1.
United Methodist Church
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The United Methodist Church is a mainline Protestant denomination, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor—the Methodist Church—was a leader in Evangelicalism and it was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, United States, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the movement of John. As such, the theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces both liturgical and evangelical elements and it has a connectional polity, a typical feature of a number of Methodist denominations. The United Methodist Church, with at least 12 million members as of 2014, is the largest denomination within the wider Methodist movement of approximately 80 million people across the world. In the United States, the UMC ranks as the largest mainline Protestant denomination, the largest Protestant church after the Southern Baptist Convention, and the third largest Christian denomination. In 2014, its membership was distributed as follows,7.2 million in the United States. It is a member of the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, the movement which would become The United Methodist Church began in the mid-18th century within the Church of England. A small group of students, including John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield and they focused on Bible study, methodical study of scripture and living a holy life. Other students mocked them, saying they were the Holy Club, eventually, the so-called Methodists started individual societies or classes for members of the Church of England who wanted to live a more religious life. In 1735, John and Charles Wesley went to America, hoping to teach the gospel to the American Indians in the colony of Georgia, instead, John became vicar of the church in Savannah. His preaching was very legalistic and full of rules. After two years in America, he returned to England dejected and confused, Peter believed a person is saved solely through the grace of God and not by works, and John had many conversations with Peter about this topic. On May 25,1738, after listening to a reading of Martin Luthers preface to Romans, John finally understood that his works could not save him. For the first time in his life, he felt complete peace, in less than two years, the Holy Club disbanded. John Wesley met with a group of clergy, the ministers retained their membership in the Church of England. Though not always emphasized or appreciated in the Anglican churches of their day, their teaching emphasized salvation by Gods grace, three teachings they saw as the foundation of Christian faith were, People are all by nature dead in sin and consequently, children of wrath
2.
Financial endowment
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A financial endowment is a donation of money or property to a nonprofit organization for the ongoing support of that organization. An endowment may come with stipulations regarding its usage, the total value of an institutions investments is often referred to as the institutions endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust. Among the institutions that commonly manage endowments are academic institutions, cultural institutions, service organizations, the earliest endowed chairs were those established by the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius in Athens in AD176. Aurelius created one endowed chair for each of the schools of philosophy, Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism. Later, similar endowments were set up in other major cities of the Empire. Today, the University of Glasgow has fifteen Regius Professorships, private individuals soon adopted the practice of endowing professorships. Isaac Newton held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge beginning in 1669, unrestricted endowment can be used in any way the recipient chooses to carry out its mission. Term endowment funds stipulate that all or part of the principal may be expended only after the expiration of a period of time or occurrence of a specified event. Quasi endowment funds must retain the purpose and intent as specified by the donor or source of the original funds, Endowment revenue can be restricted by donors to serve many purposes. Endowed professorships or scholarships restricted to a subject are common. Ignoring the restriction is called invading the endowment, but change of circumstance or financial duress like bankruptcy can preclude carrying out the donors intent. A court can alter the use of restricted endowment under a doctrine called cy-près meaning to find an alternative as near as possible to the donors intent, the restricted/unrestricted distinction focuses on the use of the funds, see quasi-endowment below for a distinction about whether principal can be spent. Academic institutions, such as colleges and universities, will control a endowment fund that finances a portion of the operating or capital requirements of the institution. In addition to an endowment fund, each university may also control a number of restricted endowments that are intended to fund specific areas within the institution. The most common examples are endowed professorships, and endowed scholarships or fellowships, in the United States, the endowment is often integral to the financial health of educational institutions. Alumni or friends of institutions sometimes contribute capital to the endowment, the endowment funding culture is strong in the United States and Canada but less pronounced overseas, with the exceptions of Cambridge and Oxford universities. Endowment funds have also created to support secondary and elementary school districts in several states in the United States. An endowed professorship is a position permanently paid for with the revenue from an endowment fund set up for that purpose
3.
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
4.
Postgraduate education
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In North America, this level is generally referred to as graduate school. The organization and structure of education varies in different countries. This article outlines the types of courses and of teaching and examination methods. There are two types of degrees studied for at the postgraduate level, academic and vocational degrees. The term degree in this means the moving from one stage or level to another. University studies took six years for a degree and up to twelve additional years for a masters degree or doctorate. The first six years taught the faculty of the arts, which was the study of the seven liberal arts, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic, the main emphasis was on logic. Once a Bachelor of Arts degree had been obtained, the student could choose one of three faculties—law, medicine, or theology—in which to pursue masters or doctors degrees. Because theology was thought to be the highest of the subjects, the main significance of the higher, postgraduate degrees was that they licensed the holder to teach. In most countries, the hierarchy of postgraduate degrees is as follows, in Scottish Universities, the Master of Philosophy degree tends to be by research or higher masters degree and the Master of Letters degree tends to be the taught or lower masters degree. In many fields such as social work, or library science in North America. Professional degrees such as the Master of Architecture degree can last to three and a years to satisfy professional requirement to be an architect. Professional degrees such as the Master of Business Administration degree can last up to two years to satisfy the requirement to become a business leader. These are often divided into academic and professional doctorates. An academic doctorate can be awarded as a Doctor of Philosophy degree or as a Doctor of Science degree, a doctorate is the terminal degree in most fields. In the United States, there is distinction between a Doctor of Philosophy degree and a Doctor of Science degree. In the second half of the 19th century, however, US universities began to follow the European model by awarding doctorates, in the UK, an equivalent formation to doctorate is the NVQ5 or QCF8. Most universities award degrees, usually at the postgraduate level
5.
