1.
Central bank
–
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a states currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries, Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference. Still, limited control by the executive and legislative bodies usually exists, prior to the 17th century most money was commodity money, typically gold or silver. However, promises to pay were widely circulated and accepted as value at least five hundred years earlier in both Europe and Asia. The Song dynasty was the first to issue generally circulating paper currency, in 1455, in an effort to control inflation, the succeeding Ming Dynasty ended the use of paper money and closed much of Chinese trade. The Bank of Amsterdam, established in the Dutch Republic in 1609, is considered to be the forerunner to modern central banks. The Wisselbanks innovations helped lay the foundations for the birth and development of the banking system that now plays a vital role in the worlds economy. Along with a number of local banks, it performed many functions of a central banking system. Lucien Gillard calls it the European guilder, and Adam Smith devotes many pages to explaining how the bank guilder works, the model of the Wisselbank as a state bank was adapted throughout Europe, including the Bank of Sweden and the Bank of England. Established by Dutch-Latvian Johan Palmstruch in 1668, Sveriges Riksbank is often considered by many as the worlds oldest central bank, the lenders would give the government cash and also issue notes against the government bonds, which could be lent again. A Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694, the bank was given exclusive possession of the governments balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue banknotes. The £1. 2M was raised in 12 days, half of this was used to rebuild the Navy and these modern central banking functions evolved slowly through the 18th and 19th centuries. The currency crisis of 1797, caused by panicked depositors withdrawing from the Bank led to the government suspending convertibility of notes into specie payment. The bank was accused by the bullionists of causing the exchange rate to fall from over issuing banknotes. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Bank was being treated as an organ of the state, henry Thornton, a merchant banker and monetary theorist has been described as the father of the modern central bank. An opponent of the real bills doctrine, he was a defender of the bullionist position, thorntons process of monetary expansion anticipated the theories of Knut Wicksell regarding the cumulative process which restates the Quantity Theory in a theoretically coherent form. Until the mid-nineteenth century, commercial banks were able to issue their own banknotes, many consider the origins of the central bank to lie with the passage of the Bank Charter Act of 1844. Under this law, authorisation to issue new banknotes was restricted to the Bank of England, at the same time, the Bank of England was restricted to issue new banknotes only if they were 100% backed by gold or up to £14 million in government debt
2.
Yugoslav dinar
–
The dinar was the currency of the three Yugoslav states, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1918 and 2003. The dinar was subdivided into 100 para, in the early 1990s, there was severe and prolonged hyperinflation due to a combination of economic mismanagement and criminality. Massive amounts of money were printed, coins became redundant, inflation reached the equivalent of 8. 51×1029% per year. The highest denomination banknote was 500 billion dinars, it was two weeks after it was printed. This hyperinflation caused five revaluations between 1990 and 1994, in there were eight distinct dinari. Six of the eight have been given distinguishing names and separate ISO4217 codes, until 1918, the dinar was the currency of Serbia. It then became the currency of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, circulating alongside the krone in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 1 dinar =4 kronen. The first coins and banknotes bearing the name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were issued in 1920, until which time Serbian coins, in 1929, the name of the country changed to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and this was reflected on the currency. In 1931, a rate of 56.4 dinara =1 U. S. Dollar was set, which changed to 44 dinara in 1933, in 1937, a tourist exchange rate of 250 dinara =1 British pound was established. In 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded and split up, with the dinar remaining currency in Nedićs Serbia as Serbian dinar), in May 1945, a peg of 50 dinara =1 U. S. dollar was established but was not maintained. On January 1,1966, the first of five revaluations took place and this currency was never very stable, suffering from an inflation rate of 15 to 25 percent per year. In the late 1980s the inflation rate accelerated, causing the currency to be revalued at the beginning of 1990, the second revaluation took place on January 1,1990, at a ratio of 10,000 to 1. During this period, the constituent republics began to leave the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, four of the six republics declared independence and issued their own currencies shortly after. This was the last dinar that bore the coat of arms, Serbian enclaves in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina also issued currencies in dinar, equivalent to and revalued together with the Yugoslav dinar. These were the Krajina dinar and the Republika Srpska dinar, the third revaluation took place on 1 July 1992, at a ratio of 10 to 1. Hyperinflation began to occur during this period of circulation. This dinar was issued in the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, people started to use foreign hard currency, such as Deutschmarks, to mitigate some of the problems of hyperinflation
3.
Ancient Rome
–
In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
4.
