Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 505,526 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Its urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits with a population of around 2.8 million people, being the 11th-most populous urban area in the European Union. About 3 million people live including the Portuguese Riviera, it is the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the River Tagus; the westernmost areas of its metro area form the westernmost point of Continental Europe, known as Cabo da Roca, located in the Sintra Mountains. Lisbon is recognised as an alpha-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group because of its importance in finance, media, arts, international trade and tourism. Lisbon is the only Portuguese city besides Porto to be recognised as a global city, it is one of the major economic centres on the continent, with a growing financial sector and one of the largest container ports on Europe's Atlantic coast.
Additionally, Humberto Delgado Airport served 26.7 million passengers in 2017, being the busiest airport in Portugal, the 3rd busiest in the Iberian Peninsula and the 20th busiest in Europe, the motorway network and the high-speed rail system of Alfa Pendular links the main cities of Portugal to Lisbon. The city is the 9th-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Rome, Barcelona, Venice, Madrid and Athens, with 3,320,300 tourists in 2017; the Lisbon region contributes with a higher GDP PPP per capita than any other region in Portugal. Its GDP amounts to thus $32,434 per capita; the city occupies the 40th place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinational corporations in Portugal are located in the Lisbon area, it is the political centre of the country, as its seat of Government and residence of the Head of State. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, one of the oldest in Western Europe, predating other modern European capitals such as London and Rome by centuries.
Julius Caesar made it. Ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, it was captured by the Moors in the 8th century. In 1147, the Crusaders under Afonso Henriques reconquered the city and since it has been a major political and cultural centre of Portugal. Unlike most capital cities, Lisbon's status as the capital of Portugal has never been granted or confirmed – by statute or in written form, its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the Constitution of Portugal. One claim repeated in non-academic literature is that the name of Lisbon can be traced back to Phoenician times, referring to a Phoenician term Alis-Ubo, meaning "safe harbour". Roman authors of the first century AD referred to popular legends that the city of Lisbon was founded by the mythical hero Odysseus on his journey home from Troy. Although modern archaeological excavations show a Phoenician presence at this location since 1200 BC, neither of these folk etymologies has any historical credibility.
Lisbon's origin may in fact derive from Proto-Celtic or Celtic Olisippo, Lissoppo, or a similar name which other visiting peoples like the Ancient Phoenicians and Romans adapted accordingly. The name of the settlement may be derived from the pre-Roman appellation for the Tagus River, Lisso or Lucio. Lisbon's name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by a native of Hispania, it was referred to as "Olisippo" by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo or Olissipona. Lisbon's name is abbreviated to'LX' or'Lx', originating in an antiquated spelling of Lisbon as ‘’Lixbõa’’. While the old spelling has since been dropped from usage and goes against modern language standards, the abbreviation is still used. During the Neolithic period, the region was inhabited by Pre-Celtic tribes, who built religious and funerary monuments, megaliths and menhirs, which still survive in areas on the periphery of Lisbon; the Indo-European Celts invaded in the 1st millennium BC, mixing with the Pre-Indo-European population, thus giving rise to Celtic-speaking local tribes such as the Cempsi.
Although the first fortifications on Lisbon's Castelo hill are known to be no older than the 2nd century BC, recent archaeological finds have shown that Iron Age people occupied the site from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. This indigenous settlement maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians, which would account for the recent findings of Phoenician pottery and other material objects. Archaeological excavations made near the Castle of São Jorge and Lisbon Cathedral indicate a Phoenician presence at this location since 1200 BC, it can be stated with confidence that a Phoenician trading post stood on a site now the centre of the present city, on the southern slope of the Castle hill; the sheltered harbour in the Tagus River estuary was an ideal spot for an Iberian settlement and would have provided a secure harbour for unloading and provisioning Phoenician ships. The Tagus settlement was an important centre of commercial trade with the inland tribes, providing an outlet for the valuable metals and salted-fish they collected, for the sale of the Lusitanian horses renowned in antiquity.