Annville Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
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Annville Township is a township and census-designated place in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,767 at the 2010 census, Annville Township was divided into North Annville Township and South Annville Township in 1845. In 1912, the new Annville Township was formed between the two to encompass the town of Annville, Annville Township is located at 40°19′49″N 76°30′45″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has an area of 1.6 square miles. Annville has a continental climate and is classified Dfa on Köppen climate classification. Annville gets warm to hot summers and cold winters, winters bring 40 of snow annually. The township is bordered to the north and west by North Annville Township, to the south and west by South Annville Township, as of the census of 2000, there were 4,518 people,1,452 households, and 917 families residing in the township. The population density was 2,864.6 people per square mile, there were 1,556 housing units at an average density of 986. 6/sq mi. The racial makeup of the township was 95. 40% White,1. 08% African American,0. 02% Native American,1. 24% Asian,0. 11% Pacific Islander,0. 97% from other races, and 1. 17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 79% of the population,29. 1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the family size was 2.87. In the township the population was out, with 16. 3% under the age of 18,31. 2% from 18 to 24,23. 1% from 25 to 44,15. 9% from 45 to 64. The median age was 28 years, for every 100 females there were 88.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males, the median income for a household in the township was $37,415, and the median income for a family was $44,737. Males had an income of $35,057 versus $23,458 for females. The per capita income for the township was $16,586, about 1. 5% of families and 6. 3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3. 6% of those under age 18 and 6. 0% of those age 65 or over. Annville Fire Department, an all volunteer department that houses Engine 5, Rescue 5, Truck 5, Utility 5. Hill Farm Estate, former home of Aaron S. Kreider, businessman and shoe manufacturer and member of the U. S. House of Representatives, currently a retirement Home
6.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
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Lebanon County is a county located in the U. S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 133,568, the county was formed from portions of Dauphin and Lancaster counties in 1813, with minor boundary revisions in 1814 and 1821. Lebanon County comprises the Lebanon, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Harrisburg-York-Lebanon. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 362 square miles. It is drained by Swatara Creek and its branches and it consists in large part of a valley. The population density was 332 people per square mile, there were 49,320 housing units at an average density of 136 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 94. 46% White,1. 29% Black or African American,0. 13% Native American,0. 89% Asian,0. 04% Pacific Islander,2. 26% from other races, and 0. 94% from two or more races. 4. 96% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,45. 6% were of German,11. 8% American and 6. 1% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. 92. 5% spoke English,4. 2% Spanish and 1. 1% Pennsylvania Dutch as their first language,25. 20% of all households were made up of individuals and 11. 10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the family size was 2.98. In the county, the population was out with 23. 70% under the age of 18,8. 20% from 18 to 24,28. 00% from 25 to 44,23. 70% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 95.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.70 males, the United States Office of Management and Budget has designated Lebanon County as the Lebanon, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 U. S. Census the metropolitan area ranked 16th most populous in the State of Pennsylvania, the Combined Statistical Area ranked 5th in the State of Pennsylvania and 43rd most populous in the United States with a population of 1,219,422. The county is divided into the 6th congressional district, represented by Ryan Costello, Republican, all of the county falls within the 48th Pennsylvania Senatorial District. The seat is held by State Sen. Mike Folmer. The county is divided into the 101st, 102nd and 104th Pennsylvania House Districts. and East Hanover Twp. is represented by Republican Sue Helm, the county is governed by three commissioners, who are elected every four years from a slate of four candidates. Other elected officials include County Controller, Sheriff, Coroner, Prothonotary and Clerk of Court, Recorder of Deeds, County Treasurer, as of November 2008, there are 82,394 registered voters in Lebanon County
9.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
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Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 49,673, it is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth and it lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River,107 miles west of Philadelphia. The Harrisburg-York-Lebanon, PA Combined Statistical Area is made up of six counties in south central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg played a notable role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. The U. S. Navy ship USS Harrisburg, which served from 1918 to 1919 at the end of World War I, was named in honor of the city. The Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest free indoor agriculture exposition in the United States, was first held in Harrisburg in 1917 and has held there every early-to-mid January since then. Harrisburg is also known for the Three Mile Island accident, which occurred on March 28,1979 near Middletown, in 2010 Forbes rated Harrisburg as the second best place in the U. S. to raise a family. Despite the citys recent financial troubles, in 2010 The Daily Beast website ranked 20 metropolitan areas across the country as being recession-proof, the financial stability of the region is in part due to the high concentration of state and federal government agencies. The finances of the city however, were poorly managed. Harrisburgs site along the Susquehanna River is thought to have been inhabited by Native Americans as early as 3000 BC, in 1719, John Harris, Sr. an English trader, settled here and 14 years later secured grants of 800 acres in this vicinity. In 1785, John Harris, Jr. made plans to lay out a town on his fathers land, in the spring of 1785, the town was formally surveyed by William Maclay, who was a son-in-law of John Harris, Sr. In 1791, Harrisburg became incorporated, and in October 1812 it was named the Pennsylvania state capital, the assembling here of the highly sectional Harrisburg Convention in 1827 led to the passage of the high protective-tariff bill of 1828. In 1839, Harrison and Tyler were nominated for President of the United States at the first national convention of the Whig Party of the United States, which was held in Harrisburg. Before Harrisburg gained its first industries, it was a scenic, pastoral town, typical of most of the day, compact, in 1822, the impressive brick capitol was completed for $200,000. It was Harrisburg’s strategic location which gave it an advantage over other towns. It was settled as a trading post in 1719 at an important to Westward expansion. The importance of the location was that it was at a pass in a mountain ridge, the Susquehanna River flowed generally west to east at this location, providing a route for boat traffic from the east. The head of navigation was a distance northwest of the town. Persons arriving from the east by boat had to exit at Harrisburg, Harrisburg assumed importance as a provisioning stop at this point where westward bound pioneers transitioned from river travel to overland travel
10.
