1.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Lithuania
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
4.
Regions of Lithuania
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Lithuania can be divided into historical and cultural regions. The exact borders are not fully clear, as the regions are not official political or administrative units and they are delimited by culture, such as country traditions, traditional lifestyle, songs, tales, etc. To some extent regions correspond to the zones of Lithuanian language dialects and this correspondence, however, is by no means strict. For example, although the Dzūkian dialect is called South Aukštaitian, in certain parts of some regions, dialects of other regions are spoken, while for example in Samogitia, there are three indigenous dialects, some of which are subdivided into subdialects. No region, except for Samogitia, has ever been a political or an administrative entity and this project is also supported by the fact that with the limited functions of counties,10 of them are not needed for Lithuania. Another supporting argument is that in other historical territories are being revived. The project was supported by the former president Rolandas Paksas, yet now it is not clear when or if the project will be completed at all. However, Dzūkija quite recently adopted the coat of arms and emblem which would be used in case the reform were to be implemented, Alytus County, which lies almost entirely within Dzūkija, adopted soon thereafter a coat of arms that is based on the Dzūkija coat of arms. Samogitia has a flag and a coat of arms dating from the time of the Duchy of Samogitia, Lithuania Minor has a flag used since the 17th century, and an anthem originating from the 19th century. The relatively small remaining part is also populated mostly by relative newcomers, therefore, Lithuania minor would probably be attached to Samogitia. Despite the fact that the regions are not political/administrative entities, most regions have their capitals and these cities are not necessarily the largest in the region. Region in northeastern Lithuania, also some historical Lithuanian territories of southwestern Latvia. Capital Panevėžys, it is also largest city of region, capital is Telšiai, largest city is Šiauliai. Region in the southeast of Lithuania, also includes vast historically Lithuanian territories of Belarus, capital is Alytus, largest city is Vilnius. Region in the southwest of Lithuania, the smallest ethnographic region, capital is Marijampolė, largest city - Kaunas. Region at the Baltic sea coast, also includes territories with large historical Lithuanian population of what is now Kaliningrad Oblast, counties of Lithuania Ethnographic Lithuania Geography of Lithuania Historical regions of Central Europe
5.
Lithuania Minor
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Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, later East Prussia in Germany, where Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai lived. Lithuania Minor enclosed the northern part of province and got its name due to the territorys substantial Lithuanian-speaking population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, the land became depopulated to some extent during the warfare between Lithuania and the Order. Today a small portion of Lithuania Minor is within the borders of modern Lithuania, although hardly anything remains of the original culture due to the expulsion of Germans after World War II, Lithuania Minor has made an important contribution to Lithuanian culture as a whole. Those include notable names like Abraomas Kulvietis and Martynas Mažvydas, during the years of the Lithuanian press ban, most of the Lithuanian books printed using the Latin alphabet were published in Lithuania Minor. The term Lithuania Minor applied to the part of the former province of East Prussia. It was first mentioned as Kleinlittaw in the Prussian Chronicle of Simon Grunau at the beginning of the 16th century and was repeated by another Prussian chronicler. The term Lithuania Minor was first applied during the 19th century and used widely during the 20th century, mostly among historians. Thus, the territory of Lithuania Minor has been understood differently by different parties, it could be, the Lithuanian Province was named Klein Litau, Klein Litauen, Preussisch Litthauen, Little Lithuania, Litvania in the maps of Prussia since 1738. The official use of the concepts Prussian Lithuania etc. decreased considerably from the reform of 1815-18. The area of Lithuania Minor embraced the land between the lower reaches of the river Dangė to the north and the headstreams of the river Prieglius to the south. The region embraced about 11400 km², the broader understanding of Lithuania Minor includes the area west from the Alna and south form the lower reaches of the Prieglius and the Sambian Peninsula, making up 17-18 thousand km² in total. The former ethnic region of Lithuania Minor belongs to different states today, although now divided among countries, Lithuania Minor had been intact formerly, all these areas were once part of Prussia and thus politically separated from the Lithuanian nation. Prior to 1918, all of Lithuania Minor was part of the Kingdom of Prussias province of East Prussia and it was a region outside of Lithuanian state, inhabited by a large population of Prussian Lithuanians. The ethnic Lithuanian-Prussians were Protestants in contrast to the inhabitants of Lithuania Major, giving the Prussian Lithuanian name first and followed by the German name, the major cities in former Lithuania Minor were Klaipėda and Tilžė. Other towns include Ragainė, Šilokarčema, renamed to Šilutė, Gumbinė, Įsrutis, the territory, which was given the denomination Lithuania Minor in the 16th century, was not alien to Lithuanians ethnically as well as politically in earlier times. It had once been subject to Mindaugas Lithuania in the 13th century. Later, captured and ruled by the Teutonic Knights, the land was reckoned, what is recorded in the historical sources, the territory of western Lithuania started to be threatened by the Livonian order from the north and Teutonic Knights from the south in the 13th century
6.
Counties of Lithuania
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The territory of Lithuania is divided into 10 counties, all named after their capitals. The counties are divided into 60 municipalities,9 city municipalities,43 district municipalities and 8 municipalities, each municipality is then divided into elderates. This division was created in 1994 and slightly modified in 2000, on 1 July 2010, the county administrations were abolished, and since that date, counties remains as the territorial and statistical units. Until 2010 counties were administered by county governors appointed by the government in Vilnius. Their primary duty was to ensure that the municipalities obey the laws and they did not have great powers vested in them, and so it was suggested that 10 counties are too much for Lithuania as the two smallest counties administer only four municipalities. Modern apskritys should not be confused with apskritys that existed in the independent Lithuania during the interwar period, at that time Lithuania had a two-step administrative division, apskritys that were subdivided into valsčius. Lithuania now has a division, counties, municipalities. See subdivisions of Lithuania for details and this map shows counties as well as municipalities. Eight city municipalities and two municipalities are marked by numbers, Administrative divisions of Lithuania Municipalities Elderships
7.
Capital (political)
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A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
8.
Magdeburg rights
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Named after the German city of Magdeburg, these town charters were perhaps the most important set of medieval laws in Central Europe thus far. They became the basis for the German town laws developed during many centuries in the Holy Roman Empire, in medieval Poland, Jews were invited along with German merchants to settle in cities as part of the royal city development policy. Jews and Germans were sometimes competitors in those cities, Jews lived under privileges that they carefully negotiated with the king or emperor. They were not subject to city jurisdiction and these privileges guaranteed that they could maintain communal autonomy, live according to their laws, and be subjected directly to the royal jurisdiction in matters concerning Jews and Christians. Other provisions frequently mentioned were a permission to sell meat to Christians, external merchants coming into the city were not allowed to trade on their own, but instead forced to sell the goods they had brought into the city to local traders, if any wished to buy them. Being a member of the Hanseatic League, Magdeburg thus was one of the most important trade cities also, maintaining commerce with the Low countries, the Baltic states, in these lands they were mostly known as German or Teutonic law. The Law of Magdeburg implemented in Poland was different from its original German form and it was combined with a set of civil and criminal laws, and adjusted to include the urban planning popular across Western Europe – which was based on the ancient Roman model. Polish land owners used the location known as settlement with German law across the country usually with no German settlers present. Meanwhile, the people often ignorant of the actual German text. The advantages were not only economic, but also political, members of noble families were able to join the city patriciate usually unchallenged. In the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, the first town to receive the Magdeburg rights was Székesfehérvár in 1237, followed by, towns and cities including Bardejov, Buda, Bratislava and Košice adopted the Southern German Nuremberg town rights, rather than the Magdeburg rights. German town law Kulm law Lübeck law Danzig law
9.
