1.
Flag of Haiti
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The national flag of Haiti is a bicolour flag featuring two horizontal bands coloured blue and red, defaced by a white panel bearing the coat of arms. The coat of arms depicts a trophy of weapons atop a hill, ready to defend freedom. The palm is topped by the Cap of Liberty, the motto LUnion Fait La Force appears on a white ribbon below the arrangement. The present design was first used by the Republic of Haiti under President Alexandre Pétion in 1806 and it was readopted by Article 3 of the current Constitution of Haiti on February 25,2012, and made square as part of its readoption. In its semi-official English translation, Article 3 reads, The emblem of the Haitian Nation shall be a flag with the following description, two equal sized horizontal bands, a blue one on top and a red one underneath, b. The coat of arms of the Republic are, a Palmette surmounted by the liberty cap, the first purely Haitian flag was adopted on May 18,1803, on the last day of the Congress of Arcahaie, about 80 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince. Haitian lore holds that the newly appointed revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines created the flag by taking a French tricolor and ripping out the white center and he then asked Catherine Flon, his god-daughter, to sew the remaining bands together. The white pale removed, the blue was taken to represent Haitis black citizens, the story is widely known in Haiti, the anniversary of the date is celebrated as the Haitian Flag Day and images of Catherine Flon have appeared on Haitian currency and stamps. Following his proclamation as Emperor Jacques I, Dessalines promulgated a new constitution on May 20,1805, in it, the colors of the flag were altered to black and red. During the period of the Haitian Empire of Faustin I, his coat of arms was used on the flag and for official functions, between 1964 and 1986, the family dictatorships of François Papa Doc and Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier returned to Dessalines black and red design. They included the coat of arms, but altered the flags in its trophy to black as well. This led to the addition of a crown to the design of the flag of Liechtenstein, list of Haitian flags Flag of France Flag of Liechtenstein Fombrun, Odette Roy, ed. History of The Haitian Flag of Independence, the Flag Heritage Foundation Monograph And Translation Series Publication No.3. Worldsstatesmen. de Vries, Hubert, ed. Haiti - LUnion Fait La Force, the Armorial of Haiti, Symbols of Nobility in the Reign of Henry Christophe République dHaïti
2.
Coat of arms of Haiti
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The coat of arms of Haiti was originally introduced in 1807, and has appeared in its current form since 1986. It shows six draped flags of the country, three on side, which are located before a palm tree and cannons on a green lawn. On the lawn various items are found, such as a drum, bugles, long guns, above the palm tree, there is a Phrygian cap placed as a symbol of freedom. On the lawn between the drum and the ribbon there were supposed to be two pieces of chain with a broken link symbolizing the broken chain of slavery, the ribbon bears the motto, French, LUnion Fait La Force. This should not be confused with the motto of Haiti. The oldest use of a symbol for Haiti is known since 1807, the symbol shows several national flags, with two cannons and palm trees. The symbol indicates the battle for independence of the republic, the motto, in French, means Strength through unity. The use of the symbol was interrupted twice, once was during the period of Henri I, the then president Henri Christophe declared himself as the Emperor of Haiti and adopted a Royal Coat of Arms. On the yellow shield of the arm there was a phoenix rising from its flames with five-pointed stars around it, two royally crowned lions supported both sides of the shield, and the motto Dieu ma cause et mon épée was placed on another ribbon at the bottom. In 1814 Henri I slightly changed his Royal Arm, the lions were removed, another change occurred in 1849, when President General Faustin Soulouque crowned himself as Emperor Faustin I. He adopted new Imperial arms, showing two cannons and a French imperial eagle, two lions were again used as supporters and the whole was placed in a purple mantle, with a motto similar to the one Henri I used, Dieu, ma patrie et mon épée. The emperor was forced to leave the country in 1859, ever since the composition has been the same, but the colors and items have changed somewhat. The coat of arms is on the flag of Haiti
3.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
4.
Port-au-Prince
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Port-au-Prince is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The citys population was estimated at 987,310 in 2015 with the area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defined by the IHSI as including the communes of Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Cite Soleil, Tabarre, Carrefour, and Pétion-Ville. The city of Port-au-Prince is on the Gulf of Gonâve, the bay on which the city lies and it was first incorporated under French colonial rule in 1749. The citys layout is similar to that of an amphitheatre, commercial districts are near the water, the city was catastrophically affected by a devastating earthquake in 2010, with large numbers of structures damaged or destroyed. Haitis government estimated the toll to be 230,000. It is said that a captain named de Saint-André named the area in 1706, after he sailed into the bay in a ship named Le Prince, hence Port-au-Prince to mean, Port of the Le Prince. However, the port and the region continued to be known as Hôpital. It was later renamed back to Port-au-Prince by Jacques I, Emperor of Haiti, when Haiti was divided between a kingdom in the north and a republic in the south, Port-au-Prince was the capital of the republic, under the leadership of Alexandre Pétion. Henri Christophe renamed the city Port-aux-Crimes after the assassination of Jacques I at Pont Larnage, prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the island of Hispaniola was inhabited by people known as the Taíno, who arrived in approximately 2600 BC in large dugout canoes. They are believed to come primarily from what is now eastern Venezuela, by the time Columbus arrived in 1492 AD, the region was under the control of Bohechio, Taíno cacique Xaragua. He, like his predecessors, feared settling too close to the coast, such settlements would have proven to be tempting targets for the Caribes, instead, the region served as a hunting ground. The population of the region was approximately 400,000 at the time, with the arrival of the Spaniards, the Amerindians were forced to accept a protectorate, and Bohechio, childless at death, was succeeded by his sister, Anacaona, wife of the cacique Caonabo. The Spanish insisted on larger tributes, eventually, the Spanish colonial administration decided to rule directly, and in 1503, Nicolas Ovando, then governor, set about to put an end to the régime headed by Anacaona. He invited her and other leaders to a feast. Anacaona was spared, only to be hanged publicly some time later, through violence and murders, the Spanish settlers decimated the native population. Not long thereafter, Ovando founded Santa Maria del Puerto, the latter was first burned by French explorers in 1535, then again in 1592 by the English. These assaults proved to be too much for the Spanish colonial administration, around 1650, French pirates, or flibustiers, running out of room on the Île de la Tortue began to arrive on the coast, and established a colony at Trou-Borded
5.
Elective monarchy
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An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, historically it is not uncommon for elective monarchies to transform into hereditary ones over time, or for hereditary ones to acquire at least occasional elective aspects. Many, if not most, kingdoms were officially elective historically, the kings of Macedon and of Epirus were elected by the army, which was similar in composition to the ecclesia of democracies, the council of all free citizens. Military service often was linked with citizenship among the members of the royal house. In the ancient Kingdom of Rome, the kings were elected by the Assemblies, therefore, the office of Roman and Byzantine emperor remained vaguely elective and heredity never was, and could never be, formally established in law. The Holy Roman Empire is perhaps the best-known example of an elective monarchy, however, from 1453 to 1740, a Habsburg was always elected emperor, the throne becoming unofficially hereditary. During that period, the emperor was elected from within the House of Habsburg by a council of nobles called prince-electors. The secular electoral seats were hereditary, however, spiritual electors were usually elected by the cathedral chapters as religious leaders, but simultaneously ruled as monarch of a territory of imperial immediacy. Thus the prince-bishoprics were elective monarchies too, the same holds true for prince-abbeys, whose prince-abbesses or prince-abbots were elected by a college of clerics and imperially appointed as princely rulers in a pertaining territory. In the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, the kingship was partially elected, during the height of the kingdom in the mid-12th century there was a royal family and a relatively clear line of succession. Nevertheless, the king was elected, or at least recognized, here the king was considered a primus inter pares, and in his absence his duties were performed by his seneschal. Originally, the Kings of Sweden were elected by all men at the Mora Thing. Elective monarchy continued until 1544, when the Riksdag of the Estates designated the heirs of King Gustav Vasa as the heirs to the throne, the Danish monarchy was also officially elective, although the eldest son of the reigning monarch was usually elected. This continued until 1660, when a hereditary and absolute monarchy was instituted by Frederick III, though the monarchy of Norway was originally hereditary, it too became elective in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Candidates had to be of royal blood, but the kingship was elected by a council of noblemen, in 1905 Prince Carl was elected King of Norway, after the male population in an election decided Norway should still be a monarchy. Bernadotte eventually ascended the throne as Charles XIV John of Sweden, in Poland, after the death of the last Piast in 1370, Polish kings were initially elected by a small council, gradually, this privilege was granted to all members of the szlachta. During the election period, the function of the king was performed by an interrex and this unique Polish election was termed the free election. Since medieval times, the King of Bohemia was elected by the Estates of Lands of the Bohemian Crown, since 1526, when the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I assumed the Bohemian Crown, it was always held by the Habsburgs, who expected this situation to go on indefinitely
6.
Emperor of Haiti
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This page lists the heads of state of Haiti since the beginning of the Haitian Revolution in 1791. Full independence of Haiti was declared in 1804, between 1806 and 1820 Haiti was divided between the northern State, renamed Kingdom of Haiti in 1811, and the southern Republic of Haiti. Between 1822 and 1844 the Republic of Haiti ruled over the island of Hispaniola. High Commissioner 11 February 1922 –16 November 1930, John H. Russell Jr. U. S. S, military Commanders 16 September 1994 –25 October 1994, Hugh Shelton 25 October 1994 – January 1995, David C. Military Commander 24 February 2004 –1 June 2004, James T.4 September 2015 –13 October 2015, Jorge Peña Leiva 13 October 2015 – present, joint Task Force for Haiti Relief 17 January 2010 –18 April 2010, P. K. Ken Keen 18 April 2010 –1 June 2010, Simeon G. Trombitas History of Haiti Politics of Haiti President of Haiti Prime Minister of Haiti List of Prime Ministers of Haiti List of Haitian consorts
7.