Church of the United Brethren in Christ
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The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Huntington, Indiana. It was organized in 1800 by Martin Boehm and Philip William Otterbein and is the first American denomination that was not transplanted from Europe, both groups continued to use the name Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The majority faction, known as the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and this in turn merged in 1968 with The Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church. The Wright-led faction continues today as a denomination of about 550 congregations, the US National Conference consists of about 200 churches and 25,000 members in the United States, plus mission districts in Haiti and India. The United States national office, known as Healthy Ministry Resources, is located in Huntington, Indiana, as is the only college. Though the church was not organized until 1800, its roots back to 1767. In May of that year, a Great Meeting was held at a barn belonging to Isaac Long in Lancaster, Martin Boehm, a Mennonite preacher, spoke of his becoming a Christian through crying out to God while plowing in the field. Philip William Otterbein, a Reformed pastor at York, Pennsylvania, left his seat, embraced Boehm and said to him, the followers of Boehm and Otterbein formed a loose movement for many years. It spread to include German-speaking churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, in 1800, they began a yearly conference. Thirteen ministers attended the first conference at the home of Peter Kemp in Frederick, at that conference in 1800, they adopted a name, the United Brethren in Christ, and elected Boehm and Otterbein as bishops of the conference. The United Brethren Church claims this organization in 1800 as the first denomination to actually begin in the United States, a Confession of Faith was adopted in 1815, and it has remained the statement of church doctrine to the present. In 1841, they adopted a Constitution and it has remained mostly intact, being changed only a few times. William Otterbein retained a connection with the Reformed Church, pastoring a Reformed Church in Baltimore, Martin Boehm was excluded by the Mennonites in 1775. He joined the Methodist Church in 1802, while remaining bishop of the United Brethren until his death in 1812, francis Asbury, bishop of the Methodist Church in America, spoke at the memorial services of both of these United Brethren bishops. Otterbein had assisted in Asburys ordination, the United Brethren took a strong stand against slavery, beginning around 1820. After 1837, slave owners were no longer allowed to remain as members of the United Brethren Church, in 1847, the United Brethren founded Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, which continues today. In 1853, the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society was organized, expansion occurred into the western United States, but the churchs stance against slavery limited expansion to the south. By 1889, the United Brethren had grown to over 200,000 members with six bishops, in that same year they experienced a division
11.
Evangelical United Brethren
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The Evangelical United Brethren Church was an American Protestant church formed in 1946, by the merger of the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. United Brethren In Christ was an American religious sect which originated in the last part of the 18th century, though not formally organized until 1800, the roots of the church reach back to 1767. In May of that year, a Great Meeting was held at a barn belonging to Isaac Long in Lancaster, martin Boehm, a Mennonite preacher, spoke of his becoming a Christian through crying out to God while plowing in the field. Philip William Otterbein, a German Reformed pastor at York, Pennsylvania, left his seat, embraced Boehm and said to him, the followers of Boehm and Otterbein formed a loose movement for many years. It spread to include German-speaking churches supplemented later by English-speaking followers in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, by 1800, they began a yearly conference. Thirteen ministers attended the first conference at the home of Peter Kemp in Frederick, at that conference in 1800, they adopted a name, the United Brethren in Christ, and elected Boehm and Otterbein as bishops of the conference. The United Brethren Church claims this organization in 1800 as the first denomination to actually begin in the United States, a confession of faith was adopted in 1815, and it has remained the statement of church doctrine to the present. In 1841, they adopted a constitution and it has remained mostly intact, being changed only a few times. The ecclesiastical polity of the church is Wesleyan and its theology is Arminian, Bishops are elected for four years. The United Brethren took a stand against slavery, beginning around 1820. After 1837, slave owners were no longer allowed to remain as members of the United Brethren Church, in 1853, the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society was organized. Expansion occurred into the western United States, but the stance against slavery limited expansion to the south. By 1889, the United Brethren had grown to over 200,000 members with six bishops, in that same year they experienced a division. The denominational leadership made these changes, but the minority felt the changes violated the constitution because they were not made by the majority vote of all United Brethren members, one of the bishops, Milton Wright, disagreed with the actions of the majority. Bishop Wright and other conference delegates left the meeting and resumed the session elsewhere and they believed that the other delegates had violated the constitution, and deemed themselves to be the true United Brethren Church. Therefore, the body known as the United Brethren in Christ of the Old Constitution. The majority branch had 3,732 organizations in 1906 with a membership of 274,649. The denomination merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946 to form a new denomination known as the Evangelical United Brethren Church and this in turn merged in 1968 with The Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church
12.
Methodism
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Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and Johns brother Charles Wesley were also significant leaders in the movement and it originated as a revival within the 18th century Church of England and became a separate Church after Wesleys death. Because of vigorous missionary work, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, Wesleys theology focused on sanctification and the effect of faith on the character of a Christian. Distinguishing Methodist doctrines include an assurance of salvation, imparted righteousness, the possibility of perfection in love, the works of piety and the primacy of Scripture. Most Methodists teach that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for all of humanity and that salvation is available for all, in theology and this teaching rejects the Calvinist position that God has pre-ordained the salvation of a select group of people. However, Whitefield and several others were considered Calvinistic Methodists and held to the latter position, Methodism emphasises charity and support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the works of mercy. These ideals are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens and schools to follow Christs command to spread the gospel, the movement has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage. Denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition are generally less ritualistic, Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition and Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church. In Britain, the Methodist Church had an effect in the early decades of the making of the working class. In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves who later formed black churches in the Methodist tradition. The Methodist revival began with a group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles, the Wesley brothers founded the Holy Club at the University of Oxford, where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College. The club met weekly and they set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving Communion every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury and frequently visited the sick, the fellowship were branded as Methodist by their fellow students because of the way they used rule and method to go about their religious affairs. John, who was leader of the club, took the attempted mockery, unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help to Peter Boehler and other members of the Moravian Church, at a Moravian service in Aldersgate on 24 May 1738, John experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his heart strangely warmed. Charles had reported an experience an few days previously. Considered a pivotal moment, Daniel L. John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, Arminius had rejected the Calvinist teaching that God had pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris, and Selina Hastings, George Whitefield, returning from his own mission in Georgia, joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly to become a national crusade
13.