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Maria do Carmo Silveira
Maria do Carmo Trovoada Pires de Carvalho Silveira is a former Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe who served from 8 Jun 2005 to 21 Apr 2006. She was educated as an economist at the University of Ukraine and was the third governor of São Tomé and Príncipe's Central Bank from 1999 to 2005, she succeeded Carlos Quaresma Batista de Sousa and was succeeded by Arlindo Afonso Carvalho and again from 2011 as the sixth governor succeeding Luís Fernando Moreira de Sousa, she served as Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and Finance São Tomé and Príncipe from 8 June 2005 to 21 April 2006. Silveira, the country's second female Prime Minister, is a member of the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe-Social Democratic Party and was a member of the party executive board. Silveira declared that macroeconomic stability was her priority and made her mark by among others resolving the wage dispute with the unions in the public sector, securing assistance from the IMF and obtaining an agreement with Angola on cooperation in the oil sector.
Her term as Prime Minister ended after the 2006 parliamentary elections, when the opposition defeated the MLSTP-PSD, she was succeeded as Prime Minister by Tomé Vera Cruz in 2006. Politics of São Tomé and Príncipe
Evaristo Carvalho
Evaristo do Espírito Santo Carvalho is a São Toméan politician, President of São Tomé and Príncipe since 3 September 2016. He was the Prime Minister of the country on two occasions, he was Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from 7 July 1994 to 25 October 1994 and again from 26 September 2001 to 28 March 2002. He is a member of the Independent Democratic Action party. Carvalho contested the 2011 São Toméan presidential election, while he was the speaker for the National Assembly, he had been supported in his campaign by current Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada. Carvalho finished second in the first round with 21.8 percent of the vote, behind former president, Manuel Pinto da Costa. Costa was victorious in the two person runoff election, with 52.9 percent of the vote. Carvalho subsequently became vice president of the ADI. In the July 2016 presidential election, Carvalho won the most votes but fell short of a majority with 49.8 percent, so a second round runoff was held a few weeks later. However, the incumbent president, withdrew from the 7 August runoff poll, alleging fraud in the July election.
This handed the presidency to Carvalho. He was inaugurated into the role on 3 September; the election process was well received internationally, with a United States Department of State press release stating that "This election is a yet another demonstration of Sao Tome and Principe’s long-standing commitment to democratic values. Through their exemplary conduct, the people of Sao Tome and Principe continue to serve as a beacon of democracy for other countries."
Gabriel Costa
Gabriel Arcanjo Ferreira da Costa is a Santoméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from 12 December 2012 to 25 November 2014. He served as Prime Minister in 2002. Costa was Ambassador to Portugal from 2000 to 2002, he was appointed as Prime Minister to lead a coalition government in April 2002. However, he was sacked from that post on 27 September 2002 by President Fradique de Menezes after army unrest over two controversial promotions. On 3 December 2012, he was again appointed as Prime Minister by President Manuel Pinto da Costa, following the dismissal of Patrice Trovoada, who had lost his parliamentary majority
São Tomé
São Tomé is the capital and largest city of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for "Saint Thomas", it had an estimated population of 71,868 in 2015, accounting for over a third of the total population of the country. Álvaro Caminha founded the colony of São Tomé in 1493. The Portuguese came to São Tomé in search of land to grow sugarcane; the island was uninhabited before the arrival of the Portuguese sometime around 1470. São Tomé, situated about 40 kilometres north of the equator, had a climate wet enough to grow sugarcane in wild abundance; the nearby African Kingdom of Kongo became a source of slave labourers to work the sugar plantations. São Tomé is centred on a sixteenth-century cathedral, rebuilt in the 19th century. Another early building is Fort São Sebastião, now the São Tomé National Museum. On July 9, 1595, a slave revolt led by Rei Amador took control of the capital. In 1599, the Dutch took the city as well as the islands for two days; the city served as the capital of the Portuguese colony of São Tomé and Príncipe and, from São Tomé and Príncipe's independence in 1975, as capital of the sovereign nation.
Important as a port, São Tomé is located on Ana Chaves Bay in the northeast of São Tomé Island, Ilhéu das Cabras lies nearby offshore. São Tomé is located northeast of Trindade, southeast of northwest of Santana, it is linked to these towns by a highway which encircles the entire island of São Tomé. It is linked to Cape Verde by a weekly ferry. Features of the town include the Presidential Palace, the cathedral, a cinema; the city is home to schools,and middle schools, high schools, one polytechnic, two markets, three radio stations, the public television station TVSP, several clinics and hospitals, the country's main airport - São Tomé International Airport, many squares. São Tomé serves as the centre of the island's road and bus networks; the town is well known for the tchiloli playing. São Tomé is served by São Tomé International Airport with regular flights to Europe and other African Countries. São Tomé features a tropical wet and dry climate with a lengthy wet season and a short dry season.