Jacques I of Haiti
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Jean-Jacques Dessalines was a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution. Initially regarded as governor-general, Dessalines later named himself Emperor Jacques I of Haiti and he is regarded as a founding father of Haiti. Dessalines served as an officer in the French army, when the colony was fending off Spanish and British incursions, later he rose to become a commander in the revolt against France. As Toussaint Louvertures principal lieutenant, he led many successful engagements, after the betrayal and capture of Toussaint Louverture in 1802, Dessalines became the leader of the revolution. He defeated a French army at the Battle of Vertières in 1803, declaring Haiti an independent nation in 1804, Dessalines was chosen by a council of generals to assume the office of governor-general. He ordered the 1804 Haiti massacre of the white Haitian minority, in September 1804, he proclaimed himself emperor and ruled in that capacity until being assassinated in 1806. Dessalines was born in Cormier, a plantation near Grande Riviere du Nord, the identity of his parents, as well as his region of origin in Africa, are not known, but most slaves trafficked to Haiti came from west and central West Africa. Dessalines had two brothers, Louis and Joseph Duclos, who took the name Dessalines. Henry on 1 May 1811 and was killed by the revolutionaries at Cap-Henri on 10 October 1820, working in the sugarcane fields as a laborer, Dessalines rose to the rank of commandeur, or foreman. He worked on the plantation of a Frenchman named Henri Duclos until he was about 30 years old, during this time, Dessalines was known as Jean-Jacques Duclos, his last name was assigned by his master, as was customary among slave holders. Duclos was then bought by a black man named Dessalines. From then on he was called Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Jean-Jacques Dessalines worked for him for about three years until the slave uprising of 1791, which spread across the Plaine du Nord. Dessalines was embittered towards both whites and gens de couleur, after the defeat of French royalists during the Haitian Revolution, he ordered the killing of all royalists to ensure that Saint-Domingue would be a nation. Yet, after declaring himself Governor-for-Life in 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines was still willing to take his old master Dessalines into his house, in 1791, Jean-Jacques Dessalines joined the slave rebellion of the northern plains led by Jean François Papillon and Georges Biassou. This rebellion was the first action of what would become the Haitian Revolution, Dessalines became a lieutenant in Papillons army and followed him to Santo Domingo, where he enlisted to serve Spains military forces against the French colony of Saint-Domingue. It was then that Dessalines met the military commander Toussaint Bréda, a mature man also born into slavery. These men wanted above all to defeat slavery, in 1794, after the French declared an end to slavery, Toussaint Louverture switched allegiances to the French. He fought for the French Republic against both the Spanish and British, Dessalines followed, becoming a chief lieutenant to Toussaint Louverture and rising to the rank of brigadier general by 1799
8.
History of Haiti
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It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, or Kiskeya. Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española, successive waves of Arawak migrants, moving northward from the Orinoco delta in South America, settled the islands of the Caribbean. Around AD600, the Taíno Indians, an Arawak culture, arrived on the island and they were organized into cacicazgos, each led by a cacique. The Taíno people called the island Quisqueya and Ayiti, at the time of Columbuss arrival in 1492, the islands territory consisted of five chiefdoms, Marién, Maguá, Maguana, Jaragua, and Higüey. Two of these chiefdoms, Marien and Jaragua, were on the territory of present-day Haiti, guacanagarix, who ruled Marien from his capital El Guarico near present-day Cap-Haïtien, met Columbus and gave him permission to construct La Navidad. Jaragua was the largest caique on the island and ruled by Bohechío and his sister Anacaona, who ruled from its capital Yaguana near present-day Léogâne, christopher Columbus established the settlement, La Navidad, near the modern town of Cap-Haïtien. It was built from the timbers of his ship, Santa María. When he returned in 1493 on his voyage he found the settlement had been destroyed. Columbus continued east and founded a new settlement at La Isabela on the territory of the present-day Dominican Republic in 1493. The capital of the colony was moved to Santo Domingo in 1496, the Spanish returned to western Hispaniola in 1502, establishing a settlement at Yaguana, near modern-day Léogâne. A second settlement was established on the north coast in 1504 called Puerto Real near modern Fort-Liberté – which in 1578 was relocated to a nearby site and renamed Bayaha. Following the arrival of Europeans, La Hispaniolas indigenous population suffered greatly to near extinction, a commonly accepted hypothesis attributes the high mortality of this colony in part to Old World diseases to which the natives had no immunity. A small number of Taínos were able to survive and set up villages elsewhere, Spanish interest in Hispaniola began to wane in the 1520s, as more lucrative gold and silver deposits were found in Mexico and South America. Thereafter, the population of Spanish Hispaniola grew at a slow pace, the Dutch responded by sourcing new salt supplies from Spanish America where colonists were more than happy to trade. So large numbers of Dutch traders/pirates joined their English and French brethren trading on the coasts of Hispaniola. Five of the existing thirteen settlements on the island were brutally razed by Spanish troops including the two settlements on the territory of present-day Haiti, La Yaguana, and Bayaja. Although the Spanish destroyed the settlements in 1629,1635,1638 and 1654. In 1655, the newly established English administration on Jamaica sponsored the re-occupation of Tortuga under Elias Watts as governor, in 1660, the English made the mistake of replacing Watts as governor by a Frenchman Jeremie Deschamps, on condition he defended English interests
9.
Saint-Domingue
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Saint-Domingue was a French colony on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola from 1659 to 1804. The French had established themselves on the portion of the islands of Hispaniola. In the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, Spain formally recognized French control of Tortuga island, in 1791, the slaves and some free people of color of Saint-Domingue began waging a rebellion against French authority. The rebels became reconciled to French rule following the abolition of slavery in the colony in 1793, France controlled the entirety of Hispaniola from 1795 to 1802, when a renewed rebellion began. The last French troops withdrew from the portion of the island in late 1803, and the colony later declared its independence as Haiti, its indigenous name. Spain controlled the island of Hispaniola from the 1490s until the 17th century. The official name was La Española, meaning The Spanish and it was also called Santo Domingo or San Domingo, after Saint Dominic. Spain later ceded the western coast of the island to France, retaining the rest of the island, including the Guava Valley. The French called their portion of Hispaniola Saint-Domingue, the French equivalent of Santo Domingo, the Spanish colony on Hispaniola remained separate, and eventually became the Dominican Republic, the capital of which is still named Santo Domingo. By the early 17th century, the island and its neighbors, notably Tortuga. In 1606, the king of Spain ordered all inhabitants of Hispaniola to move close to Santo Domingo, rather than secure the island, however, this resulted in French, English and Dutch pirates establishing bases on the now-abandoned north and west coasts of the island. French buccaneers established a settlement on the island of Tortuga in 1625 before going to Grande Terre, at first they survived by pirating Spanish ships, eating wild cattle and hogs, and selling hides to traders of all nations. The settlement on Tortuga was officially established in 1659 under the commission of King Louis XIV, in 1665, French colonization of the islands Hispaniola and Tortuga entailed slavery-based plantation agricultural activity such as growing coffee and cattle farming. It was officially recognized by King Louis XIV, the economy of Saint-Domingue became focused on slave-based agricultural plantations. They followed the example of neighboring Caribbean colonies in coercive treatment of the slaves, more cattle, and slave agricultural holdings, coffee plantations and spice plantations were implemented, as well as fishing, cultivation of cocoa, coconuts and snuff. Saint-Domingue quickly came to overshadow the previous colony in both wealth and population, thus, the income and the taxes from slave-based sugar production became a major source of the French budget. Among the first buccaneers was Bertrand DOgeron, who played a big part in the settlement of Saint-Domingue and he encouraged the planting of tobacco, which turned a population of buccaneers and freebooters, who had not acquiesced to royal authority until 1660, into a sedentary population. But in 1670, shortly after Cap-Français had been established, the crisis of tobacco intervened, the first sugar windmill was built in 1685
10.
State of Haiti
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The State of Haiti was the name of the state in northern Haiti. It was created on October 17,1806 following the overthrow of the Empire of Haiti following the assassination of Emperor Jacques I, the 1807 constitution for the State of Haiti made the post of president a position for life with the president having the power to appoint his successor. On March 28,1811 President Henri was proclaimed King Henry I, thereby dissolving the State of Haiti, in 1806 Alexandre Pétion became the president of the southern Republic of Haiti and ruled for several years. He was succeeded by Jean-Pierre Boyer, who reunited the two parts of the nation after the deaths of Henry I and his son in 1820, history of Haiti Flags of the World, Haiti Constitution of the State of Haiti Worldstatesmen
11.
Haiti
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Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti and formerly called Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic, the region was originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people. Spain discovered the island on 5 December 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic, when Columbus initially landed in Haiti, he had thought he had found India or Asia. On Christmas Day 1492, Columbus flagship the Santa Maria ran aground north of what is now Limonade, the island was named La Española and claimed by Spain, which ruled until the early 17th century. Competing claims and settlements by the French led to the portion of the island being ceded to France. The development of plantations, worked by slaves brought from Africa. Upon his death in a prison in France, he was succeeded by his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian Revolution lasted just over a dozen years, and apart from Alexandre Pétion, the first President of the Republic, all the first leaders of government were former slaves. The Citadelle Laferrière is the largest fortress in the Americas, Henri Christophe – former slave and first king of Haiti, Henri I – built it to withstand a possible foreign attack. It has the lowest Human Development Index in the Americas, most recently, in February 2004, a coup détat originating in the north of the country forced the resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A provisional government took control with security provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, the name Haïti comes from the indigenous Taíno language which was the native name given to the entire island of Hispaniola to mean, land of high mountains. The h is silent in French and the ï in Haïti, is a mark used to show that the second vowel is pronounced separately. In English, this rule for the pronunciation is often disregarded, the name Haïti was restored by Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as the official name of independent Saint-Domingue, as a tribute to the Amerindian predecessors. The Taíno name for the island was Haiti. The people had migrated over centuries into the Caribbean islands from South America, genetic studies show they were related to the Yanomami of the Amazon Basin. They also originated in Central and South America, after migrating to Caribbean islands, in the 15th century, the Taíno were pushed into the northeast Caribbean islands by the Caribs. In the Taíno societies of the Caribbean islands, the largest unit of organization was led by a cacique, or chief. The caciquedoms were tributary kingdoms, with payment consisting of harvests, Taíno cultural artifacts include cave paintings in several locations in the country. These have become symbols of Haiti and tourist attractions
12.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
13.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
14.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
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Jean-Jacques Dessalines was a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution. Initially regarded as governor-general, Dessalines later named himself Emperor Jacques I of Haiti and he is regarded as a founding father of Haiti. Dessalines served as an officer in the French army, when the colony was fending off Spanish and British incursions, later he rose to become a commander in the revolt against France. As Toussaint Louvertures principal lieutenant, he led many successful engagements, after the betrayal and capture of Toussaint Louverture in 1802, Dessalines became the leader of the revolution. He defeated a French army at the Battle of Vertières in 1803, declaring Haiti an independent nation in 1804, Dessalines was chosen by a council of generals to assume the office of governor-general. He ordered the 1804 Haiti massacre of the white Haitian minority, in September 1804, he proclaimed himself emperor and ruled in that capacity until being assassinated in 1806. Dessalines was born in Cormier, a plantation near Grande Riviere du Nord, the identity of his parents, as well as his region of origin in Africa, are not known, but most slaves trafficked to Haiti came from west and central West Africa. Dessalines had two brothers, Louis and Joseph Duclos, who took the name Dessalines. Henry on 1 May 1811 and was killed by the revolutionaries at Cap-Henri on 10 October 1820, working in the sugarcane fields as a laborer, Dessalines rose to the rank of commandeur, or foreman. He worked on the plantation of a Frenchman named Henri Duclos until he was about 30 years old, during this time, Dessalines was known as Jean-Jacques Duclos, his last name was assigned by his master, as was customary among slave holders. Duclos was then bought by a black man named Dessalines. From then on he was called Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Jean-Jacques Dessalines worked for him for about three years until the slave uprising of 1791, which spread across the Plaine du Nord. Dessalines was embittered towards both whites and gens de couleur, after the defeat of French royalists during the Haitian Revolution, he ordered the killing of all royalists to ensure that Saint-Domingue would be a nation. Yet, after declaring himself Governor-for-Life in 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines was still willing to take his old master Dessalines into his house, in 1791, Jean-Jacques Dessalines joined the slave rebellion of the northern plains led by Jean François Papillon and Georges Biassou. This rebellion was the first action of what would become the Haitian Revolution, Dessalines became a lieutenant in Papillons army and followed him to Santo Domingo, where he enlisted to serve Spains military forces against the French colony of Saint-Domingue. It was then that Dessalines met the military commander Toussaint Bréda, a mature man also born into slavery. These men wanted above all to defeat slavery, in 1794, after the French declared an end to slavery, Toussaint Louverture switched allegiances to the French. He fought for the French Republic against both the Spanish and British, Dessalines followed, becoming a chief lieutenant to Toussaint Louverture and rising to the rank of brigadier general by 1799
15.