Elderships of Lithuania
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A seniūnija is the smallest administrative division of Lithuania. An eldership could either be a small region consisting of few villages, one single town. Elderships vary in size and population depending on their place and nature, a few elderships make up a municipality. Šilainiai and Dainava are the most populous elderates, with population counts over 70,000, elderships manage small scale local matters, such as repairing pavements, dirt roads, keeping records on all families living in the eldership. Its premise is that unlike with higher administrative divisions, an elder could have time to talk to every person in the eldership who wants to, modern Lithuania is divided into 10 counties,60 municipalities, and 546 elderships. In cities, an elder is elected to each eldership district, note, historically the term was used for significantly bigger administrative units, e. g. Eldership of Samogitia. Terms Ward Parish Subdistrict Lithuania Administrative divisions of Lithuania Counties Municipalities Seniūnaitija Cities Towns A GUIDE TO THE LITHUANIAN LEGAL SYSTEM AND RESEARCH
10.
Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people
11.
Eastern European Time
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Eastern European Time is one of the names of UTC+02,00 time zone,2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The zone uses daylight saving time, so that it uses UTC+03,00 during the summer, a number of African countries use UTC+02,00 all year long, where it is called Central Africa Time, although Egypt and Libya also use the term Eastern European Time. The following countries, parts of countries, and territories use Eastern European Time all year round, Egypt, since 21 April 2015, used EEST from 1988–2010, Kaliningrad Oblast, since 26 October 2014, also used EET in years 1945 and 1991–2011. Libya, since 27 October 2013, switched from Central European Time, used year-round EET from 1980–1981, 1990–1996 and 1998–2012. Belarus, in years 1922–30 and 1990–2011 In Poland this time was used in years 1918–22, in time of World War II, Germany implemented MET in east occupied territories. Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol used EET as part of Ukraine in years 1991-94 and 1996-2014 Turkey, used EET in years 1910-1978, now uses year round DST timezone called Further-eastern European Time or Turkey Time. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also uses FET, sometimes, due to its use on Microsoft Windows, FLE Standard Time or GTB Standard Time are used to refer to Eastern European Time. Since political, in addition to geographical, criteria are used in the drawing of time zones. The EET time zone, were it drawn by purely geographical terms, the easternmost part of the Republic of Macedonia, including the city of Strumica. The absolutely easternmost part of Serbia, in the Pirot District, the easternmost town in Norway, Vardø, lies at 30°51 E, which is located east of even of the central meridian of UTC+2, i. e. east of Istanbul and Alexandria. The Norwegian-Russian border is the place where CET borders Moscow time. There is a point at the Norway-Finland-Russia tripoint, near the town of Rayakoski. Belarus is located between 23°11′E and 32°47′E and is fully located with the physical UTC+2 area, but it uses UTC+3 year around. This also includes the city of Anapa, at the westernmost tip of the Krasnodar Krai near the entrance to the Sea of Azov, the Norway–Russia–Finland tri-zone point at Muotkavaara is surrounded by three different times in winter, two in summer. It had three time zones year-around before 2014, two of the four tripoints of Belarus and the tripoint of the Kaliningrad Region are surrounded by three different times in winter
12.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
13.
Eastern European Summer Time
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Eastern European Summer Time is one of the names of UTC+3 time zone,3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries. During the winter periods, Eastern European Time is used, since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, previously the rules were not uniform across the European Union. Syria, since 1983 Ukraine, Moscow Summer Time in years 1981–89, regular EEST from 1992 In one year 1991 EEST was used also in Moscow, egypt has previously used EEST from 1957–2010 and 2014–2015. Turkey, has previously used EEST from 1970-1978 EEST, Moscow Summer Time from 1979–1983, and EEST from 1985-2016
14.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
15.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
16.
Baltic Sea
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The Baltic Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, enclosed by Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic countries, and the North European Plain. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, the sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. The Baltic Sea is connected by waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal. Traffic history Historically, the Kingdom of Denmark collected Sound Dues from ships at the border between the ocean and the land-locked Baltic Sea and they were collected in the Øresund at Kronborg castle near Helsingør, in the Great Belt at Nyborg. In the Little Belt, the site of intake was moved to Fredericia, the narrowest part of Little Belt is the Middelfart Sund near Middelfart. Oceanography Geographers widely agree that the physical border of the Baltic is a line drawn through the southern Danish islands, Drogden-Sill. The Drogden Sill is situated north of Køge Bugt and connects Dragør in the south of Copenhagen to Malmö, it is used by the Øresund Bridge, including the Drogden Tunnel. By this definition, the Danish Straits are part of the entrance, but the Bay of Mecklenburg, another usual border is the line between Falsterbo, Sweden and Stevns Klint, Denmark, as this is the southern border of Øresund. Its also the border between the shallow southern Øresund and notably deeper water, hydrography and biology Drogden Sill sets a limit to Øresund and Darss Sill, and a limit to the Belt Sea. The shallow sills are obstacles to the flow of salt water from the Kattegat into the basins around Bornholm. The Kattegat and the southwestern Baltic Sea are well oxygenated and have a rich biology, the remainder of the Sea is brackish, poor in oxygen and in species. While Tacitus called it Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people called the Suebi, the origin of the latter name is speculative. Adam of Bremen himself compared the sea with a belt, stating that it is so named because it stretches through the land as a belt and he might also have been influenced by the name of a legendary island mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder. Pliny mentions an island named Baltia with reference to accounts of Pytheas and it is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia in On the Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from belt and mean near belt of sea, meanwhile, others have suggested that the name of the island originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel meaning white, fair. This root and its meaning were retained in both Lithuanian and Latvian. On this basis, a related hypothesis holds that the name originated from this Indo-European root via a Baltic language such as Lithuanian, yet another explanation is that the name originally meant enclosed sea, bay as opposed to open sea. Some Swedish historians believe the name derives from the god Balder of Nordic mythology, in the Middle Ages the sea was known by variety of names
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Recorded history
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Recorded history or written history is a historical narrative based on a written record or other documented communication. Recorded history can be contrasted with other narratives of the past, for broader world history, recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC, and coincides with the invention of writing. Examples of written texts, however, can be found dating as far back as 1750 BCE in Ancient Mesopotamia, for some geographic regions or cultures, written history is limited to a relatively recent period in human history because of the limited use of written records. Because of these limits, recorded history in different contexts may refer to different periods of time depending on the historical topic. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a method for interpreting recorded history is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology. Prehistory traditionally refers to the span of time before recorded history, prehistory refers to the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. Protohistory refers to the period between prehistory and history, after the advent of literacy in a society but before the writings of the first historians. Protohistory may also refer to the period during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing. Early examples are the Jiahu symbols, Vinča signs, early Indus script, earliest recorded history, which varies greatly in quality and reliability, deals with Pharaohs and their reigns, made by ancient Egyptians. Much of the earliest recorded history was re-discovered relatively recently due to archaeological dig sites findings, since these initial accounts, a number of different traditions have developed in different parts of the world in how to handle the writing and production of historical accounts. In China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script which was deciphered, the Zuo Zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BCE, is the earliest written of narrative history in the world and covers the period from 722 to 468 BCE. The Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and it is traditionally attributed to Confucius. Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical compilation of materials on the Warring States period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era, Herodotus of Halicarnassus has generally been acclaimed as the father of history composing his The Histories written from 450s to the 420s BCE. However, his contemporary Thucydides is credited with having first approached history with a historical method in his work the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, saint Augustine was influential in Christian and Western thought at the beginning of the medieval period. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, history was studied through a sacred or religious perspective
18.