The wet season runs from October through May. São Tomé sees on average just under 1,000 mm of precipitation per year. Temperatures in the city are constant, with average high temperatures around 30 °C and average low temperatures around 22 °C. University of São Tomé and Príncipe, formed in 2016 National Lyceum Patrice Lumumba Preparatory School National Library of São Tomé and PríncipeThe following Portuguese international schools are in the city: Escola Portuguesa de S. Tomé Instituto Diocesano de Formação João Paulo II Escola Bambino Escola Internacional de S. Tomé e Príncipe The main hospital of the country is Hospital Ayres de Menezes. Sports clubs based in the city include Sporting Praia Cruz and Vitória FC based in the neighborhood of Riboque. All clubs play at Estádio Nacional 12 de Julho. José Vianna da Motta Portuguese pianist and composer Alfredo Azancot Portuguese architect who emigrated to Chile José de Almada Negreiros Portuguese artist, created literature and painting, developed ballet choreographies Francisco José Tenreiro geographer and writer of the colonial era Alda Neves da Graça do Espírito Santo poet working in Portuguese, who served in the Santomean government after independence Guadalupe de Ceita writer and a doctor and national hero Miguel Trovoada was Prime Minister 1975–1979 and President 1991–2001 of São Tomé and Príncipe Fradique de Menezes President of São Tomé and Príncipe from 2003 to 2011 Olinda Beja poet and narrator, emigrated to Portugal and moved to Viseu Tomé Vera Cruz Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from April 2006 to February 2008 Conceição Lima poet from the town of Santana Patrice Trovoada politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe 2008 to June 2008, 2010 to December 2012 and since November 2014 Aurélio Martins journalist and politician Nuno Espírito Santo retired Portuguese footballer, head coach of English club Wolverhampton Wanderers F.
C. Naide Gomes former heptathlete and long jumper, competed in 100 metres hurdles at the 2000 Summer Olympics Lasset dos Santos, footballer Yazaldes Nascimento Portuguese athlete, runs the 100 metres, competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics Alcino Silva sprint canoer, competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Harramiz professional footballer who plays in Portugal José da Silva local footballer Buly Da Conceição Triste sprint canoeist, competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics Faduley footballer in Portugal Charles Monteiro footballer who plays in Portugal Gilson Costa Portuguese professional footballer Romário Leitão long distance runner, competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 5000 metres Gedson Fernandes Portuguese professional footballer São Tomé is twinned with: Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Luanda, Angola Libreville, Gabon Accra, Ghana Lisbon, Portugal Sao Tome and Principe at Curlie www.saotome.st - Facts about the country, how to get there, where to stay, what to do, images etc.
Local travel agency Navetur-Equatour - information&pictures http://www
Nigeria
Nigeria the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal republic in West Africa, bordering Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, Benin in the west. Its coast in the south is located on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean; the federation comprises 36 states and 1 Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The constitution defines Nigeria as a democratic secular country. Nigeria has been home to states over the millennia; the modern state originated from British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century, took its present territorial shape with the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures while practising indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms. Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960, it experienced a civil war from 1967 to 1970. It thereafter alternated between democratically elected civilian governments and military dictatorships until it achieved a stable democracy in 1999, with the 2011 presidential election considered the first to be reasonably free and fair.
Nigeria is referred to as the "Giant of Africa", owing to its large population and economy. With 186 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria has the third-largest youth population in the world, after India and China, with more than 90 million of its population under age 18; the country is viewed as a multinational state as it is inhabited by 250 ethnic groups, of which the three largest are the Hausa and Yoruba. The official language is English. Nigeria is divided in half between Christians, who live in the southern part of the country, Muslims, who live in the north. A minority of the population practice religions indigenous to Nigeria, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities; as of 2015, Nigeria is the world's 20th largest economy, worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power parity respectively. It overtook South Africa to become Africa's largest economy in 2014.
