1.
Duisburg Inner Harbour
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The Innenhafen in Duisburg, Germany, is connected to the Rhine River, encompasses an area of 89ha. For over a hundred years during the point of the Industrial Revolution, it was the central harbour. Since the mid 1960s, the importance of the harbour declined and it lay in a condition for 20 years. This former industrial area has been transformed, a process which started as a part of the International Building Exhibition Emscher Park which ran from 1989 until 1999. The basis for model of development in the Ruhr district was delivered in 1994 by the British architect Norman Foster. Since then, the Inner Harbor has transformed itself into a district combining employment, housing, culture, today, the Inner Harbour is both an industrial monument and a main stop on the Route der Industriekultur. It is also the worlds largest inland port, where the Inner Harbour is today, the Rhine flowed many centuries ago. Up until the 5th century, the boundary of the Roman Empire ran through this locality, during the Middle Ages a Frankish regal court was built on the banks of the Rhine, today that place is occupied by the Rathaus. On the same area were to be found the old Duisburg town church, the Salvatorkirche, the market hall, according to recent research, around the year 1000 the Rhine shifted its course westwards. Duisburg found itself no longer lying directly on the Rhine, it remained connected to the only through a dead arm of the Rhine for the following 400 years. As a result, this important trading town declined into a small agricultural settlement. It was only in the 19th century that an initiative to resurrect the connection to the Rhine proved successful. Initially, the Outer Harbour was dug from the Rhine in the west as far as the contemporary Marientor Bridge, to which an extension was later built. They conferred on the Inner Harbour the nickname bread basket of the Ruhr district, after the decline of the grain mills in the 1960s, the Inner Harbour lost its economic significance and was characterized primarily by warehousing. Nevertheless, the district continued to block off access to the water from the city itself. The first steps in giving the inner harbour a new face were taken at the end of the 80s with the opening up of city walls and the construction of a new living quarter on Corputiusplatz. Within the framework of the IBA Emscher Park, which renovated the industrial areas of the Ruhr in an exemplary fashion, the water was to be re-incorporated into the city, it was to be made freely accessible and produce an enhanced quality of living – and attract investors. Space for employment – especially in the service sector – for living, in this sense, the industrial and historic symbols of the harbour were to be quite consciously retained
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
4.
States of Germany
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Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen federal states. Since todays Germany was formed from a collection of several states, it has a federal constitution. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer, the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was through the unification of the western states created in the aftermath of World War II. West Berlin, while not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, in 1957, the Saar Protectorate rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. Federalism is one of the constitutional principles of Germany. After 1945, new states were constituted in all four zones of occupation, in 1949, the states in the three western zones formed the Federal Republic of Germany. This is in contrast to the development in Austria, where the Bund was constituted first. The use of the term Länder dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, before this time, the constituent states of the German Empire were called Staaten. Today, it is common to use the term Bundesland. However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law of 1949, three Länder call themselves Freistaaten, Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia. He summarizes the arguments for boundary reform in Germany. The German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation, too many Länder also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated. But several proposals have failed so far, territorial reform remains a topic in German politics. Federalism has a tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states numbering more than 300 around 1796, the number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Congress of Vienna,39 states formed the German Confederation, the new German Empire included 25 states and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The empire was dominated by Prussia, which controlled 65% of the territory, after the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles, the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation
5.
North Rhine-Westphalia
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North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with a population of approximately 18 million, and the fourth largest by area. Its capital is Düsseldorf, the most populous city is Cologne, four of Germanys ten largest cities—Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, and Essen—are located within the state, as well as the largest metropolitan area on the European continent, Rhine-Ruhr. North Rhine-Westphalia was formed in 1946 as a merger of the provinces of North Rhine and Westphalia, the state has been run by a coalition of the Social Democrats and Greens since 2010. The Ubii and some other Germanic tribes such as the Cugerni were later settled on the west side of the Rhine in the Roman province of Germania Inferior, North of the Sigambri and the Rhine region were the Bructeri. By the 8th century the Frankish dominion was established in western Germany. But at the time, to the north, Westphalia was being taken over by Saxons pushing south. The Merovingian and Carolingian Franks eventually built an empire which controlled first their Ripuarian kin, the Ottonian dynasty had both Saxon and Frankish ancestry. As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split into small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes. Such struggles as the War of the Limburg Succession therefore continued to create military, Aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine bulked largely in German history. Prussia first set foot on the Rhine in 1609 by the occupation of the Duchy of Cleves and about a century later Upper Guelders and Moers also became Prussian. At the peace of Basel in 1795 the whole of the bank of the Rhine was resigned to France. In 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium, around 1 AD there were numerous incursions through Westphalia and perhaps even some permanent Roman or Romanized settlements. The Battle of Teutoburg Forest took place near Osnabrück and some of the Germanic tribes who fought at this came from the area of Westphalia. Charlemagne is thought to have spent considerable time in Paderborn and nearby parts and his Saxon Wars also partly took place in what is thought of as Westphalia today. Popular legends link his adversary Widukind to places near Detmold, Bielefeld, Lemgo, Osnabrück, Widukind was buried in Enger, which is also a subject of a legend. Along with Eastphalia and Engern, Westphalia was originally a district of the Duchy of Saxony, in 1180 Westphalia was elevated to the rank of a duchy by Emperor Barbarossa. The Duchy of Westphalia comprised only an area south of the Lippe River. Parts of Westphalia came under Brandenburg-Prussian control during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, signed in Münster and Osnabrück, ended the Thirty Years War
6.
