1.
Nigeria
–
Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Nigeria is officially a democratic secular country. Modern-day Nigeria has been the site of numerous kingdoms and tribal states over the millennia, the modern state originated from British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century, and the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures whilst practising indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms, Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960, and plunged into a civil war from 1967 to 1970. Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa, owing to its large population, with approximately 184 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Christians, who live mostly in the southern part of the country, and Muslims in the northern part. A minority of the population practise religions indigenous to Nigeria, such as native to the Igbo. As of 2015, Nigeria is the worlds 20th largest economy, worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and it overtook South Africa to become Africas largest economy in 2014. The 2013 debt-to-GDP ratio was 11 percent, Nigeria is a member of the MINT group of countries, which are widely seen as the globes next BRIC-like economies. It is also listed among the Next Eleven economies set to become among the biggest in the world, Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many other international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and OPEC. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country and this name was coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator. The origin of the name Niger, which applied only to the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is likely an alteration of the Tuareg name egerew n-igerewen used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu prior to 19th-century European colonialism. The Nok civilisation of Northern Nigeria flourished between 500 BC and AD200, producing life-sized terracotta figures which are some of the earliest known sculptures in Sub-Saharan Africa, further north, the cities Kano and Katsina have a recorded history dating to around 999 AD. Hausa kingdoms and the Kanem-Bornu Empire prospered as trade posts between North and West Africa, the Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people consolidated in the 10th century and continued until it lost its sovereignty to the British in 1911. Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture, Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan. Members of the clan trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri, in West Africa, the oldest bronzes made using the lost-wax process were from Igbo Ukwu, a city under Nri influence. The Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th centuries, the oldest signs of human settlement at Ifes current site date back to the 9th century, and its material culture includes terracotta and bronze figures
2.
Dallas Cowboys
–
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues National Football Conference East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and plays its games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season, the Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960. The teams national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs, the Cowboys streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games began in 2002. This has also corresponded to eight NFC championships, most in the NFC, the Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons, in which they only missed the playoffs twice, an NFL record that remains unchallenged. In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team to be valued at $4 billion, making it the most valuable team in the world. The Cowboys also generated $620 million in revenue in 2014, a record for a U. S. sports team. Prior to the formation of the Dallas Cowboys, there had not been an NFL team south of Washington, D. C. since the Dallas Texans folded in 1952. Oilman Clint Murchison Jr. had been trying to get an NFL expansion team in Dallas, Murchison had tried to purchase the Washington Redskins from Marshall in 1958. An agreement was struck, but as the deal was about to be finalized and this infuriated Murchison and he called off the deal. Marshall then opposed any franchise for Murchison in Dallas, since NFL expansion needed unanimous approval from team owners at that time, Marshalls position would prevent Murchison from joining the league. Marshall had an out with the Redskins band leader Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music to the Redskins fight song Hail to the Redskins, Breeskin owned the rights to the song and was aware of Murchisons plight to get an NFL franchise. Angry with Marshall, Breeskin approached Murchisons attorney to him the rights to the song before the expansion vote in 1959. Murchison purchased Hail to the Redskins for $2,500, before the vote to award franchises in 1959, Murchison revealed to Marshall that he owned the song and Marshall could not play it during games. After a few Marshall expletives, Murchison gave the rights to Hail to the Redskins to Marshall for his vote, the one against Murchison getting a franchise at that time. From 1970 through 1979, the Cowboys won 105 regular season games, in addition, they appeared in 5 and won two Super Bowls, at the end of the 1971 and 1977 regular seasons
3.
