1.
Commonwealth of Nations
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The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Commonwealth dates back to the century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the states as free. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, the other Commonwealth members have different heads of state,31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch. Member states have no obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their values of democracy, free speech, human rights. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth covers more than 29,958,050 km2, 20% of the worlds land area, and spans all six inhabited continents. She declared, So, it marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. As long ago as 1884, however, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire—as some of its colonies became more independent—as a Commonwealth of Nations. Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, the Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its parliament, Newfoundland later joined Canada as its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively, after World War II ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, there remain the 14 British overseas territories still held by the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word British was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature, burma and Aden are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Hoped for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four minute mile in 1954, however, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt morale of Britain and the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a role of the British Empire. That role was no longer militarily or financially feasible, as Britains withdrawal from Greece in 1947 painfully demonstrated, Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada
2.
Marlborough House
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It was built for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. For over a century it served as the London residence of the Dukes of Marlborough, the Duchess wanted her new house to be strong, plain and convenient and good. The architect Christopher Wren and his son of the name designed a brick building with rusticated stone quoins that was completed in 1711. The house was taken up by the Crown in 1817, Marlborough House was primarily used by members of the Royal Family, especially dowager queens and by Prince Albert Edward of Wales and his wife Alexandra. Queen Adelaide, widow of William IV, was given the use of Marlborough House from 1831 until her death in 1849. From 1853 to 1861 Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, arranged for the building to be used by the National Art Training School, later the Royal College of Art. From 1861-1863, the building was enlarged to designs by Sir James Pennethorne, who added a range of rooms on the north side. This was done for the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, and his wife the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark, after Edward VII died in 1910, Alexandra reverted to Marlborough House as her London home, until her death in 1925. A late Art Nouveau-Gothic memorial fountain by Alfred Gilbert in the Marlborough Road wall of the house commemorates her, in 1936 Marlborough House became the London residence of their sons widow, Queen Mary. Mary survived George by 17 years, in the grounds of the house remains her pet cemetery. A thatch-roofed rotating summer house built for her still is in place, a plaque to commemorate Queen Mary was unveiled by the Queen in 1967 in the exterior wall closest to the corner with the Mall. The nearly cubical saloon retains wall-paintings by Louis Laguerre of the Battle of Blenheim, a cupola inserted in the ceiling is surrounded by paintings by Orazio Gentileschi for the Queens House, Greenwich,1636. There are paired staircases flanking the saloon, with further battle pieces by Laguerre, most of the interiors have been altered. Marlborough House is usually open to the public for Open House Weekend each September, the house is also open for group tours by prior arrangement. Visiting Information at The Commonwealth Secretariat Virtual tour Flickr images tagged Marlborough House
3.
City of Westminster
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The City of Westminster is an Inner London borough which also holds city status. It occupies much of the area of Greater London including most of the West End. It is to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and it was created with the 1965 establishment of Greater London. Upon creation, Westminster was awarded city status, which had previously held by the smaller Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. Aside from a number of parks and open spaces, the population density of the district is high. Many sites commonly associated with London are in the borough, including St. Jamess Palace, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, much of the borough is residential, and in 2008 it was estimated to have a population of 236,000. The local authority is Westminster City Council, the current Westminster coat of arms were given to the city by an official grant on September 2,1964. Westminster had other arms before, which had an identical to the chief in the present arms. The symbols in the two thirds of the shield stand for former municipalities now merged with the city, Paddington. The original arms had a portcullis as the charge, which now forms the crest. The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England, in the mid-11th Century king Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only the foundations of which survive today. For centuries Westminster and the City of London were geographically quite distinct, Westminster briefly became a city in 1540 when Henry VIII created the short-lived Diocese of Westminster. Following the dissolution of Westminster Abbey, a court of burgesses was formed in 1585 to govern the Westminster area, Jamess, Strand, Westminster, Pimlico, Belgravia, and Hyde Park. The Westminster Metropolitan Borough was itself the result of an amalgamation which took place in 1900. Sir John Hunt O. B. E was the First Town Clerk of the City of Westminster, the boundaries of the City of Westminster today, as well as those of the other London boroughs, have remained more or less unchanged since the Act of 1963. On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place on Westminster Bridge, Bridge Street and Old Palace Yard, five people - three pedestrians, one police officer, and the attacker - died as a result of the incident. More than 50 people were injured, an investigation is ongoing by the Metropolitan Police. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors, Westminster City Council is currently composed of 44 Conservative Party members and 16 Labour Party members
4.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
5.
Commonwealth Secretary-General
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The Commonwealth Secretary-General should not be confused with the Head of the Commonwealth, who is currently Queen Elizabeth II. However, as the building cannot house all of the Secretariats staff in London, the Secretary-General receives a salary of nearly £160,000 and a four‑storey mansion in Mayfair as their official residence. The Secretary-General leads the Commonwealth Secretariat, and all Secretariat staff are responsible and answerable to him or her and he or she is supported by three Deputy Secretaries-General, which are elected by the Heads of Government via the members High Commissioners in London. Currently, the three Deputy Secretaries-General are Deodat Maharaj, Gary Dunn and Josephine Ojiambo, until 2014, only two Deputy Secretaries-General were appointed along with an Assistant Secretary-General for Corporate Affairs. Formally, the Secretary-General is given the rank as a High Commissioner or ambassador. However, in practice, his or her rank is considerably higher, at CHOGMs, he or she is the equal of the Heads of Government, except with preference deferred to the longest-serving Head of Government. At other ministerial meetings, he or she is considered primus inter pares, the Secretary-General is held responsible by the Commonwealths Board of Governors in London. Since the 1993 CHOGM, it has decided that the Secretary-General is elected to a maximum of two four-year terms. The election is held by the assembled Heads of Government and other ministerial representatives at every other CHOGM, nominations are received from the member states governments, who sponsor the nomination through the election process and are responsible for withdrawing their candidate as they see fit. The election is held in a Restricted Session of the CHOGM, the Chair of the CHOGM is responsible for ascertaining which candidate has the greatest support, through the conduct of negotiations and secret straw polls. There is usually a convention that an incumbent seeking a term in office is elected unopposed for his or her second term. However, this was broken by a Zimbabwe-backed bid for Sri Lankan Lakshman Kadirgamar to displace New Zealands Don McKinnon in 2003, at the vote, however, Kadirgamar was easily defeated by McKinnon, with only 11 members voting for him against 40 for McKinnon. At the 2011 CHOGM, Indias Kamalesh Sharma was re-elected to his second term unopposed, Sharma had won the position at the 2007 CHOGM, when he defeated Maltas Michael Frendo to replace McKinnon, who had served the maximum two terms. She took office on 1 April 2016
6.
