1.
Beer
–
Beer is the worlds oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink, it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. Most beer is flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, the fermentation process causes a natural carbonation effect, although this is often removed during processing, and replaced with forced carbonation. Beer is sold in bottles and cans, it may also be available on draught, particularly in pubs, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume, archaeologists speculate that beer was instrumental in the formation of civilisations. Approximately 5000 years ago, workers in the city of Uruk were paid by their employers in beer, the earliest known chemical evidence of barley beer dates to circa 3500–3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. The Ebla tablets, discovered in 1974 in Ebla, Syria, a fermented beverage using rice and fruit was made in China around 7000 BC. Unlike sake, mould was not used to saccharify the rice, almost any substance containing sugar can naturally undergo alcoholic fermentation. It is likely that many cultures, on observing that a liquid could be obtained from a source of starch. Bread and beer increased prosperity to a level that allowed time for development of other technologies, Beer was spread through Europe by Germanic and Celtic tribes as far back as 3000 BC, and it was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. The product that the early Europeans drank might not be recognised as beer by most people today, alongside the basic starch source, the early European beers might contain fruits, honey, numerous types of plants, spices and other substances such as narcotic herbs. What they did not contain was hops, as that was an addition, first mentioned in Europe around 822 by a Carolingian Abbot. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a scale, although by the 7th century AD, beer was also being produced. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, the development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process and greater knowledge of the results. Today, the industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies. As of 2006, more than 133 billion litres, the equivalent of a cube 510 metres on a side, of beer are sold per year, the process of making beer is known as brewing. A dedicated building for the making of beer is called a brewery, a company that makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company. Beer made on a scale for non-commercial reasons is classified as homebrewing regardless of where it is made. Brewing beer is subject to legislation and taxation in developed countries, however, the UK government relaxed legislation in 1963, followed by Australia in 1972 and the US in 1978, allowing homebrewing to become a popular hobby
2.
Heineken International
–
Heineken N. V. is a Dutch brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. As of 2017, Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries and it produces 250 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders and employs approximately 73,000 people. Heinekens Dutch breweries are located in Zoeterwoude, s-Hertogenbosch and Wijlre, the original brewery in Amsterdam, closed in 1988, is preserved as a museum called Heineken Experience. Since the merger between the two largest brewing empires in the world, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, in October 2016, the Heineken company was founded in 1864 when the 22-year-old Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought a brewery known as De Hooiberg in Amsterdam. In 1869 Heineken switched to the use of bottom-fermenting yeast, in 1873 the brewerys name changed to Heinekens Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij, and opened a second brewery in Rotterdam in 1874. In 1886 Dr. H. Elion, a pupil of the French chemist Louis Pasteur and this yeast is still the key ingredient of Heineken beer. The founders son, Henry Pierre Heineken, managed the company from 1917 to 1940, during his tenure, Heineken developed techniques to maintain consistent beer quality during large-scale production. After World War I, the company focused more and more on export, three days after Prohibition ended in the United States, the first Heineken shipment landed in New York. From that day on, Heineken has remained one of the most successful imported beer brands in the United States, Henry Pierres son, Alfred Henry Freddy Heineken, started working at the company in 1940, and in 1971 was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board. He was a force behind Heinekens continued global expansion, and while he retired from the Executive Board in 1989. During this period, Heineken tried to increase its price by purchasing competing breweries. After World War II, many breweries were bought or closed. In 1968 Heineken merged with its biggest competitor, Amstel, the Amstel brewery was closed in 1980, and its production moved to Zoeterwoude and Den Bosch. Since the merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller in October 2016, Heineken has been the second largest brewer in the world. On January 12,2010, Heineken International successfully bought the division of Mexican giant FEMSA. The company will sell its products there through FEMSA, which is the largest bottler and brewery in all of Latin America, and maker of such brands as Dos Equis XX, Bohemia and Sol. FEMSA now owns 20% of Heineken N. V. after the early 2010 all-stock deal, becoming its largest single shareholder after the Dutch families who owns 25. 83% and public shareholders owning 54. 17%. The FEMSA acquisition is expected to keep Heineken in its position by growing its market share in the Latin American markets
3.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
4.