2015 NFL season
–
The 2015 NFL season was the 96th season in the history of the National Football League, and the 50th of the Super Bowl era. The Panthers became the first team since the 2011 Green Bay Packers to win all but one of their regular season games and not win the Super Bowl. During the 2015 season, the Oakland Raiders, the St. Louis Rams, NFL owners eventually only approved the relocation of the Rams, by a vote of 30–2 on January 12,2016. Thus,2015 ended up being the Rams last season in St. Louis, the 2015 NFL League Year began on Tuesday, March 10,2015 at 4,00 p. m. ET. m. ET and trading period for 2015 began, a total of 453 players were eligible for some form of free agency at the beginning of the free agency period. Four players were assigned the franchise tag by their teams. These players were wide receivers Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas, linebacker Justin Houston, the player given the transition tag was Charles Clay. On March 19,2015, Clay signed a five-year, $38M contract with the Buffalo Bills, an unusually large number of big name players switched teams via trade prior to the 2015 season. Eagles coach Chip Kelly used his newly obtained GM powers to make many blockbuster trades, the Philadelphia Eagles traded 2-time All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso. The Eagles also traded Pro Bowl quarterback Nick Foles along with their selection in the round of the 2016 NFL Draft to the St. The Saints also traded away Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs and wide receiver Kenny Stills, the Detroit Lions acquired All-Pro defensive tackle Haloti Ngata from the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for draft picks to help make up for the loss of Ndamukong Suh in free agency. The 2015 NFL Draft was held April 30 – May 2,2015, the draft process began with the NFL Scouting Combine, where draft-eligible players were evaluated by team personnel, which was held in Indianapolis on February 17–23. On October 2,2014, Auditorium Theatre in Chicago was announced as the site of the draft. The previous fifty NFL drafts had been held in New York, in the draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston the first overall selection. Training camps for the 2015 season began July 22 and continued through the end of preseason, the normal training camp window ran from late July to late August or early September. Most of the camps had rookies report first, then veterans, at that point, some teams practiced versus another organization, like the Bills practiced against the Browns this year. Teams started training camp no earlier than fifteen days before the teams first scheduled preseason game, at that point, the rosters for each team were open to 90 players. Those rosters were cut to 75 by Week 3 of preseason, prior to the start of the regular season, each team played at least four exhibition games
4.
Kansas City Chiefs
–
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference West division. The team was founded in 1960 as the Dallas Texans by businessman Lamar Hunt and was a member of the American Football League. In 1963, the relocated to Kansas City and assumed their current name. The Chiefs joined the NFL as a result of the merger in 1970, the team is valued at just under $1 billion. The Chiefs were also the team, after the Green Bay Packers, to appear in more than one Super Bowl. The Chiefs Wild-Card playoff victory ended what was at the time the third-longest drought in the NFL, in 1959, Lamar Hunt began discussions with other businessmen to establish a professional football league that would rival the National Football League. Hunts desire to secure a team was heightened after watching the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts. After unsuccessful attempts to purchase and relocate the NFLs Chicago Cardinals to his hometown of Dallas, Texas, Hunt went to the NFL and asked to create an expansion franchise in Dallas. The NFL turned him down, so Hunt then established the American Football League and started his own team, the Dallas Texans, to begin play in 1960. Hunt hired an assistant coach from the University of Miami football team, Hank Stram, to be the teams head coach after the job offer was declined by Bud Wilkinson. The Texans shared the Cotton Bowl with the NFLs cross-town competition Dallas Cowboys for three seasons, the Texans were to have exclusive access to the stadium until the NFL put an expansion team, the Dallas Cowboys, there. While the team averaged a league-best 24,500 at the Cotton Bowl, in the franchises first two seasons, the team managed only a 14–14 record. In their third season, the Texans strolled to an 11–3 record, the game was broadcast nationally on ABC and the Texans defeated the Oilers 20–17 in double overtime. The game lasted 77 minutes and 54 seconds, which stands as the longest championship game in professional football history. It turned out to be the last game the team would play as the Dallas Texans and he considered moving the Texans to either Atlanta or Miami for the 1963 season. However, he was swayed by an offer from Kansas City Mayor Harold Roe Bartle. Bartle promised to triple the franchises season ticket sales and expand the capacity of Municipal Stadium to accommodate the team
5.
