in 1927. Districts are too sparsely populated to maintain a county government system, for example, districts have provincially maintained secondary highways instead of county roads. Geographically, the districts in Northern Ontario are Rainy River, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Cochrane, Timiskaming, Algoma, Sudbury, Nipissing andManitoulin. As well, for administrative purposes, the districts of Muskoka, the federal government continues to retain both more southerly districts in the service area of FedNor
39.
By-law
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A by-law is a rule or law established by an organization or community to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other government body, by-laws may be established by entities such as a business corporation, a neighborhood association, or depending on the jurisdiction, a municipality. In the United States, bylaw is the preferred spelling, accordingly, a bylaw enforcement officer is the Canadian equivalent of the American Code Enforcement Officer or Municipal Regulations Enforcement Officer. In the United States, the government and most state governments have no direct ability to regulate the single provisions of municipal law. As a result, terms such as code, ordinance, or regulation, the Oxford English Dictionary indicates that the origin of the current modern use of the word is not clear. One possibility is the earliest use of the term, which originates from the Viking town law in the Danelaw, wherein by is the Old Norse word for a larger settlement as in Whitby and Derby. However, it is possible that this usage was forgotten. In either case, it is incorrect to claim that the origin of the word is simply the prepositional phrase by law, Municipal by-laws are public regulatory laws which apply in a certain area. A local council or municipal government gets its power to pass laws through a law of the national or regional government which specifies what things the town or city may regulate through bylaws and it is therefore a form of delegated legislation. Municipal bylaws are often enforcable through the justice system. Common bylaws include vehicle parking and stopping regulations, animal control, building and construction, licensing, noise, zoning and business regulation, by section 94 of the Constitution of Japan, regional governments have limited autonomy and legislative powers to create by-laws. In practice, such powers are exercised in accordance with the Local Autonomy Law, by-laws therefore constitute part of the legal system subordinate to the Japanese constitution. In terms of its powers and effective, it is considered the lowest of all legislation possible. Local government bylaws are the most prevalent type of bylaw in Australia, in New South Wales these bylaws are called ordinances and Zoning Controls are called Environmental Planning Instruments created under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. Numerous specific institutions, including universities, are empowered to make by-laws by their establishing legislation. Bylaws of a company or society are created as a contract among members, Strata Title was developed in Australia and by-laws of body corporate are also empowered by state legislation. These are main type of bylaw most people come into contact with on a basis as they control what people in Strata title housing can do in their own homes. The most well known of these is the no pets in flats rule, corporate bylaws are drafted by a corporations founders or directors under the authority of its Charter or Articles of Incorporation
40.
Greater Sudbury
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Greater Sudbury, commonly referred to as Sudbury, is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 161,531 in the Canada 2016 Census, by land area, it is the largest city in Ontario and the seventh largest municipality by area in Canada. It is administratively a single-tier municipality, and thus not part of any district, county, Sudbury was founded following the discovery of nickel ore by Tom Flanagan, a Canadian Pacific Railway blacksmith in 1883, when the transcontinental railway was near completion. Greater Sudbury was formed in 2001 by merging the cities and towns of the former Regional Municipality of Sudbury with several previously unincorporated geographic townships, the population resides in an urban core and many smaller communities scattered around 300 lakes and among hills of rock blackened by historical smelting activity. Sudbury was once a major centre and a world leader in nickel mining. Mining and related industries dominated the economy for much of the 20th century, the two major mining companies which shaped the history of Sudbury were Inco, now Vale Limited, which employed more than 25% of the population by the 1970s, and Falconbridge, now Glencore. Sudbury has since expanded from its economy to emerge as the major retail, economic, health. Sudbury is also home to a large Franco-Ontarian population that influences its arts, Sudbury has a humid continental climate with warm and often hot summers and long, cold, snowy winters. The Sudbury region was inhabited by the Ojibwe people of the Algonquin group as early as 9,000 years ago following the retreat of the last continental ice sheet. The land was first occupied by Europeans when the Jesuits established a mission called Sainte-Anne-des-Pins just before the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883, the Sainte-Anne-des-Pins church played a prominent role in the development of Franco-Ontarian culture in the region. During construction of the railway in 1883, blasting and excavation revealed high concentrations of ore at Murray Mine on the edge of the Sudbury Basin. This discovery brought the first waves of European settlers, who arrived not only to reap the benefits of the mines, the community was named for Sudbury, Suffolk, in England, which was the hometown of Canadian Pacific Railway commissioner James Worthingtons wife. Sudbury was incorporated as a town in 1893, and its first mayor was Stephen Fournier, the construction of the railway allowed exploitation of these mineral resources as well as large-scale lumber extraction. Mining began to lumber as the primary industry as improvements to the areas transportation network, including trams, made it possible for workers to live in one community. Sudbury’s economy was dominated by the industry for much of the 20th century. Two major mining companies were created, Inco in 1902 and Falconbridge in 1928 and they became two of the city’s major employers and two of the worlds leading producers of nickel. Through the decades that followed, Sudburys economy went through boom, demand was high during the First World War when Sudbury-mined nickel was used extensively in the manufacturing of artillery in Sheffield, England. It bottomed out when the war ended and then again in the mid-1920s as peacetime uses for nickel began to develop
41.
Ontario
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Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