Pale lager
–
Pale lager is a very pale-to-golden-coloured lager beer with a well attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. This approach was picked up by brewers, most notably Josef Groll of Bavaria who produced Pilsner Urquell in the city of Pilsen in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The resulting Pilsner beers – pale-coloured, lean and stable beers – were very successful, Bavarian brewers in the sixteenth century were required by law to brew beer only during the cooler months of the year. In order to have beer available during the hot months, beers would be stored in caves and stone cellars. In the period 1820–1830, a brewer named Gabriel Sedlmayr II the Younger, whose family was running the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria, when he returned, he used what he had learned to get a more stable and consistent lager beer. The new recipe of the lager beer spread quickly over Europe. Pale lagers tend to be dry, lean, clean-tasting and crisp, flavours may be subtle, with no traditional beer ingredient dominating the others. Hop character ranges from negligible to a dry bitterness from noble hops, the main ingredients are water, Pilsner malt and noble hops, though some brewers use adjuncts such as rice or corn to lighten the body of the beer. There tends to be no butterscotch flavour from diacetyl, due to the slow, cold fermentation process. In 1842 Josef Groll of Pilsen, a city in western Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic, used some of these methods to produce Pilsner Urquell and this beer proved so successful that other breweries followed the trend, using the name Pilsner. With the success of Pilsens golden beer, the town of Dortmund in Germany started brewing pale lager in 1873, as Dortmund was a major brewing centre, and the town breweries grouped together to export the beer beyond the town, the brand name Dortmunder Export became known. Today, breweries in Denmark, the Netherlands, and North America brew pale lagers labelled as Dortmunder Export, the earliest known brewing of pale lager in America was in the Old City section of Philadelphia by John Wagner in 1840 using yeast from his native Bavaria. Modern American lagers are usually made by large breweries such as Anheuser-Busch, lightness of body is a cardinal virtue, both by design and since it allows the use of a high percentage of rice or corn. Though all lagers are well attenuated, a fully fermented pale lager in Germany goes by the name Diät-Pils or Diätbier. Because the available sugars are fully fermented, dry beers often have an alcohol content. The first dry beer, Gablingers Diet Beer, was released in 1967, Owades developed an enzyme that could further break down starches, so that the finished product contained fewer residual carbohydrates and was lower in food energy. Since the 2012 revisions to the Diätverordnung, it is no longer permitted to label beer as Diät in Germany, but it may be advertised as suitable for diabetics. Prior to this change, a Diätbier could contain no more than 7.5 g of unfermented carbohydrates per liter, and this was followed by other dry beer brands such as Bud Dry, though the marketing concept was not considered a success
5.
Brewery
–
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse. The commercial brewing of beer has taken place since at least 2500 BC, in ancient Mesopotamia, brewers derived social sanction, the diversity of size in breweries is matched by the diversity of processes, degrees of automation, and kinds of beer produced in breweries. A brewery is typically divided into sections, with each section reserved for one part of the brewing process. Beer may have known in Neolithic Europe and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. In some form, it can be traced back almost 5000 years to Mesopotamian writings describing daily rations of beer and bread to workers. Before the rise of production breweries, the production of beer took place at home and was the domain of women and this industrialization of brewing shifted the responsibility of making beer to men. The oldest, still functional, brewery in the world is believed to be the German state-owned Weihenstephan brewery in the city of Freising and it can trace its history back to 1040 AD. The nearby Weltenburg Abbey brewery, can trace back its beer-brewing tradition to at least 1050 AD, the Žatec brewery in the Czech Republic claims it can prove that it paid a beer tax in 1004 AD. This layout often is preserved in breweries today, but mechanical pumps allow more flexibility in brewery design, early breweries typically used large copper vats in the brewhouse, and fermentation and packaging took place in lined wooden containers. Such breweries were common until the Industrial Revolution, when better materials became available, today, almost all brewery equipment is made of stainless steel. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, a handful of major breakthroughs have led to the modern brewery and its ability to produce the same beer consistently. The steam engine, vastly improved in 1775 by James Watt, brought automatic stirring mechanisms and it gave brewers the ability to mix liquids more reliably while heating, particularly the mash, to prevent scorching, and a quick way to transfer liquid from one container to another. Almost all breweries now use electric-powered stirring mechanisms and pumps, the steam engine also allowed the brewer to make greater quantities of beer, as human power was no longer a limiting factor in moving and stirring. Carl von Linde, along with others, is credited with developing the machine in 1871. Refrigeration allowed beer to be produced year-round, and always at the same temperature, yeast is very sensitive to temperature, and, if a beer were produced during summer, the yeast would impart unpleasant flavours onto the beer. Most brewers would produce enough beer during winter to last through the summer, the discovery of microbes by Louis Pasteur was instrumental in the control of fermentation. The idea that yeast was a microorganism that worked on wort to produce led to the isolation of a single yeast cell by Emil Christian Hansen
6.