Regierungsbezirk
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Regierungsbezirk is an administrative region at federal state level in Germany. The regional authority is called a Regierungspräsidium or Bezirksregierung and is headed by a Regierungspräsident, the Regierungsbezirke do not pass any legislation. Within the federal authority, they act as a mid-level agency. Regierungsbezirk is variously translated as district, administrative district or province. By German unification in 1871, the concept of Regierungsbezirke had been adopted by most States of the German Empire, the Regierungsbezirke of North Rhine-Westphalia are in direct continuation of those created in the Prussian Rhine and Westphalia provinces in 1816. Similar entities in other states were initially named Kreishauptmannschaft or Kreis or province in Hesse, in Nazi Germany the naming was unified to Regierungsbezirk. Currently, only four large-area states out of 16 in total are divided into Regierungsbezirke, on 1 January 2004, Saxony-Anhalt disbanded its three Regierungsbezirke, Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg. The responsibilities are now covered by a Landesverwaltungsamt with three offices at the seats of the Bezirksregierungen. On 1 January 2005, Lower Saxony disbanded its remaining four Regierungsbezirke, Brunswick, Hanover, Lüneburg, on 1 August 2008, Saxony restructured its districts and changed the name of its Regierungsbezirke to Direktionsbezirke. This was necessary because one of the new districts did not fit with the borders of the old Regierungsbezirke, the Direktionsbezirke are still named Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig. As of 1 March 2012, the Direktionsbezirke were merged into one Landesdirektion, four of the new federal states re-established in 1990, Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thuringia, decided not to implement Regierungsbezirke. In Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland they never existed, stettin, dissolved in 1945, Province of Pomerania Media related to Regierungsbezirk at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Districts of Germany
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A German district is an administrative subdivision known as Landkreis, except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where it is known simply as Kreis. Most major cities in Germany are not part of a rural district, in this context, those cities are referred to as Kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis. Rural districts are at a level of administration between the German states and the municipal governments. They correspond to level 3 administrative units of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, previously, the similar title Reichskreis was given to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire. The related term Landeskommissariat was used for administrative divisions in some German territories until the 19th century. The majority of German districts are rural districts of which there are 295, cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not usually belong to a district, but take over district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities. These are known as urban districts —cities which constitute a district in their own there are currently 107 of them. As of 2011, approximately 25 million people live in these 107 urban districts, in North Rhine-Westphalia, there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, for example Recklinghausen, Siegen, Paderborn, Bergisch Gladbach, Neuss and Moers. Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are part of a larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, the classification as midsize town is usually based on a towns registered population, but varies from state to state. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district, urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council is the highest institution of a district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of rural districts are not situated within the district proper. Most of those districts are named after this central city as well. Moers is the biggest city in Germany that is neither an urban district, in parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt. In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by a mayor, rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative commission called Kreisausschuss
8.
Lord mayor
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The lord mayor is the title of the mayor of a major city in the United Kingdom or Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. In Australia, Lord Mayor is a status granted by the monarch to mayors of major cities. Australian cities with lord mayors, Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, see list of cities in Australia. In Canada, the town with a lord mayor in the traditional sense is Niagara-on-the-Lake. Unusually, the council of Brantford, Ontario has taken upon itself to appoint an honorary Lord Mayor Walter Gretzky in addition to the elected mayor. This is the example of a council granting the cachet itself, rather than the cachet being granted by a higher authority. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is a ceremonial post conferred by letters patent. See List of lord mayoralties and lord provostships in the United Kingdom, most famously referring to the Lord Mayor of London, who only has jurisdiction over the City of London, as opposed to the modern title of Mayor of London governing Greater London. In Uganda, the jurisdiction with a lord mayor is Kampala. In the Republic of Ireland, the posts of Lord Mayor of Dublin and Lord Mayor of Cork still exist, in Denmark, as the translation of Danish Overborgmester, it is the title of the highest mayor of Denmarks capital city, Copenhagen. In Germany, it is used to translate German Oberbürgermeister. As in Austria, Germanys mayors serve as the executive leaders of their cities and are elected officials. In Romania and Moldova, the mayors of the capitals are named Primar General which means General Mayor, the name is ceremonial and it has no higher powers than mayors of other cities. In Hungary, the mayor of the capital Budapest is called főpolgármester which means chief mayor or grand mayor, only the capital has a főpolgármester. Between 1873 and 1945, the Lord Mayor of Budapest was representative of the Hungarian government at the municipal authority. In ancient China, jīng zhào yĭn was the given to the mayor of capital city. In Estonia, the mayor of the capital, was named Lord Mayor from 1938 to 1940, in Czech Republic, the mayor of the capital Prague and so-called statutory cities is called Primátor. In Sweden, the titles of mayor and lord mayor have no direct equivalent since the 1970s, the executive leader of Swedish municipalities is one of sometimes several Kommunalråd in the function of Chair of the Municipal Board
9.