White people
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White people is a racial classification specifier, used for people of Europid ancestry, with the exact implications dependent on context. The contemporary usage of people or a white race as a large group of populations contrasting with black, American Indian. It is today used as a racial classifier in multiracial societies, such as North Africa, United States. The term white race or white people entered the major European languages in the later 17th century, in the context of racialized slavery, description of populations as white in reference to their skin color predates this notion and is found in Greco-Roman ethnography and other ancient sources. Scholarship on race generally distinguishes the concept from pre-modern descriptions of collective difference. In the literature of the Ancient Near East and Classical Antiquity and we know that Egyptians were not oblivious to skin color, however, because artists paid attention to it in works of art, to the extent the pigments at the time permitted. Classicist James Dee states the Greeks do not describe themselves as white people—or as anything else because they had no word in their color vocabulary for themselves. Peoples skin color did not carry meaning, what mattered is where they lived. Religious conversion was sometimes described figuratively as a change in skin color, similarly, the Rigveda uses krsna tvac black skin as a metaphor for irreligiosity. The Ancient Egyptian funerary text known as the Book of Gates distinguishes four groups in a procession and these are the Egyptians, the Levantine/Canaanite peoples or Asiatics, the Nubians and the fair-skinned Libyans. The Egyptians are depicted as a reddish brown, the Nubians as black skinned, the Semites from the Levant and Canaan as light skinned. Herodotus described the Scythian Budini as having blue eyes and bright red hair. And the Egyptians – quite like the Colchians – as melánchroes and he also gives the possibly first reference to the common Greek name of the tribes living south of Egypt, otherwise known as Nubians, which was Aithíopes. Later Xenophon described the Aethiopians as black and the Persian troops as white compared to the skin of Greek troops. These color adjectives are found in contrast to the standard set by the own group. According to historian Irene Silverblatt, Race thinking … made social categories into racial truths, Alastair Bonnett argues that white identity, as it is presently conceived, is an American project, reflecting American interpretations of race and history. According to Gregory Jay, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Before the age of exploration, group differences were based on language, religion. … the European had always reacted a bit hysterically to the differences of skin color, in the 16th and 17th centuries, East Asian peoples were almost uniformly described as white, never as yellow
16.
Germans
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Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans. The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages, before the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Germans constituted the largest divided nation in Europe by far. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans. Thus, the number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied. Today, people from countries with German-speaking majorities most often subscribe to their own national identities, the German term Deutsche originates from the Old High German word diutisc, referring to the Germanic language of the people. It is not clear how commonly, if at all, the word was used as an ethnonym in Old High German, used as a noun, ein diutscher in the sense of a German emerges in Middle High German, attested from the second half of the 12th century. The Old French term alemans is taken from the name of the Alamanni and it was loaned into Middle English as almains in the early 14th century. The word Dutch is attested in English from the 14th century, denoting continental West Germanic dialects, while in most Romance languages the Germans have been named from the Alamanni, the Old Norse, Finnish and Estonian names for the Germans were taken from that of the Saxons. In Slavic languages, the Germans were given the name of němьci, originally with a meaning foreigner, the English term Germans is only attested from the mid-16th century, based on the classical Latin term Germani used by Julius Caesar and later Tacitus. It gradually replaced Dutch and Almains, the latter becoming mostly obsolete by the early 18th century, the Germans are a Germanic people, who as an ethnicity emerged during the Middle Ages. Originally part of the Holy Roman Empire, around 300 independent German states emerged during its decline after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years War and these states eventually formed into modern Germany in the 19th century. The concept of a German ethnicity is linked to Germanic tribes of antiquity in central Europe, the early Germans originated on the North German Plain as well as southern Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the number of Germans was significantly increasing and they began expanding into eastern Europe, during antiquity these Germanic tribes remained separate from each other and did not have writing systems at that time. In the European Iron Age the area that is now Germany was divided into the La Tène horizon in Southern Germany and the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany. By 55 BC, the Germans had reached the Danube river and had either assimilated or otherwise driven out the Celts who had lived there, and had spread west into what is now Belgium and France. Conflict between the Germanic tribes and the forces of Rome under Julius Caesar forced major Germanic tribes to retreat to the east bank of the Rhine, in Roman-held territories with Germanic populations, the Germanic and Roman peoples intermarried, and Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions intermingled. The adoption of Christianity would later become an influence in the development of a common German identity
17.
Poles
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The Poles are a nation and West Slavic ethnic group native to Poland who share a common ancestry, culture, history and are native speakers of the Polish language. The population of Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of a population of 38,538,000. Polands population inhabits several historic regions, including Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Silesia, Pomerania, Kuyavia, Warmia, Masuria, a wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Europe, the Americas and in Australasia. Today the largest urban concentration of Poles is the Katowice urban agglomeration of 2.7 million inhabitants, Poland was also for centuries a refuge for many Jews from all over Europe, a large number emigrated in the twentieth century to Israel. Several prominent Israeli statesmen were born in Poland, including Israels founder David Ben-Gurion, former President of Israel Shimon Peres, the Slavic people have been in the territory of modern Poland for over 1500 years. In the 9th and 10th centuries the tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the last tribal undertaking resulted in the 10th century in a lasting political structure and state, Poland, one of the West Slavic nations. After 1945 the so-called autochthonous or aboriginal school of Polish prehistory received official backing in Poland, Polish people are the sixth largest national group in the European Union. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a number of around 60 million people worldwide. There are almost 38 million Poles in Poland alone, there are also Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including Germany, and indigenous minorities in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova, the term Polonia is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States, Brazil, France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century, in the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation or later Soviet rule. In the United States, a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Ohio, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, the highest concentration of Polish Americans in a single New England municipality is in New Britain, Connecticut. The majority of Polish Canadians have arrived in Canada since World War II, the number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 and 1970, and again after the end of Communism in Poland in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State, smaller, but significant numbers settled in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo and São Paulo. The city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world and Polish music, dishes and it is estimated that over half a million Polish people have come to work in the United Kingdom from Poland. Since 2011, Poles have been able to work throughout the EU and not just in the United Kingdom, Ireland. The Polish community in Norway has increased substantially and has grown to a number of 120,000
18.
Assassination
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Assassination is the murder of a prominent person, often a political leader or ruler, usually for political reasons or payment. The word assassin is believed to derive from the word Hashshashin. It referred to a group of Nizari Shia Persians who worked against various Arab, founded by the Persian Hassan-i Sabbah, the Assassins were active in the fortress of Alamut in Iran from the 8th to the 14th centuries, and also controlled the castle of Masyaf in Syria. The group killed members of the Persian, Abbasid, Seljuq, the word for murder in many Romance languages is derived from this same root word. Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics and it dates back at least as far as recorded history. The Old Testament story of Judith illustrates how a woman frees the Israelites by tricking and assassinating Holofernes, a warlord of the rival Assyrians, with whom the Israelites were at war. King Joash of Judah was recorded as being assassinated by his own servants, Joab assassinated Absalom, King Davids son, chanakya wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise Arthashastra. His student Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, later made use of assassinations against some of his enemies, other famous victims are Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, and Roman consul Julius Caesar. Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the Muslim Shia Imams hundreds of years later, the practice was also well known in ancient China, as in Jing Kes failed assassination of Qin king Ying Zheng in 227 BC. Whilst many assassination were performed by an individual or a small group, the earliest were the sicarii in 6 A. D. who predated the Middle Eastern assassins and Japanese ninjas by centuries. In the Middle Ages, regicide was rare in Western Europe, blinding and strangling in the bathtub were the most commonly used procedures. With the Renaissance, tyrannicide—or assassination for personal or political reasons—became more common again in Western Europe and this account is, however, contentious among historians, it being most commonly asserted that he died of natural causes. The myth of the Curse of King Zvonimir is based on the legend of his assassination, in 1192, Conrad of Montferrat, the de facto King of Jerusalem, was killed by an assassin. The reigns of King Przemysł II of Poland, William the Silent of the Netherlands, in Russia alone, two emperors, Paul I and his grandson Alexander II, were assassinated within 80 years. In the United Kingdom, only one Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has ever been assassinated—Spencer Perceval on May 11,1812. In the United States, within 100 years, four presidents—Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, there have been at least 20 known attempts on U. S. presidents lives. Huey Long, a Senator, was assassinated in September of 1935, the Polish Home Army conducted a regular campaign of assassinations against top Nazi German officials in occupied Poland. Adolf Hitler, meanwhile, was almost killed by his own officers, indias Father of the Nation, Mohandas K. Gandhi, was shot to death on January 30,1948, by Nathuram Godse
19.