Amsterdam
–
Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
7.
Louis Pasteur
–
Louis Pasteur was a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He is remembered for his breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of diseases. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and his medical discoveries provided direct support for the germ theory of disease and its application in clinical medicine. He is best known to the public for his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination. He is regarded as one of the three founders of bacteriology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch, and is popularly known as the father of microbiology. Pasteur was responsible for disproving the doctrine of spontaneous generation and he performed experiments that showed that without contamination, microorganisms could not develop. Under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, he demonstrated that in sterilized and sealed flasks nothing ever developed, although Pasteur was not the first to propose the germ theory, his experiments indicated its correctness and convinced most of Europe that it was true. Today, he is regarded as one of the fathers of germ theory. Pasteur also made significant discoveries in chemistry, most notably on the basis for the asymmetry of certain crystals. Early in his career, his investigation of tartaric acid resulted in the first resolution of what is now called optical isomers and his work led the way to the current understanding of a fundamental principle in the structure of organic compounds. He was the director of the Pasteur Institute, established in 1887, till his death, although Pasteur made groundbreaking experiments, his reputation became associated with various controversies. Historical reassessment of his notebook revealed that he practiced deception to overcome his rivals, Louis Pasteur was born on December 27,1822, in Dole, Jura, France, to a Catholic family of a poor tanner. He was the child of Jean-Joseph Pasteur and Jeanne-Etiennette Roqui. The family moved to Marnoz in 1826 and then to Arbois in 1827, Pasteur entered primary school in 1831. He was a student in his early years, and not particularly academic. He drew many pastels and portraits of his parents, friends, Pasteur attended secondary school at the Collège dArbois. In October 1838, he left for Paris to join the Pension Barbet, in 1839, he entered the Collège Royal de Besançon to study philosophy and earned his Bachelor of Letters degree in 1840. He was appointed a tutor at the Besançon college while continuing a degree course with special mathematics
8.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
9.
Exposition Universelle (1889)
–
The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a worlds fair held in Paris, France, from 6 May to 31 October 1889. It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event considered symbolic of the beginning of the French Revolution. The 1889 Exposition covered an area of 0.96 km2, including the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro, the quai dOrsay, a part of the Seine. Transport around the Exposition was partly provided by a 3 kilometre 600 millimetre gauge railway by Decauville and it was claimed that the railway carried 6,342,446 visitors in just six months of operation. Some of the used on this line later saw service on the Chemins de Fer du Calvados. The main symbol of the Fair was the Eiffel Tower, which served as the arch to the Fair. The 1889 fair was held on the Champ de Mars in Paris, which had been the site of the earlier Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, since the lifts had not been completed when the Exposition opened, the first visitors had to walk up to the second floor platform. Workers had worked through the night the day before the exhibition opened to complete the construction needed to safely allow patrons to set foot upon the structure. No one other than construction personnel were allowed higher than the second floor platform, an equally significant building constructed for the fair was the Galerie des machines, designed by architect Ferdinand Dutert and engineer Victor Contamin. It was reused at the exposition of 1900 and then destroyed in 1910, at 111 meters, the Galerie spanned the longest interior space in the world at the time, using a system of hinged arches made of steel or iron. Although often described as being constructed of steel, it was made of iron. There is a description, with illustrations, of the Expositions two famous buildings in the British journal Engineering. A follow-up report appears a late issue with this summation, the exhibition will be famous for four distinctive features, the 28 June issue of Engineering also mentions a remarkable Great Model of the Earth created by Theodore Villard and Charles Cotard. There were unseasonal thunderstorms in Paris during that summer of 1889, causing distress to the canopies and decoration of the exposition. The Exhibition included a building by the Paris architect Pierre-Henri Picq and this was an elaborate iron and glass structure decorated with ceramic tiles in a Byzantine-Egyptian-Romanesque style. After the Exposition the building was shipped to Fort de France and reassembled there, known as the Schoelcher Library, initially it contained the 10,000 books that Victor Schoelcher had donated to the island. Today it houses over 250,000 books and an ethnographic museum, a Negro village where 400 people were displayed constituted the major attraction. At the Exposition, the French composer Claude Debussy first heard Javanese gamelan music and this influenced some of his later compositions
10.