Treaty of Versailles
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The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers and it was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I signed separate treaties, although the armistice, signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919 and this article, Article 231, later became known as the War Guilt clause. The treaty forced Germany to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions, in 1921 the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion marks. On the other hand, prominent figures on the Allied side such as French Marshal Ferdinand Foch criticized the treaty for treating Germany too leniently, although it is often referred to as the Versailles Conference, only the actual signing of the treaty took place at the historic palace. Most of the negotiations were in Paris, with the Big Four meetings taking place generally at the Quai dOrsay, the First World War was fought across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Countries beyond the war zones were also affected by the disruption of trade, finance. In 1917, two revolutions occurred within the Russian Empire, which led to the collapse of the Imperial Government, the American war aim was to detach the war from nationalistic disputes and ambitions after the Bolshevik disclosure of secret treaties between the Allies. The existence of these treaties tended to discredit Allied claims that Germany was the power with aggressive ambitions. On 8 January 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson issued a statement that became known as the Fourteen Points and this speech outlined a policy of free trade, open agreements, democracy and self-determination. After the Central Powers launched Operation Faustschlag on the Eastern Front and this treaty ended the war between Russia and the Central powers and annexed 1,300,000 square miles of territory and 62 million people. During the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse, desertion rates within the German army began to increase, and civilian strikes drastically reduced war production. On the Western Front, the Allied forces launched the Hundred Days Offensive, sailors of the Imperial German Navy at Kiel mutinied, which prompted uprisings in Germany, which became known as the German Revolution. The German government tried to obtain a settlement based on the Fourteen Points. Following negotiations, the Allied powers and Germany signed an armistice, the terms of the armistice called for an immediate evacuation of German troops from occupied Belgium, France, and Luxembourg within fifteen days. In addition, it established that Allied forces would occupy the Rhineland, in late 1918, Allied troops entered Germany and began the occupation. Both the German Empire and Great Britain were dependent on imports of food and raw materials, primarily from the Americas, the Blockade of Germany was a naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers to stop the supply of raw materials and foodstuffs reaching the Central Powers
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1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
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1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania was an oral ultimatum presented to Juozas Urbšys, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, on 20 March 1939. The Germans demanded that Lithuania give up the Klaipėda Region, which had detached from Germany after World War I. After years of rising tension between Lithuania and Germany, increasing pro-Nazi propaganda in the region, and continued German expansion, the ultimatum was issued just five days after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. The four signatories of the 1924 Klaipėda Convention, which had guaranteed the protection of the status quo in the region, the United Kingdom and France followed a policy of appeasement, while Italy and Japan openly supported Germany. Lithuania was forced to accept the ultimatum on 22 March, for Germany it was the last territorial acquisition before World War II, for Lithuania it was a major downturn in economy and morale, for Europe it was further escalation in pre-war tensions. Klaipėda, an important seaport in East Prussia, was detached from Germany by Article 28 of the Treaty of Versailles and was governed by the Allies according to Article 99, Poland also laid claim to the territory. Soviet Russia and Germany supported the action, the region, as an autonomous territory with its own parliament, was attached to Lithuania. The region covered about 2,400 km² and had a population of approximately 140,000, during the 1920s, Lithuania and Germany maintained a relatively normal relationship as they were united by anti-Polish sentiment. In January 1928, after long and difficult negotiations, Germany and Lithuania signed a border treaty, however, tensions began rising in the 1930s after the Weimar Republic was replaced with Nazi Germany. An especially tense period came in February 1934 when the Lithuanian government arrested dozens of pro-Nazi activists, in response to these arrests and trials, Germany declared a boycott of Lithuanian agricultural imports. The boycott caused a crisis in Suvalkija, where farmers organized violent protests. However, after the plebiscite in Saar most of the prisoners received amnesty. In the wake of the amnesties, Lithuanian prestige suffered both abroad and in Klaipėda, allowing Germany to strengthen its influence in the region, in the spring of 1938 Adolf Hitler personally stated that gaining Klaipėda was one of his highest priorities, second only to gaining the Sudetenland. Its points were worded in a vague manner, which would enable Germany to accuse Lithuania of violations. Lithuania chose to postpone dealing with the problem, hoping that the situation would improve. In the meantime it hoped to give the German population no reasons for complaint and this tactic did not prove successful, pro-Nazi propaganda and protests were rampant, even among the Lithuanian population, and the local government was powerless to prevent them. The Nazis physically harassed Lithuanian organizations, on 1 November 1938 Lithuania was pressured into lifting martial law and press censorship. During the December elections to the Klaipėda Parliament, pro-German parties received 87% of votes in the Klaipėda territory, dr. Ernst Neumann, the chief defendant in the 1934 trials, was released from prison in February 1938 and became the leader of Klaipėdas pro-German movement
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Resort
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A resort is a self-contained commercial establishment that endeavors to provide most of a vacationers wants, such as food, drink, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term resort may be used for a property that provides an array of amenities, typically including entertainment. A hotel is frequently a central feature of a resort, such as the Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island, some resorts are also timeshare or fractionally owned, or wholly owned condominium complexes. A resort is not always a commercial establishment operated by a single company, commonly these facilities are of higher quality than would be expected if one were to stay at a hotel or eat in a towns restaurants. Closely related to these resorts are convention and large meeting sites, generally these occur in cities where special meeting halls, together with ample accommodations as well as varied dining and entertainment, are provided. An all-inclusive resort charges a price that includes most or all items. At a minimum, most inclusive resorts include lodging, unlimited food, drink, sports activities, all-inclusive resorts are found in the Caribbean, particularly in Dominican Republic, Egypt, and elsewhere. Many also offer sports and other included in the price as well. They are often located in warmer regions, the all-inclusive model originated in the Club Med resorts, which were founded by the Belgian Gérard Blitz. Some all-inclusive resorts are designed for specific vacation interests, for example, certain resorts cater to adults, while even more specialized properties accept couples only. Other all-inclusive resorts are geared toward families, with facilities like craft centers, game rooms, all-inclusive resorts are also very popular locations for destination weddings. A spa resort is a short term residential/lodging facility with the purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters, golf resorts are resorts that cater specifically to the sport of golf, and include access to one or more golf course and or clubhouse. Golf resorts typically provide golf packages that provide visitors with all greens and cart fees, range balls, accommodations, in North America a ski resort is generally a destination resort in a ski area. Ski resort is less likely to refer to a town or village, a megaresort is a type of destination resort which is of an exceptionally large size, such as those along the Las Vegas Strip. In Singapore integrated resort is a euphemism for a destination resort. A holiday village is a type of self-contained resort in Europe, a holiday camp in the United Kingdom refers to a resort where the accommodation is in chalets. The term holiday park is used for a resort where the accommodation includes static caravans, there are 1500+ timeshare resorts in the U. S. that are operated by major hospitality, timeshare-specific, or independent companies