Henri Christophe
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Henri Christophe was a former slave of Bambara ethnicity, and perhaps of Ibo descent, and key leader in the Haitian Revolution, which succeeded in gaining independence from France in 1804. In 1805 he took part under Jean-Jacques Dessalines in the capturing of Santo Domingo, after Dessalines was assassinated, Christophe retreated to the Plaine-du-Nord and created a separate government. On 17 February 1807, he was elected President of the State of Haiti, alexandre Pétion was elected president in the South. On 26 March 1811, Christophe created a kingdom in the North and was later proclaimed Henry I and he also created a nobility and named his legitimate son Jacques-Victor Henry as prince and heir. He is known for constructing Citadel Henry, now known as Citadelle Laferrière, the Sans-Souci Palace, under his policies of corvée, or forced labor, the Kingdom earned revenues from agricultural production, primarily sugar, but the people resented the system. He reached agreement with Great Britain to respect its Caribbean colonies in exchange for their warnings to his government of any French navy activity threatening Haiti, unpopular, ill and fearing a coup, he committed suicide. His son and heir was assassinated 10 days later, the general Jean-Pierre Boyer came to power and reunited the two parts of Haiti. Born Christopher Henry, probably in Grenada, the son of a mother and Christophe. In 1779 he may have served with the French forces as a boy in the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue. They fought at the Siege of Savannah, a battle during the American Revolutionary War, as an adult, Christophe worked as a mason, sailor, stable hand, waiter, and billiard maker, most of his pay went to his master. He worked in and managed a restaurant in Cap-Français, the first capital of the French colony of Saint-Domingue. There he became skilled at dealing with the grand blancs, as the wealthy white French planters were called and he was said to have gained his freedom from slavery as a young man, before the Slave Uprising of 1791. Sometime after he had settled in Haiti, he brought his sister Marie there, the political skills he learned as a hotelier also served him well when he later became an officer in the military and leader in the country. Beginning with the uprising of 1791, Christophe distinguished himself as a soldier in the Haitian Revolution. He fought for years with Toussaint Louverture in the North, helping to defeat the French colonists, the Spanish, British, by 1802 Louverture had promoted him to general. The French deported Toussaint Louverture to France, and brought in more than 20,000 new troops under the Vicomte de Rochambeau in an effort to control of the colony. Jean Jacques Dessalines led the fight to defeat French forces, the French withdrew their 7,000 surviving troops in late 1803, most fatalities had occurred as a result of a yellow fever epidemic among its forces. As leader, Dessalines declared the independence of Saint-Domingue with its new name of Haïti in 1804, in 1806, Henri Christophe learned of a plot to kill Dessalines, seeing an opportunity to seize power, he did not warn the self-proclaimed Emperor
20.
Faustin Soulouque
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Faustin-Élie Soulouque was a career officer and general in the Haitian Army when he was elected President of Haiti in 1847. In 1849 he was proclaimed Emperor of Haiti under the name Faustin I and he soon purged the army of the ruling elite, installed black loyalists in administrative positions, and created a secret police and a personal army. In 1849 he created a nobility in the country. However, his attempts to reconquer the neighbouring Dominican Republic undermined his control. Born into slavery in Petit-Goâve in 1782, Soulouque was one of two sons of Marie-Catherine Soulouque, the latter was born at Port-au-Prince, Saint-Domingue,1744, as a creole slave of the Mandingo race. She died at Port-au-Prince,9 August 1819 and he was freed as a result of a 1793 decree of Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, the Civil Commissioner of the French colony of Saint-Domingue, that abolished slavery in response to slave revolts in 1791. During this conflict, Soulouque became a soldier and as a consequence he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Army of Haiti in 1806. In 1810 he was appointed to the Horse Guards under President Pétion, during his tenure he had acted as a figurehead for the Boyerist ruling class, who immediately began to look for a replacement. Their attention quickly focused on Faustin Soulouque, whom the majority considered to be a somewhat dull, at the age of 65 he seemed to be a malleable candidate and was subsequently enticed to accept the role offered him, taking the Presidential Oath of Office on 2 March 1847. At first Faustin seemed to fill the role of puppet well and he retained the cabinet-level ministers of the former president and continued the programs of his predecessor. Within a short time however, he overthrew his backers and made himself ruler of the Haitian state. This process included a massacre of the mulattoes in Port-au-Prince on 16 April 1848, Soulouque also invited blacks from Louisiana to immigrate to Haiti. Haitian-educated Emile Desdunes, an Afro-Creole native from New Orleans, acted as an agent for Soulouque, a large number of these refugees later returned to Louisiana. Soulouques reign was marked by a violent restrictions towards opposition and numerous murders, the fact that Soulouque was an open adherent of the African Vodou religion, contributed to his violent reputation. Soulouque paid £2,000 for his crown, and spent £30,000 for the rest of the accessories. Faustin I besides ordered for himself a crown, one for the Empress, a sceptre, globe, hand-of-justice, throne, in December 1849 Faustin married his long-time companion Adélina Lévêque. On 18 April 1852 at the capital Port-au-Prince, both emperor and empress were crowned in an immense and lavish ceremony in emulation of the coronation of the French Emperor Napoleon I. ”. The coronation is illustrated in the Album Impériale dHaïti, engraved by Severyn, one of his first acts after being declared emperor was to establish a Haitian nobility
21.
Second Empire of Haiti
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The Second Haitian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Haiti, was a state which existed from 1849 to 1859. Faustins unsuccessful invasions in attempt to reconquer the Dominican Republic, which seceded from Haiti in 1844, in 1858, a revolution began, led by General Fabre Geffrard, Duke of Tabara. In December of that year, Geffrard defeated the Imperial Army, as a result, the Emperor abdicated his throne on 15 January 1859. Refused aid by the French Legation, Faustin was taken into exile aboard a British warship on 22 January 1859, General Geffrard succeeded him as President. Soon afterwards, the Emperor and his family arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, allowed to return to Haiti, Faustin died at Petit-Goâve on 6 August 1867 and was buried at Fort Soulouque. History of Haiti First Empire of Haiti
22.
Monarchies in the Americas
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There are 13 monarchies in the Americas. Each is a monarchy, where in the sovereign inherits his or her office, usually keeping it until death or abdication. As such, none of the monarchies in the Americas have a resident monarch. These crowns continue a history of monarchy in the Americas that reaches back to before European colonization, others gained full sovereignty by legislative paths, such as Canadas patriation of its constitution from the United Kingdom. A certain number of former colonies became republics immediately upon achieving self-governance, on 1 November 1981, the country gained independence from the United Kingdom, retaining the then reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, as monarch of the newly created monarchy of Antigua and Barbuda. The monarch is represented in the country by the Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda, Elizabeth and her royal consort, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, included Antigua and Barbuda in their 1966 Caribbean tour, and again in the Queens Silver Jubilee tour of October 1977. Elizabeth returned once more in 1985, HRH The Duke of York visited Antigua and Barbuda in January 2001. On 10 July 1973, the country gained independence from the United Kingdom, retaining the then reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, the monarch is represented in the country by the Governor-General of the Bahamas, Dame Marguerite Pindling. The monarchy of Barbados has its roots in the English monarchy, under the authority of which the island was claimed in 1625 and first colonized in 1627, the monarch is represented in the country by the Governor-General of Barbados, Sir Elliott Belgrave. Elizabeth returned for her Silver Jubilee in 1977, and again in 1989 and it was announced on 26 November 2007 that the referendum would be held in 2008, together with the general election that year. The vote was, however, postponed again to a later point, Belize was, until the 15th century, a part of the Mayan Empire, containing smaller states headed by a hereditary ruler known as an ajaw. The present monarchy of Belize has its roots in the Spanish monarchy, under the authority of which the area was first colonised in the 16th century, and later the British monarchy, as a Crown colony. On 21 September 1981, the country gained independence from the United Kingdom, retaining the then reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, the monarch is represented in the country by the Governor-General of Belize, Sir Colville Young. Canadas aboriginal peoples had systems of governance organised in a similar to the Occidental concept of monarchy. The present monarchy of Canada has its roots in the French and English monarchies, under the authority of which the area was colonised in the 16th-18th centuries, and later the British monarchy. The monarch is represented in the country by the Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, on 7 February 1974, the country gained independence from the United Kingdom, retaining the then reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, as monarch of the newly created monarchy of Grenada. The monarch is represented in the country by the Governor-General of Grenada, on 6 August 1962, the country gained independence from the United Kingdom, retaining the then reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, as monarch of the newly created monarchy of Jamaica. The monarch is represented in the country by the Governor-General of Jamaica, in 2003, former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, advocated making Jamaica into a republic by 2007
23.
Monarchy of Antigua and Barbuda
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Antigua and Barbuda is a constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its reigning monarch since 1 November 1981. As such she is Antigua and Barbudas sovereign and officially called Queen of Antigua, most of the Queens powers in Antigua and Barbuda are exercised by the Governor-General, presently Rodney Williams, though the Monarch does hold several powers that are hers alone. Parts of the territories that today comprise Antigua and Barbuda were claimed under King Charles I in 1632, the country was proclaimed fully independent, via constitutional patriation, by Queen Elizabeth II in 1981. Sixteen states within the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations are known as Commonwealth realms and Antigua, despite sharing the same person as their respective national monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms is sovereign and independent of the others. The Monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it has often been called British since for reasons historical, legal, and of convenience. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act,1927 was the first indication of this shift in law and this situation applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the UK. On all matters of the Antiguan and Barbudian state, the Monarch is advised solely by Antiguan and Barbudian ministers, effective with the patriation of Antigua and Barbudas Constitution, no British or other realm government can advise the Monarch on any matters pertinent to Antigua and Barbuda. In Antigua and Barbuda, the Queens official title is, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Antigua and Barbuda and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. Typically, the Sovereign is styled Queen of Antigua and Barbuda, antiguans and Barbudians do not pay any money to the Queen, either for personal income or to support the royal residences outside of Antigua and Barbuda. Only when the Queen is in Antigua and Barbuda, or acting abroad as Queen of Antigua and Barbuda and this rule applies equally to other members of the Royal Family. The heir apparent is Elizabeth IIs eldest son, Charles, the Governor-General is expected to proclaim him King of Antigua and Barbuda upon his accession to the Throne upon the demise of the Crown. Succession to the throne is by male-preference primogeniture, and governed by the provisions of the Act of Settlement and these documents, though originally passed by the Parliament of England, are now part of Antiguan and Barbudian constitutional law, under control of the Antiguan and Barbudian parliament only. As such, the rules for succession are not fixed, as Antigua and Barbudas laws governing succession are currently identical to those of the United Kingdom see Succession to the British Throne for more information. Upon a demise in the Crown his or her heir immediately and automatically succeeds, nevertheless, it is customary for the accession of the Sovereign to be publicly proclaimed. After an appropriate period of mourning has passed, the Sovereign is also crowned in Westminster Abbey, a coronation is not necessary for a Sovereign to rule, for example, Edward VIII was never crowned, yet was undoubtedly King during his short reign. After an individual ascends the Throne, he or she continues to reign until death, Monarchs are not allowed to unilaterally abdicate, no Antiguan and Barbudian monarch has abdicated. The new constitution for Antigua and Barbuda was made by Order in Council under the West Indies Act 1967 and it came into operation on 31st October 1981. It is important to note that the Royal Prerogative belongs to the Crown, although the Royal Prerogative is extensive, it is not unlimited
24.