Atlanta Falcons
–
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Falcons compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues National Football Conference South division. The Falcons joined the NFL in 1965 as an expansion team, the AFL instead granted a franchise to Miami. The Falcons are tied with the Dolphins for being the second-oldest NFL franchise in the Deep South, the Falcons played their home games at the Georgia Dome in downtown Atlanta from the 1992 to 2016 NFL seasons. Construction began on Mercedes-Benz Stadium in May 2014, with play projected to begin there during the 2017 season and their headquarters and practice facilities are located at a 50-acre site in Flowery Branch, Georgia. Two years later, the AFL held another exhibition, this time with the New York Jets taking on the San Diego Chargers, in 1965, after the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium was built, the city of Atlanta felt the time was right to start pursuing professional football. Another group reported it had deposited earnest money for a team in the AFL and he forced the city to make a choice between the two leagues. By June 30, the city picked Rankin Smith and the NFL, former commissioner Pete Rozelle and Smith made the deal in about five minutes and the Atlanta Falcons brought the largest and most popular sport to the city of Atlanta. The Atlanta expansion franchise became the 15th NFL franchise, and they were awarded the first pick in the 1966 NFL draft as well as the pick in each of the first five rounds. The Falcons drafted All-American linebacker Tommy Nobis from the University of Texas with the first pick of the draft, the league also held the 1966 NFL Expansion Draft six weeks later in which the Falcons selected unprotected players from existing franchises. Although the Falcons selected many players in those drafts, they still were not able to win right away. The Atlanta Falcons Football Club received its nickname on August 29,1965, miss Julia Elliott, a school teacher from Griffin, Georgia, was singled out from many people who suggested Falcons as the nickname for the new franchise. Elliott wrote, the Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and it is deadly and has a great sporting tradition. The Falcons had their first season in 1966, and their first preseason game on August 1,1966, under Head Coach Norb Hecker they lost their first nine regular-season games in 1966 and secured their first victory on the road against the New York Giants. The team finished the 1960s with only 12 wins, the Falcons had their first Monday Night Football game in Atlanta during the 1970 season. The only two winning seasons in this period were 1971 and 1973. In the 1978 season, the Falcons qualified for the playoffs for the first time, the following week, they lost to the Dallas Cowboys 27–20 in the Divisional Playoffs. In the 1980 season, after a winning streak, the Falcons posted a franchise then-best record of 12–4
6.
Carolina Panthers
–
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League, as a club of the leagues National Football Conference South division. The team president is Danny Morrison, and the coach is Ron Rivera. The Panthers were announced as the leagues 29th franchise in 1993 and they did not have another winning season until 2003, when they won the NFC Championship Game and reached Super Bowl XXXVIII, losing 32–29 to the New England Patriots. After recording playoff appearances in 2005 and 2008, the failed to record another playoff appearance until 2013. After losing in the round to the San Francisco 49ers in 2013 and the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, the Panthers finally returned to the Super Bowl in 2016. The Panthers have reached the playoffs seven times, advancing to four NFC Championship Games and they have won six division titles, one in the NFC West and five in the NFC South. The Carolina Panthers are legally registered as Panther Football, LLC, the team is headquartered in Bank of America Stadium in uptown Charlotte, also the teams home field. They are one of the few NFL teams to own the stadium they play in, the team hosts its annual training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On December 15,1987, entrepreneur Jerry Richardson announced his bid for an NFL expansion franchise in the Carolinas. Richardson drew his inspiration to pursue an NFL franchise from George Shinn, who had made a bid for an expansion National Basketball Association team in Charlotte. Richardson founded Richardson Sports, a partnership consisting of himself, his family, Richardson looked at four potential locations for a stadium, ultimately choosing uptown Charlotte. In choosing the name, the Richardsons did not run focus groups with potential fans. Their intention had always been the Panthers, Jerry Richardson began driving a car with the license plate PNTHRS near the end of 1989, to highlight the demand for professional football in the Carolinas, Richardson Sports held preseason games around the area from 1989 to 1991. The matchups were between existing NFL teams, in 1991, the group formally filed an application for the open expansion spot, and on October 26,1993, the 28 NFL owners unanimously named the Carolina Panthers as the 29th member of the NFL. The Panthers first competed in the 1995 NFL season, they were one of two teams to begin play that year, the other being the Jacksonville Jaguars. Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dom Capers was named the first head coach, the team finished its inaugural season 7–9, the best performance ever from a first-year expansion team. They performed even better in their season, finishing with a 12–4 record and winning the NFC West division
7.