Social Democratic Party of Germany
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The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany. The party, led by Chairman Martin Schulz since 2017, has one of the two major contemporary political parties in Germany, along with the Christian Democratic Union. The SPD has governed at the level in Germany as part of a grand coalition with the CDU. The SPD participates in 14 state governments, nine of them governed by SPD Minister-Presidents, the SPD is a member of the Party of European Socialists and of the Socialist International, and became a founding member of the Progressive Alliance on 22 May 2013. Established in 1863, the SPD is the oldest extant political party represented in the German Parliament and was one of the first Marxist-influenced parties in the world. The General German Workers Association, founded in 1863, and the Social Democratic Workers Party, founded in 1869, merged in 1875, under the name Socialist Workers Party of Germany. From 1878 to 1890, any grouping or meeting that aimed at spreading socialist principles was banned under the Anti-Socialist Laws, in 1890, when the ban was lifted and it could again present electoral lists, the party adopted its current name. In the years leading up to World War I, the party remained ideologically radical in official principle, by 1912, the party claimed the most votes of any German party. Despite the agreement of the Second International to oppose the First World War, after 1918 the SPD played an important role in the political system of the Weimar Republic, although it took part in coalition governments only in few years. Adolf Hitler prohibited the party in 1933 under the Enabling Act – party officials were imprisoned, killed or went into exile, in exile, the party used the name Sopade. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation, the Soviets forced the Social Democrats to form a party with the Communists. In the Western zones, the Communist Party was later banned by West Germanys Federal Constitutional Court, since 1949, in the Federal Republic of Germany, the SPD has been one of the two major parties, with the other being the Christian Democratic Union. From 1969 to 1982 and 1998 to 2005 the Chancellors of Germany were Social Democrats whereas the other years the Chancellors were Christian Democrats, the SPD was established as a Marxist party in 1875. After World War II, under the leadership of Kurt Schumacher, the SPD re-established itself as a socialist party, representing the interests of the working class and the trade unions. With the Godesberg Program of 1959, however, the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social-democratic party working within capitalism. The current party platform of the SPD espouses the goal of social democracy, according to the party platform, freedom, justice, and social solidarity, form the basis of social democracy. The coordinated social market economy should be strengthened, and its output should be distributed fairly, the party sees that economic system as necessary in order to ensure the affluence of the entire population. The SPD also tries to protect the poor with a welfare state
10.
Alliance 90/The Greens
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Alliance 90/The Greens, often simply Greens, is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. The focus of the party is on ecological, economic, and its leaders are Simone Peter and Cem Özdemir. In the 2013 federal elections, the party came fourth with 8. 4% of the votes and 63 out of 630 seats in the Bundestag, the Green Party was initially founded in West Germany as Die Grünen in January 1980. It rose out of the energy, environmental, peace, new left. Grüne Liste Umweltschutz were the names of branches in Lower Saxony. These groups were founded in 1977 and took part in several elections, most of them merged with The Greens in 1980. In 1993 it renamed to Alliance 90/The Greens Berlin after the merger with East Berlins Greens, the Hamburg state branch of the Green Party was called Grün-Alternative Liste Hamburg from its foundation in 1982 until 2012. In 1984 it became the official Hamburg branch of The Greens, in the 1970s, environmentalists and peace activists politically organised amongst thousands of action groups. The political party The Greens was founded January 13,1980 in Karlsruhe to give this movement political, opposition to pollution, use of nuclear power, NATO military action, and certain aspects of industrialised society were principal campaign issues. The Greens originated from civil initiatives, new movements of the protests of 1968. It was at this congress, that the Greens lay their ideological foundations, proclaiming the famous Four Pillars of the Green Party, in 1982, the conservative factions of the Greens broke away to form the Ecological Democratic Party. Those who left the party at the time might have felt similarly about some of these issues, but did not identify with the forms of protest that Green party members took part in. After some success at elections, the party won 27 seats with 5. 7% of the vote in the Bundestag. The newly formed party was able to draw on this movement to recruit support. Around this time, Joschka Fischer emerged as the leader of the party. Until 1987, the Greens comprised a faction involved in pedophile activism and this faction campaigned for repealing §176 of the German penal code, dealing with child sexual abuse. This group was controversial within the party itself, and was seen as responsible for the poor election result of 1985. In November 2014 the political scientist Franz Walter presented the report about his research on a press conference
11.
The Left (Germany)
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The Left, also commonly referred to as the Left Party, is a democratic socialist and left-wing populist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism, since mid-2012, its co-chairs have been Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger. Its parliamentary group is the third largest among the four groups in the German Bundestag, the Left is a founding member of the Party of the European Left, and is the largest party in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament. According to official party figures, the Left Party had 63,784 registered members as of December 2013, after protests, the party was forced to give up its monopoly of power on 1 December 1989. Honeckers successor, Egon Krenz, resigned two days later, and Gysi was named party chairman, by the end of 1989, the last hardline members of the partys Central Committee had either resigned or been pushed out. In 1990, 95% of SEDs 2.3 million members had left the party, by the time of a special congress in December 1989, the party was no longer a Marxist–Leninist party, though neo-Marxist and communist minority factions continued to be part of the party. At the congress, the party adopted a program of democratic reform, Gysi remained its leader, and soon became one of the most well-known faces within German politics. By the end of February, the PDS had expelled most of the remaining prominent Communist-era leaders from its ranks - including Honecker and Krenz. However, this was not enough to save the party when it faced the voters at the 18 March general election, the first free election in East Germany. The party came in a distant third with only 16. 4% of the vote, behind the East German branches of the West German-based Christian Democratic Union and Social Democratic Party. The two major parties formed a coalition, led by the Alliance for Germany, built around the East German CDU. In the first all-German Bundestag elections in 1990, the PDS won only 2. 4% of the nationwide vote, under normal circumstances, a party must win at least five percent of the vote to qualify for mixed member proportional representation in the Bundestag. However, for the 1990 elections only, an exception allowed eastern-based parties to qualify for list representation if they won at least five percent of the vote in the former East Germany. Also, Gysi was elected from a Berlin-area district, representatives elected directly through the First Vote are always guaranteed a seat regardless of their partys national vote. As a result, the PDS entered the 1990 Bundestag with 17 deputies led by Gysi, in the 1994 federal election the PDS managed to increase its share of the vote to 4.4 percent. e. More importantly, Gysi was reelected from his Berlin-area seat, and this allowed the PDS to qualify for MMP even though it came up just short of the five percent threshold. The PDS thus entered the new Bundestag with a caucus of 30 deputies. In 1998, the party reached its highest result to date, with 37 deputies elected on 5. 1% of the national vote, gysis resignation in 2000 after losing a policy debate with leftist factions brought conflict to the PDS
12.
Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people
13.
Rhine-Ruhr
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The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with over 11 million inhabitants. It is of nature and the only megacity in Germany. It covers an area of 7,110 square kilometers and lies entirely within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The metropolitan area is named after the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, the largest cities in the Rhine-Ruhr area are Cologne, with over 1 million inhabitants, followed by Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen, which each have a population of over 500,000. The northern border is similar to the border of the Ruhr Area, the table below shows an unofficial summary of regions. In the official definition the metropolitan area is much smaller, eurostats Urban Audit splits the Rhine-Ruhr region into six Larger Urban Zones. These six Urban Zones do not cover the cities of Remscheid, historically, most of the Ruhr area was for the most part characterized by heavy industry since the age of industrialisation in the late 19th and early 20th century. From within, Düsseldorf, Essen and Cologne are by far the largest economic centers, with specialisation in financial/high tech, other major economic centers are Bonn and Dortmund. The area has four commercial airports, and multiple smaller aerodromes for general aviation. North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of Autobahns in Germany, the rail, S-Bahn, U-Bahn and bus companies are administered through a consortium of local and regional transport liness, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr. It offers a transit system which interconnects all cities and their respective local buses, trams, U- and S-Bahn systems. Their systems are highly integrated where even some subway lines continue from one city to the next, the region is divided into several urban zones and fares are paid according to the amount of urban areas passed through. Tickets include door to door transportation with all forms covered in one ticket with the exception of high speed rail, some excursions, theatre and opera tickets as well as museums offer free transportation from any point in the Rhine Ruhr area to the venue and return. Duisburg Port and Dortmund Port are large inland ports and serve as hubs along the Rhine. With a capacity of up to 20,000 people, the Lanxess Arena, the region is home to a total of 13 Bundesliga football clubs, of which five are active in the season of 2012/13. The most successful among them are Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach,1, FC Köln, FC Schalke 04 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Signal Iduna Park, the stadium of Borussia Dortmund, is the biggest stadium in Germany, several tourist destinations within the region attract over 12 million tourists per year. Cologne Cathedral, Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces at Brühl and the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex at Essen are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, other sights include Schloss Benrath in Düsseldorf and several anchor points of the European Route of Industrial Heritage
14.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
15.
Vehicle registration plate
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A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
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Inland port
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An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the ocean. The term inland port is used to refer to a dry port. This article only covers ports under the first definition, the list includes familiar ports such as St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Memphis. A dense network of waterways including ports exists also in Europe, as well as in China. Saint Lawrence Seaway distances from Seaway Handbook, united States ranking from American Association of Port Authorities. Upper Mississippi River distances from U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, lower Mississippi River distances from U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ohio River distances from U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, missouri River distances from U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Some ports were part of the Dubai Ports World controversy
17.
Steel
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Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotropes with the elements, primarily carbon. In the body-centred cubic arrangement, there is an atom in the centre of each cube. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the lattices of iron atoms. The carbon in steel alloys may contribute up to 2. 1% of its weight. Steels strength compared to pure iron is possible at the expense of irons ductility. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century and this was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron, further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the product. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world and it is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations, the noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective stakhlijan, which is related to stakhla. The carbon content of steel is between 0. 002% and 2. 1% by weight for plain iron–carbon alloys and these values vary depending on alloying elements such as manganese, chromium, nickel, iron, tungsten, carbon and so on. Basically, steel is an alloy that does not undergo eutectic reaction. In contrast, cast iron does undergo eutectic reaction, too little carbon content leaves iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make an alloy, commonly called pig iron, while iron alloyed with carbon is called carbon steel, alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include, manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and niobium. Additional elements are important in steel, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen, and copper. Alloys with a higher than 2. 1% carbon content, depending on other element content, cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties
18.
Blast furnace
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A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron, but also others such as lead or copper. The end products are usually molten metal and slag phases tapped from the bottom, the downward flow of the ore and flux in contact with an upflow of hot, carbon monoxide-rich combustion gases is a countercurrent exchange and chemical reaction process. In contrast, air furnaces are naturally aspirated, usually by the convection of hot gases in a chimney flue, according to this broad definition, bloomeries for iron, blowing houses for tin, and smelt mills for lead would be classified as blast furnaces. Blast furnaces existed in China from about 1st century AD and in the West from the High Middle Ages and they spread from the region around Namur in Wallonia in the late 15th century, being introduced to England in 1491. The fuel used in these was invariably charcoal, the successful substitution of coke for charcoal is widely attributed to Abraham Darby in 1709. The efficiency of the process was enhanced by the practice of preheating the combustion air. The oldest extant blast furnaces were built during the Han Dynasty of China in the 1st century AD. However, cast iron tools and weapons were widespread in China by the 5th century BC. These early furnaces had clay walls and used phosphorus-containing minerals as a flux, the effectiveness of the Chinese blast furnace was enhanced during this period by the engineer Du Shi, who applied the power of waterwheels to piston-bellows in forging cast iron. He suggests that early blast furnace and cast iron production evolved from furnaces used to melt bronze, certainly, though, iron was essential to military success by the time the State of Qin had unified China. Usage of the blast and cupola furnace remained widespread during the Song and Tang Dynasties and this may have happened as early as the 4th century AD. The Chinese blast furnace remained in use well until the 20th century, the backyard furnaces favoured by Mao Zedong during the Great Leap Forward were of this type. In the regions with strong traditions of metallurgy, the production actually increased during this period. In most places in the other than in China, there is no evidence of the use of the blast furnace. Instead, iron was made by reduction in bloomeries. The bloomery process was invented probably in modern-day Xinjiang or other parts of Western China by Hans or Mongols around 800 BC. Iron finds in China proper are few before bloomeries were supplanted by the blast furnace in the 5th century BC which seems to have developed independently in the southern Chinese cultural sphere, in Europe, the Greeks, Celts, Romans, and Carthaginians all used this process. Several examples have found in France, and materials found in Tunisia suggest they were used there as well as in Antioch during the Hellenistic Period
19.