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Nida, Lithuania
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Nida is a resort town in Lithuania, the administrative centre of Neringa municipality. It currently has about 1,650 residents, a settlement area of the Baltic Curonians, the original place called nida was first mentioned in 1385 documents issued by the Teutonic Knights, who ruled the lands within their Monastic State. The original settlement on the road along the Curonian Spit from Königsberg to Memel was located about 5 km south of its todays position near the Hohe Düne at Cape Grobštas. The fishing village part of the Duchy of Prussia in 1525. In 1709 nearly all of the population died from a bubonic plague epidemia, continuously threatened by sand drifts, the village was moved away from the approaching dune to todays position in the 1730s. Incorporated into the Prussian Province of East Prussia in 1773, it part of the German Empire upon the German unification of 1871. In 1874 a lighthouse on Urbas hill was built, later destroyed in the war, from the late 19th century, the dune landscape became popular with landscape and animal painters from the Kunstakademie Königsberg arts school. The local inn of Herman Blode was the nucleus of the expressionist artists colony, lovis Corinth sojourned there, as did Max Pechstein, Alfred Lichtwark, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Alfred Partikel. Painters from Königsberg such as Julius Freymuth and Eduard Bischoff visited the area, as did poets such as Ernst Wiechert, other guests included Ernst Kirchner, Ernst Mollenhauer, Franz Domscheit, and Herrmann Wirth. The painters usually took accommodations at Blodes hotel, and left some of their works with him, some also built their own residences in the vicinity. After World War I Nidden, together with the half of the Curonian Spit. Officially renamed Nida, the village remained a predominantly German settlement. He and his family spent the summers of 1930–32 in the cottage, threatened by the Nazis due to his political views, Mann left Germany after Hitlers Machtergreifung in 1933 and eventually emigrated to the United States. After the Klaipėda Region was again annexed by Germany in 1939, his house was seized at the behest of Hermann Göring, in 1939 the town had 736 inhabitants. In the early period, Nida was a little-visited fishing village. Strict planning regulations, a ban on development and generous municipal subsidies kept it unspoiled. Since independence, the area has been open to all, but the number of visitors is kept low by the small number of hotel rooms. Manns summer cottage survived the war and was preserved on the initiative of the Lithuanian poet Antanas Venclova, a first memorial site was inaugurated already in 1967
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Curonian Spit
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The Curonian Spit is a 98 km long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia and its northern within southwestern Lithuania and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by the two countries. The Curonian Spit stretches from the Sambian Peninsula on the south to its northern tip next to a narrow strait, the northern 52 km long stretch of the Curonian Spit peninsula belongs to Lithuania, while the rest is part of the Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The width of the spit varies from a minimum of 400 m in Russia to a maximum of 3,800 m in Lithuania, the Curonian Spit was formed about 3rd millennium BC. A glacial moraine served as its foundation, winds and sea currents later contributed enough sand to raise, the existence of this narrow shoal is inherently threatened by the natural processes that govern shoreline features. It depends on a balance between sand transport and deposition. If the source area to the south-west were cut off, say, by a large port construction with a pier and it is thus a geologically speaking ephemeral coast element. The most likely development, however, is that the bay inside the Curonian Spit will eventually fill up with sediment. According to Baltic mythology, the Curonian Spit was formed by a giantess, Neringa and this child also appears in other myths. From ca.800 to 1016, the Spit was the location of Kaup, the Teutonic Knights occupied the area in the 13th century, building their castles at Memel, Neuhausen, and at Rossitten. The Spit may have been the home of the last living speaker of a now-extinct Baltic language, significant human impacts on the area began in the 16th century. Deforestation of the due to overgrazing, timber harvesting, and building of boats for the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf in 1757 led to the dunes taking over the spit. Alarmed by these problems, the Prussian government sponsored large-scale revegetation and reforestation efforts, other sources credit George David Kuwert, the owner of a post station in Nida in the late 19th century with beginning the spit’s reforestation. Owing to these efforts, much of the spit is now covered with forests, in the 19th century the Curonian Spit was inhabited primarily by Curonians with a significant German minority in the south and a Lithuanian minority in the north. The population of Curonians eventually dwindled due to assimilation and other reasons, it is close to non-existent these days and even before 1945, from the late 19th century, the dune landscape around Nidden became popular with landscape and animal painters from the Kunstakademie Königsberg arts school. The local inn of Herman Blode was the nucleus of the expressionist artists colony, lovis Corinth stayed here in 1890, followed by artists such as Max Pechstein, Alfred Lichtwark, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Alfred Partikel. Painters from Königsberg such as Julius Freymuth and Eduard Bischoff visited the area, as did poets like Ernst Wiechert, other guests included Ernst Kirchner, Ernst Mollenhauer, Franz Domscheit, and Herrmann Wirth. The painters usually took accommodations at Blodes hotel, and left some of their works with him, some also built their own residences in the vicinity
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Palanga
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Palanga is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. It is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has beaches of sand and sand dunes, officially Palanga has the status of a city municipality and includes Šventoji, Nemirseta, Būtingė and other settlements, which are considered as part of the city of Palanga. According to a legend, there was a shrine at the foot of a hill in Palanga where a beautiful priestess named Birutė used to tend the ceremonial fires. Having heard of Birutės beauty, Kęstutis, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and it is written in the Lithuanian Bychowiec Chronicle that Birutė did not consent, and answered that she had promised the gods to remain a virgin as long as she lived. Kęstutis then resorted to take her by force, and with great pomp brought her back to his capital, Trakai, Kęstutis was later murdered and Birutė returned to Palanga and resumed serving at the shrine until her death. The legend claimed that she was buried in the hill which is now named after her, not far from Šventoji, archaeologists discovered an encampment which indicates that the area was inhabited some 5,000 years ago. Between the 10th and 13th centuries Palanga had been one of the settlements of Mēguva Land. Situated upon the trail of the ancient Amber Road, it became a center of trade, in historical documents the name of Palanga was first mentioned in 1161 when the King Valdemar I of Denmark disembarked there with his army and captured the castle of the Curonians. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the inhabitants of Palanga had to confront the Teutonic Knights in the south and their adversaries were unable to achieve their goal of capturing the Lithuanian sea-coast from Klaipėda to Šventoji. Although Klaipėda passed into the hands of the German feudal lords under the Treaty of Melno, in 1422, Palanga, the two towns gradually developed into harbours and even greater centers of trade. British merchants established enterprises in Šventoji in 1685, during the Great Northern War, the Swedish Army ravaged Palanga, destroyed the harbour at Šventoji, and blocked up the entrance with rocks in 1701. Palanga was purchased in 1824 by Count Michał Tyszkiewicz and his grandson Józef Tyszkiewicz built a pier and engaged ships to transport passengers and bricks to nearby Liepāja. Palanga began to develop as a resort in the early 19th century, the pier has been a favourite spot for taking a stroll and other recreation since 1892. Józef Tyszkiewiczs son, Feliks Tyszkiewicz, commissioned the construction of the neo-renaissance Tiškevičiai Palace, the French landscape architect Édouard André designed a large park around the palace, between 1897 and 1907. The palace became a gathering place for concert performances. Amongst the good friends and associates of Feliks Tyszkiewicz was the notary, following the Lithuanian press ban of 1864, Palanga became an important location for the smuggling of Lithuanian publications from the west. The Rev. Marcijonas Jurgaitis, physician Liudas Vaineikis, and notary Jonas Kentra, after Kentra obtained official permission, a public performance featuring the comedy, Amerika pirtyje, was performed in the Lithuanian language. This had previously not been permitted, however, later the Tsarist authorities deported Vaineikis and twenty-five other people to Siberia in 1901