Allegheny Mountains
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The Alleghenies comprise the rugged western-central portion of the Appalachians. They rise to approximately 4,862 feet in northeastern West Virginia, in the east, they are dominated by a high, steep escarpment known as the Allegheny Front. In the west, they slope down into the closely associated Allegheny Plateau which extends into Ohio, the principal settlements of the Alleghenies are Altoona, State College, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Cumberland, Maryland. The name is derived from the Allegheny River, which only a small portion of the Alleghenies in west-central Pennsylvania. The meaning of the word, which comes from the Lenape Indians, is not definitively known but is translated as fine river. A Lenape legend tells of an ancient tribe called the Allegewi who lived on the river and were defeated by the Lenape, Allegheny is the early French spelling, and Allegany is closer to the early English spelling. The word Allegheny was once used to refer to the whole of what are now called the Appalachian Mountains. John Norton used it around 1810 to refer to the mountains in Tennessee, around the same time, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania. In 1861, Arnold Henry Guyot published the first systematic study of the whole mountain range. His map labeled the range as the Alleghanies, but his book was titled On the Appalachian Mountain System, as late as 1867, John Muir—in his book A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf—used the word Alleghanies in referring to the southern Appalachians. There was no agreement about the Appalachians versus the Alleghanies until the late 19th century. From northeast to southwest, the Allegheny Mountains run about 400 miles, from west to east, at their widest, they are about 100 miles. To the west, the Alleghenies grade down into the dissected Allegheny Plateau, the westernmost ridges are considered to be the Laurel and Chestnut Ridges in Pennsylvania and Laurel and Rich Mountains in West Virginia. The mountains to the south of the Alleghenies—the Appalachians in westernmost Virginia, eastern Kentucky, the Alleghenies and the Cumberlands both constitute part of the Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachians. The eastern edge of the Alleghenies is marked by the Allegheny Front and this great escarpment roughly follows a portion of the Eastern Continental Divide in this area. A number of gorges and valleys drain the Alleghenies, to the east, Smoke Hole Canyon, and to the west the New River Gorge. Thus, about half the precipitation falling on the Alleghenies makes its way west to the Mississippi and half goes east to Chesapeake Bay, the highest ridges of the Alleghenies are just west of the Front, which has an east/west elevational change of up to 3,000 feet. Absolute elevations of the Allegheny Highlands reach nearly 5,000 feet, the highest point in the Allegheny Mountains is Spruce Knob, on Spruce Mountain in West Virginia
14.
Andrew Carnegie
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He built a leadership role as a philanthropist for the United States and the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away to charities, foundations and his 1889 article proclaiming The Gospel of Wealth called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, and it stimulated a wave of philanthropy. Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated in 1848 to the United States with his parents, Carnegie started work as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe and he built Pittsburghs Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million. It became the U. S. Steel Corporation, after selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next couple of years. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education. Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in a typical weavers cottage with only one main room, the main room served as a living room, dining room and bedroom. He was named after his legal grandfather, in 1836, the family moved to a larger house in Edgar Street, following the demand for more heavy damask from which his father, William Carnegie, benefited. He was educated at the Free School in Dunfermline, which had been a gift to the town by the philanthropist Adam Rolland of Gask, Lauders son, also named George Lauder, grew up with Andrew and would become his business partner. When Carnegie was thirteen, his father had fallen on hard times as a handloom weaver. His mother helped support the family by assisting her brother who was a cobbler and she eventually became the primary breadwinner by the 1840s. Struggling to make ends meet, the Carnegies then decided to move with his family to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Andrews family had to borrow money from the Lauders in order to migrate. Allegheny was an industrial area that produced many products including wool. The Made in Allegheny label used on these and other diversified products was becoming more and more popular. His first job at age 13 in 1848 was as a bobbin boy and his starting wage was $1.20 per week. Andrews father, William Carnegie, started off working in a cotton mill and his mother, Margaret Morrison Carnegie, earned money by binding shoes. In 1849, Carnegie became a messenger boy in the Pittsburgh Office of the Ohio Telegraph Company, at $2.50 per week. He was a hard worker and would memorize all of the locations of Pittsburghs businesses
15.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
16.
Roaring Twenties
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The Roaring Twenties is a term for Western society and Western culture during the 1920s. In the French Third Republic, the decade was known as the années folles, emphasizing the social, artistic. Jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined the modern look for British and American women, not everything roared, in the wake of the hyper-emotional patriotism of World War I, Warren G. Harding brought back normalcy to the politics of the United States. This era saw the use of automobiles, telephones, motion pictures, radio. The economies saw rapid growth, accelerated consumer demand, plus significant changes in lifestyle. The media focused on celebrities, especially sports heroes and movie stars, as cities rooted for their teams and filled the new palatial cinemas. In most major states, women won the right to vote. The social and cultural features known as the Roaring Twenties began in leading metropolitan centers, the United States gained dominance in world finance. Thus, when Weimar Republic Germany could no longer afford to pay World War I reparations to the United Kingdom, France and other Allies, the Americans came up with the Dawes Plan. Wall Street invested heavily in Germany, which repaid its reparations to nations that, in turn, by the middle of the decade, prosperity was widespread, with the second half of the decade known, especially in Germany, as the Golden Twenties. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a feeling of novelty associated with modernity. Everything seemed to be feasible through modern technology, New technologies, especially automobiles, moving pictures, and radio, brought modernity to a large part of the population. Formal decorative frills were shed in favor of practicality in both life and architecture. At the same time, Jazz and dancing rose in popularity, as such, the period is also often referred to as the Jazz Age. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 ended the era, as the Great Depression brought years of worldwide gloom, the economy of the United States, which had successfully transitioned from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy, boomed and provided loans for a European boom as well. However, some sectors were stagnant, especially farming and coal mining, the United States since the late 19th century was the richest country in the world per capita and in terms of total GDP. Its industry was based on production, and its society acculturated into consumerism. European economies, by contrast, had a more difficult postwar readjustment, at first, the end of wartime production caused a brief but deep recession, the post–World War I recession of 1919–20
17.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
18.