Patricia Scotland
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At the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting she was elected the 6th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations and took office on 1 April 2016. She is the first woman to hold the post and she is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica. Scotland was born in Dominica, the 10th child of 12 born to Roman Catholic parents a Dominican mother and her family emigrated to Walthamstow when she was two years old, where she attended Chapel End Secondary School and Walthamstow School for Girls. She then went on to Mid Essex Technical College in Chelmsford and she was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1977, specialising in family law, and was called to the Dominican bar in 1978. In 1991, Scotland became the first black woman to be appointed a Queens Counsel and she later founded 1 Grays Inn Square barristers chambers. Early in 1997, she was elected as a Bencher of the Middle Temple, Scotland was named as a Millennium Commissioner on 17 February 1994, and was a member of the Commission for Racial Equality. She received a peerage on a Labour Party list of working peers and was created Baroness Scotland of Asthal. From March 2015 to March 2016, Scotland served as advisor to Ron Wahid, Chairman of Arcanum. She stepped down in order to assume the role of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Scotland introduced the International Criminal Court Bill which sought to ratify the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court into UK law. She established the Pro Bono Lawyers Panel, a panel of British-based lawyers who provided advice on a pro bono basis to United Kingdom nationals imprisoned in foreign countries. In 2001 she became Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellors Department, and was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. She was the minister responsible for civil justice and the reform of civil law including the comprehensive reform of land registration leading to the Land Registration Act 2002. Scotland was an unsuccessful contender for a cabinet position in 2003. In 2003, Scotland was made Minister of State for the Criminal Justice System and Law Reform at the Home Office and she served in that post until 2007 under three Home Secretaries, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and John Reid. While at the Home Office she was responsible for major reform of the justice system. She created the Office of Criminal Justice Reform which helped to create and support the National Criminal Justice Board, having acted as Chair, she then created three Alliances to reduce re-offending and the Corporate Alliance against Domestic Violence. She created a group on victims and the Criminal Justice Centre, Victims. Scotland created Inside Justice Week and the Justice Awards, Scotland continued her responsibility for international affairs at the Home Office and continued to represent the UK in a number of international negotiations such as those relating to extradition
7.
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
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The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations. Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Head of the Commonwealth, attended every CHOGM beginning with Ottawa in 1973 until Perth in 2011, however, she was represented by the Prince of Wales at the 2013 meeting as the 87-year-old monarch was curtailing her overseas travel. The Queen continues to attend CHOGMs held in Europe and was present at the 2015 summit in Malta and is expected to attend the 2018 CHOGM which is to be held in London. The first CHOGM was held in 1971, and there have been 24 held in total and they are held once every two years, although this pattern has twice been interrupted. They are held around the Commonwealth, rotating by invitation amongst its members, in the past, CHOGMs have attempted to orchestrate common policies on certain contentious issues and current events, with a special focus on issues affecting member nations. CHOGMs have discussed the continuation of apartheid rule in South Africa and how to end it, military coups in Pakistan and Fiji, sometimes the member states agree on a common idea or solution, and release a joint statement declaring their opinion. More recently, beginning at the 1997 CHOGM, the meeting has had an official theme, the meetings originated with the leaders of the self-governing colonies of the British Empire. The First Colonial Conference in 1887 was followed by meetings, known as Imperial Conferences from 1907. The development of the independence of the dominions, and the creation of a number of new dominions, as well as the invitation of Southern Rhodesia, changed the nature of the meetings. As the dominion leaders asserted themselves more and more at the meetings, from the ashes of the Second World War, seventeen Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conferences were held between 1944 and 1969. Of these, sixteen were held in London, reflecting then-prevailing views of the Commonwealth as the continuation of the Empire, two supplementary meetings were also held during this period, a Commonwealth Statesmens meeting to discuss peace terms in April 1945, and a Commonwealth Economic Conference in 1952. The 1960s saw an overhaul of the Commonwealth and this decentralisation of power demanded a reformulation of the meetings. Instead of the meetings always being held in London, they would rotate across the membership, subject to countries ability to host the meetings and they were also renamed the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings to reflect the growing diversity of the constitutional structures in the Commonwealth. The core of the CHOGM are the executive sessions, which are the formal gatherings of the heads of government to do business, the rules are very strict, allowing the head of the delegation, his or her spouse, and one other person. The additional member can be of any capacity, but he or she has only occasional, as the scope of the CHOGM has expanded beyond the meetings of the heads of governments themselves, the CHOGMs have become progressively shorter, and their business compacted into less time. The 1971 CHOGM lasted for nine days, and the 1977 and 1991 CHOGMs for seven days each, however, Harares epochal CHOGM was the last to last a week, the 1993 CHOGM lasted for five days, and the contentious 1995 CHOGM for only three-and-a-half. The 2005 and subsequent conferences were held over two-and-a-half days, during the 1980s, CHOGMs were dominated by calls for the Commonwealth to impose sanctions on South Africa to pressure the country to end apartheid. According to one of Margaret Thatchers former aides, Mrs. Thatcher, very privately, a bomb exploded at the Sydney Hilton Hotel, the venue for the February 1978 Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting
8.
United Nations General Assembly
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The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. The General Assembly is the deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. It has also established a number of subsidiary organs. It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions and its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, other questions are decided by a straightforward majority. Each member country has one vote, apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace, the one state, one vote power structure potentially allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue and these issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members and it now has 193, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are able to determine the agenda of the Assembly, the character of its debates. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence, the Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. The first session of the UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, the next few annual sessions were held in different cities, the second session in New York, and the third session was in Paris. It moved to the permanent United Nations Headquarters in New York at the start of its seventh regular annual session, on 14 October 1952. In December 1988, in order to hear Yasser Arafat, the General Assembly organised its 29th session in the Palace of Nations, all 193 members states of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly. The agenda for each session is planned up to seven months in advance and this is refined into a provisional agenda 60 days before the opening of the session. Items on the agenda are numbered, the General Assembly votes on many resolutions brought forth by sponsoring states. These are generally statements symbolizing the sense of the community about an array of world issues. Most General Assembly resolutions are not enforceable as a legal or practical matter, the General Assembly has authority to make final decisions in some areas such as the United Nations budget
9.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
10.
Head of the Commonwealth
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There is no set term of office or term limit and the role itself involves no part in the day-to-day governance of any of the member states within the Commonwealth. By 1949, the then British Commonwealth was a group of eight countries, India, however, desired to become a republic, but not depart the Commonwealth by doing so. This was accommodated by the creation of the title Head of the Commonwealth for the King, the title is currently held by the elder daughter of George VI, Queen Elizabeth II. The title was devised in the London Declaration as a result of discussions at the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference, since 1953, it has formed a part of the monarchs title in each Commonwealth realm. The Head of the Commonwealth or a representative attends the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and this is a tradition begun by the monarch on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1973, when the CHOGM was first held in Canada. During the summit, the Head of the Commonwealth has a series of meetings with Commonwealth countries leaders, attends a CHOGM reception and dinner. The Queen or a representative is present at the quadrennial Commonwealth Games and on every Commonwealth Day. The Commonwealth Secretariat asserts any successor will be chosen collectively by the Commonwealth heads of government, the Daily Telegraph reported that the post is not hereditary and many leaders want an elected head to make the organisation more democratic. In 1949, King George VI was king of each of the countries that comprised the British Commonwealth, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ceylon, India. However, the Indian Cabinet desired the country become a republic, when India adopted a republican constitution on 26 January 1950, George VI ceased to be its monarch, but it did regard him as Head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth II became Head of the Commonwealth on her accession in 1952 and it is an entirely new conception built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man, friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace. The following year, a Royal Style and Titles Act was passed in each of the Commonwealth realms, in December 1960, the Queen had a personal flag created to symbolise her as Head of the Commonwealth and not associated with her role as queen of any particular country. Over time, the flag has replaced the British Royal Standard when the Queen visits Commonwealth countries of which she is not head of state, when the Queen visits the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, this personal standard—not any of her royal standards—is raised. Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said Elizabeth was a behind the force in ending apartheid in South Africa
11.