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Teutonic Order
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The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious order founded as a military order in the 12th century in Acre. Purely religious since 1929, it still confers limited honorary knighthoods, the order was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Formed in the year 1190 in Acre, in the Levant, after Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend the South-Eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against the Kipchaks. Starting from there, the Order created the independent Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, adding continuously the conquered Prussians territory, the Order theoretically lost its main purpose in Europe with the Christianization of Lithuania. However, it initiated numerous campaigns against its Christian neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic. The Teutonic Knights had an economic base, and so hired mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies. In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald, however, the capital of the Teutonic Knights was successfully defended in the following Siege of Marienburg and the Order was saved from collapse. In 1515, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I made an alliance with Sigismund I of Poland-Lithuania. Thereafter, the empire did not support the Order against Poland, in 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism, becoming Duke of Prussia as a vassal of Poland. Soon after, the Order lost Livonia and its holdings in the Protestant areas of Germany, the Order did keep its considerable holdings in Catholic areas of Germany until 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. However, the Order continued to exist as a charitable and ceremonial body and it was outlawed by Adolf Hitler in 1938, but re-established in 1945. Today it operates primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe, the Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms, the motto of the Order was, Helfen, Wehren, Heilen. The full name of the Order in German is Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem or in Latin Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum, thus, the term Teutonic refers to the German origins of the order in Latin. It is commonly known in German as the Deutscher Orden, historically also as Deutscher Ritterorden, Deutschherrenorden, Deutschritterorden or Die Herren im weißen Mantel. However, based on the model of the Knights Templar, it was transformed into an order in 1198. It received papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Christianity, during the rule of Grand Master Hermann von Salza the Order changed from being a hospice brotherhood for pilgrims to primarily a military order. The Order was founded in Acre, and the Knights purchased Montfort, northeast of Acre, the Order also had a castle at Amouda in Armenia Minor
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Curonians
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The Kursenieki are also known as Curonians. They gave their name to the region of Courland, and they spoke the Old Curonian language, Curonian lands were conquered by the Livonian Order in 1266 and they eventually merged with other Baltic tribes participating in the ethnogenesis of Lithuanians and Latvians. Direct descendants of the Curonians include the Kuršininkai of the Curonian Spit, ethnic origin of the Curonians has been disputed in the past. Until the middle of the 20th century, they were considered a Finnic tribe akin to the Livonians. This was traditionally the consensus of the Estonian historians, while the Latvian historians regarded the Curonians as Baltic, since the 20th century, most sources refer to the Curonians as a Baltic tribe. Some researchers place the Curonians to the eastern Baltic group, however, others hold that the Curonians were related to Old Prussians who belonged into western Baltic group. The Curonians were known as warriors, excellent sailors and pirates. They were involved in wars and alliances with Swedish, Danish. During that period they were the most restless and the richest of all the Balts,750, according to Norna-Gests þáttr saga from c. Grobin was the centre of the Curonians during the Vendel Age. Chapter 46 of Egils Saga describes one Viking expedition by the Vikings Thorolf, according to some opinions, they took part in attacking Swedens main city Sigtuna in 1187. Curonians established temporary settlements near Riga and in regions including eastern Sweden. The Curonians had a warrior culture and are considered to be eastern Baltic by some researchers. The Curonians were a religious people, worshipping pagan gods and their sacred animal. In c.1075 Adam of Bremen described the Curonians in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum as world famous pagan diviners, gold is very plentiful there, the horses are of the best. All the houses are full of pagan soothsayers, diviners, and necromancers, oracular responses are sought there from all parts of the world, especially by Spaniards and Greeks. It was common for the Curonians to carry out joint raids, linguist Eduard Vääri argues that it is possible that Curonians were Baltic Finns. The attested local Finnic language, Livonian, may be the source of Finnic elements in Curonian, during the Livonian crusade, Curonians formed an alliance with the Semigallians, resulting in a joint attack against Riga in 1228
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Vytautas
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Vytautas, also known as Vytautas the Great from the 15th century onwards, was one of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians. He was also the Prince of Hrodna, Prince of Lutsk, in modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revered as a national hero and was an important figure in the national rebirth in the 19th century. Vytautas is a male given name in Lithuania. In commemoration of the 500-year anniversary of his death, Vytautas Magnus University was named after him, monuments in his honour were built in many towns in the independent Republic of Lithuania during the interwar period, from 1918–1939. Vytautas uncle Algirdas had been Grand Duke of Lithuania until his death in 1377, Algirdas and Vytautas father Kęstutis had practically ruled jointly, with Algirdas governing the east and Kęstutis the west, primarily responsible for defense against the Teutonic Order. Algirdas was succeeded by his son Jogaila, and a struggle for power ensued, in 1380, Jogaila signed the secret Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teutonic Order against Kęstutis. When Kęstutis discovered this in 1381, he seized Vilnius, imprisoned Jogaila, however, Jogaila escaped and raised an army against Kęstutis. The two sides confronted each other but never engaged in battle, Kęstutis was ready to negotiate, but he and Vytautas were arrested and transported to Kreva Castle. One week later, Kęstutis was found dead, whether he died of natural causes or was murdered is still a matter of debate. In 1382, Vytautas escaped from Kreva and he sought help from the Teutonic Order, who were negotiating with Jogaila at the time. Jogaila and the Order agreed to the Treaty of Dubysa, by which Jogaila promised to accept Christianity, become an ally of the Order, however, the treaty was never ratified. In summer 1383, the war between Jogaila and the Order resumed, Vytautas was baptised as a Catholic, receiving the name of Wigand. Vytautas participated in raids against Jogaila. In January 1384, Vytautas promised to cede part of Samogitia to the Teutonic Order, however, in July of the same year, Vytautas broke with the Order and reconciled with Jogaila. He then burned three important Teutonic castles, and regained all Kęstutis lands, except for Trakai, in 1385, Jogaila concluded the Union of Krewo with Poland, under which he married Jadwiga of Poland and became King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. Vytautas participated in the Union and in 1386 was re-baptised as a Catholic, Jogaila left his brother Skirgaila as regent in Lithuania. However, Skirgaila was unpopular with the people and Vytautas saw an opportunity to become Grand Duke, in 1389, he attacked Vilnius but failed. In early 1390, Vytautas again allied with the Teutonic Order, Vytautas had to confirm his agreement of 1384, and cede Samogitia to the Order
27.