New Deal
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The New Deal was a series of programs, including, most notably, Social Security, that were enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938, and a few that came later. They included both laws passed by Congress as well as executive orders during the first term of the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Republicans were split, with opposing the entire New Deal as an enemy of business and growth. By 1936 the term liberal typically was used for supporters of the New Deal, from 1934 to 1938, Roosevelt was assisted in his endeavours by a pro-spender majority in Congress. In the 1938 midterm elections, however, Roosevelt and his supporters lost control of Congress to the bipartisan conservative coalition. Many historians distinguish between a First New Deal and a Second New Deal, with the one more liberal. The First New Deal dealt with the banking crises through the Emergency Banking Act. The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted to prevent a repeated stock market crash, the controversial work of the National Recovery Administration was also part of the First New Deal. The economic downturn of 1937–38, and the split between the AFL and CIO labor unions led to major Republican gains in Congress in 1938. Conservative Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined in the informal Conservative Coalition, by 1942–43 they shut down relief programs such as the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps and blocked major liberal proposals. Roosevelt himself turned his attention to the war effort, and won reelection in 1940 and 1944, the Supreme Court declared the National Recovery Administration and the first version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional, however the AAA was rewritten and then upheld. As the first Republican president elected after Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower left the New Deal largely intact, Johnsons Great Society used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of liberal programs, which Republican Richard M. Nixon generally retained. After 1974, however, the call for deregulation of the economy gained bipartisan support, the New Deal regulation of banking was suspended in the 1990s. The largest programs still in existence today are the Social Security System, the phrase New Deal was coined by an adviser to Roosevelt, Stuart Chase. Although the term was used by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court. From 1929 to 1933 manufacturing output decreased by one third, prices fell by 20%, causing deflation that made repaying debts much harder. Unemployment in the U. S. increased from 4% to 25%, additionally, one-third of all employed persons were downgraded to working part-time on much smaller paychecks. In the aggregate, almost 50% of the nations human work-power was going unused, before the New Deal, there was no insurance on deposits at banks
19.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
20.
G.I. Bill
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The Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the G. I. Bill, was a law provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans. It was designed by the American Legion, who helped push it through Congress by mobilizing its chapters and it avoided the highly disputed postponed cash bonus payout for World War I veterans that caused political turmoil for a decade and a half after that war. It was available to all veterans who had been on duty during the war years for at least 90 days and had not been dishonorably discharged—exposure to combat was not required. By 1956, roughly 8.8 million veterans had used the G. I, Bill education benefits, some 2.2 million to attend colleges or universities and an additional 5.6 million for some kind of training program. Historians and economists judge the G. I, canada operated a similar program for its World War II veterans, with a similarly beneficial economic impact. Since the original U. S.1944 law, the term has come to include other programs created to assist veterans of subsequent wars as well as peacetime service. During the 1940s, fly-by-night for-profit colleges sprang up to collect veterans education grants, similarly, for-profit colleges and their lead generators have taken advantage of the post-911 GI Bill to target veterans for subpar products and services. The Veterans Administration, however, does have a GI Bill feedback form for recipients to address their complaints against colleges, President Barack Obama also signed Executive Order 13607 which was to ensure that predatory colleges did not aggressively recruit vulnerable military service members, veterans, and their families. On June 22,1944, the Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944, Bill of Rights, was signed into law. During the war, politicians wanted to avoid the confusion about veterans benefits that became a political football in the 1920s and 1930s. Ortiz says their efforts entrenched the VFW and the Legion as the pillars of the American veterans lobby for decades. Harry W. Colmery, Democrat and a former National Commander of the American Legion, is credited for writing the first draft of the G. I and he reportedly jotted down his ideas on stationery and a napkin at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C. Senator Ernest McFarland, Democrat-Arizona, was involved in the bills passage and is known, with Warren Atherton. One might then term Edith Nourse Rogers, R-Mass, who helped write, like Colmery, her contribution to writing and passing this legislation has been obscured by time. The bill that President Roosevelt initially proposed had a means test—only poor veterans would get one year of funding, the American Legion proposal provided full benefits for all veterans, including women and minorities, regardless of their wealth. An important provision of the G. I, Bill was low interest, zero down payment home loans for servicemen, with more favorable terms for new construction compared to existing housing. This encouraged millions of American families to move out of urban apartments, another provision was known as the 52–20 clause for unemployment
21.
May Day
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May Day is a public holiday usually celebrated on May 1. It is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the celebrations that the day includes, in the late 19th century, May Day was chosen as the date for International Workers Day by the Socialists and Communists of the Second International to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago. International Workers Day may also be referred to as May Day and it is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane, most commonly held on April 30. The day was a summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. While February 1 was the first day of spring, May 1 was the first day of summer, hence, as Europe became Christianised, the pagan holidays lost their religious character and May Day changed into a popular secular celebration. A significant celebration of May Day occurs in Germany where it is one of days on which St. Walburga. The secular versions of May Day, observed in Europe and America, may be best known for their traditions of dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of May baskets, small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbours doorsteps. May 1 is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker, a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary, and surrogate father of Jesus. Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a counterpoint to the communist International Workers Day celebrations on May Day. In the late 20th century, many neopagans began reconstructing traditions, traditional English May Day rites and celebrations include crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a maypole. Historically, Morris dancing has been linked to May Day celebrations, much of this tradition derives from the pagan Anglo-Saxon customs held during Þrimilci-mōnaþ along with many Celtic traditions. May Day has been a day of festivities throughout the centuries. May Day is most associated with towns and villages celebrating springtime fertility and revelry with village fetes, seeding has been completed by this date and it was convenient to give farm labourers a day off. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons, the spring bank holiday on the first Monday in May was created in 1978, May Day itself – May 1 – is not a public holiday in England. Unlike the other Bank Holidays and common law holidays, the first Monday in May is taken off from schools by itself and this is because it has no Christian significance and does not otherwise fit into the usual school holiday pattern. May Day was abolished and its celebration banned by Puritan parliaments during the Interregnum, may 1,1707, was the day the Act of Union came into effect, joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain
22.