The 2013 debt-to-GDP ratio was 11 percent. Nigeria is considered to be an emerging market by the World Bank. However, it has a "low" Human Development Index, ranking 152nd in the world. Nigeria is a member of the MINT group of countries, which are seen as the globe's next "BRIC-like" economies, it is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies set to become among the biggest in the world. Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many other international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and OPEC; the name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator; the origin of the name Niger, which applied only to the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is an alteration of the Tuareg name egerew n-igerewen used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu prior to 19th-century European colonialism.
The Nok civilisation of Northern Nigeria flourished between 500 BC and AD 200, producing life-sized terracotta figures that are some of the earliest known sculptures in Sub-Saharan Africa. Further north, the cities Kano and Katsina have a recorded history dating to around 999 AD. Hausa kingdoms and the Kanem–Bornu Empire prospered as trade posts between North and West Africa; the Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people consolidated in the 10th century and continued until it lost its sovereignty to the British in 1911. Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture. Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan. Members of the clan trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri. In West Africa, the oldest bronzes made using the lost-wax process were from Igbo-Ukwu, a city under Nri influence; the Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th centuries, respectively.
The oldest signs of human settlement at Ife's current site date back to the 9th century, its material culture includes terracotta and bronze figures. Oyo, at its territorial zenith in the late 17th to early 18th centuries, extended its influence from western Nigeria to modern-day Togo; the Edo's Benin Empire is located in southwestern Nigeria. Benin's power lasted between the 19th centuries, their dominance reached further. At the beginning of the 19th century, Usman dan Fodio directed a successful jihad and created and led the centralised Fulani Empire; the territory controlled by the resultant state included much of modern-day northern and central Nigeria. For centuries, various peoples in modern-day Nigeria traded overland with traders from North Africa. Cities in the area became regional centres in a broad network of trade routes that spanned western and northern Africa. In the 16th century, Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to begin significant, direct trade with peoples of modern-day Nigeria, at the port they named Lago
Alma mater
Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university, school, or college that one attended. In US usage it can mean the school from which one graduated; the phrase is variously translated as "nourishing mother", "nursing mother", or "fostering mother", suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Fine arts will depict educational institutions using a robed woman as a visual metaphor. Before its current usage, alma mater was an honorific title for various Latin mother goddesses Ceres or Cybele, in Catholicism for the Virgin Mary, it entered academic usage when the University of Bologna adopted the motto Alma Mater Studiorum, which describes its heritage as the oldest operating university in the Western world. It is related to alumnus, a term used for a university graduate that means a "nursling" or "one, nourished". Although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele and other mother goddesses, it was not used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. In the Oxford Latin Dictionary, the phrase is attributed to Lucretius' De rerum natura, where it is used as an epithet to describe an earth goddess: After the fall of Rome, the term came into Christian liturgical usage in association with the Virgin Mary.
"Alma Redemptoris Mater" is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary. The earliest documented use of the term to refer to a university in an English-speaking country is in 1600, when the University of Cambridge printer, John Legate, began using an emblem for the university's press; the device's first-known appearance is on the title-page of William Perkins' A Golden Chain, where the Latin phrase Alma Mater Cantabrigia is inscribed on a pedestal bearing a nude, lactating woman wearing a mural crown. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is cited in 1710, when an academic mother figure is mentioned in a remembrance of Henry More by Richard Ward. Many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name; the University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. Other European universities, such as the Alma Mater Lipsiensis in Leipzig, Germany, or Alma Mater Jagiellonica, have used the expression in conjunction with geographical or foundational characteristics.
At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, an international university founded by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2010, uses the term as its official name. In the United States, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, has been called the "Alma Mater of the Nation" because of its ties to the country's founding. At Queen's University in Kingston and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the main student government is known as the Alma Mater Society; the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses. For example, in the United States: there is a well-known bronze statue of Alma Mater by Daniel Chester French situated on the steps of Columbia University's Low Library. An altarpiece mural in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library, painted in 1932 by Eugene Savage, depicts the Alma Mater as a bearer of light and truth, standing in the midst of the personified arts and sciences.
Outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. The statue was cast in 1919 by Mario Korbel, with Feliciana Villalón Wilson as the inspiration for Alma Mater, it was installed in its current location in 1927, at the direction of architect Raul Otero. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