Pig iron
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Pig iron is an intermediate product of the iron industry. Pig iron is made by smelting iron ore into an ingot of impure high carbon-content iron in a blast furnace as an ingredient for further processing steps. When the metal had cooled and hardened, the ingots were simply broken from the runner. As pig iron is intended for remelting, the size of the ingots. Smelting and producing pig iron and other products was known to the Ancient Egyptians. The Roman Empire and later the Muslim caliphates of the Middle Ages inherited and refined these technologies, because of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Western Europe did not rediscover the process until the Late Middle Ages. The phase transition of the iron into liquid in the furnace was an avoided phenomenon, the Chinese were also making pig iron by the later Zhou Dynasty. Traditionally pig iron was worked into wrought iron in forges, later puddling furnaces. In these processes, pig iron is melted and a current of air is directed over it while it is stirred or agitated. This causes the dissolved impurities to be thoroughly oxidized, an intermediate product of puddling is known as refined pig iron, finers metal, or refined iron. Pig iron can also be used to produce gray iron and this is achieved by remelting pig iron, often along with substantial quantities of steel and scrap iron, removing undesirable contaminants, adding alloys, and adjusting the carbon content. Some pig iron grades are suitable for producing ductile iron and these are high purity pig irons and depending on the grade of ductile iron being produced these pig irons may be low in the elements silicon, manganese, sulfur and phosphorus. These types of pig irons are used to all the elements in a ductile iron charge which may be harmful to the ductile iron process. Earlier processes for this included the finery forge, the furnace, the Bessemer process. Modern pig casting machines produce stick pigs, which break into smaller 4–10 kg piglets at discharge
20.
University of Duisburg-Essen
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The University of Duisburg-Essen is a public university in Duisburg and Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a member of the newly founded University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr. It was founded in 1654 and re-established on 1 January 2003 as a merger of the Gerhard Mercator University of Duisburg, until 1994 the name of the Gerhard Mercator University was Comprehensive University of Duisburg. With its 12 departments and more than 39,000 students, in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-17 the University of Duisburg-Essen was ranked 197th in the world and stands at 17th place in its 150 Under 50 Rankings. In many disciplines the UDE ranks amongst the top 10 of German research universities, over the past three years, research income has risen by 150 percent. Many international students study at the University of Duisburg-Essen and give the cities of Duisburg, origins, The University of Duisburg Its origins date back to the 1555 decision of Duke Wilhelm V von Jülich-Kleve-Berg to create a university for the unified duchies at the Lower Rhine. To this end, it was necessary to obtain a permission of the emperor and it opened on 14 October 1655 by Johannes Claudberg as their first rector. The university had four faculties, Theology, Medicine, Law, during its period of activity it was one of the central and leading universities of the western provinces of Prussia. Only a few decades later the university was in competition with the better equipped Dutch universities. The university declined rapidly and was on 18 October 1818 due to a Cabinet Order of Friedrich Wilhelm III, at the same time, the University of Bonn was founded. Large parts of the Duisburg University Library were relocated to Bonn, also the sceptre of the University of Duisburg was given to the University of Bonn, and is available until today. After a decision of the state government in 1960 the teacher training college of Kettwig was settled to Duisburg and was named Pedagogical University Ruhr. In 1968, the university was founded again in Duisburg, related to the old one, bearing the name, initially only small, the university was developed rapidly in the 1970s up to about 15,000 students. In 1972 the Pedagogical University Ruhr and the Public School of Engineering, other schools were also relocated to Duisburg. The University of Duisburg was then called Comprehensive University of Duisburg, in 1994 the university was renamed Gerhard Mercator University. By 2016 the university reached a Place under the Top 200 universities of the world, in the same year Duisburg-Essen University is ranked number 17 in the Worlds top 100 universities under 50 years old, ranked by Times Higher Education. In March 2007 the three universities of Bochum, Dortmund and Duisburg and Essen founded the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr,2000, Jutta Limbach, jurist and politician 2001, Volker Schlöndorff, filmmaker. 2002, Ulrich Wickert, journalist, chief anchor for tagesthemen 2003, Daniel Goeudevert French writer,2005, Richard von Weizsäcker, politician, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany. 2015, Götz Werner, founder of Dm-drogerie markt 2016, Karl Lehmann, Cardinal prelate, former Chairman of the Conference of the German Bishops Professors include Jette Joop, Kai Krause and Bruce Ames
21.