Commonwealth Foundation
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As the Commonwealth agency for civil society, the Foundation is funded by 45 member states to support participatory governance through its programmes. The Foundation provides resources, grants and access to platforms to encourage engagement between civil society and institutions of governance. Membership of the Commonwealth Foundation is voluntary and is separate from membership of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Commonwealth Foundation, along with its sister organisation the Commonwealth Secretariat, was conceived at the 1964 Conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers. The idea of a Commonwealth Secretariat was first floated by President Nkrumah of Ghana and the concept of the Commonwealth Foundation was proposed by Alec Douglas-Home, the British Government offered to contribute half the proposed annual income of £250,000. Initially, the idea of locating the Foundation in London was dismissed on the basis that the Commonwealth Secretariat would be based there, however, it was later agreed that it should be based in London as many of the professional associations operating throughout the Commonwealth had offices in Britain. In addition a Director was to be appointed, in 1966, it was agreed that Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet should be the first chairman and John Chadwick the first Director of the Foundation. The first Board of Trustees comprised both nominations of independent individuals and London-based High Commissioners, the independent Trustees were Dr Leslie Farrer-Brown, Escott Reid, Richard Campbell, Akintola Williams, Robert Loinsworth, Dr Hugh Springer, and Dr C. All other member countries were represented by their London-based High Commissioners, on 1 March 1966, the Commonwealth Foundation was registered as a Charitable Trust and came into being under English Law. e. Facilitating the creation of Commonwealth-wide professional associations, disseminating printed information, given the modest budget of the Foundation, the role of the organisation was defined as being more catalytic than executive. In 1982, a decision was taken to reconstitute the Foundation as an International Organisation – a process that was completed on 14 February 1983, since then, the remit of the Commonwealth Foundation has continued to broaden and grow. Uniquely for an organisation, five members of civil society now sit on the Board of Governors alongside representatives of member governments. Today, the Board of Governors comprises all member Governments and five civil society representatives, the Board meets annually and is supported by the Executive and Grants Committees which meet twice yearly. Throughout its history, the Foundation has been led by highly accomplished people, the first Chairman of the Foundation was Nobel laureate Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet and the first Director was John Chadwick. Today, the Chair of the Foundation is Ambassador Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing, membership of the Foundation is open to all Commonwealth governments. In addition, the Foundation has one Associate Member—Gibraltar, the rest of the Commonwealth Nations are Fiji, Nauru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Singapore, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. A world where every person is able to participate in and contribute to the sustainable development of a peaceful. To develop the capacity of Civic Voices to tell their stories, act together, in the 1960s, professional networks in many of the newer Commonwealth countries were weak and professional associations lacked recognition. In 1967, following a meeting in Uganda between John Chadwick, the Director of the Foundation, and professionals from various sectors, the idea of a Professional Centre was conceived
12.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
13.
Jamaica
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Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island,10,990 square kilometres in area, lies about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area. Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations, the island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, Kingston is the countrys capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Hakka, Indian, due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009. Andrew Holness has served as the head of government and Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2016, the indigenous people, the Taíno, called it Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the Land of Wood and Water or the Land of Springs. Colloquially Jamaicans refer to their island as the Rock. Slang names such as Jamrock, Jamdown, or briefly Ja, have derived from this, the Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques, the south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655, the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawak. Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494 and his probable landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that it might have been St. Anns Bay. St. Anns Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land, the capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean, the Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In 1655, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, the English continued to import African slaves as labourers
14.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
15.
Ghana
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Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a unitary presidential constitutional democracy, located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, in the subregion of West Africa. Spanning a land mass of 238,535 km², Ghana is bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east, Ghana means Warrior King in the Soninke language. The territory of present-day Ghana has been inhabited for a millennium, numerous kingdoms and empires emerged over the centuries, of which the most powerful was the Kingdom of Ashanti. Beginning in the 15th century, numerous European powers contested the area for trading rights, following over a century of native resistance, Ghanas current borders were established by the 1900s as the British Gold Coast. On 6 March 1957, it became the first sub-Saharan African nation to become independent of European colonisation, a multicultural nation, Ghana has a population of approximately 27 million, spanning a variety of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups. Five percent of the population practices traditional faiths,71. 2% adhere to Christianity and 17. 6% are Muslim and its diverse geography and ecology ranges from coastal savannahs to tropical jungles. Ghana is a country led by a president who is both head of state and head of the government. Ghanas economy is one of the strongest and most diversified in Africa, following a century of relative stability. Ghanas growing economic prosperity and democratic political system have made it a power in West Africa. It is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, Group of 24, Ghana was already recognized as one of the great kingdoms in Bilad el-Sudan by the ninth century. Ghana was inhabited in the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms in the Southern and this included the Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Mankessim Kingdom. Until the 11th century, the majority of modern Ghanas territorial area was unoccupied and uninhabited by humans. Although the area of present-day Ghana in West Africa has experienced many population movements, by the early 11th century, the Akans were firmly established in the Akan state called Bonoman, for which the Brong-Ahafo Region is named. From the 13th century, Akans emerged from what is believed to have been the Bonoman area, to create several Akan states of Ghana and these states included Bonoman, Ashanti, Denkyira, Mankessim Kingdom, and Akwamu Eastern region. By the 19th century, the territory of the part of Ghana was included in the Kingdom of Ashanti. The Kingdom of Ashanti government operated first as a loose network, prior to Akan contact with Europeans, the Akan Ashanti people created an advanced economy based on principally gold and gold bar commodities then traded with the states of Africa. The earliest known kingdoms to emerge in modern Ghana were the Mole-Dagbani states, the Mole-Dagombas came on horseback from present-day Burkina Faso under a single leader, Naa Gbewaa. The death of Naa Gbewaa caused civil war among his children, some of whom broke off and founded separate states including Dagbon, Mamprugu, Mossi, Nanumba, Akan trade with European states began after contact with Portuguese in the 15th century
16.
Kwame Nkrumah
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Kwame Nkrumah PC led Ghana to independence from Britain in 1957 and served as its first prime minister and president. Nkrumah first gained power as leader of the colonial Gold Coast, an influential 20th-century advocate of Pan-Africanism, he was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962. Kwame Nkrumah was born in about 1909 in Nkroful, Gold Coast, although his mother, whose name was Nyanibah, later stated his year of birth was 1912, Nkrumah wrote that he was born on 18 September 1909, a Saturday. By the naming customs of the Akan people, he was given the name Kwame, during his years as a student in the United States, though, he was known as Francis Nwia Kofi Nkrumah - Kofi is the name given to males born on Friday. The name of his father is not known, most accounts say he was a goldsmith, Kwame was the only child of his mother. Nkroful was a village, in the far southwest of the Gold Coast. His father did not live with the family, but worked in Half Assini before his death while Kwame was a boy, Kwame Nkrumah was raised by his mother and his extended family, who lived together in traditional fashion, with more distant relatives often visiting. He lived a childhood, spent in the village, in the bush. Nkrumahs mother sent him to the school run by a Catholic mission at Half Assini. He progressed through the ten-year elementary programme in eight years, by about 1925 he was a student-teacher in the school, and had been baptised into the faith. While at the school, he was noticed by the Reverend Alec Garden Fraser, principal of the Government Training College in the Gold Coasts capital, Fraser arranged for Nkumrah to train as a teacher at his school. Here, Columbia-educated deputy headmaster Kwegyir Aggrey exposed him to the ideas of Marcus Garvey, after graduating from Achimota in 1930, Nkrumah was given a teaching post at the Catholic primary school in Elmina, and after a year there, was made headmaster of the school at Axim. In Axim, he started to get involved in politics and founded the Nzima Literary Society, in 1933, he was appointed a teacher at the Catholic seminary at Amissa. Although the life there was strict, he liked it, Nkrumah had heard journalist and future Nigerian president Nnamdi Azikiwe speak while a student at Achimota, the two men met and Azikiwes influence increased Nkrumahs interest in black nationalism. The young teacher decided to further his education, Azikiwe had attended Lincoln College, a historically black college in Chester County, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia, and he advised Nkrumah to enroll there. Nkrumah, who had failed the examination for London University, gained funds for the trip. He travelled by way of Britain, where he learned, to his outrage, of Italys invasion of Ethiopia and he arrived in the United States, in October 1935. Nkrumah had sought entry to Lincoln some time before he began his studies there, on 1 March 1935, when he arrived in New York in October 1935, he travelled to Pennsylvania, where he enrolled despite lacking the funds for the full semester
17.