Coin
–
A coin is a small, flat, round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government, Coins are usually metal or alloy, or sometimes made of synthetic materials. Coins made of metal are stored in large quantities as bullion coins. Other coins are used as money in transactions, circulating alongside banknotes. Usually the highest value coin in circulation is less than the lowest-value note. In the last hundred years, the value of circulation coins has occasionally been lower than the value of the metal they contain. Exceptions to the rule of face value being higher than content value also occur for some bullion coins made of copper, silver, or gold, while the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Sovereign coins have nominal face values, the Krugerrand does not. The first coins were developed independently in Iron Age Anatolia and Archaic Greece, India, Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the Balkans. Standardized Roman currency was used throughout the Roman Empire, important Roman gold and silver coins were continued into the Middle Ages. Fiat money first arose in medieval China, with the paper money. Early paper money was introduced in Europe in the later Middle Ages, the penny was minted as a silver coin until the 17th century. The first circulating United States coins were cents, produced in 1793, Coins were an evolution of currency systems of the Late Bronze Age, where standard-sized ingots, and tokens such as knife money, were used to store and transfer value. In the late Chinese Bronze Age, standardized cast tokens were made and these were replicas in bronze of earlier Chinese currency, cowrie shells, so they were named Bronze Shell. According to Aristotle and Pollux, the first issuer of coins was Hermodike of Kyme The earliest coins are associated with Iron Age Anatolia. Early electrum coins were not standardized in weight, and in their earliest stage may have been ritual objects, such as badges or medals, issued by priests. The first Lydian coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of silver, most of the early Lydian coins include no writing, only an image of a symbolic animal. Anatolian Artemis was the Πὀτνια Θηρῶν, whose symbol was the stag, a small percentage of early Lydian/Greek coins have a legend
5.
Prilep
–
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 and is known as the city under Markos Towers because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko, the city also produces a large quantity of Macedonian Bianco Sivec. Tobacco is one of Prileps traditional cash crops and prospers in the Macedonian climate, many of the worlds largest cigarette makers, such as Marlboro, West and Camel use Prileps tobacco in their cigarettes after it is processed in local factories such as Tutunski kombinat Prilep. A Tobacco Institute is established in the city in order to new types of tobacco. The overwhelming majority of the city population is Macedonian, the Macedonian population at the last census counted 64,527, there is also a Romani minority, counting some 4,421 inhabitants, also Serbs and Turks. Prilep was founded on the ruins of the ancient Macedonian city of Styberra, first a town in Macedonia, Styberra, though razed by the Goths in 268, remained partly inhabited. Byzantium lost it to the Second Bulgarian Empire, but later retook it, Prilep was acquired in 1334 by Serbian King Dušan and after 1365 the town belonged to King Vukašin, co-ruler of Dušans son, Tzar Stefan Uroš V. After the death of Vukašin in 1371, Prilep was ruled by his son Marko, in 1395 it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, of which it remained a part of until 1913, when it entered into the Kingdom of Serbia. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Prilep was part of the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire and it was occupied by Bulgaria between 17 November 1915 and 25 September 1918 during World War I. In 1918 Prilep became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, on 8 April 1941, just two days after the start of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, Prilep was occupied by the German Army, and on 26 April 1941 by the Bulgarian Army. Together with most of Vardar Macedonia, Prilep was annexed by the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1941 to 1944, on 9 September 1944 Prilep was liberated for a short time by the Yugoslav Partisans, but the German Army soon seized control of the town again. Prilep was definitively liberated on 3 November 1944, from 1944 to 1991 the town belonged to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as part of its constituent Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Since 1991 the town has been part of the Republic of Macedonia, one of the most important institutions in the city is the Institute of Old Slavic Culture. An art colony is hosted in the center of Prilep in the Center of Contemporary Visual Arts and it hosts painters and sculptors every year and, periodically, it hosts workshops and symposia for vitrage, mosaics, photography, graphics and clay, from countries around the world. The collection of sculptures carved in wood was acknowledged as a heritage by the most relevant criticizers. 2007 was the 50th anniversary of the colony, every year in October the International Childrens Music Festival Asterisks brings together children from all over the world. Every year the Professional Theater Festival of Macedonia, honoring Vojdan Chernodrinski, the Monastery of Zrze and the Monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael which has 12th and 14th century frescoes are notable sites of the culture of Prilep. Pivofest is a yearly 4 day party held in the middle of July that attracts around 200,000 visitors to the city, there are international popular music acts performing nightly on the main stage in the square as well as at the various clubs around town
6.