Maypole
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A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day or Pentecost, although in some countries it is erected at Midsummer. In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is utilised during the festival. It has been a practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods. Today, the tradition is observed in some parts of Europe. The symbolism of the maypole has been debated by folklorists for centuries. Some scholars classify maypoles as symbols of the world axis and it is also known that, in Norse paganism, cosmological views held that the universe was a world tree, known as Yggdrasil. There is therefore speculation that the maypole was in some way a continuance of this tradition and this notion has been supported by various figures since, including the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Not the play-thing of a boy, not the weapon of a man, but a maypole of so enormous a standard, the anthropologist Mircea Eliade theorizes that the maypoles were simply a part of the general rejoicing at the return of summer, and the growth of new vegetation. In this way, they bore similarities with the May Day garlands which were also a common practice in Britain. In Germany and Austria the maypole is a going back to the 16th century. It is a tree or tree trunk that is usually erected either on 1 May – in Baden and Swabia – or on the evening before, for example. In most areas, especially in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Austria, the custom of combining it with a village or town fete, that usually takes place on 30 April,1 May or at Pentecost, is widespread. This tradition is strong in the villages of the Bavarian Alps where the raising of the traditional maypole on 1 May in the village square is a cause for much celebration. The pole is usually painted in the Bavarian colours of white and blue and decorated with emblems depicting local crafts, the actual installation of the tree then takes place in the afternoon or evening. While the maypole is traditionally set up with the help of poles, today it may sometime also be done using tractors. In Lower Austria ropes and ladders are used, if the tree is erected on the eve of 1 May, then the event is usually followed by a May dance or Tanz in den Mai. Depending on local custom, the Maibaum may remain in place until the end of the month and is taken down, decorations removed
23.
U.S. News & World Report
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U. S. News & World Report is an American media company that publishes news, opinion, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. Founded as a magazine in 1933, U. S. News transitioned to primarily web-based publishing in 2010. The rankings are popular in North America but have drawn criticism from colleges, administrations, and students for their dubious, disparate. The ranking system by U. S. News is usually contrasted with the Washington Monthly, United States News was founded in 1933 by David Lawrence, who also started World Report in 1946. The two magazines covered national and international news separately, but Lawrence merged them into U. S. News & World Report in 1948 and subsequently sold the magazine to his employees. Historically, the magazine tended to be more conservative than its two primary competitors, Time and Newsweek, and focused more on economic, health. It also eschewed sports, entertainment, and celebrity news, important milestones in the early history of the magazine include the introduction of the Washington Whispers column in 1934 and the News You Can Use column in 1952. In 1958, the magazines circulation passed one million and reached two million by 1973. Since 1983, it has become known primarily for its influential ranking and annual reports of colleges and graduate schools, spanning across most fields and its print edition was consistently included in national bestseller lists, augmented by online subscriptions. Additional rankings published by U. S. News & World Report include hospitals, in October 1984, publisher and real estate developer Mortimer B. Zuckerman purchased U. S. News & World Report. Zuckerman is also the owner of the New York Daily News, in 1993, U. S. News & World Report entered the digital world by providing content to CompuServe and in 1995, the website usnews. com was launched. In 2001, the won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. In 2007, U. S. News & World Report published its first list of the nations best high schools and its ranking methodology includes state test scores and the success of poor and minority students on these exams, and schools performance in Advanced Placement exams. Starting in June 2008, the magazine reduced its frequency in three steps. It switched in June 2008 from weekly to biweekly, in November 2008 it decreased to monthly. In November 2010, it was reported that U. S, moving forward, the publication expressed its plans to focus mainly on research and the provision of relevant information to students pursuing higher education. Its rankings and university guide books are available in print at the majority of bookstores and magazine vendors in the United States, selling millions of copies on an annual basis. In June 2008, citing the overall magazine circulation and advertising, U. S. News & World Report announced that it would become a biweekly publication
24.
Dominican Republic
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The Dominican Republic is a sovereign state occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western one-third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, christopher Columbus landed on the Western part of Hispaniola, in what is now Haiti, on December 6,1492. The island became the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World, the Dominican people declared independence in November 1821 but were forcefully annexed by their more powerful neighbor Haiti in February 1822. After the 1844 victory in the Dominican War of Independence against Haitian rule the country again under Spanish colonial rule until the Dominican War of Restoration of 1865. The Dominican Republic experienced mostly internal strife until 1916, a civil war in 1965, the countrys last, was ended by another U. S. military occupation and was followed by the authoritarian rule of Joaquín Balaguer, 1966–1978. Since then, the Dominican Republic has moved toward representative democracy and has been led by Leonel Fernández for most of the time since 1996. Danilo Medina, the Dominican Republics current president, succeeded Fernandez in 2012, the Dominican Republic has the ninth-largest economy in Latin America and is the largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. Though long known for agriculture and mining, the economy is now dominated by services. Over the last two decades, the Dominican Republic have been standing out as one of the economies in the Americas – with an average real GDP growth rate of 5. 4% between 1992 and 2014. GDP growth in 2014 and 2015 reached 7.3 and 7. 0%, respectively, in the first half of 2016 the Dominican economy grew 7. 4% continuing its trend of rapid economic growth. Recent growth has been driven by construction, manufacturing and tourism, private consumption has been strong, as a result of low inflation, job creation, as well as high level of remittances. The Dominican Republic has a market, Bolsa de Valores de la Republica Dominicana. and advanced telecommunication system. Nevertheless, unemployment, government corruption, and inconsistent electric service remain major Dominican problems, the country also has marked income inequality. International migration affects the Dominican Republic greatly, as it receives, mass illegal Haitian immigration and the integration of Dominicans of Haitian descent are major issues. A large Dominican diaspora exists, mostly in the United States, contributes to development, the Dominican Republic is the most visited destination in the Caribbean. The year-round golf courses are major attractions, the island has an average temperature of 26 °C and great climatic and biological diversity. The country is also the site of the first cathedral, castle, monastery, and fortress built in all of the Americas, located in Santo Domingos Colonial Zone, a World Heritage Site. Music and sport are of importance in the Dominican culture, with Merengue and Bachata as the national dance and music
25.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
26.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
27.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
28.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
29.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
30.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
31.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
32.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
33.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
34.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
35.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
36.