Milton Obote
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Apollo Milton Obote was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence in 1962 from British colonial administration. Following the nations independence, he served as Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and he was overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971, but regained power after Amins 1979 overthrow. His second period of rule was marred by repression and the deaths of civilians as a result of a civil war known as the Ugandan Bush War. Milton Obote was born at Akokoro village in Apac district in northern Uganda and he was the son of a tribal chief of the Lango ethnic group. He began his education in 1940 at the Protestant Missionary School in Lira, having intended to study law, a subject not taught at the university, Obote took a general arts course, including English and geography. He worked in Buganda in southern Uganda before moving to Kenya, while in Kenya, Obote became involved in the national independence movement. Upon returning to Uganda in 1956, he joined the political party Uganda National Congress, in 1959, the UNC split into two factions, with one faction under the leadership of Obote merging with Uganda Peoples Union to form the Uganda Peoples Congress. In the runup to independence elections, Obote formed a coalition with the Buganda royalist party, the two parties controlled a Parliamentary majority and Obote became Prime Minister in 1962. He assumed the post on 25 April 1962, appointed by Sir Walter Coutts, the following year the position of Governor-General was replaced by a ceremonial presidency to be elected by the parliament. Mutesa, the Kabaka of Buganda, became the ceremonial President, in January 1964, a mutiny occurred at the military barracks at Jinja, Ugandas second city and home to the 1st Battalion of the Uganda Army. There were similar mutinies in two other eastern African states, all three countries requested the support of troops from the British military, before they arrived, however, Obote sent his defence minister Felix Onama to negotiate with the mutineers. Onama was held hostage, and agreed to demands, including significant pay increases for the army. In 1965, Kenyans had been barred from positions within the government. As prime minister, Obote was implicated in a smuggling plot, together with Idi Amin. Several members of his cabinet, who were leaders of factions in the party, were arrested and detained without charge. Obote responded with an attack upon Mutesas palace, which ended with Mutesa fleeing to exile. In 1967, Obotes power was cemented when the parliament passed a new constitution abolished the federal structure of the independence constitution. In 1969, there was an attempt on Obotes life, in the aftermath of the attempt, all opposition political parties were banned, leaving Obote as an effectively absolute ruler
18.
Uganda
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Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, Uganda is the worlds second most populous landlocked country after Ethiopia. The southern part of the country includes a portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region, Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a portion of the south of the country. The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, beginning in 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the British, who established administrative law across the territory. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962, luganda, a central language, is widely spoken across the country, and several other languages are also spoken including Runyoro, Runyankole, Rukiga, and Luo. The president of Uganda is Yoweri Museveni, who came to power in January 1986 after a protracted guerrilla war. The ancestors of the Ugandans were hunter-gatherers until 1, 700-2,300 years ago, Bantu-speaking populations, who were probably from central Africa, migrated to the southern parts of the country. According to oral tradition, the Empire of Kitara covered an important part of the lakes area, from the northern lakes Albert and Kyoga to the southern lakes Victoria. Bunyoro-Kitara is claimed as the antecedent of the Buganda, Toro, Ankole, some Luo invaded the area of Bunyoro and assimilated with the Bantu there, establishing the Babiito dynasty of the current Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara. Arab traders moved inland from the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa in the 1830s and they were followed in the 1860s by British explorers searching for the source of the Nile. British Anglican missionaries arrived in the kingdom of Buganda in 1877 and were followed by French Catholic missionaries in 1879, the British government chartered the Imperial British East Africa Company to negotiate trade agreements in the region beginning in 1888. From 1886, there were a series of wars in Buganda. Because of civil unrest and financial burdens, IBEAC claimed that it was unable to maintain their occupation in the region, in the 1890s,32,000 labourers from British India were recruited to East Africa under indentured labour contracts to construct the Uganda Railway. Most of the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724 decided to remain in East Africa after the lines completion, subsequently, some became traders and took control of cotton ginning and sartorial retail. British naval ships unknowingly carried rats that contained the bubonic plague and these rats spread the disease throughout Uganda. From 1900 to 1920, a sleeping sickness epidemic in the part of Uganda, along the north shores of Lake Victoria
19.
Eric Williams
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Eric Eustace Williams served as the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He served as minister from 1962 until his death in 1981. He was also a noted Caribbean historian, and is regarded as The Father of The Nation. Dr. Williams was born on 25 September 1911 and his father Thomas Henry Williams was a minor civil servant, and his mother Eliza Frances Boissiere was a descendant of the French Creole elite. He was educated at Queens Royal College in Port of Spain and he won an island scholarship in 1932, which allowed him to attend St Catherines Society, Oxford. In 1935, he received honours for his B. A in history. He also represented the university at football, in 1938 he went on to obtain his doctorate. In Inward Hunger, his autobiography, he described his experience of racism in Great Britain, in Inward Hunger, Williams recounts that in the period following his graduation, I was severely handicapped in my research by my lack of money. I was turned down everywhere I tried, and could not ignore the racial factor involved. However, in 1936, thanks to a made by Sir Alfred Claud Hollis. He completed the D. Phil in 1938 under the supervision of Vincent Harlow and his doctoral thesis was titled The Economic Aspects of the Abolition of the Slave Trade and West Indian Slavery, and was published as Capitalism and Slavery in 1944. Gad Heuman states, In Capitalism and Slavery, Eric Williams argued that the economies of the British West Indies led to the abolition of the slave trade. More recent research has rejected this conclusion, it is now clear that the colonies of the British Caribbean profited considerably during the Revolutionary, in 1944 Dr. Williams was appointed to the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission. In 1948 he returned to Trinidad as the Commissions Deputy Chairman of the Caribbean Research Council, in Trinidad, he delivered a series of educational lectures, for which he became famous. In 1955 after disagreements between Dr. Williams and the Commission, the Commission elected not to renew his contract, in a famous speech at Woodford Square in Port of Spain, he declared that he had decided to put down his bucket in the land of his birth. The PNM’s first document was its constitution, unlike the other political parties of the time, the PNM was a highly organized, hierarchical body. Its second document was The People’s Charter, in which the party strove to separate itself from the transitory political assemblages which had thus far been the norm in Trinidadian politics. In elections held eight months later, on 24 September the PNM won 13 of the 24 elected seats in the Legislative Council and this gave him a clear majority in the Legislative Council
20.
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
21.