Rhine
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The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe, at about 1,230 km, with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days. The many castles and fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire, in the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism. The variant of the name of the Rhine in modern languages are all derived from the Gaulish name Rēnos, spanish is with French in adopting the Germanic vocalism Rin-, while Italian, Occitan and Portuguese retain the Latin Ren-. The Gaulish name Rēnos belongs to a class of river names built from the PIE root *rei- to move, flow, run, the grammatical gender of the Celtic name is masculine, and the name remains masculine in German, Dutch and French. The Old English river name was variously inflected as masculine or feminine, the length of the Rhine is conventionally measured in Rhine-kilometers, a scale introduced in 1939 which runs from the Old Rhine Bridge at Constance to Hoek van Holland. The river length is shortened from the rivers natural course due to a number of canalisation projects completed in the 19th and 20th century. The total length of the Rhine, to the inclusion of Lake Constance and its course is conventionally divided as follows, The Rhine carries its name without distinctive accessories only from the confluence of the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein near Tamins-Reichenau. Above this point is the catchment of the headwaters of the Rhine. It belongs almost exclusively to the Swiss Canton of Graubünden, ranging from Gotthard Massif in the west via one valley lying in Ticino, traditionally, Lake Toma near the Oberalp Pass in the Gotthard region is seen as the source of the Vorderrhein and the Rhine as a whole. The Hinterrhein rises in the Rheinwald valley below Mount Rheinwaldhorn, the Vorderrhein, or Anterior Rhine, springs from Lai da Tuma, near the Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive Ruinaulta formed by the largest visible rock slide in the alps, the Flims Rockslide. A multiday trekking route is signposted along the young Rhine called Senda Sursilvana, the Hinterrhein/Rein Posteriur, or Posterior Rhine, starts from the Paradies Glacier, near the Rheinwaldhorn. One of its tributaries, the Reno di Lei, drains the Valle di Lei on politically Italian territory, after three main valleys separated by the two gorges, Roflaschlucht and Viamala, it reaches Reichenau. The Vorderrhein arises from numerous source streams in the upper Surselva, one source is Lai da Tuma with the Rein da Tuma, which is usually indicated as source of the Rhine, flowing through it. Into it flow tributaries from the south, some longer, some equal in length, such as the Reno di Medel, the Rein da Maighels, and the Rein da Curnera. The Cadlimo Valley in the Canton of Ticino is drained by the Reno di Medel, all streams in the source area are partially, sometimes completely, captured and sent to storage reservoirs for the local hydro-electric power plants. In its lower course the Vorderrhein flows through a gorge named Ruinaulta through the Flims Rockslide, the whole stretch of the Vorderrhein to the Rhine confluence near Reichenau-Tamins is accompanied by a long-distance hiking trail called Senda Sursilvana
22.
Ruhr (river)
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The Ruhr is a river in western Germany, a right tributary of the Rhine. The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region and it flows into the lower Rhine at an elevation of only 56 feet in the municipal area of Duisburg. Its total length is 218 km, its discharge is 79 m³/s at Mülheim near its mouth. Thus, its discharge is, for example, comparable to that of the River Ems in Northern Germany or the River Thames in the United Kingdom, the Ruhr first passes the towns of Meschede, Arnsberg, Wickede, Fröndenberg, Holzwickede, Iserlohn and Schwerte. Then the river marks the limit of the Ruhr area, passing Hagen, Dortmund, Herdecke, Wetter, Witten, Bochum, Hattingen, Essen, Mülheim. The Ruhr area was Germanys primary industrial area during the early- to mid-20th century, as a result, the German hyperinflation crisis grew even worse. The story was told in a 1951 book and the popular 1955 film made from it, there are five Ruhr reservoirs on the river, often used for leisure activities. Notes Sources This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Media related to Ruhr at Wikimedia Commons
23.
Bergisches Land
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The Bergisches Land is a low mountain range region within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of Rhine river, south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by woods, meadows, rivers and creeks, wuppertal is the biggest town and seen as the regions capital, whereas the southern part nowadays has closer economic and socio-cultural ties to Cologne. Wuppertal and the cities of Remscheid, Solingen form the Bergisches Städtedreieck. Bergisches Land used to be territory of the County of Berg, which became the Duchy of Berg. The Duchy was dissolved in 1815 and in 1822 the region part of the Prussian Rhine Province. The region became famous during the period of its early industralisation in the 19th century, at that time Wupper Valley was a historical Silicon Valley. Its twin cities Barmen and Elberfeld were the trading- and industrial capitals of Prussia at that time, bergische Museumsbahnen Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company Rhineland Berg house www. bergisches-land. de by Bergisches Land Tourismus Marketing e. V
24.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
25.
Oberhausen
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Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen. The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is a point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. The citys Sea Life Centre was home to Paul the Octopus, Oberhausen was named for its 1847 railway station which had taken its name from the Castle Oberhausen. The new borough was formed in 1862 following inflow of people for the coal mines. Awarded town rights in 1874, Oberhausen absorbed several neighbouring boroughs including Alstaden, parts of Styrum, Oberhausen became a city in 1901, and they incorporated the towns of Sterkrade and Osterfeld in 1929. The Ruhrchemie AG synthetic oil plant was a target of the Oil Campaign of World War II. In 1973 Thyssen employed 14,000 people in Oberhausen in the steel industry, in 1954 the city began hosting the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and the 1982 Deutscher Filmpreis was awarded to a group that wrote the Oberhausen Manifesto. The age breakdown of the population is, There are 12. 5% non-Germans living in Oberhausen
26.
Ratingen
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Ratingen is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the northwestern part of Berg - about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf. Since the Middle Ages, the Ratingen area belonged to the count, on December 11,1276 the settlement received city rights. Ratingen was one of the four places of Berg which experienced a boom in the end of the Middle Ages. At the beginning of the Industrial Age, the first manufacturing plants opened in 1783, in Cromford the first mechanical spinnery of Europe opened, which grew into the Textilfabrik Cromford, now part of the Rheinisches Industriemuseum. In the Napoleonic times, it part of the city of Berg and in 1815. In the communal re-organization of 1929, Ratingen maintained its independence, after relatively small war damage, Ratingen in the 1960s and the 1970s experienced years the growth and development. Several important international enterprises as Vodafone, ASUS, Hewlett-Packard, SAP, CEMEX, Tiptel and it is also the hometown of automotive dealer Gottfried Schultz. In 1970, before further incorporations the number of inhabitants surpassed 50,000, since 1997 the town has hosted the Mehrkampf-Meeting, an annual decathlon and pentathlon meeting
27.