Treaty of Melno
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The Treaty of Melno or Treaty of Lake Melno was a peace treaty ending the Gollub War. It was signed on 27 September 1422, between the Teutonic Knights and an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Lake Melno, east of Graudenz. A portion of the original border partially survives as the border between the Republic of Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, making it one of the most stable national borders in Europe. The First Peace of Thorn of 1411 did not resolve long-standing territorial disputes between the Teutonic Knights and the Polish–Lithuanian union, the peace transferred Samogitia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but only for the lifetimes of Polish King Jogaila and Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas. At the time both rulers were aged men, soon disagreements arose as to the Samogitian borders, Vytautas claimed that the entire northern bank of the Neman River, including the port of Memel, was Samogitian territory. The dispute was mediated at the Council of Constance and by Sigismund, when Sigismund delivered an unfavorable judgment to the Lithuanians, Jogaila and Vytautas invaded the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in July 1422, starting the Gollub War. The Teutonic Knights, led by Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf, were unable to mount a suitable defense, however Poland–Lithuania decided to end the conflict before reinforcements from the Holy Roman Empire could arrive through Farther Pomerania. A truce was signed on 17 September 1422, each side named eight representatives, gave them full authority to negotiate, and sent them to the Polish Army camp near Lake Melno. The Treaty of Melno was concluded ten days later, on 27 September, according to the terms of the treaty, the Teutonic Knights for the first time renounced all territorial, political, and missionary claims against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Samogitia was permanently ceded to Lithuania, the Prussian–Lithuanian border ran from sparsely inhabited wilderness in Suvalkija, through the triangle north of the Neman River, to Nemirseta on the Baltic Sea. Thus the Knights still controlled Nemans lower reaches and Memel, an important seaport, Lithuania retained access to the Baltic Sea between the towns of Palanga and Šventoji – a distance of about 15 kilometres. However, Lithuania failed to develop harbors in Palanga or Šventoji as there were competition with the nearby established ports Memel and Libau. Thus it could not be considered a real access to the sea, for the Knights this short coastline strip was a major sacrifice as it separated the Teutonic Knights in Prussia from their branch in Livonia. The treaty is often described as a mutual Prussian–Lithuanian compromise and these results were described as a disappointment for Poland. At the time of the treaty, the parties did not have their official seals, Grand Master Rusdorf attempted to exploit the recess and renegotiate the treaty because his subjects were not satisfied with the terms. He hoped to wage a war with assistance from the Holy Roman Emperor and this meant that Vytautas had to abandon his interventions in Bohemia. The agreement was signed on 30 March 1423, the Treaty of Melno was subsequently ratified on 9–18 May in Veliuona and approved by Pope Martin V on 10 July 1423. Poland–Lithuania affixed some 120 official seals to the treaty, the first Lithuanian signatories were voivode of Vilnius Albertas Manvydas, starosta of Vilnius Kristinas Astikas, voivode of Trakai Jonas Jaunius, elder of Samogitia Mykolas Skirgaila
28.
Samogitian dialect
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Samogitian is a dialect of the Lithuanian language, considered a separate language by some, spoken mostly in Samogitia. The Samogitian language, heavily influenced by Curonian, originated from the East Baltic proto-Samogitian dialect which was close to Aukštaitian dialects. During the 5th century, Proto-Samogitians migrated from the lowlands of central Lithuania, near Kaunas, into the Dubysa and Jūra basins and they displaced or assimilated the local, Curonian-speaking Baltic populations. Further north, they displaced or assimilated the indigenous, Semigallian speaking peoples, assimilation of Curonians and Semigallians gave birth to the three Samogitian subdialects, Dounininkų, Donininkų and Dūnininkų. In the 13th century, Žemaitija became a part of the Baltic confederation called Lietuva, Lithuania conquered the coast of the Baltic sea from the Livonian order. The coast was populated by Curonians, but became a part of Samogitia, from the 13th century onwards, Samogitians settled within the former Curonian lands, and intermarried with that population over the next three hundred years. The Curonians had a cultural influence upon Samogitian and Lithuanian culture. Its dying language has influenced the dialect, in particular phonetics. The earliest writings in Samogitian language appeared in the 19th century, retraction of stress shortening of ending -as to -s like in Latvian and Old Prussian as well as various other features not listed here. The Samogitian dialect is highly inflected like standard Lithuanian, in which the relationships between parts of speech and their roles in a sentence are expressed by numerous flexions, There are two grammatical genders in Samogitian – feminine and masculine. Relics of historical neuter are almost fully extinct while in standard Lithuanian some isolated forms remain and those forms are replaced by masculine ones in Samogitian. Samogitian stress is mobile but often retracted at the end of words, Samogitian has a broken tone like the Latvian and Danish languages. The circumflex of standard Lithuanian is replaced by a tone in Samogitian. It has five noun and three adjective declensions, noun declensions are different from standard Lithuanian. There are only two verb conjugations, all verbs have present, past, past iterative and future tenses of the indicative mood, subjunctive and imperative moods and infinitive. The formation of past iterative is different from standard Lithuanian, There are three numbers in Samogitian, singular, plural and dual. Dual is almost extinct in standard Lithuanian, the third person of all three numbers is common. Samogitian as the standard Lithuanian has a rich system of participles, which are derived from all tenses with distinct active and passive forms
29.
Curonian language
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The Curonian language, or Old Curonian, is a nearly unattested extinct language spoken by the Curonians, a Baltic tribe who inhabited the Courland Peninsula and the nearby Baltic shore. Old Curonian disappeared in the course of the 16th century, leaving substrata in western dialects of the Latvian and Lithuanian, no written documents in this language are known, but some ancient Lithuanian texts from western regions show some Curonian influence. Historian Marika Mägi proposes that Curonian was not originally seen as ethnic, but social category, depicting Eastern Baltic seafarers and she believes that early meaning of the name also included Finnic tribes living in northern Curonia and Saaremaa. Marika Mägi sees origin of the Curonian name in Finnic word kura, meaning something bad, despiteful, linguist Eduard Vääri Curonians argues that it is possible that Curonians were Baltic Finns. Amateur historian Edgar V. Saks has pointed out several Curonian words, for example, a treaty from 1230 calls Curonian administrative divisions kiligunden and the Curonian army maleva. The elder who signed the treaty was named Lammechinus, self-denomination of Curonians, kure, according to Saks, means crane in Estonian. The attested local Finnic language, Livonian, may be the source of Finnic elements in Curonian, holzner- Verlag Kitzingen/ Main 1953 Bd
30.
Neman
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It begins at the confluence of two smaller tributaries, about 15 kilometers southwest of the town of Uzda in central Belarus, and about 55 km southwest of Minsk. In its lower reaches it forms the border between Lithuania and Russias Kaliningrad Oblast and it also, very briefly, forms part of the border between Lithuania and Belarus. The fourteenth-largest river in Europe, the largest in Lithuania, and the third-largest in Belarus, the Neman is navigable for most of its 900 km length. The Neman/Nemunas river basin formed during the Quaternary period, and is located roughly along the edge of the last glacial sheet and its depth varies from 1 meter in its upper courses to 5 meters in the lower basin. From west to east, the largest settlements are Sovetsk/Tilsit, Neman/Ragnit, Kaunas, Alytus, Druskininkai, Grodno, the total length of the Nemunas/Neman is 914 km. It is the 14th longest river in Europe and the 4th longest in the Baltic Sea basin, over its entire length,436 km flows in Belarus and 359 km in Lithuania. A116 km stretch is the border between Lithuania and Russias Kaliningrad oblast and its greatest depth is 5 m, and at its widest it extends about 500 m. The Nemunas/Neman is a river, it flows at about 1 to 2 m/s. During floods, water discharge can increase up to 11-fold, to more than 6,800 m3/s, severe floods occur on the lower reaches of the river about every 12 –15 years, which sometimes wash out bridges. The Nemunas/Neman is an old river, dating back to the last glacial period and its valley is now up to 60 meters deep and 5 km broad. It has about 105 first-class tributaries, the largest being the rivers Neris, Shchara, fifteen of the tributaries are longer than 100 km. In the complete Nemunas/Neman basin, there are tributaries extending to the 11th order, the Nemunas basin in Lithuania drains more than 20,000 rivers and rivulets and covers 72% of Lithuanias territory. The total area of the Nemunas/Neman basin is 98,200 km2,34,610 km2 of which are within Belarus, valley of Neman in Grodno Region is the lowest point above sea level in Belarus at 80 to 90 m. The river has lent its name to a Neolithic subculture, originally based on hunting, fishing, the city of Memel, now in Lithuania, is known today as Klaipėda. On German road maps and in German lexika, only the 112-kilometer section within Prussia was named Memel, the border between the State of the Teutonic Order and Lithuania was fixed in 1422 by the Treaty of Lake Melno and remained stable for centuries. The Treaty of Tilsit between Napoleon and Czar Alexander I was signed on a raft in the river in 1807, napoleons crossing at the outset of the 1812 French invasion of Russia is described in War and Peace. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles made the river the border separating the Memel Territory from German East Prussia as of 1920, at that time, Germanys Weimar Republic adopted the Deutschlandlied as its official national anthem. In the first stanza of the song, written in 1841, Lithuanian and Polish literature often mention the Nemunas
31.