Organization of American States
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The Organization of American States, or the OAS or OEA, is a continental organization founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states. Headquartered in Washington, United States, the OASs members are the 35 independent states of the Americas, as of 26 May 2015, the Secretary General of OAS is Luis Almagro. Bolívars dream of American unity was meant to unify Hispanic American nations against external powers, the pursuit of regional solidarity and cooperation again came to the forefront in 1889–1890, at the First International Conference of American States. These two bodies, in existence as of 14 April 1890, represent the point of inception to which the OAS and its General Secretariat trace their origins. At the Fourth International Conference of American States, the name of the organization was changed to the Union of American Republics, the Pan American Union Building was constructed in 1910, on Constitution Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D. C. In the mid-1930s, U. S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt organized a conference in Buenos Aires. One of the items at the conference was a League of Nations of the Americas, an idea proposed by Colombia, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. At the subsequent Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace,21 nations pledged to remain neutral in the event of a conflict between any two members. The experience of World War II convinced hemispheric governments that unilateral action could not ensure the integrity of the American nations in the event of external aggression. This was the event that saw the birth of the OAS as it stands today, the meeting also adopted the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the worlds first general human rights instrument. The transition from the Pan American Union to OAS would have been if it had not been for the assassination of Colombian leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. The Director General of the former, Alberto Lleras Camargo, became the Organizations first Secretary General, the current Secretary General is former Uruguayan minister of foreign affairs Luis Almagro. Significant milestones in the history of the OAS since the signing of the Charter have included the following,1959,1969, American Convention on Human Rights signed. 1970, OAS General Assembly established as the Organizations supreme decision-making body,1979, Inter-American Court of Human Rights created. 1991, Adoption of Resolution 1080, which requires the Secretary General to convene the Permanent Council within ten days of a coup détat in any member country,1994, First Summit of the Americas, which resolved to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005. 2009, OAS revokes 1962 suspension of Cuba,2009, OAS suspends Honduras due to the coup which ousted president Manuel Zelaya. 2011, OAS lifts the suspension of Honduras with the return of Manuel Zelaya from exile, article 2 then defines eight essential purposes, To strengthen the peace and security of the continent. To promote and consolidate representative democracy, with due respect for the principle of nonintervention, to prevent possible causes of difficulties and to ensure the pacific settlement of disputes that may arise among the member states
22.
European Economic Community
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The European Economic Community was a regional organisation which aimed to bring about economic integration among its member states. It was created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957, upon the formation of the European Union in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed as the European Community. In 2009 the ECs institutions were absorbed into the EUs wider framework and it gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty. In 1993, a single market was achieved, known as the internal market, which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services. In 1994, the market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association. Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 and this was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union, which the treaty also founded. The EEC was also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking countries and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was renamed as such in 1993. In 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and this was an international community based on supranationalism and international law, designed to help the economy of Europe and prevent future war by integrating its members. In the aim of creating a federal Europe two further communities were proposed, a European Defence Community and a European Political Community. While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the Common Assembly, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, after the Messina Conference in 1955, Paul Henri Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a customs union. The so-called Spaak Report of the Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of the negotiations at Val Duchesse castle in 1956. Together with the Ohlin Report the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the Treaty of Rome, in 1956, Paul Henri Spaak led the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Val Duchesse castle, which prepared for the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, the resulting communities were the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. These were markedly less supranational than the communities, due to protests from some countries that their sovereignty was being infringed. The first formal meeting of the Hallstein Commission, was held on 16 January 1958 at the Chateau de Val-Duchesse, the EEC was to create a customs union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became the most important of these and expanded its activities, one of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs were removed on certain products, another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, which came into force in 1962
23.
Organisation of African Unity
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The Organisation of African Unity was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, with 32 signatory governments. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, the OAU had the following primary aims, To co-ordinate and intensify the co-operation of African states in order to achieve a better life for the people of Africa. To defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of African states, South Africa and Angola were two such countries. The OAU proposed two ways of ridding the continent of colonialism and white minority rule, firstly, it would defend the interests of independent countries and help to pursue the independence those of still-colonised ones. Secondly, it would remain neutral in terms of world affairs, a Liberation Committee was established to aid independence movements and look after the interests of already-independent states. The OAU also aimed to stay neutral in terms of global politics, the OAU had other aims, too, Ensure that all Africans enjoyed human rights. Raise the living standards of all Africans, settle arguments and disputes between members – not through fighting but rather peaceful and diplomatic negotiation. Soon after achieving independence, a number of African states expressed a desire for more unity within the continent. Aside from Ghana, it comprised also Algeria, Guinea, Morocco, Egypt, Mali, founded in 1961, its members were described as progressive states. The Monrovian bloc, led by Senghor of Senegal, felt that unity should be achieved gradually and it did not support the notion of a political federation. Its other members were Nigeria, Liberia, Ethiopia and most of the former French colonies, some of the initial discussions took place at Sanniquellie, Liberia. The dispute was resolved when Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I invited the two groups to Addis Ababa, where the OAU and its headquarters were subsequently established. The Charter of the Organisation was signed by 32 independent African states, the organisation was widely derided as a bureaucratic talking shop with little power. It struggled to enforce its decisions, and its lack of armed force made intervention exceedingly difficult, civil wars in Nigeria and Angola continued unabated for years, and the OAU could do nothing to stop them. The policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states also limited the effectiveness of the OAU, thus, when human rights were violated, as in Uganda under Idi Amin in the 1970s, the OAU was powerless to stop them. The Organisation was praised by Ghanaian former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for bringing Africans together, the OAU was, however, successful in some respects. Many of its members were members of the UN, too and its pursuit of African unity, therefore, was in some ways successful. Total unity was difficult to achieve, however, as the OAU was largely divided, the pro-Socialist faction was led by Kwame Nkrumah, while Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast led the pro-capitalists
24.
Kamalesh Sharma
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Kamalesh Sharma, GCVO is an Indian diplomat. He was the 5th Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2008 to 2016, Kamalesh Sharma is an alumnus of the Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi, St. Stephens College in Delhi and Kings College, Cambridge. Sharma was an officer in the Indian Foreign Service from 1965 to 2001 and he served as Indias Permanent Representative to the United Nations, from Aug 1997 to May 2002, before his retirement from IFS. From 2002 to 2004, he served as UN Secretary Generals special representative to East Timor and he was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Britain in 2004. He is a Vice-President of the Royal Commonwealth Society and he has also been the Chancellor of Queens University Belfast since July 2009. Sharma was elected to the position of secretary-general over Michael Frendo, foreign minister of Malta, during the biennial Commonwealth summit in Kampala and he took over from Sir Don McKinnon of New Zealand on 1 April 2008. Sharma was re-elected on 30 October 2011 at the 2011 CHOGM and he was unopposed, having been proposed by India and seconded by Pakistan. His second and final four-year term began on 1 April 2012 and will end 30 March 2016. He gave thanks to Sharma for his commitment to the Commonwealth. Queens says he was responsible for cementing relations between Northern Ireland and India which led to the investment in Northern Ireland businesses. The position is a honorary title and Sharma said he was enormously proud to be given the job at Queens. Biography of Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretariat Interview with Kamalesh Sharma – broadcast by Radio France Internationale,5 October 2011
25.
Taxation in the United Kingdom
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Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to a minimum of three different levels of government, the central government, devolved national governments and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty. In the fiscal year 2014–15, total government revenue was forecast to be £648 billion, or 37.7 per cent of GDP, with net taxes and National Insurance contributions standing at £606 billion. A uniform Land tax, originally was introduced in England during the late 17th century, formed the source of government revenue throughout the 18th century. Income tax was announced in Britain by William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798 and introduced in 1799, to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic Wars. Pitts new graduated income tax began at a levy of 2 old pence in the pound on incomes over £60, Pitt hoped that the new income tax would raise £10 million but receipts for 1799 totalled just over £6 million. Income tax was levied under five schedules, Income not falling within those schedules was not taxed. The schedules were, Schedule A Schedule B Schedule C Schedule D Schedule E Later, pitts income tax was levied from 1799 to 1802, when it was abolished by Henry Addington during the Peace of Amiens. Addington had taken over as minister in 1801. The income tax was reintroduced by Addington in 1803 when hostilities recommenced but it was abolished in 1816. Considerable controversy was aroused by the malt, house and windows, the malt tax was easy to collect from brewers, even after it was reduced in 1822, it produced over 10 percent of governments annual revenues through the 1840s. The house tax mostly hit London town houses, the windows tax mostly hit country manors, the income tax was reintroduced by Sir Robert Peel in the Income Tax Act 1842. Peel, as a Conservative, had opposed income tax in the 1841 general election, the new income tax of 7d in the pound, based on Addingtons model, was imposed on incomes above £150. The war was financed by borrowing large sums at home and abroad, by new taxes and it was implicitly financed by postponing maintenance and repair, and canceling unneeded projects. The government avoided indirect taxes because they raised the cost of living, there was a strong emphasis on being “fair” and being “scientific. ”The public generally supported the heavy new taxes, with minimal complaints. The Treasury rejected proposals for a capital levy, which the Labour Party wanted to use to weaken the capitalists. Instead, there was an excess profits tax, of 50 percent of profits above the prewar level. Excise taxes were added on luxury imports such as automobiles, clocks, there was no sales tax or value added tax
26.