National Collegiate Athletic Association
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a non-profit association which regulates athletes of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations, and individuals. It also organizes the programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2014, the NCAA generated almost a billion dollars in revenue. 80 to 90% of this revenue was due to the Division I Mens Basketball Tournament and this revenue is then distributed back into various organizations and institutions across the United States. In August 1973, the current three-division setup of Division I, Division II, under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships, generally, larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football was divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978. Subsequently, the term Division I-AAA was briefly added to delineate Division I schools which do not field a football program at all, in 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were respectively renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision. Inter-collegiate sports began in the US in 1852 when crews from Harvard University, as other sports emerged, notably football and basketball, many of these same concepts and standards were adopted. Football, in particular, began to emerge as a marquee sport, the IAAUS was officially established on March 31,1906, and took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910. For several years, the NCAA was a group and rules-making body, but in 1921, the first NCAA national championship was conducted. Gradually, more rules committees were formed and more championships were created, a series of crises brought the NCAA to a crossroads after World War II. The Sanity Code – adopted to establish guidelines for recruiting and financial aid – failed to curb abuses, postseason football games were multiplying with little control, and member schools were increasingly concerned about how the new medium of television would affect football attendance. The complexity of problems and the growth in membership and championships demonstrated the need for full-time professional leadership. Walter Byers, previously an executive assistant, was named executive director in 1951. Byers wasted no time placing his stamp on the Association, as college athletics grew, the scope of the nations athletics programs diverged, forcing the NCAA to create a structure that recognized varying levels of emphasis. In 1973, the Associations membership was divided into three legislative and competitive divisions – I, II, and III, five years later in 1978, Division I members voted to create subdivisions I-A and I-AA in football. Until the 1980s, the association did not offer womens athletics, instead, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, with nearly 1000 member schools, governed womens collegiate sports in the United States
37.
NCAA Division III
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Sports Division III is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States. The division consists of colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletically related financial aid to their student-athletes, as explained in more detail in the article about NCAA Division II, the NCAAs first split was into two divisions. The former College Division formed because many NCAA member schools wanted an alternative to the nature of what is now Division I. Division III formed in 1973, in a split of the College Division, the former College Division members that chose to offer athletic scholarships or to remain in a division with those who did became Division II, while members that did not became Division III. Division III is the NCAA’s largest division with 438 active member institutions, of the member institutions, 81% are private, while only 19% are public. Division III schools range in size from an undergraduate enrollment of 348 to a maximum of 21,247. Division III institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, there are minimum contest and participant minimums for each sport. Division III athletic programs are non-revenue-generating, extracurricular programs that are staffed and funded like any other university department, hence, they feature student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability. Student athletes also cannot redshirt as freshmen, and schools may not use endowments or funds whose primary purpose is to benefit athletic programs, Division III schools shall not award financial aid to any student on the basis of athletics leadership, ability, participation or performance. The ban on scholarships is strictly enforced. S, an all-sports conference is defined here as one that sponsors both mens and womens basketball. A conference name followed by * denotes a conference also sponsors football. Six of them are grandfathered schools that have competed at the highest level of a particular mens sport prior to the institution of the Division classifications in 1971. Presumably due to Title IX considerations, grandfathered schools are allowed to field one womens sport in Division I. These schools are allowed to offer scholarships in their Division I mens and womens sports to remain competitive with their opponents. The State University of New York at Oneonta, which had been grandfathered in mens soccer, rutgers University–Newark, which had been grandfathered in mens volleyball, did the same in 2014. Academic-based and need-based financial aid is available, as is the case for Division III. Franklin and Marshall College Hobart College Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT also fields mens rowing, lawrence continues to field a fencing team, but that team is now considered Division III. Football and basketball may not be grandfathered Division I programs because their potential would give them an unfair advantage over other Division III schools
38.
NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
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The NCAA Division III Mens Basketball Championship is an annual tournament to determine NCAA Division III national champion. Since 1996, the NCAA Division III mens basketball championship has held at the Salem Civic Center in Salem. The event has been hosted by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, since 2017, the tournament is a 64-team single-elimination tournament, with teams advancing from four regionals to the semifinals and final in Salem. For 2013, as part of the celebration of the 75th NCAA Division I tournament, since 2014, the final game returned to Salem
39.