Skalvians
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The Scalovians, also known as the Skalvians, Schalwen and Schalmen, were a Baltic tribe related to the Prussians. According to the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of Peter of Dusburg, the now extinct Scalovians inhabited the land of Scalovia south of the Curonians and Samogitians and this region is located at both sides of the river Memel north of Nadruvians and south of Samogitia. In the North-East it stretched to rivers Šešupė, Ežeruona and Jūra, in the East it bordered on Sudovia, in the North-West on river Minija, in the West on the Curonian Lagoon and in the South-West on river Gilija. The center were the towns of Rusnė, Ragainė and Tilžė, the meaning is uncertain, skalwa splinter or skalauti between waters. According to Prussian legends, the name is derived from one of the sons of King Waidewuto named Schalauo. The inhabitants can be traced back to burial grounds with cremated remains, judging from the diggings, Scalovians are assumed to have been related to other Western Balts such as Curonians and more distantly to Prussians. Typical Scalovian sepulchral relics are found in Strewa, Skomanten, Jurgaiten, Nikeln, Paulaiten, Wilku Kampas, the center of Scalovia was the castle of Ragnit. Peter von Dusburg told about a castle which could not be conquered by force or starvation because the inhabitants of the stronghold had put in an artificial lake. The conquerors had to burn down the castle, in 1276-1277, Scalovia was subjugated by the Teutonic Knights. In the chronicles of the Knights were mentioned the nobles Sarecka, Surbantas, Svirdotas, in 1281, Jondele Schalwithe got the first Landesprivileg, and in 1289 the castle of order Ragnit was built. Lithuanian immigrants were Sipe and the brothers Pogins and Skirgaila, in 1411, a campaign of the Samogitians under their leader Rumbaudas Valimantaitis against the castles of Ragnit, Tilsit and Splitter is testified. The last mention of the Scalovians was between 1542 and 1563, auflage 1998 Lepa, Gerhard, Die Schalauer, Die Stämme der Prußen, Tolkemita-Texte 52, Dieburg 1997 Matulaitis, K. A. Volkssagen Ostpreußens, Litthauens und Westpreußens, Berlin 1837, S.10 Trautmann, Reinhold, streitberg Festgabe Leipzig 1924, S.355 ff
32.
Kursenieki
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For the extinct Baltic tribe, see Curonians. The Kuršininkai are a nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group living along the Curonian Spit, Kuršininkai refers only to inhabitants of Lithuania and former East Prussia that speak a Latvian language dialect. Autochthonous inhabitants of Palanga in Lithuania call themselves kuršininkai as well, in scientific Lithuanian literature, the name kuršininkai is used to distinguish them from the Curonian tribe. Similarly in Latvian kursenieki is used exclusively by scientists to distinguish them from the Curonian tribe. On the other hand, Kuršininkai should not be confused with Kurzemnieki, Kuršininkai are often considered descendants of the extinct Curonian tribe. The Kuršininkai/Kursenieki have never designated themselves as Latvians and their own language was called Curonian language, from a linguistic point of view, it is a dialect of Latvian. In German and Latvian writings of the 19th century, Kuršinikai sometimes are called Prussian Latvians, Kuršininkai were loyal to Germany and identified themselves as German citizens and ethnic Kuršininkas. The origin of the Kuršininkai is unclear, one version says that they are indigenous descendants of the Curonian tribe who lived there since antiquity, at least along the Curonian Spit. During the conquest of the Old Prussians and Curonians by the Teutonic Knights, in the process of various migrations of the 14th-17th centuries, Curonians from Courland settled near Memel, along the Curonian Spit, and in Sambia. They preserved the old self-designation of Curonians, while Curonians who stayed in Courland became Latvians, the Kuršininkai were assimilated by Germans, except along the Curonian Spit where some still live. Until 1945, several places in Sambia were named after Kuršininkai, including Cranzkuhren, Neukuhren, Gross Kuhren, in 1649 Kuršininkai lived from Memel to Danzig. In the end of the 19th century the number of Kuršininkai was around 4,000 persons. Kuršininkai were considered Latvians after World War I when Latvia gained independence from the Russian Empire and this consideration was based on linguistic arguments and was the rationale for Latvian claims over the Curonian Spit, Memel, and some other territories of East Prussia. In 1923 the newly created Memel Territory separated the Curonian Spit in two parts and this separation interrupted contacts between Kuršininkai. In 1933 Latvia tried to establish a center for Kuršininkai of the Curonian Spit where the majority of them lived. Latvian books that were sent to Kuršininkai were confiscated and accused of communist propaganda, near the end of World War II, the majority of Kuršininkai fled from the Red Army during the evacuation of East Prussia. Kuršininkai that remained behind were subsequently expelled by the Soviet Union after the war, some Kuršininkai managed to return to their homes after the war, but only 219 lived along the Curonian Spit in 1955. Many had German names such as Fritz or Hans, a cause for anti-German discrimination, Russian settlers called the Kuršininkai fascists, while Lithuanian settlers called them Prussians
33.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
34.