International Organisations Act 2005
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The International Organisations Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to enable the United Kingdom to fulfil a number of international commitments and this section relates to the Commonwealth Secretariat. Section 2 relates to the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal and this section relates to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. This section inserts section 4B of the International Organisations Act 1968 and this section amends the International Criminal Court Act 2001. Section 11 provides that, except for sections 1 to 3, the word months means calendar months. The day on which the Act was passed is included in the period of two months and this means that, except for sections 1 to 3, the Act came into force on 7 June 2005. The International Organisations Act 2005 Order 2005 was made under section 11, halsburys Statutes, The International Organisations Act 2005, as amended from the National Archives. The International Organisations Act 2005, as originally enacted from the National Archives, explanatory notes to the International Organisations Act 2005
27.
Pall Mall, London
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Pall Mall /ˌpæl ˈmæl/ is a street in the St Jamess area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St Jamess Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road, the streets name is derived from pall-mall, a ball game played there during the 17th century. The area was built up during the reign of Charles II with fashionable London residences and it became known for high-class shopping in the 18th century, and gentlemens clubs in the 19th. The Reform, Athenaeum and Travellers Clubs have survived to the 21st century, the War Office was based on Pall Mall during the second half of the 19th century, and the Royal Automobile Clubs headquarters have been on the street since 1908. The street is around 0.4 miles long and runs east in the St Jamess area, from St Jamess Street across Waterloo Place, to the Haymarket, the street numbers run consecutively from north-side east to west and then continue on the south-side west to east. It is part of the A4, a road running west from Central London. London Bus Route 9 runs westwards along Pall Mall, connecting Trafalgar Square to Piccadilly, Pall Mall was constructed in 1661, replacing an earlier highway slightly to the south that ran from the Haymarket to the royal residence, St Jamess Palace. When St. Jamess Park was laid out by order of Henry VIII in the 16th century, in 1620, the Privy Council ordered the High Sheriff of Middlesex to clear a number of temporary buildings next to the wall that were of poor quality. Pall-mall, a game similar to croquet, was introduced to England in the early-17th century by James I. The game, already popular in France and Scotland, was enjoyed by James sons Henry, in 1630, St Jamess Field, Londons first pall-mall court, was laid out to the north of the Haymarket – St James road. After the Restoration and King Charles IIs return to London on 29 May 1660, Samuel Pepyss diary entry for 2 April 1661 records that he. Went into St. Jamess Park, where I saw the Duke of York playing at Pelemele and this new court suffered from dust blown over the wall from coaches travelling along the highway. In July 1661 posts and rails were erected, stopping up the old road, the court for pall-mall was very long and narrow, and often known as an alley, so the old court provided a suitable route for relocating the eastern approach to St Jamess Palace. A grant was made to Dan ONeale, Groom of the Bedchamber, the grant was endorsed Our warrant for the building of the new street to St Jamess. A new road was built on the site of the old pall-mall court and it was named Catherine Street, after Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II, but was better known as Pall Mall Street or the Old Pall Mall. The pall-mall field was a place for recreation and Pepys records several other visits. By July 1665 Pepys used Pell Mell to refer to the street as well as the game, in 1662, Pall Mall was one of several streets thought fitt immediately to be repaired, new paved or otherwise amended under the Streets, London and Westminster Act 1662. The paving commissioners appointed to oversee the work included the Earl of St Albans, the terms of the act allowed commissioners to remove any building encroaching on the highway, with compensation for those at least 30 years old
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St James's Palace
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St Jamess Palace is the most senior royal palace in the United Kingdom. Built by King Henry VIII on the site of a hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less. The palace increased in importance during the reigns of the early Georgian monarchy, after decades of being used increasingly for only formal occasions, the move was formalised by Queen Victoria in 1837. Today the palace houses a number of offices, societies and collections and all ambassadors. Mainly built between 1531 and 1536 in red-brick, the architecture is primarily Tudor in style. A fire in 1809 destroyed parts of the structure, including the private apartments. Some 17th-century interiors survive, but most were remodelled in the 19th century, the palace was commissioned by Henry VIII, on the site of a former leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less. The new palace, secondary in the kings interest to Henrys Whitehall Palace, was constructed between 1531 and 1536 as a residence to escape formal court life. Much smaller than the nearby Whitehall, St Jamess was arranged around a number of courtyards, including the Colour Court, the Ambassadors Court and it is decorated with the initials H. A. for Henry and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry constructed the palace in red brick, with picked out in darker brick. The palace was remodelled in 1544, with ceilings painted by Hans Holbein, two of Henry VIIIs children died at Saint Jamess, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Mary I. Elizabeth I often resided at the palace, and is said to have spent the night there while waiting for the Spanish Armada to sail up the Channel, in 1638, Charles I gave the palace to Marie de Medici, the mother of his wife Henrietta Maria. Marie remained in the palace for three years, but the residence of a Catholic former queen of France proved unpopular with parliament, Charles I spent his final night at St Jamess before his execution. Oliver Cromwell then took it over, and turned it into barracks during the English Commonwealth period, Charles II, James II, Mary II and Anne were all born at the palace. The palace was restored by Charles II following the demise of the Commonwealth, the first two monarchs of the House of Hanover used St Jamess Palace as their principal London residence. George I and George II both housed their mistresses, the Duchess of Kendal and the Countess of Suffolk respectively, at the palace. In 1757, George II donated the Palace library to the British Museum, in 1809, a fire destroyed part of the palace, including the monarchs private apartments at the south east corner. These apartments were not replaced, leaving the Queens Chapel in isolation, George III found St Jamess increasingly unsuitable
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Court of St. James's
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The Court of St Jamess is the royal court for the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, who acts as the link between the British monarch and foreign missions, is permanently based at St Jamess Palace. In 1886, there were only six Ambassadors in London, with 37 other countries represented by Ministers, by 2015, this had increased to 175 foreign missions accredited to the Court of St Jamess,47 high commissions from Commonwealth countries and 128 embassies from non-Commonwealth countries. The court is named after St Jamess Palace, hence the s at the end of the name, when the courts name is spoken, it is sometimes incorrectly identified as the Court of St James, without a separate iz pronunciation for the possessive apostrophe-ess suffix. Her Majestys Diplomatic Service Diplomatic rank List of diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom List of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom
30.