Monarchy of the Bahamas
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The monarchy of the Bahamas is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since the country became independent on 10 July 1973, the Bahamas share the Sovereign with the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen does not personally reside in the islands, and most of her roles are therefore delegated to her representative in the country. Royal succession is governed by the English Act of Settlement of 1701, the Bahamas are one of sixteen independent nations, known as Commonwealth realms, which separately recognise the Queen as their individual monarch and head of state. Despite sharing the same person as their monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms — including the Bahamas — is sovereign. The Monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it has often been called British since this time for historical, legal. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act,1927 was the first indication of this shift in law and this situation applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the UK. On all matters of the Bahamian State, the Monarch is advised solely by Bahamian ministers. In the Bahamas, the Queens official title is, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. Typically, the Sovereign is styled Queen of the Bahamas, and is addressed as such when in the Bahamas, the Monarch is informed of the Prime Ministers decision before the Governor General gives Royal Assent. The current constitution for the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is part of the Schedule to the Bahamas Independence Order of 1973, the Order came into operation on 10 July 1973. The first section declares, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas shall be a sovereign democratic State, most of the Queens domestic duties are performed by the Governor-General. The Governor-General represents the Queen on ceremonial occasions such as the opening of Parliament, under the Constitution, he or she is given authority to act in some matters, for example in appointing and disciplining officers of the civil service, in proroguing Parliament. It has been said since the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the last monarch to head the British cabinet, in exceptional circumstances, however, the Monarch or vice-regal can act against such advice based upon his or her reserve powers. There are also a few duties which must be performed by. These include, signing the appointment papers of Governors General, the confirmation of awards of honours, and approving any change in her title. Succession to the throne is by absolute primogeniture, and governed by the provisions of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, as well as the Act of Settlement and English Bill of Rights. These documents, though passed by the Parliament of England
25.
Monarchy of Barbados
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The Monarchy of Barbados is the core of the countrys Westminster style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government. The current Barbadian monarch, since 6 February 1952, is Queen Elizabeth II, as the sovereign, she is the personal embodiment of the Barbadian Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is shared with 15 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each countrys monarchy is separate. However, the Queen is the member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role. Some of the powers of the Crown are exercisable by the monarch, further, the royal sign-manual is required for letters patent and orders in council. The Crown today primarily functions as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance, the historical roots of the Barbadian monarchy date back to approximately the early 17th century, when King James IV of Scotland and I of England made the first claims to Barbados. Monarchical governance thenceforth evolved under a succession of British sovereigns. This arrangement emerged among the older realms after the end of the First World War and is governed by the Statute of Westminster 1931, only Barbadian ministers of the Crown may advise the sovereign on matters of the Barbadian state. The monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution and in Barbados became a Barbadian, or domesticated and this applies equally to other members of the Royal Family. Normally, tax dollars pay only for the associated with the governor-general in the exercise of the powers of the Crown, including travel, security, residences, offices. Such a situation has not arisen, however, it may have helped if the Operation Red Dog-invasion plot, by convention, succession in Barbados is deferred to the laws of the United Kingdom, whoever is monarch of the UK is automatically also monarch of Barbados. This situation that applies symmetrically in all the realms and has been likened to a treaty among these countries. Upon a demise of the Crown, the late sovereigns heir immediately and automatically succeeds, without any need for confirmation or further ceremony, all incumbent viceroys, judges, civil servants, legislators, military officers, etc. are not affected by the death of the monarch. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she continues to reign until death. Today the sovereign is regarded as the personification, or legal personality, therefore, the state is referred to as Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Barbados, the state is referred to as such, or simply Regina, if a lawsuit is filed against the government. Government staff are employed by the monarch, as are the governor-general, judges, members of the Barbados Defence Force, police officers. According to their laws and customs. The constitution requires most of the Queens domestic duties to be performed by the governor-general, all institutions of government are said to act under the sovereigns authority, the vast powers that belong to the Crown are collectively known as the Royal Prerogative
26.
Monarchy of Belize
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The monarch of Belize is the head of state of Belize. The incumbent is Queen Elizabeth II, officially called Queen of Belize, the heir apparent is Elizabeths eldest son, Prince Charles, though the Queen is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role. Most of the Queens powers in Belize are exercised by the Governor-General, Colville Young, the Belizean monarch, besides reigning in Belize, separately serves as head of state for each of fifteen other Commonwealth countries. This developed from the colonial relationship of these countries to Britain, but they are now independent. Throughout the 19th century, colonial settlement increased, and Belize was made the Crown colony of British Honduras by Queen Victoria in 1871, the country was granted its independence from the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II in 1981 to form Belize as a kingdom in its own right. Sixteen states within the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations are known as Commonwealth realms, despite sharing the same person as their respective national monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms is sovereign and independent of the others. The monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it has often been called British since this time for historical, political. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 was the first indication of this shift in law and this situation applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the United Kingdom, a situation that has been likened to a treaty amongst these countries. On all matters of the Belizean state, the monarch is advised solely by Belizean Ministers of the Crown, effective with the Belize Act 1981, no British or other realm government can advise the monarch on any matters pertinent to Belize. In Belize, the Queens official title is, Elizabeth The Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Belize and of Her Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. Typically, the sovereign is styled Queen of Belize, and is addressed as such when in Belize, the heir apparent is Elizabeth IIs eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales. Upon the demise of the Crown, the Executive Council of Belize is expected to proclaim him King of Belize upon his accession to the throne. Succession to the throne is by male-preference primogeniture, and governed by the provisions of the Act of Settlement,1701, nevertheless, it is customary for the accession of the sovereign to be publicly proclaimed by the Governor-General. After an appropriate period of mourning has passed, the sovereign is also crowned in Westminster Abbey, a coronation is not necessary for a sovereign to reign, for example, Edward VIII was never crowned, yet undoubtedly king during his short reign. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she continues to reign until death, monarchs are not allowed to unilaterally abdicate. All powers of state are constitutionally reposed in the monarch, who is represented by the Governor General of Belize – appointed by the monarch upon the advice of the Prime Minister of Belize, most of the Queens domestic duties are performed by this vice-regal representative. To a large extent the new constitution included the institutions and procedures with which Belizeans had been familiar for the past eighteen years of self-government under the constitution of 1963. The Form of Oath of Allegiance and Office prescribed in Schedule 3 is a declaration of allegiance to Belize and to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Her Heirs and Successors
27.
Monarchy of Canada
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The Monarchy of Canada is at the very core of both Canadas federal structure and Westminster-style of parliamentary and constitutional democracy. The monarchy is the foundation of the executive, legislature, and judiciary in the federal, the Canadian sovereign is the personification of the Canadian state and, as a matter of constitutional law, is Canada. The current Canadian monarch, since 6 February 1952, is Queen Elizabeth II, as such, Elizabeths son, Prince Charles, is heir apparent. Although the person of the sovereign is shared with 15 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each countrys monarchy is separate. However, the Queen is the member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role. While some powers are only by the sovereign, most of the monarchs operational and ceremonial duties are exercised by his or her representative. In each of Canadas provinces, the monarch is represented by a lieutenant governor, as the territories are not sovereign, they do not have a viceroy. As all executive authority is vested in the sovereign, their assent is required to allow for bills to become law and for letters patent, Canada is one of the oldest continuing monarchies in the world. The emergence of this arrangement paralleled the fruition of Canadian nationalism following the end of the First World War and culminated in the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Upon a demise of the Crown, the late sovereigns heir immediately and automatically succeeds, without any need for confirmation or further ceremony, hence arises the phrase The King is dead. It is customary for the accession of the new monarch to be proclaimed by the governor general on behalf of the Privy Council. Following an appropriate period of mourning, the monarch is crowned in the United Kingdom in an ancient ritual. This is because, in law, the Crown never dies. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she continues to reign until death. The relationship between the Commonwealth realms is such that any change to the rules of succession to their respective crowns requires the consent of all the realms. Succession is governed by statutes, such as the Bill of Rights 1689, the Act of Settlement 1701, in 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated and any possible future descendants of his were excluded from the line of succession. As the Statute of Westminster 1931 disallowed the UK from legislating for Canada, including in relation to succession, the latter was deemed by the Cabinet in 1947 to be part of Canadian law, as is the Bill of Rights 1689, according to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Department of External Affairs included all succession-related laws in its list of acts within Canadian law, certain aspects of the succession rules have been challenged in the courts
28.
Monarchy of Grenada
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The monarch of Grenada is the head of state of Grenada. The present monarch is Elizabeth II, who is also Sovereign of a number of the other Commonwealth realms, the Queens constitutional roles are mostly delegated to the Governor-General of Grenada. Royal succession is governed by the English Act of Settlement of 1701, one of the most complicated features of the Grenadian Monarchy is that it is a shared monarchy. Fifty-four states are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, sixteen of these states are specifically Commonwealth realms who recognise the same person as their separate Monarch and Head of State. Despite sharing the same person as their monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms, including Grenada, is sovereign. The Monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it has often been called British since this time for historical, legal. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 was the first indication of this shift in law and this situation applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the UK. On all matters of the Grenadian State, the Monarch is advised solely by Grenadian ministers and this style communicates Grenadas status as an independent monarchy, highlighting the Monarchs role specifically as Queen of Grenada, as well as the shared aspect of the Crown throughout the realms. Typically, the Sovereign is styled Queen of Grenada, and is addressed as such when in Grenada, the role of the Sovereigns representative, the Governor-general, is determined by the Constitution of Grenada and the constitutional conventions of the Westminster system of parliamentary government. The Governor-general is appointed by the Monarch upon the advice of the Prime Minister of Grenada, the Monarch is informed of the Prime Ministers decision before the Governor General gives Royal Assent. The power to appoint the Prime Minister and other powers are exclusively vested in the Governor General. As such, the Queen herself does not exercise reserve powers, most of the Queens domestic duties are performed by the Governor General. The Governor-General represents the Queen on ceremonial occasions such as the opening of Parliament, under the Constitution, he is given authority to act in some matters, for example in appointing and disciplining officers of the civil service, in proroguing Parliament. It has been said since the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the last monarch to head the British cabinet, in exceptional circumstances, however, the Monarch or vice-regal can act against such advice based upon his or her reserve powers. There are also a few duties which must be performed by. These include, signing the appointment papers of Governors General, the confirmation of awards of honours, Succession to the throne is by male-preference primogeniture, and governed by the provisions of the Act of Settlement, as well as the English Bill of Rights. These documents, though passed by the Parliament of England, are now part of the Grenadian constitutional law. This legislation lays out the rules that the Monarch cannot be a Roman Catholic, nor married to one, as Grenadas laws governing succession are currently identical to those of the United Kingdom see Succession to the British Throne for more information
29.