Balts
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One of the features of Baltic languages is the number of conservative or archaic features retained. German medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen in the part of the 11th century CE was the first writer to use the term Baltic in its modern sense to mean the sea of that name. This is the first reference to the Baltic or Barbarian Sea, the Germanics, however, preferred some form of East Sea until after about 1600, when they began to use forms of Baltic Sea. Around 1840 the German nobles of the Governorate of Livonia devised the term Balts to mean themselves and they spoke an exclusive dialect, Baltic German. For all practical purposes that was the Baltic language until 1919, scandinavians begin settling in Western Baltic lands in Lithuania and Latvia during Vendel Age and with interruptions their presence in Baltic lands continued most of Viking Age. In 1845 Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann proposed a language group for Latvian and Lithuanian to be called Baltic. It found some credence among linguists but was not generally adopted until the creation of the Baltic states as part of the settlement of World War I in 1919, estonia and Finland, however, also became counted among the Baltic states in the geopolitical sense. Because the thousands of lakes and swamps in this area contributed to the Balts geographical isolation and it is possible that around 3, 500–2,500 B. C. there was massive migration of peoples representing the Corded Ware culture. They came from the southeast and spread all across Eastern and Central Europe and it is believed that Corded Ware culture peoples were Indo-European ancestors of many Europeans, including Balts. It is thought that those Indo-European newcomers were quite numerous and in the Eastern Baltic assimilated earlier indigenous cultures, over time the new people formed the Baltic peoples and they spread in the area from the Baltic sea in the west to the Volga in the east. This information is summarized and synthesized by Marija Gimbutas in The Balts to obtain a likely proto-Baltic homeland, a possible early reference to a Baltic people occurs in 98 CE, when Tacitus names a tribe living near the Baltic Sea as the Aesti and describes them as amber gatherers. However, it is not clear if the Aesti mentioned by Tacitus were, a Baltic people, or, the Aesti appear to have inhabited the Sambian peninsula (in or near the present Kaliningrad Oblast. Over time, the area of Baltic habitation shrank, due to assimilation by other groups, finally, according to Slavic chronicles of the time, they warred with Slavs, and perhaps, were defeated and assimilated some time in the 11th to 13th centuries. Balts became differentiated into Western and Eastern Balts in the late centuries BCE, the eastern Baltic region was inhabited by ancestors of the Western Balts, Brus/Prūsa, Sudovians/Jotvingians, Scalvians, Nadruvians, and Curonians. The Eastern Balts, including the hypothesised Dniepr Balts, were living in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, many other Eastern and Southern Balts either assimilated with other Balts, or Slavs in the 4th–7th centuries and were gradually slavicized. Gradually Old Prussians became Germanized or some Lithuanized during period from the 15th to the 17th centuries, the cultures of the Lithuanians and Latgalians/Latvians survived and became the ancestors of the populations of the modern countries of Latvia and Lithuania. Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct Western Baltic languages and it is more distantly related to the surviving Eastern Baltic languages, Lithuanian and Latvian. Compare the Prussian word seme, the Latvian zeme, the Lithuanian žemė, Old Prussian contained a few borrowings specifically from Gothic and even North Germanic
35.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
36.
Haakon IV of Norway
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Haakon Haakonsson, sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his son with the same name, and known in modern regnal lists as Haakon IV, was the King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald I, Haakon was born into the troubled civil war era in Norway, but his reign eventually managed to put an end to the internal conflicts. At the start of his reign, during his minority, his later rival Earl Skule Bårdsson served as regent, as a king of the birkebeiner faction, Haakon defeated the uprising of the final bagler royal pretender, Sigurd Ribbung, in 1227. He put an end to the civil war era when he had Skule Bårdsson killed in 1240. Haakon thereafter formally appointed his own son as his co-regent, under Haakons rule, medieval Norway is considered to have reached its zenith or golden age. His reputation and formidable naval fleet allowed him to maintain friendships with both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, despite their conflict. He was at different points offered the Imperial Crown by the Pope, the Irish High Kingship by a delegation of Irish kings, and the command of the French crusader fleet by the French king. He amplified the influence of European culture in Norway by importing and translating contemporary European literature into Old Norse, the main source of information concerning Haakon is the Saga of Haakon Haakonsson which was written in the immediate years following his death. Commissioned by his son Magnus, it was written by the Icelandic writer, having come into conflict with the royal representative in Iceland, Sturla came to Norway in 1263 in an attempt to reconcile with Haakon. When he arrived, he learned that Haakon was in Scotland, while Magnus initially took an unfriendly attitude towards Sturla, his talents as a story-teller and skald eventually won him the favour of Magnus and his men. It is nonetheless written openly in support of the program of the House of Sverre. Haakon was born in Folkenborg to Inga of Varteig in the summer of 1204, Haakon Sverresson was dead by the time his son Haakon was born, but Ingas claim was supported by several of Haakon Sverressons followers. Haakon was born in bagler-controlled territory, and his mothers claim placed them in a dangerous position. While the bagler started hunting Haakon, a group of birkebeiner warriors fled with the child in the winter of 1205/06, heading for King Inge Bårdson, the new birkebeiner king in Nidaros. As the party was struck by a blizzard, two of the best birkebeiner skiers, Torstein Skevla and Skjervald Skrukka, carried on with the child over the mountain from Lillehammer to Østerdalen. They eventually managed to bring Haakon to safety with King Inge, in the saga, Haakon is described as bright and witty, and as being small for his age. When he was three years old, Haakon was captured by the bagler but refused to call the bagler king Philip Simonsson his lord and he subsequently identified his attorney as God and Saint Olaf. Haakon was notably the first Norwegian king to receive education at a school
37.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
38.
Sambia Peninsula
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Sambia or Samland or Kaliningrad Peninsula is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon, the Vistula Lagoon, the Pregel River, as Samland is surrounded on all sides by water, it is technically an island. Prior to 1945 it formed an important part of East Prussia, Sambia is named after the Sambians, an extinct tribe of Old Prussians. Samland is the name for peninsula in the Germanic languages, polish and Latin speakers call the area Sambia, while the Lithuanian name is Semba. Sambia was originally populated by the Sambians. Settlers from the Holy Roman Empire began colonizing the region, the peninsula was the last area in which the Old Prussian language was spoken before becoming extinct at the beginning of the 18th century. The peninsula became part of the Duchy of Prussia when Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, the Margraviate of Brandenburg inherited the duchy in 1618, and its Hohenzollern ruler proclaimed the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. Sambia became part of the Province of East Prussia in 1773, after World War I Sambia formed part of the East Prussian province of Weimar Germany. In 1945 after World War II, the Soviet Union annexed northern East Prussia, including Sambia, Sambia became part of the Soviet Kaliningrad Oblast, named after the nearby city of Kaliningrad, and the new authorities expelled its German inhabitants. The Soviet Union gradually repopulated the Kaliningrad Oblast, including Sambia, until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, much of the district was a closed military area. The Kuršininkai were eventually assimilated by the Germans, except along the Curonian Spit where some still live, the Kuršininkai were considered Latvians until after World War I when Latvia gained independence from the Russian Empire, a consideration based on linguistic arguments. This was the rationale for Latvian claims over the Curonian Spit, Memel, baedeker describes Samland as a fertile and partly-wooded district, with several lakes, lying to the north of Königsberg. The highest point,360 feet, is twelve miles north of Pereslavskoe at the ski resort then called the Galtgarben. There also used to be a Samland railway station, as of 2010 the Pereslavskoe railway station serves the Blue Arrow railway line from Kaliningrad to Svetlogorsk. Sambia includes two famous seaside resorts, Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk, Amber has been found in the area for over two thousand years, especially on the coast near Kaliningrad. History and legends tell of the ancient trade routes known as the Amber Road leading from the Old Prussian settlements of Kaup and Truso southwards to the Black and Adriatic seas. In Imperial Germany, the right to collect amber was restricted to the Hohenzollern dynasty, beginning in the 19th century, amber was mined on an industrial scale by the Germans before 1945 and by the Soviets / Russians thereafter at Yantarny. Amber Coast Curonian Lagoon Curonian Spit Vistula Lagoon
Lithuania
listen (help·info); Samogitian name: Klaipieda, Polish name: Kłajpeda, German name: Memel), is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County.
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Klaipeda travel guide from Wikivoyage