Christopher Wren
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Sir Christopher Wren PRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. The principal creative responsibility for a number of the churches is now commonly attributed to others in his office. Other notable buildings by Wren include the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, the Wren Building, the main building at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, is attributed to Wren. Educated in Latin and Aristotelian physics at the University of Oxford, Wren was a notable anatomist, astronomer, geometer and he was a founder of the Royal Society, and his scientific work was highly regarded by Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal. Wren was born in East Knoyle in Wiltshire, the surviving son of Christopher Wren Sr. and Mary Cox. Christopher Sr. was at time the rector of East Knoyle. Their son Christopher was born in 1632 then, two later, another daughter named Elizabeth was born. Mary must have died shortly after the birth of Elizabeth, although there does not appear to be any surviving record of the date, through Mary Cox, however, the family became well off financially for, as the only heir, she had inherited her fathers estate. As a child Wren seemd consumptive, although a sickly child, he would survive into robust old age. He was first taught at home by a tutor and his father. After his fathers appointment as Dean of Windsor in March 1635, his family spent part of each year there. He spent his first eight years at East Knoyle and was educated by the Rev. William Shepherd and it was a tough time in his life, but one which would go on to have a significant impact upon his later works. Some of Wrens youthful exercises preserved or recorded showed that he received a grounding in Latin. According to Parentalia, he was initiated in the principles of mathematics by Dr William Holder, who married Wrens elder sister Susan in 1643. His drawing was put to use in providing many of the anatomical drawings for the anatomy textbook of the brain, Cerebri Anatome, published by Thomas Willis. During this time period, Wren manifested an interest in the design and it was probably through Holder that Wren met Sir Charles Scarburgh whom Wren assisted in his anatomical studies. On 25 June 1650, Wren entered Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied Latin and it is anachronistic to imagine that he received scientific training in the modern sense. However, Wren became closely associated with John Wilkins, the Warden of Wadham, the Wilkins circle was a group whose activities led to the formation of the Royal Society, comprising a number of distinguished mathematicians, creative workers and experimental philosophers
31.
Dukes of Marlborough
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Duke of Marlborough is a title in the Peerage of England. The name of the dukedom refers to Marlborough in Wiltshire and it is one of the few titles in the peerage which allows for suo jure female inheritance, and the only current dukedom to do so. The earldom of Marlborough was held by the family of Ley from its creation 1626 until its extinction with the death of the 4th earl in 1679, the title was recreated 10 years later for John Churchill. Churchill had been made Lord Churchill of Eyemouth in the Scottish peerage, shortly after her accession to the throne in 1702, Queen Anne made Churchill the first Duke of Marlborough and granted him the subsidiary title Marquess of Blandford. In 1678, Churchill married Sarah Jennings, a courtier and influential favourite of the queen and they had seven children, of whom four daughters married into some of the most important families in Great Britain, one daughter and one son died in infancy. He was pre-deceased by his son, John Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, in 1703, so, to prevent the extinction of the titles and she was married to the 2nd Earl of Godolphin and had a son who predeceased her. When Henrietta died in 1733, the Marlborough titles passed to her nephew Charles Spencer, the son of her late sister Anne. Upon his maternal aunt Henriettas death in 1733, Charles Spencer succeeded to the Marlborough family estates and titles, when he died in 1758, his titles passed to his eldest son George, who was succeeded by his eldest son George, the 5th Duke. In 1815, Francis Spencer was created Baron Churchill in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, in 1902, his grandson, the 3rd Baron Churchill, was created Viscount Churchill. In 1817, the 5th Duke obtained permission to assume and bear the surname of Churchill in addition to his surname of Spencer, at the same time he received Royal Licence to quarter the coat of arms of Churchill with his paternal arms of Spencer. The 7th Duke was the grandfather of the British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. The 11th duke, John Spencer-Churchill died in 2014, having assumed the title in 1972, the 12th and present duke is Charles James Spencer-Churchill. The family seat is Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, construction started in 1705 and the house was completed in 1722, the year of the 1st Dukes death. Blenheim Palace has since remained in the Churchill and Spencer-Churchill family, with the exception of the 10th Duke and his first wife, the Dukes and Duchesses of Marlborough are buried in Blenheim Palaces chapel. Most other members of the Spencer-Churchill family are interred in St. Martins parish churchyard at Bladon, the dukedom is the only one in the United Kingdom that can still pass through a female line. Succession to the title under the first and second contingencies have lapsed, the Duke holds subsidiary titles, Marquess of Blandford, Earl of Sunderland, Earl of Marlborough, Baron Spencer of Wormleighton, and Baron Churchill of Sandridge, all in the Peerage of England. The title Marquess of Blandford is used as the title for the Dukes eldest son. The Dukes eldest sons eldest son can use the courtesy title Earl of Sunderland, the title of Earl of Marlborough, created for John Churchill in 1689, had previously been created for James Ley, in 1626, becoming extinct in 1679
32.
Princess Charlotte of Wales
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Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales was the only child of George, Prince of Wales and Caroline of Brunswick. Had she outlived both her grandfather King George III and her father, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom, Charlottes parents disliked each other from before their arranged marriage and soon separated. The Prince of Wales left most of Charlottes care to governesses and servants, but only allowed her limited contact with the Princess of Wales, who eventually left the country. As Charlotte grew to adulthood, her father pressured her to marry William, Hereditary Prince of Orange and this resulted in an extended contest of wills between her and her father, and finally the Prince of Wales permitted her to marry Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After a year and a half of marriage, Charlotte died after delivering a stillborn son. Charlottes death set off tremendous mourning among the British, who had seen her as a sign of hope, as she had been King George IIIs only legitimate grandchild, there was considerable pressure on the Kings unmarried sons to find wives. King George IIIs fourth son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, fathered the eventual heir, Victoria, in 1794, George, Prince of Wales, sought a suitable bride. He did not do so out of any desire to secure the succession. George, despite receiving large incomes as Prince of Wales and as Duke of Cornwall, lived well beyond his means, George had attempted marriage once, to his mistress, Maria Fitzherbert. The attempted marriage was invalid as no attempt had been made to obtain the consent of King George III, the Princes father. Nevertheless, the Prince kept Fitzherbert as his mistress, that is, George considered two German princesses as possible brides, both of whom were his first cousins. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the daughter of Georges mothers brother, while Caroline of Brunswick was his fathers sisters daughter. Princess Caroline had, it was said, behaved improperly with an Irish officer in her fathers army, Harris found the Princess dressed in a dishevelled manner, and it was obvious that she had not washed in several days. He found her conversation coarse and overly familiar, the diplomat brought Caroline to St. Jamess Palace, on first sight of his bride, the Prince stated, Harris, I am not well, pray get me a glass of brandy. After the Prince had left, Caroline said, I think he is very fat and nothing like as handsome as his portrait. Before the wedding on 8 April 1795, George sent his brother William, Duke of Clarence, to tell Fitzherbert that she was the woman he would ever love, then went to the ceremony. Caroline on the other hand later hinted that the Prince was impotent, the royal couple separated within weeks, though they remained under the same roof. One day short of nine months after the wedding, Caroline gave birth to a daughter, Charlotte was born at the Princes residence, Carlton House, London, on 7 January 1796
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Diplomatic immunity
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Many principles of diplomatic immunity are now considered to be customary law. Diplomatic immunity as an institution developed to allow for the maintenance of government relations, including during periods of difficulties, an international agreement known as the Vienna Conventions codified the rules and agreements, providing standards and privileges to all states. However, many refuse to waive immunity as a matter of course. Alternatively, the country may prosecute the individual. If immunity is waived by a government so that a diplomat can be prosecuted, it must be there is a case to answer. For instance, in 2002, a Colombian diplomat in London was prosecuted for manslaughter, the concept of diplomatic immunity can be found in ancient Indian epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata, where messengers and diplomats were given immunity from capital punishment. During the evolution of justice, many wars were considered rebellions or unlawful by one or more combatant sides. In such cases, the servants of the sovereign were often considered accomplices. In other circumstances, harbingers of inconsiderable demands were killed as a declaration of war, however, even for Herodotus, this maltreatment of envoys is a crime, and he immediately recounts a story of divine vengeance befalling Sparta for this deed. A Roman envoy was urinated on as he was leaving the city of Tarentum, the oath of the envoy, This stain will be washed away with blood. Was fulfilled during the Second Punic War, the arrest and ill-treatment of the envoy of Raja Raja Chola by the king of Kulasekhara dynasty, which is now part of modern India, led to the naval Kandalur War in AD994. Pope Gelasius I was the first pope recorded as enjoying diplomatic immunity, genghis Khan and the Mongols were well known for strongly insisting on the rights of diplomats, and they would often take terrifying vengeance against any state that violated these rights. The Mongols would often raze entire cities in retaliation for the execution of their ambassadors, modern diplomatic immunity evolved parallel to the development of modern diplomacy. In the 17th century, European diplomats realized that protection from prosecution was essential to doing their jobs, and these were still confined to Western Europe and were closely tied to the prerogatives of nobility. Thus, an emissary to the Ottoman Empire could expect to be arrested and imprisoned upon the outbreak of hostilities between his state and the empire, the French Revolution also disrupted this system, as the revolutionary state and Napoleon imprisoned numerous diplomats who were accused of working against France. More recently, the Iran hostage crisis is considered a violation of diplomatic immunity. Although the hostage takers did not officially represent the state, host countries are obligated to protect diplomatic property, on the other hand, during World War II, diplomatic immunity was upheld and the embassies of the belligerents were evacuated through neutral countries. For the upper class of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the first embassies were not permanent establishments but actual visits by high-ranking representatives, often close relatives, of the sovereign or the sovereign in person
34.