Monarchy of Jamaica
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The monarchy of Jamaica is a constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of Jamaica. The terms Crown in Right of Jamaica, Her Majesty in Right of Jamaica, though the Jamaican Crown has its roots in the British Crown, it has evolved to become a distinctly Jamaican institution, represented by its own unique symbols. The present monarch is Queen Elizabeth II—officially titled Queen of Jamaica—who has reigned since 6 August 1962 and she, her consort, and other members of the Royal Family undertake various public and private functions across Jamaica and on behalf of the country abroad. While several powers are the sovereigns alone, most of the constitutional and ceremonial duties in Jamaica are carried out by the Queens representative. The Jamaican monarch, besides reigning in Jamaica, separately serves as monarch for each of fifteen other Commonwealth countries known as Commonwealth realms and this developed from the former colonial relationship of these countries to Britain, but they are now independent and the monarchy of each is legally distinct. Jamaica has the person as their monarch as other Commonwealth realms. On all matters of the Jamaican state, the monarch is advised solely by Jamaican Ministers of the Crown, and, effective with the Jamaica Independence Act,1962, no British or other realm government can advise the monarch on matters pertinent to Jamaica. Instead, the practice of sending High Commissioners developed, wherein an individual is sent to be a representative in one realm of the government in another. The sovereigns role specifically as Queen of Jamaica, as well as her status as monarch of other nations, is communicated by mentioning Jamaica separately from, but along with, the Queens other lands. Typically, the sovereign is styled Queen of Jamaica, and is addressed as such when in Jamaica or performing duties on behalf of Jamaica abroad and this applies equally to other members of the royal family. Succession is by male-preference primogeniture governed by the provisions of the Act of Settlement,1701, thus, Jamaicas line of succession remains identical to that of the United Kingdom. Upon a demise of the Crown it is customary for the accession of the new monarch to be proclaimed by the Governor-General. All incumbent viceroys, judges, civil servants, legislators, military officers, after an individual ascends the throne, he or she typically continues to reign until death. Since the independence of Jamaica, the role as monarch of Jamaica has been recognised and promoted as separate to his or her position as monarch of the United Kingdom. Today the sovereign is regarded as the personification, or legal personality, according to their respective laws and customs. Save for that taken by senators, the oaths of allegiance were altered in 2002, all institutions of government are said to act under the sovereigns authority, the vast powers that belong to the Crown are collectively known as the Royal Prerogative. The government of Jamaica is also formally referred to as Her Majestys Government. The Form of Oath of Allegiance set out in the First Schedule of the Order in Council, is a declaration of allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Her Heirs and Successors
30.
Monarchy of Saint Kitts and Nevis
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Saint Kitts and Nevis is a constitutional monarchy in which a monarch is head of state. The present monarch is Elizabeth II, who is also Sovereign of the other Commonwealth realms, the Queens constitutional roles are mostly delegated to the Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Royal succession is governed by the English Act of Settlement of 1701, one of the most complicated features of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Monarchy is that it is a shared monarchy. 53 states are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, sixteen of these countries are specifically Commonwealth realms who recognise, individually, the same person as their Monarch and Head of State, Saint Kitts and Nevis is one of these. Despite sharing the same person as their respective monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms – including Saint Kitts and Nevis – is sovereign. The Monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it has often been called British since this time for historical, legal. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 was the first indication of this shift in law and this situation applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the UK. On all matters of the Saint Kitts and Nevis State, the Monarch is advised solely by Saint Kitts and Nevis ministers. Typically, the Sovereign is styled Queen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the order was made under the West Indies Act 1967 and came into operation on 23 June 1983. The Form of Oath of Allegiance set out in the Fourth Schedule of the Order in Council is a declaration of allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, most of the Queens domestic duties are performed by the Governor General. The Governor-General represents the Queen on ceremonial occasions such as the opening of Parliament, under the Constitution, he is given authority to act in some matters, for example in appointing and disciplining officers of the civil service, in proroguing Parliament. It has been said since the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the last monarch to head the British cabinet, in exceptional circumstances, however, the Monarch or vice-regal can act against such advice based upon his or her reserve powers. There are also a few duties which must be performed by. These include, signing the appointment papers of Governors General, the confirmation of awards of honours, Succession to the throne is by absolute primogeniture, and governed by the provisions of the Succession to the Crown Bill that was passed 8 July 2013 in accordance with the Perth Agreement. Previously succession had been governed by the Act of Settlement and English Bill of Rights, originally passed by the Parliament of England. This legislation lays out the rules that the Monarch cannot be a Roman Catholic, as Saint Kitts and Neviss laws governing succession are currently identical to those of the United Kingdom see Succession to the British Throne for more information. The heir apparent is Elizabeth IIs eldest son, Charles, who has no official title outside of the UK, all laws in Saint Kitts and Nevis are enacted with the sovereigns, or the vice-regals signature. The granting of a signature to a bill is known as Royal Assent, it and proclamation are required for all acts of Parliament, usually granted or withheld by the Governor General
31.
Monarchy of Saint Lucia
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The monarchy of Saint Lucia is a system of government in which a hereditary, constitutional monarch is the sovereign of Saint Lucia. The present monarch of Saint Lucia is Elizabeth II, who is also the Sovereign of the Commonwealth realms, the Queens constitutional roles are mostly delegated to the Governor-General of Saint Lucia. Royal succession is governed by the English Act of Settlement of 1701, the present queen Elizabeth II has reigned over the separate Saint Lucian monarchy since 22 February 1979. She along with her husband and other members of the Royal Family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties, fifty-three states are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Sixteen of these countries are specifically Commonwealth realms who recognise, individually, despite sharing the same person as their respective national monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms – including Saint Lucia – is sovereign and independent of the others. As a constitutional monarch Queen Elizabeth II entirely on the advice of her Saint Lucian ministers, the monarch is briefed by regular communication for her Saint Lucian government. Most of the Queens daily constitutional roles are mostly delegated to the Governor-General of Saint Lucia, the governor general is appointed entirely upon the advice of her Saint Lucian government. The monarch maintains direct contact with the governor general, the present Governor-General is Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy GCMG. Control of St Lucia was disputed between the British and French from 1659 until 1814 when it was ceded to the British. The Monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it has often been called British since this time for historical, legal. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act,1927 was the first indication of this shift in law and this situation applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the UK. The island became self-governing in 1967 and achieved independence in 1979, in Saint Lucia, the Queens official title is, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Saint Lucia and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. Typically, the Sovereign is styled Queen of Saint Lucia, and is addressed as such when in Saint Lucia, most of the Queens domestic duties are performed by the Governor General. The Governor-General represents the Queen on ceremonial occasions such as the opening of Parliament, under the Constitution, he is given authority to act in some matters, for example in appointing and disciplining officers of the civil service, in proroguing Parliament. It has been said since the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the last monarch to head the British cabinet, in exceptional circumstances, however, the Monarch or vice-regal can act against such advice based upon his or her reserve powers. There are also a few duties which must be performed by. These include, signing the appointment papers of Governors General, the confirmation of awards of honours, Succession to the throne is by male-preference primogeniture, and governed by the provisions of the Act of Settlement, as well as the English Bill of Rights. These documents, though passed by the Parliament of England, are now part of the Saint Lucian constitutional law
32.
Monarchy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
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The Crown is thus is the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Vincentian government. The Vincentian monarchy has its roots in the French and British crowns, however, the Queen is the only member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role. The Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979 was made under the West Indies Act 1967, under the new constitution the Oath of Allegiance to the sovereign was to continue. Upon a demise of the Crown, the late sovereigns heir immediately and automatically succeeds, following an appropriate period of mourning, the monarch is also crowned in the United Kingdom in an ancient ritual, but one not necessary for a sovereign to reign. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she continues to reign until death. Though her authority stems from the people, all Vincentians live under the authority of the monarch, the Crown also sits at the pinnacle of the Royal Saint Vincent Police Force. The monarch and viceroy do not, however, participate in the process, save for the granting of Royal Assent. The sovereign is responsible for rendering justice for all her subjects, however, she does not personally rule in judicial cases, instead the judicial functions of the Royal Prerogative are performed in trust and in the Queens name by Officers of Her Majestys Court. Extending from this is the notion in common law that the sovereign can do no wrong, civil lawsuits against the Crown in its public capacity are permitted, however, lawsuits against the monarch personally are not cognizable. An image of the Queen and/or the Arms of Her Majesty in Right of Saint Vincent, members of the Royal Family undertake official royal tours. Despite heavy campaigning by the Ministers of the Crown, the referendum was defeated with only 43. 13% of voters supporting the idea, prime Ministers of Queen Elizabeth II List of Commonwealth visits made by Queen Elizabeth II Monarchies in the Americas List of monarchies
33.
Monarchy of Denmark
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The Monarchy of Denmark, colloquially known as the Danish Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes not only Denmark, but the regions of Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark were already consolidated in the late 8th century, originally an elective monarchy, it became hereditary only in the 17th century during the reign of Frederick III. A decisive transition to a constitutional monarchy occurred in 1849 with the writing of the first Constitution, the current Royal House is a branch of the princely family of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, the same royal house as the Norwegian and former Greek royal families. The Danish Monarchy is constitutional and as such, the role of the monarch is defined and limited by the Constitution of Denmark, the monarch is, in practice, limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, Queen Margrethe II ascended the throne on the death of her father, King Frederick IX, on 14 January 1972. On her accession, Queen Margrethe II became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margrethe I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375‒1412, during the Kalmar Union. Danish regnal names have traditionally alternated between Frederick and Christian, Margrethe has taken the place of a Christian, and accordingly her heir apparent is Crown Prince Frederik. The modern Kingdom of Denmark dates back to Harthacnuts son, Gorm the Old, the first King of a united Scotland was King Kenneth MacAlpin who died around 80 years before Gorm the Old was born. The Danes were united and officially Christianized in 965 CE by Harald Bluetooth, furthermore, the Jelling stones attests that Harald had also won Norway. The son of Harald, Sweyn Forkbeard, mounted a series of wars of conquest against England, the reign of Cnut represented the peak of the Danish Viking age, his North Sea Empire included Denmark, Norway, England and held strong influence over the north-eastern coast of Germany. The last monarch descended from Valdemar IV, Christopher III of Denmark, Count Christian of Oldenburg, descendant of Valdemar IVs aunt Richeza, was chosen as his successor and became the next monarch of Denmark, ruling under the name Christian I. Originally the Danish monarchy was elective, but in practice the eldest son of the monarch was elected. Later a Coronation Charter was signed by the king to restrict the powers of the Danish monarch, in 1657, during the Second Northern War, King Frederick III launched a war of revenge against Sweden which turned into a complete disaster. The war became a disaster for two reasons, Primarily, because Denmarks new powerful ally, the Netherlands, remained neutral as Denmark was the aggressor and Sweden the defender. Secondly, the Belts froze over in an occurrence during the winter of 1657-1658. In the following Treaty of Roskilde, Denmark–Norway capitulated and gave up all of Eastern Denmark, in addition to the counties of Bohuslän, but the Second Northern War was not yet over. Three months after the treaty was signed, Charles X Gustav held a council of war where he decided to simply wipe Denmark from the map
34.