Meerbusch
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Meerbusch, a town in Rhein-Kreis Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, has been an incorporated city since 1970. Meerbusch is the municipality with the most income millionaires in North Rhine-Westphalia, Meerbusch is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany. It is located between Krefeld and Düsseldorf near Düsseldorf Airport and Messe Düsseldorf, other neighbouring towns and cities are Duisburg, Kaarst, Willich and Neuss. Many companies have set up offices in the towns light industrial estates. Thanks to its excellent motorway connections the town boasts several parks and light industrial estates. The Fritz-Wendt-Straße industrial estate in Strümp was developed because of the technology company Wendt GmbH. The In der Loh business park in Lank is home to businesses in the SME sector such as Abit AG and KUPP GmbH, regularly, the city offers theatre plays and other musical events at the Forum Wasserturm. The main emphasis of these events are comedies and cabarets, dieter Nuhr and Frank Lüdecke are the most usual and often cabaret artists in the theater of Meerbusch. Every winter of year an folks play takes place in front of over 6000 spectators. One of the members of electronic music band Kraftwerk. Hansi Kürsch, lead vocalist of German power metal band Blind Guardian, bolten is famous for his in-flight rendition of Carly Rae Jepsens Call Me Maybe in 2012, while returning from Istanbul following the teams 3-0 Europa League victory against Fenerbahçe. Louis Ferlings, midfielder and captain of its Under 17 Bundesliga team, ekaterina Moré, Russian painter and author. Fouesnant in Brittany, France Shijonawate in Osaka, Japan
28.
Krefeld
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Krefeld, also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine, Krefeld is accessed by the autobahns A57 and the A44. Krefeld is also called the Velvet and Silk City, krefelds residents speak Hochdeutsch, the standard German taught to all people in Germany. However, the dialect is a Low German variety, sometimes locally called Krefelder Plattdeutsch, Krieewelsch Platt, Plattdeutsch. The town originated in Roman times when the legions founded the camp of Gelduba. Records first mention Krefeld itself in 1105 under the name of Krinvelde, Uerdingen, originally an independent town east of Krefeld, founded in 1255, became in medieval times larger and more important than Krefeld. The growth of the began in the 17th century, when Krefeld was one of few towns spared the horrors of the Thirty Years War. In 1683 a group of thirteen families left Krefeld to re-settle in Pennsylvania in order to enjoy religious freedom and they crossed the Atlantic on the ship Concord, and founded the settlement of Germantown, thus beginning the Pennsylvania German ethnic identity. After the 1702 death of William III of Orange, Krefeld passed to the Kingdom of Prussia, the Battle of Krefeld occurred nearby in 1758 during the Seven Years War. Krefeld and Uerdingen were included within the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1815, in 1872 Krefeld became an independent city within Rhenish Prussia. In 1918 during the First World Warthe Belgian Army used it as a base during the occupation of the Rhineland, in 1929 Krefeld and Uerdingen merged to form Krefeld-Uerdingen, in 1940 the name was shortened to simply Krefeld. They were transported in freezing conditions with no drinking-water for more two days. Almost immediately upon arrival these Jews were shot in the Rumbula forest massacre, on 21 June 1943 British bombs destroyed large parts of east of the city, a firestorm consumed most of the city center. On 3 March 1945 US troops entered Krefeld, among them the later U. S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the town became part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia after World War II. Jews were listed as citizens of Krefeld from 1617, in 1764 a synagogue was erected, and by 1812, under French rule, the town included 196 Jewish families, with three Jewish-owned banks. Under Napoleon, the became the capital for the surrounding Jewish communities including over 5000 Jews. In 1846 a Jewish representative was voted onto the towns municipal council, a reform synagogue was built in 1876, arousing opposition from the Orthodox community. A Jewish school existed in the town, with more than 200 students around 1900, in November 1938 during Kristallnacht, the two synagogues were attacked
29.
Moers
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Moers is a German city on the western bank of the Rhine. Moers belongs to the district of Wesel, known earliest from 1186, the county of Moers was an independent principality within the Holy Roman Empire. During the Eighty Years War it was captured by Spanish and Dutch troops. During the war it fell to Maurice of Orange. As it was separated from the Dutch Republic by Spanish Upper Guelders it did not become an part of the Republic. After the death of William III of Orange in 1702, Moers was inherited by the king of Prussia, all Dutch troops and civil servants were expelled. In 1795 it was annexed by France, at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815 it was returned to Prussia and in 1871 it became part of the German Empire. A target of the Oil Campaign of World War II, the Steinkohlenbergwerke Rheinpreussen synthetic oil plant in Moers, was partially dismantled post-war, richard Glum 1917-1937, Dr. Fritz Eckert 1937-1941, Fritz Grüttgen 1943-1945, Peter Linden 1945-1946, Dr. Personal guide to the city of Moers Official website
30.