Label
–
A label is a piece of paper, polymer, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed directly on a container or article can also be considered labeling, methods of production and attachment to packaging are many and various and may also be subject to internationally recognised standards. In many countries, hazardous products such as poisons or flammable liquids must have a warning label, labels may be used for any combination of identification, information, warning, instructions for use, environmental advice or advertising. They may be stickers, permanent or temporary labels or printed packaging, Permanent product identification by a label is commonplace, labels need to remain secure throughout the life of the product. For example, a VIN plate on an automobile must be resistant to heat, oils and tampering, similarly, removable product labels need to bond until they are removed. For example, a label on a new refrigerator has installation, usage and environmental information, packaging may have labeling attached to or integral with the package. These may carry pricing, barcodes, UPC identification, usage guidance, addresses, advertising, recipes and they also may be used to help resist or indicate tampering or pilferage. In industrial or military environments, asset labeling is used to identify assets for maintenance. Such labels are made of engraved Traffolyte or a similar material. They are usually tamper-evident, permanent or frangible and usually contain a barcode for electronic identification using readers, for example, the US Military uses a UID system for its assets. Garments normally carry separate care/treatment labels which, in regions, are subject to legislation. These labels typically indicate how the item should be washed, whether bleach can be used, textile labels may be woven into the garment or attached, and may be heat resistant, colorfast, washable, leather or PVC/Plastic. Printed labels are an alternative to woven labels, some upholstered furniture and mattresses have labels that are required by law, describing the contents of the stuffing. Textiles containing pesticides as an ingredient may also require government approval, a label including a company name or identification number and a material content list may also be required. Mailing labels identify the addressee, the sender and any information which may be useful in transit. Many software packages such as word processor and contact manager programs produce standardized mailing labels from a set that comply with postal standards. These labels may also include routing barcodes and special handling requirements to expedite delivery, piggyback labels are made from combining two layers of adhesive substrate. The bottom layer forms the backing for the top, the label can be applied to any object as normal, the top layer can be a removable label that can be applied elsewhere, which may change the message or marking on the remaining label underneath
11.
Zoeterwoude
–
Zoeterwoude is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers 21.96 km2 of which 0.70 km2 is water and it had a population of 8,088 in 2014. The municipality of Zoeterwoude consists of Zoeterwoude-Dorp, Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk, Gelderswoude, Weipoort, Westeinde, the main brewery of Heineken International is located there. Dutch topographic map of Zoeterwoude, Sept.2014, the name Zoeterwoude is first mentioned in a document from 1205, which references a certain Florentius van Sotrewold. It is uncertain if this is a reference to the village, the first confirmed existence is from 1276 when Dirk van Santhorst received the Soetrewold fiefdom from Floris V, Count of Holland. Its municipal boundaries were set circa 1300, at that time it was one of the largest municipalities in the Netherlands, but later much land was annexed by surrounding cities, notably Leiden. In 1450, the first bridge between Leiderdorp and Zoeterwoude was built, in 1574, Zoeterwoude was burnt to the ground and its polders inundated by Leideners in order to increase the range of the citys cannons. Almost no inhabitants remained in Zoeterwoude, around 1650, Zoeterwoude had been almost rebuilt and 50 years later it was prospering. After 1800, Leiden started a series of annexations, reducing the land area of Zoeterwoude. In 1960, the A4 motorway was built and since 1966 it has been the boundary between Leiden and Zoeterwoude
12.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