Tackle (football move)
–
Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary and important purposes of tackling are to dispossess an opponent of the ball, the word is used in some contact variations of football to describe the act of physically holding or wrestling a player to the ground. In others, it simply one or more methods of contesting for possession of the ball. It can therefore be used as both a defensive or attacking move, in Middle Dutch, the verb tacken meant to grab or to handle. By the 18th century, a use was applied to harnesses or equipment used with horses. Modern use in football comes from the sport of rugby. In any such case, the ball becomes dead, the down is over, a tackle is known as a quarterback sack when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage while attempting to throw a pass. A tackle for loss indicates a tackle that causes a loss of yardage for the running back or wide receiver. When a player who does not have the ball is taken down it is referred to as a block. Tackles can also be made by grabbing the ball carriers jersey, as mentioned above, the referee can declare that a play is dead if the ball carriers forward progress has been stopped, even if he has not actually been taken to the ground. To protect players from potentially catastrophic injury, there are restrictions on tackles. At no time may a defensive player tackle a player by grabbing the facemask of their helmet, doing so incurs a 15-yard penalty. A similar penalty is assessed to any player attempting to contact with his helmet against another opponents helmet. Grabbing a ball carrier by the pads behind his neck and pulling him down is known as a horse collar, a method which has been made illegal at all levels of American football. However, in the NFL a player can continue forward for one step, place kickers and punters are afforded an even greater protection from being tackled. Once the play is ruled complete, no contact is permitted, a player who makes contact with an opponent after the play is charged with unnecessary roughness and his team is assessed a 15-yard penalty. However, a player who plays on the line can block below the knees as long the block is five yards of the line. In the National Football League, tackles are tracked as a statistic by a scorekeeper hired by the home team
8.
American football
–
The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie
9.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
10.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
11.
London
–
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
12.
Welwyn Garden City
–
Welwyn Garden City /ˈwɛlɪn/ is a town in Hertfordshire, England. It is located approximately 20 miles from Kings Cross, London, Welwyn Garden City was the second garden city in England and one of the first new towns. It is unique in being both a city and a new town and exemplifies the physical, social and cultural planning ideals of the periods in which it was built. Welwyn Garden City was founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City, Howard had called for the creation of planned towns that were to combine the benefits of the city and the countryside and to avoid the disadvantages of both. On 29 April 1920 a company, Welwyn Garden City Limited, was formed to plan and build the garden city, louis de Soissons was appointed as architect and town planner, C. B Purdom as finance director and Frederic Osborn as secretary. The first house was occupied just before Christmas 1920, the town is laid out along tree-lined boulevards with a neo-Georgian town centre. It has its own environmental protection legislation, the Scheme of Management for Welwyn Garden City, every road has a wide grass verge. The spine of the town is Parkway, a mall or scenic parkway. The view along Parkway to the south was described as one of the worlds finest urban vistas. Commercial pressures have since ensured much more competition and variety, during World War II the Special Operations Executive had a research department in the town, and the Inter-Services Research Bureau developed the Welrod pistol and the Welgun sub-machinegun there. Station IX was a secret SOE factory making commando equipment at the Frythe Hotel, in 1948, Welwyn Garden City was designated a new town under the New Towns Act 1946 and the Welwyn Garden City company handed its assets to the Welwyn Garden City Development Corporation. Louis de Soissons remained as its planning consultant and that year The Times compared Welwyn Garden City with Hatfield. Welwyn, though far from perfect, made the New Towns Act possible, just as Hatfield, by its imperfection, in 1966, the Development Corporation was wound up and handed over to the Commission for New Towns. The housing stock, neighbourhood shopping and green spaces were passed to Welwyn Hatfield District Council between 1978 and 1983. There was a general hospital in the town, the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital. A new hospital, completed in June 2015, offers outpatient, diagnostic, a shopping mall, the Howard Centre, was built in the 1980s, incorporating the original railway station. Roman baths are preserved in a vault underneath junction 6 of the A1 and are open to visitors. The local civic society, which aims to preserve and conserve the garden city ethos, is the Welwyn Garden City Society, the international ecumenical Focolare movement has its British headquarters at Welwyn Garden City