Rheinberg
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Rheinberg is a town in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km north of Moers and 15 km south of Wesel and it comprises the municipal districts of Rheinberg, Borth, Budberg, and Orsoy. During the Dutch Revolt Rheinberg became known as the whore of war since it was captured, a century later the Battle of Rheinberg was fought on 12 June 1758, during the Seven Years War. It is the location of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, the majority of those now buried in the cemetery were airmen re-interred from German cemeteries after the war. The men of the fighting services buried there mostly lost their lives during the battle of the Rhineland. It is the town of the supermodel Claudia Schiffer, who still sometimes resides in Xanten. It is the town of Isebell Werth, who is a German equestrian. Rheinberg is also the site of a 110,000 square meter Amazon. com fulfilment warehouse, Rheinberg is also home to Underberg, one of the most famous liquor makers in Germany. Conflicts of Empires, Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585-1713
31.
Hamborn
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Hamborn is a district of the city of Duisburg, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Hamborn has a population of 71,528 an area of 20.84 km², since 1 January 1975, has been one of seven districts or boroughs of Duisburg. The city of Hamborn was incorporated into Duisburg in 1929, until the merger, Hamborn was an independent city and at that time was one of the 40 largest cities in Germany. Earliest mention of Hamborn is around 962AD as Havenburn, meaning Cattle trough, the land was given to the Archbishop of Cologne, to build a Premonstratensian monastery in 1136 by count Gerhard von Hochstaden. The Abbey and the farming communities were part of the Duchy of Cleves and became in 1666AD part of Brandenburg. Until the early 19th century Hamborn was still a small village
32.
Meiderich
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Meiderich is a quarter of the city of Duisburg. It is divided into Unter-, Mittel- and Obermeiderich, Meiderich belongs to the city district Meiderich/Beeck, which started in 1975, during the course of municipal reorganization. On 31 December 2004,75,000 people lived in the district, Meiderich/Beeck has seven quarters, Beeck, Beeckerwerth, Bruckhausen, Laar, Mittel-, Ober- and Untermeiderich. Meiderich was first mentioned in the beginning of the 10th century as Medriki, the first church was built in the 13th century. In the Middle Ages there was the village Meiderich surrounded by seven areas of accumulated farms, Berchum, Berg, Borkhofen, Dümpten, Lakum, Lösort, Meiderich Bf. is a terminus station of Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr line U79, connecting Meiderich with Duisburg Hbf and Düsseldorf-Stadtmitte. Heinrich Averdunk / Walter Ring, Geschichte der Stadt Duisburg, II, Die Ortsteile von den Anfängen. Duisburg, Walter Braun Verlag,1974, p.124 -184 Website of the quarter
33.
Ruhrort
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Ruhrort is a district within the German city of Duisburg situated north of the confluence of the Ruhr and the Rhine, in the western part of the Ruhr area. Ruhrort has the largest river harbour in the World, with quays extending nearly 40 kilometres along the river, Ruhrort was founded in 1371 as a customs site and was granted town status in 1551. Due to its convenient position on the junction of two important waterways a shipping guild and a harbour had been created by 1665, mainly for trading coal from the Ruhr Valley mines. The harbour was in competition with the harbour of Duisburg which was located only 3 kilometers to the south. In 1701 the town fell to Prussia and the government, who had taken over the control over the harbour by 1766, gradually expanded the docks, during the 1860s the vast north and south basins were built. These ideal transport links led to the foundation of a mill to the north-east of the railway station. Although many new workers were needed for the new facilities Ruhrort did not grow very much and this was due to the town being surrounded by water on 3 sides with expansion towards the north-east blocked by the railway and the new industries. Therefore, the population remained almost constantly between 8000 and 10000 during these years, after the merger of the towns it was decided that the harbour of Ruhrort should be expanded further to join a new canal from Duisburg to Herne and on to Dortmund and the North Sea. In 1908 the basins A, B and C had been completed east of the existing harbour, the harbour had reached the size it retains until today. Being an important transport link Ruhrort was heavily bombed during World War II, today Ruhrort has 5,467 inhabitants,806 of which are of foreign origin, mainly from Southern Europe and the Middle East. Public Transport in Ruhrort is provided by the Duisburger Verkehrsgesellschaft which operates one tram line, duisburg-Ruhrort station, which lies north of central Ruhrort has been downgraded and is currently only served by a commuter line to Oberhausen operated by the private company Prignitzer Eisenbahn. The major employer in Ruhrort still is the port and the companies operating there, around 17,000 people work directly or indirectly in the logistics industry. Although the furnaces of the mill have long been demolished. The Haniel trading company has its headquarters in Ruhrort, Ruhrort is home to the German Inland Waterways Museum which is housed in the old swimming pool building. Visitors can also board one of the vessels for a view behind the scenes of the harbour. A walk on the promenade facing the Rhine and the quays is quite popular among tourists as well as locals, Ruhrort nowadays lacks the grimy air of a port district and is a neat little village with narrow streets, small parks and some fine cafes. Official site of the city of Duisburg Community website of Ruhrort History and picturs of Ruhrort duisport Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Ruhrort
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Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
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The Weather Company
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The Weather Company is a weather forecasting and information technology company that owns and operates weather. com, intellicast. com, and Weather Underground. The Weather Company is a subsidiary of the Data and Analytics Platform business unit of IBM, the Weather Company was previously owned by a consortium made up of The Blackstone Group, Bain Capital, and NBCUniversal. That consortium sold The Weather Companys product and technology assets to IBM on January 29,2016, as part of the purchase, the Bain/Blackstone/NBCUniversal consortium entered into a long-term licensing agreement with IBM for use of its weather data and The Weather Channel name and branding. List of mergers and acquisitions by IBM List of meteorology institutions Official website
listen), locally: [ˈdyːsbʊɐ̯ç]) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the world's largest inland port,[2] and is also nearby the highly traveled to Düsseldorf Airport.
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