England and Wales
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The devolved National Assembly for Wales was created in 1999 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom under the Government of Wales Act 1998 and provides a degree of self-government in Wales. The powers of the Assembly were expanded by the Government of Wales Act 2006, which allows it to pass its own laws, there is no equivalent body for England, which is directly governed by the Parliament and the government of the United Kingdom. During the Roman occupation of Britain, the area of present-day England and Wales was administered as a single unit, at that time, most of the native inhabitants of Roman Britain spoke Brythonic languages, and were all regarded as Britons, divided into numerous tribes. After the conquest, the Romans administered this region as a single unit and this aimed to replace Welsh criminal law with English law. Welsh law continued to be used for civil cases until the annexation of Wales to England in the 16th century, the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 then consolidated the administration of all the Welsh territories and incorporated them fully into the legal system of the Kingdom of England. Prior to 1746 it was not clear whether a reference to England in legislation included Wales and this specified that in all prior and future laws, references to England would by default include Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act was repealed in 1967, although the definition of England it created is preserved for acts passed prior to its repeal. Since the Acts repeal what was referred to as England is now England and Wales, while references to England, England and Wales are treated as a single unit, for most purposes, because the two form the constitutional successor to the former Kingdom of England. The continuance of Scots law was guaranteed under the 1706 Treaty of Union that led to the Acts of Union 1707, thus, most laws applicable to England also applied to Wales. However, Parliament now passes laws applicable to Wales and not to England, examples are the Welsh Language Acts 1967 and 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998. Measures and Acts of the National Assembly for Wales passed since the Government of Wales Act 2006 also apply in Wales, following the Government of Wales Act, effective since May 2007, the National Assembly for Wales can legislate on matters devolved to it. Following a referendum on 3 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law-making powers and this was the first time in almost 500 years that Wales had its own powers to legislate. Each piece of Welsh legislation is known as an Act of the Assembly, outside of the legal system the position is mixed. Some organisations combine as England and Wales, others are separate, some religious denominations organise on the basis of England and Wales, most notably the Roman Catholic Church, but also small denominations, e. g. the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Prior to the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, the Electoral Commission maintains a register of political parties, organised according to where the party operates. The order of precedence in England and Wales is distinct from those of Northern Ireland and Scotland, the national parks of England and Wales have a distinctive legislative framework and history. Courts of England and Wales Judiciary of England and Wales Cultural relationship between the Welsh and the English Geography of Wales Geography of England British Isles
35.
JSTOR
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JSTOR is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of journals, it now also includes books and primary sources. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals, more than 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries have access to JSTOR, most access is by subscription, but some older public domain content is freely available to anyone. William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988, JSTOR originally was conceived as a solution to one of the problems faced by libraries, especially research and university libraries, due to the increasing number of academic journals in existence. Most libraries found it prohibitively expensive in terms of cost and space to maintain a collection of journals. By digitizing many journal titles, JSTOR allowed libraries to outsource the storage of journals with the confidence that they would remain available long-term, online access and full-text search ability improved access dramatically. Bowen initially considered using CD-ROMs for distribution, JSTOR was initiated in 1995 at seven different library sites, and originally encompassed ten economics and history journals. JSTOR access improved based on feedback from its sites. Special software was put in place to make pictures and graphs clear, with the success of this limited project, Bowen and Kevin Guthrie, then-president of JSTOR, wanted to expand the number of participating journals. They met with representatives of the Royal Society of London and an agreement was made to digitize the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society dating from its beginning in 1665, the work of adding these volumes to JSTOR was completed by December 2000. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded JSTOR initially, until January 2009 JSTOR operated as an independent, self-sustaining nonprofit organization with offices in New York City and in Ann Arbor, Michigan. JSTOR content is provided by more than 900 publishers, the database contains more than 1,900 journal titles, in more than 50 disciplines. Each object is identified by an integer value, starting at 1. In addition to the site, the JSTOR labs group operates an open service that allows access to the contents of the archives for the purposes of corpus analysis at its Data for Research service. This site offers a facility with graphical indication of the article coverage. Users may create focused sets of articles and then request a dataset containing word and n-gram frequencies and they are notified when the dataset is ready and may download it in either XML or CSV formats. The service does not offer full-text, although academics may request that from JSTOR, JSTOR Plant Science is available in addition to the main site. The materials on JSTOR Plant Science are contributed through the Global Plants Initiative and are only to JSTOR
36.
BBC News
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BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the worlds largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, the service maintains 50 foreign news bureaux with more than 250 correspondents around the world. James Harding has been Director of News and Current Affairs since April 2013, the departments annual budget is in excess of £350 million, it has 3,500 staff,2,000 of whom are journalists. BBC News domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in Millbank in London. Through the BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England, as well as national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland, all nations and English regions produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes. As with all media outlets, though, it has been accused of political bias from across the political spectrum. The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin from radio station 2LO on 14 November 1922, on Easter weekend in 1930, this reliance on newspaper wire services left the radio news service with no information to report. The BBC gradually gained the right to edit the copy and, in 1934, however, it could not broadcast news before 6 PM until World War II. Gaumont British and Movietone cinema newsreels had been broadcast on the TV service since 1936, a weekly Childrens Newsreel was inaugurated on 23 April 1950, to around 350,000 receivers. The network began simulcasting its radio news on television in 1946, televised bulletins began on 5 July 1954, broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. The publics interest in television and live events was stimulated by Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953 and it is estimated that up to 27 million people viewed the programme in the UK, overtaking radios audience of 12 million for the first time. Those live pictures were fed from 21 cameras in central London to Alexandra Palace for transmission and that year, there were around two million TV Licences held in the UK, rising to over three million the following year, and four and a half million by 1955. This was then followed by the customary Television Newsreel with a commentary by John Snagge. It was revealed that this had been due to producers fearing a newsreader with visible facial movements would distract the viewer from the story. On-screen newsreaders were finally introduced a year later in 1955 – Kenneth Kendall, Robert Dougall, mainstream television production had started to move out of Alexandra Palace in 1950 to larger premises – mainly at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherds Bush, west London – taking Current Affairs with it. It was from here that the first Panorama, a new programme, was transmitted on 11 November 1953. On 28 October 1957, the Today programme, a radio programme, was launched in central London on the Home Service. In 1958, Hugh Carleton Greene became head of News and Current Affairs and he set up a BBC study group whose findings, published in 1959, were critical of what the television news operation had become under his predecessor, Tahu Hole
37.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
38.
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