Union Canal (Pennsylvania)
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The Union Canal was a towpath canal that existed in southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States during the 19th century. First proposed in 1690 to connect Philadelphia with the Susquehanna River, construction began in 1792 during the George Washington Administration, but financial difficulties delayed its completion until 1828. Called the Golden Link, it provided an early transportation route for shipping anthracite coal. Closed in the 1880s, remnants of the canal remain, most notably the Union Canal Tunnel, the tunnel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. A canal linking the Susquehanna and Delaware valleys in southeastern Pennsylvania was first proposed in 1690 by William Penn, the founder of the Pennsylvania Colony. Nearly a century passed before a route for the canal was surveyed by David Rittenhouse, at the time of the initial construction in the early 1790s, Philadelphia was involved in an intense rivalry with Baltimore for the supremacy as a shipping port. The canal was backed by Philadelphia businessmen as a means to divert traffic from following the Susquehanna downriver to the Chesapeake Bay. From west to east, the route of the canal was to follow Swatara Creek upstream from Middletown to Quittapahilla Creek and it then crossed overland to Clarks Run at the headwaters of Tulpehocken Creek, following Tulpehocken Creek downstream to Reading on the Schuylkill River. It was to follow the Schuylkill downriver to the Delaware River at Philadelphia, construction began in 1792 under the direction of William Weston, an experienced British canal engineer. The first shovel of earth was turned by President George Washington, by 1793, several miles of the canal were dug and five locks were built between Myerstown and Lebanon before financial difficulties caused the work to cease. In 1795 the Pennsylvania Legislature authorized a lottery to raise funds for the canals construction. The largest canal lottery in U. S. history, it held 50 drawings over the two decades, awarding $33 million in prize money, with only $270,000 reaching the canal companies. In 1811 the two companies were reorganized and merged as the Union Canal Company of Pennsylvania, and the project was given a new push by industrialists in New Jersey. Local Rivers were rapids strewn and ran fast, not shallow, by the end of the War of 1812 industrialists were getting desperate for fuels—mills and manufacturies were sometimes forced into going quiet for days. White and others pushed for funding, applied for rights to improve navigations on the Schuylkill. One of the challenges was the construction of a 729-foot tunnel through the ridge separating the headwaters of Quittapahilla Creek. The drilling of the tunnel was by hand, using gunpowder to blast though argillaceous slate with veins of hard flinty limestone 80 feet below the summit of the ridge, the progress of the tunnel was approximately 15 ft per week, requiring over two years to complete. Another engineering difficulty was the lack of a sufficient continual supply of water at the summit level, the canal was completed in 1828 under the direction of Canvass White, the preeminent canal engineer of the day
40.
Hersheypark Arena
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Hersheypark Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, managed by Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company. The arena has a capacity, for hockey, of 7,286 people and in excess of 8,000. When built in 1936 as the Hershey Sports Arena, the building was the largest monolithic structure in the United States in which not a single seat suffered from an obstructed view, for 66 years it was the home of the Hershey Bears hockey team from 1936 to 2002. The second sport at the arena was basketball, on March 2,1962, Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain recorded a record-setting 100 points in an NBA game against the New York Knicks, a record that still stands today. It hosted the PIAA basketball and wrestling championships, and it served as the home of the Hershey Impact. It has also hosted the Ice Capades, Disney on Ice, professional boxing, tennis competitions, on October 13,1953, the arena also hosted an extravagant birthday celebration for President Dwight D. Eisenhower whose farm and weekend White House was located in nearby Gettysburg. Phish performed and recorded their show, on December 1,1995, on September 22,2012, the arena played host to its only wedding. It was held at center ice, on July 5,2012, a fire damaged the arena, which was in the midst of refurbishment. At about 3,00 PM local time, the fire was upgraded to five alarms, the fire burned for about two hours before being extinguished. The roof was damaged, but reported to not be in danger of collapse, the cause of the fire is still unknown. Hersheypark Arena is the rink for the Lebanon Valley College ice hockey team. LVC competes in NCAA Division III as of 2016, and previously competed in the ACHA, in addition, the arena hosts the Hershey Junior Bears, a youth team sponsored by the Bears organization. On most weekends during the fall and winter months, the rink is open to the public for ice skating, annually, it hosts part of the Music in the Parks competition
41.
Giant Center
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Giant Center is a 10, 500-seat multi-purpose arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place in the Harrisburg metropolitan area. It is home to the Hershey Bears ice hockey team, the member of the American Hockey League since 1938. Giant Center replaced the Hersheypark Arena as the Bears home venue in 2002, Giant Center is owned by the Derry Township Industrial and Commercial Development Authority, as much of the money for its construction was provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is operated by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company, with the rights owned by the Giant-Carlisle grocery store chain based in Carlisle. The GIANT Center has 7,700 seats in the Lower Level and 2,800 seats in the Upper Level, the arena also has 688 Club Seats and 40 Luxury Suites. Wheelchair and companion seating is available on all levels, in addition to Bears games, Giant Center also hosts an annual concert series and attracts many well-known entertainers. The first performance at the arena was by Cher, the arena has since continued to host a wide variety of popular acts, including American Idol Live. and the Harlem Globetrotters. In 2003, Giant Center held the WWEs Unforgiven, Giant Center also hosted the Road to Victory rally for Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain, and his running mate, Sarah Palin, on October 28,2008. President Donald Trump also held a rally to campaign in November 2016, WWE Raw was held at Giant Center with a three-hour Thanksgiving themed episode on November 23,2009, and returned for a three-hour Old School themed episode on November 15,2010. WWE has also several other Raw and WWE Friday Night SmackDown episodes here as well. The largest crowd in Giant Center history was 11,002, Giant Center and the city of Hershey also hosted the 2011 AHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition on January 30–31,2011. In 2014, it was home to the Harrisburg Stampede of the Professional Indoor Football League, in 2015, Elizabethtown College hosted the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center. The new scoreboards video screens measure 13.52 feet high and 23.92 feet wide, project was funded with all private funds from HE&R. On October 1,2016, Country megastar Carrie Underwood broke the record for most attended concert when she brought her Storyteller Tour, the 360-degree angle of the stage stretched across the arena floor, providing all viewers with a good show. In 2007, the Giant Center Food and Beverage Department finalized a deal with PepsiCo, with all food, the switch was made to equalize operations with the rest of the Hershey Entertainment Complex. Giant Centers concessions include traditional fast food such as chicken tenders, hamburgers, french fries. Additional concessions available include Common Coffeehouse treats such as flavored coffee, the Smokehouse offering Smoked Pork BBQ, Burrito Bowls, Chicken and Beef Brisket. Cross Check Cafe offers made-to-order Deitz & Watson Deli Sandwiches, Soup, Salad, most locations also offer children meals
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