Monarchy of the Netherlands
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The monarchy of the Netherlands is constitutional and as such, the role and position of the monarch are defined and limited by the constitution of the Netherlands. William became the leader of the Dutch Revolt and the independent Dutch Republic, as stadtholder, he was followed by several of his descendants. In 1747, the function of stadtholder became a position in all Provinces of the thus crowned Dutch Republic. The last stadtholder was William V and his son William I, became the first king. The cycle of monarchs is described in the first section of Chapter 2 of the constitution, the monarchy of the Netherlands passes by right of succession to the heirs of William I. The heir is determined through two mechanisms, absolute cognatic primogeniture and proximity of blood, the Netherlands established absolute cognatic primogeniture instead of male preference primogeniture by law in 1983. Proximity of blood limits accession to the throne to a person who is related to the current monarch within three degrees of kinship. For example, the grandchildren of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, have no succession rights because their kinship with Beatrix when she was queen was of the fourth degree. Also, succession is limited to heirs, precluding a claim to the throne by children born out of wedlock. A special case arises if the king dies while his wife is pregnant, so, if the old king dies while his wife is pregnant with their first child, the unborn child is immediately considered born and immediately becomes the new king. If the pregnancy ends in stillbirth, his or her reign is expunged, If the monarch is a minor, a regent is appointed and serves until the monarch comes of age. There are also a number of cases within the constitution. First, if there is no heir when the monarch dies the States-General may appoint a successor upon the suggestion of the government and this suggestion may be made before the death of the reigning monarch, even by the monarch himself. Second, some people are excluded from the line of succession and they are, Any heir who marries without the permission of the States-General loses the right of succession. A person who is or has become truly undesirable or unfit as monarch can be removed from the line of succession by an act of the States-General and this clause has never been executed and is considered an emergency exit. An example would be an heir apparent who commits treason or suffers a serious accident, as with most monarchies, the Netherlands cannot be without a monarch — the constitution of the Netherlands does not recognize a situation in which there is no monarch. This is because there must be a head of state in order for the government to function, for this reason the new monarch assumes his role the moment the previous monarch ceases to hold the throne. The only exception is if there is no heir at all, the monarch is expected to execute his duties and responsibilities for the good of the nation
35.
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
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The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The monarchs title is King or Queen, the current monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, as the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is, by tradition, commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces, from 1603, when the Scottish monarch King James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married Catholics, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the British monarch became nominal head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the worlds surface at its greatest extent in 1921. After the Second World War, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth monarchies that share the person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the Monarch is the Head of State, oaths of allegiance are made to the Queen and her lawful successors. God Save the Queen is the British national anthem, and the monarch appears on postage stamps, coins, the Monarch takes little direct part in Government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majestys Government, which comprises Ministers, primarily the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and they have the direction of the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Civil Service and other Crown Servants such as the Diplomatic and Secret Services. Judicial power is vested in the Judiciary, who by constitution, the Church of England, of which the Monarch is the head, has its own legislative, judicial and executive structures. Powers independent of government are legally granted to public bodies by statute or Statutory Instrument such as an Order in Council. The Sovereigns role as a monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions. This role has been recognised since the 19th century, the constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the dignified part rather than the efficient part of government. Whenever necessary, the Monarch is responsible for appointing a new Prime Minister, the Prime Minister takes office by attending the Monarch in private audience, and after kissing hands that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument. Since 1945, there have only been two hung parliaments, the first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilsons Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party, the second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II
36.
Aztec Empire
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The Aztec Empire, or the Triple Alliance, began as an alliance of three Nahua altepetl city-states, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. The Triple Alliance was formed from the faction in a civil war fought between the city of Azcapotzalco and its former tributary provinces. Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three self-governed city-states, Tenochtitlan quickly became dominant militarily. By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the lands of the Alliance were effectively ruled from Tenochtitlan, the alliance waged wars of conquest and expanded rapidly after its formation. Aztec rule has been described by scholars as hegemonic or indirect, the Aztecs left rulers of conquered cities in power so long as they agreed to pay semi-annual tribute to the Alliance, as well as supply military forces when needed for the Aztec war efforts. In return, the imperial authority offered protection and political stability, the state religion of the empire was polytheistic, worshiping a diverse pantheon that included dozens of deities. Many had officially recognized cults large enough so that the deity was represented in the temple precinct of the capital Tenochtitlan. The imperial cult, specifically, was that of Huitzilopochtli, the distinctive warlike patron god of the Mexica, peoples in conquered provinces were allowed to retain and freely continue their own religious traditions, so long as they added the imperial god Huitzilopochtli to their local pantheons. The word Aztec in modern usage would not have used by the people themselves. The name comes from a Nahuatl word meaning people from Aztlan, for the purpose of this article, Aztec refers only to those cities that constituted or were subject to the Triple Alliance. For the broader use of the term, see the article on Aztec civilization, Nahua peoples descended from Chichimec peoples who migrated to central Mexico from the north in the early 13th century. According to the pictographic codices in which the Aztecs recorded their history, Early migrants settled the Basin of Mexico and surrounding lands by establishing a series of independent city-states. These early Nahua cities were ruled by petty kings called tlahtohqueh, most of the existing settlements, which had been established by other indigenous peoples before the Nahua migration, were assimilated into Nahua culture. These early city-states fought various small-scale wars with other, but due to shifting alliances. The Mexica were the last of Aztlan migrants to arrive in Central Mexico and they entered the Basin of Mexico around the year 1250 AD, and by then most of the good agricultural land had already been claimed. The Mexica persuaded the king of Culhuacan to allow them to settle in a relatively infertile patch of land called Chapultepec, the Mexica served as hired mercenaries for Culhuacan. After they served Culhuacan in battle, the appointed one of his daughters to rule over the Mexica. According to mythological native accounts, the Mexica instead sacrificed her by flaying her skin, when the king of Culhuacan learned of this, he attacked and used his army to drive the Mexica from Tizaapan by force
37.
Inca Empire
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The Inca Empire, also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America, and possibly the largest empire in the world in the early 16th century. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru, the Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century. Its last stronghold was conquered by the Spanish in 1572, from 1438 to 1533, the Incas incorporated a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean Mountains, using conquest and peaceful assimilation, among other methods. The Incas considered their king, the Sapa Inca, to be the son of the sun, the Inca Empire was unique in that it lacked many features associated with civilization in the Old world. In the words of one scholar, The Incas lacked the use of wheeled vehicles, the Incan economy has been described as feudal, slave, socialist. The economy functioned largely without money and without markets, instead, exchange of goods and services was based on reciprocity between individuals and among individuals, groups, and Inca rulers. Taxes consisted of an obligation of a person to the Empire. The Inca rulers reciprocated by granting access to land and goods and providing food, the Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu, the four suyu. The four suyu were, Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Qullasuyu and Kuntisuyu, the name Tawantinsuyu was, therefore, a descriptive term indicating a union of provinces. The Spanish transliterated the name as Tahuatinsuyo or Tahuatinsuyu, the term Inka means ruler or lord in Quechua and was used to refer to the ruling class or the ruling family. The Incas were a small percentage of the total population of the empire, probably numbering only 15,000 to 40,000. The Spanish adopted the term as a term referring to all subjects of the empire rather than simply the ruling class. As such the name Imperio inca referred to the nation that they encountered, the Inca people were a pastoral tribe in the Cusco area around the 12th century. Incan oral history tells a story of three caves. The center cave at Tampu Tuqu was named Qhapaq Tuqu, the other caves were Maras Tuqu and Sutiq Tuqu. Four brothers and four sisters stepped out of the middle cave and they were, Ayar Manco, Ayar Cachi, Ayar Awqa and Ayar Uchu, and Mama Ocllo, Mama Raua, Mama Huaco and Mama Qura. Out of the side caves came the people who were to be the ancestors of all the Inca clans, Ayar Manco carried a magic staff made of the finest gold. Where this staff landed, the people would live and they traveled for a long time
38.
Neo-Inca State
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The Neo-Inca State, also known as the Neo-Inca state of Vilcabamba, was the Inca state established by Inca emperor Huayna Capacs son Manco Inca Yupanqui in Vilcabamba in 1537. It is considered the remnants of the Inca Empire after the Spanish conquest and it lasted until 1572, when the last Inca stronghold was conquered, and the last ruler, Túpac Amaru, Mancos son, was captured and executed. This ended resistance to the Spanish conquest under the authority of the Inca state. During the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, Túpac Huallpa was a puppet ruler crowned by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, after his death, Manco Inca Yupanqui joined Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro in Cajamarca. When Pizarros force arrived in Cusco, he had the caciques acknowledge Manco as their Inca, Manco Inca then joined Almagro and Hernando de Soto in pursuit of Quizquiz. The Pizarro brothers so mistreated Manco Inca that he tried to escape in 1535. He failed, was captured and imprisoned, Hernando Pizarro released him to recover a golden statue of his father Huayana Capac. Only accompanied by two Spaniards, he escaped a second time. Manco then gathered an army of 100,000 Inca warriors and laid siege to Cusco in early 1536, after ten months, Manco retreated to the nearby fortress of Ollantaytambo in 1537. Here Manco repelled attacks by the Spaniards in the Battle of Ollantaytambo, Manco coordinated his siege of Cusco with one on Lima, led by one of his captains, Quiso Yupanqui. The Incans were able to defeat four relief expeditions sent by Francisco Pizarro from Lima and this resulted in the death of nearly 500 Spanish soldiers. Some Spaniards were captured and sent to Ollantaytambo, however, with the Spaniards position consolidated by Almagros reinforcements, Manco Inca decided that Ollantaytambo was too close to Cusco to be tenable so he withdrew further west. Abandoning Ollantaytambo, Manco Inca retreated to Vitcos and finally to the jungles of Vilcabamba. At Vilcabamba the state known as the Neo-Inca State was established by Manco, from there, he continued his attacks against the Wankas, having some success after fierce battles, and to the highlands of present-day Bolivia, where after many battles his army was defeated. They in turn were all killed by Mancos soldiers, Manco was succeeded by his son Sayri Tupaq. He was five years old at the time and he became Inca in Vilcabamba, reigning for ten years with the aid of regents. This was a time of peace with the Spanish, viceroy Pedro de la Gasca offered to provide Sayri Túpac with lands and houses in Cuzco if he would emerge from the isolated Vilcabamba. Sayri Túpac accepted, but during the preparations his relative Paullu Inca suddenly died and this was taken as a bad omen, and Sayri Tupac remained in Vilcabamba
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Maya civilization
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The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
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Mosquito Coast
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The Mosquito Coast, also known as the Miskito Coast, historically comprised an area along the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras. It formed part of the Western Caribbean Zone and it was named after the local Miskito Amerindians and was long dominated by British interests. The Mosquito Coast was incorporated into Nicaragua in 1894, however, in 1960, the Mosquito Coast was generally defined as the domain of the Mosquito or Miskito Kingdom and expanded or contracted with that domain. During the nineteenth century, the question of the borders was a serious issue of international diplomacy between Britain, the United States, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Conflicting claims regarding both the extent and arguable nonexistence were pursued in diplomatic exchanges. The British and Miskito definition applied to the eastern seaboard of Nicaragua and even to La Mosquitia in Honduras. The Mosquito Coast in the part of the century came to be considered as the narrow strip of territory, fronting the Caribbean Sea. It stretched inland for a distance of 60 kilometers. In the north, its boundary skirted the Wawa River, in the west, it corresponded with the limit of the Nicaraguan highlands, in the south. Before the arrival of Europeans in the region, the area was divided into a number of small, egalitarian groups, possibly speaking languages related to Sumu. Columbus visited the coast briefly in his fourth voyage, detailed Spanish accounts of the region, however, only relate to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. According to their understanding of the geography, the region was divided between two Provinces Taguzgalpa and Tologalpa, the Spanish were unable to conquer this region during the 16th century and in the 17th century sought to reduce the region through missionary efforts. These included several attempts by Franciscans between 1604 and 1612, another one led by Fray Cristóbal Martinez in 1622, and a third one between 1667 and 1675, none of these efforts resulted in any lasting success. Because the Spanish failed to have significant influence in the region and this allowed the indigenous people to continue their traditional way of life and to receive visitors from other regions. English and Dutch privateers who preyed on Spanish ships soon found refuge in the Mosquito Coast, one of the kings of this polity visited England around 1638 at the behest of the Providence Island Company, and sealed an alliance with Great Britain. In subsequent years, the kingdom stood strongly against any Spanish incursions in their region, at the very least English and French privateers and pirates did visit there, taking in water and food. Providence Island, the main base and settlement, entered into regular correspondence with the coast during the decade of company occupation. The Providence Island Company sponsored the Miskitos Kings Son visit to England during the reign of Charles I, when his father died, this son returned home and placed his country under English protection
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Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
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There was also a short-lived wartime state existing from 8 March to 22 September 1918 with the same name. Plans for it to part of the United Baltic Duchy. The area became a part of Latvia at the end of World War I, see Duchy of Courland, in 1561, during the Livonian Wars, the Livonian Confederation was dismantled and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, an order of German knights, was disbanded. On the basis of the Treaty of Vilnius, the part of Estonia. Other members of the Order became the Couronian nobility, with the fiefdoms they had hitherto held becoming their estates, in all, Kettler received nearly one-third of the land in the new duchy. Mitau was designated as the new capital and a Diet was to meet twice a year. Several parts of the Courish area did not belong to the Duchy, the Order of Livonia had already loaned the Grobiņa district to the Duke of Prussia. Another district, the Bishopric of Piltene, also called the Bishopric of Courland, belonged to Magnus and he promised to transfer it to the Duchy of Courland after his death, but this plan failed and only later did Wilhelm Kettler regain this district. Like the other members of the Order, Kettler was German, in 1570, he issued the Privilegnum Gotthardinum, which allowed the landholders to enserf the native peasantry on their lands. When Gotthard Kettler died in 1587, his sons, Friedrich and Wilhelm and they divided the Duchy into two parts in 1596. Friedrich controlled the part, Semigalia, with his residence in Mitau. Wilhelm owned the western part, Courland, with his residence in Goldingen, Wilhelm regained the Grobiņa district when he married the daughter of the Duke of Prussia. He also paid out and regained control over the Piltene district, here he developed metalworking, shipyards, and the new ships delivered the goods of Courland to other countries. However, relations between the duke and the landowners were quite hostile, in addition, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was the overlord of the Duchy of Courland, supported the landowners. Wilhelm expressed his disappointment with the landowners, but this ended with his removal from the seat in 1616. Finally, Wilhelm left Courland and spent the rest of his life abroad, thus, Friedrich became the only duke of Courland after 1616. From 1600 to 1629, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden conducted a war with its main battlefields around Riga, as the result, Sweden gained control of central and northern Latvia, which became Swedish Livonia. The Commonwealth retained the part of the Duchy of Livonia
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Monarchy of Spain
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The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as the Crown, is a constitutional institution and historic office of Spain. It used to be called the Hispanic Monarchy. The monarchy comprises the monarch, his or her family. The Spanish monarchy is represented by King Felipe VI, his wife Queen Letizia, and their daughters Leonor, Princess of Asturias, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 reestablished a constitutional monarchy as the form of government for Spain. The 1978 constitution affirmed the role of the King of Spain as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish State, constitutionally, the king is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces. According to the constitution, the monarch is also instrumental in promoting relations with the nations of its historical community, the King of Spain serves as the president of the Ibero-American States Organization, purportedly representing over 700,000,000 people in twenty-four member nations worldwide. In 2008, Juan Carlos I was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America, a dynastic marriage between Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon united Spain in the 15th century. The last pretender of the Crown of the Byzantine Empire, Andreas Palaiologos, sold his title to Ferdinand II of Aragon. However, there is no evidence that any Spanish monarch has used the Byzantine imperial titles, the Spanish Empire became one of the first global powers as Isabella and Ferdinand funded Christopher Columbuss exploratory voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. This led to the discovery of America, which became the focus of Spanish colonization, in 2010, the budget for the Spanish monarchy was 7.4 million euros, one of the lowest public expenditures for the institution of monarchy in Europe. One of the earliest influential dynasties was the House of Jiménez which united much of Christian Iberia under its leadership in the 11th century. From Sancho III of Navarre until Urraca of León and Castile, the Jiménez rulers sought to bring their kingdoms into the European mainstream and often engaged in cross-Pyrenees alliances and marriages, and became patrons to Cluniac Reforms. Urracas son and heir Alfonso VII of León and Castile, the first of the Spanish branch of the Burgundy Family, was the last to claim the title of Spain. The Castilian Civil War ended with the death of King Peter at the hands of his illegitimate half-brother Henry, Henry II became the first of the House of Trastámara to rule over a Spanish kingdom. King Peters heiress, his granddaughter Catherine of Lancaster, married Henry III, reuniting the dynasties in the person of their son, each kingdom retained its basic structure. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs conquered the Kingdom of Granada in southern Spain and this date marks the unification of Spain. The territories of the Spanish empire overseas were dependencies of the crown of Castile, in the early 16th century, the Spanish monarchy controlled several territories in Europe under the Habsburg King Charles I, son of Queen Joanna of Castile. His reign ushered in the Spanish Golden Age a period of colonial expansion
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Monarchy of Sweden
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The Monarchy of Sweden concerns the monarchical head of state of Sweden, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Kingdom of Sweden has been a monarchy since time immemorial, Sweden in the present day is a representative democracy in a parliamentary system based on popular sovereignty, as defined in the current Instrument of Government. The monarch and the members of the Royal Family undertake a variety of official, unofficial and other duties within Sweden. Carl XVI Gustaf became King on 15 September 1973 on the death of his grandfather, Sweden has been a kingdom since prehistoric times. Originally, the Swedish king had combined powers limited to that of a war chief, a judge, the Royal Court of Sweden, however, does count Olofs father as Swedens first king. The king was elected from a favored dynasty at the Stones of Mora. The ceremonial stones were destroyed around 1515 and that dynasty formed a pre-Kalmar Union Sweden into a strong state, and finally king Magnus IV even ruled Norway and Scania. Following the Black Death, the union was weakened, and Scania was reunited with Denmark. In 1397, after the Black Death and domestic power struggles, Queen Margaret I of Denmark united Sweden, Denmark, continual tension within each country and the union led to open conflict between the Swedes and the Danes in the 15th century. The unions final disintegration in the early 16th century led to prolonged rivalry between Denmark-Norway and Sweden for centuries to come. Catholic bishops had supported the King of Denmark, Christian II, Gustav Vasa was elected King of Sweden by the Estates of the Realm, assembled in Strängnäs on 6 June 1523. Inspired by the teachings of Martin Luther, Gustav I used the Protestant Reformation to curb the power of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1527 he persuaded the Estates of the Realm, assembled in the city of Västerås, to church lands. At the same time, he broke with the papacy and established a state church. Legally Sweden has only been a monarchy since 1544 when the Riksdag of the Estates, through Västerås arvförening. Crown tax revenues increased, but more importantly the new system was perceived as fairer, a war with Lübeck in 1535 resulted in the expulsion of the Hanseatic traders, who previously had had a monopoly on foreign trade. With its own burghers in charge, Swedens economic strength grew rapidly, Sweden now built the first modern army in Europe, supported by a sophisticated tax system and an efficient bureaucracy. At the death of King Gustav I in 1560, he was succeeded by his oldest son Eric XIV and his reign was marked by Swedens entrance into the Livonian War and the Northern Seven Years War
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Empire of Brazil
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The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay. Its government was a parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I. João VI later returned to Portugal, leaving his eldest son and heir, Pedro, to rule the Kingdom of Brazil as regent. On 7 September 1822, Pedro declared the independence of Brazil and, after waging a war against his fathers kingdom, was acclaimed on 12 October as Pedro I. The new country was huge but sparsely populated and ethnically diverse, the empires bicameral parliament was elected under comparatively democratic methods for the era, as were the provincial and local legislatures. This led to an ideological conflict between Pedro I and a sizable parliamentary faction over the role of the monarch in the government. The unsuccessful Cisplatine War against the neighboring United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in 1828 led to the secession of the province of Cisplatina. In 1826, despite his role in Brazilian independence, he became the king of Portugal, two years later, she was usurped by Pedro Is younger brother Miguel. Unable to deal with both Brazilian and Portuguese affairs, Pedro I abdicated his Brazilian throne on 7 April 1831, Pedro Is successor in Brazil was his five-year-old son, Pedro II. As the latter was still a minor, a regency was created. The power vacuum resulting from the absence of a monarch as the ultimate arbiter in political disputes led to regional civil wars between local factions. Brazil was victorious in three international conflicts under Pedro IIs rule, and the Empire prevailed in other international disputes. With prosperity and economic development came an influx of European immigration, including Protestants and Jews, slavery, which had initially been widespread, was restricted by successive legislation until its final abolition in 1888. Brazilian visual arts, literature and theater developed during time of progress. Although heavily influenced by European styles that ranged from Neoclassicism to Romanticism, the next in line to the throne was his daughter Isabel, but neither Pedro II nor the ruling classes considered a female monarch acceptable. Lacking any viable heir, the Empires political leaders saw no reason to defend the monarchy, the territory which would come to be known as Brazil was claimed by Portugal on 22 April 1500, when the navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on its coast. Permanent settlement followed in 1532, and for the next 300 years the Portuguese slowly expanded westwards until they had reached all of the borders of modern Brazil. In 1808, the army of French Emperor Napoleon I invaded Portugal, forcing the Portuguese royal family—the House of Braganza and they re-established themselves in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, which became the unofficial seat of the Portuguese Empire
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