Tobacco
–
Tobacco is a product prepared from the leaves of the tobacco plant by curing them. The plant is part of the genus Nicotiana and of the Solanaceae family, while more than 70 species of tobacco are known, the chief commercial crop is N. tabacum. The more potent variant N. rustica is also used around the world, Tobacco contains the alkaloid nicotine, which is a stimulant. Dried tobacco leaves are used for smoking in cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco. They can be consumed as snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco. Tobacco use is a factor for many diseases, especially those affecting the heart, liver. In 2008, the World Health Organization named tobacco as the single greatest preventable cause of death. The English word tobacco originates from the Spanish and Portuguese word tabaco, the precise origin of this word is disputed, but it is generally thought to have derived at least in part, from Taino, the Arawakan language of the Caribbean. In Taino, it was said to either a roll of tobacco leaves or to tabago. Tobacco has long used in the Americas, with some cultivation sites in Mexico dating back to 1400–1000 BC. Many Native American tribes have traditionally grown and used tobacco, traditionally, tobacco is seen as a gift from the Creator, with the ceremonial tobacco smoke carrying ones thoughts and prayers to the Creator. Following the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, tobacco became popular as a trade item. Hernández de Boncalo, Spanish chronicler of the Indies, was the first European to bring seeds to the Old World in 1559 following orders of King Philip II of Spain. These seeds were planted in the outskirts of Toledo, more specifically in a known as Los Cigarrales named after the continuous plagues of cicadas. Before the development of lighter Virginia and white burley strains of tobacco, small quantities were smoked at a time, using a pipe like the midwakh or kiseru or smoking newly invented waterpipes such as the bong or the hookah. The alleged benefits of tobacco also account for its considerable success, Tobacco smoking, chewing, and snuffing became a major industry in Europe and its colonies by 1700. Tobacco has been a major crop in Cuba and in other parts of the Caribbean since the 18th century. In the late 19th century, cigarettes became popular, James Bonsack created a machine that automated cigarette production
7.
Ilinden (memorial)
–
Ilinden, also known as Makedonium, is a monument in Kruševo, Republic of Macedonia. Authors of the monument are Jordan Grabuloski and Iskra Grabuloska and it is dedicated to all the fighters and revolutionaries who participated in the Ilinden uprising of 1903, as well as soldiers-partisans of the Macedonia National Liberation Struggle 1941-1944. The monument grounds cover 12 acres, th3 building has a rounded shape with protruding oval windows. The upper windows are made of stained glass, inside the dome is the tomb of Nikola Karev, president of the Kruševo Republic, and the bust of the singer Toše Proeski. The interior of the dome has four windows, each facing a different direction including the associated with the Ilinden-related events ″Sliva″ Memorial, Bear stone. Ilinden uprising Kruševo Republic List of World War II monuments and memorials in the Republic of Macedonia Media related to Makedonium at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Ohrid
–
Ohrid is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and the seat of Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, Ohrid is notable for once having had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as a Jerusalem. The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant and it is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola. In 1979 and in 1980 respectively, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, Ohrid is one of only 28 sites that are part of UNESCOs World Heritage that are Cultural as well as Natural sites. In Macedonian and the other South Slavic languages, the name of the city is Ohrid, in Albanian, the city is known as Ohër or Ohri and in modern Greek Ochrida and Achrida. The earliest inhabitants of the widest Lake Ohrid region were the Dassaretae, an ancient Greek tribe and the Enchelei, according to recent excavations by Macedonian archaeologists it was a town way back at the time of king Phillip II of Macedon. They conclude that Samuils Fortress was built on the place of an earlier fortification, during the Roman conquests, towards the end of 3rd and the beginning of 2nd century BC, the Dassaretae and the region Dassaretia were mentioned, as well as the ancient Greek city of Lychnidos. It was located along the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic port Dyrrachion with Byzantium, archaeological excavations prove early adoption of Christianity in the area. Bishops from Lychnidos participated in ecumenical councils. The South Slavs began to arrive in the area during the 6th century AD, by the early 7th century it was colonized by a Slavic tribe known as the Berziti. The Bulgars conquered the city in 867, the name Ohrid first appeared in 879. The Ohrid Literary School established in 886 by Clement of Ohrid became one of the two cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire. Between 990 and 1015, Ohrid was the capital and stronghold of the Bulgarian Empire, from 990 to 1018 Ohrid was also the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. The higher clergy after 1018 was almost invariably Greek, including during the period of Ottoman domination, as an episcopal city, Ohrid was a cultural center of great importance for the Balkans. Almost all surviving churches were built by the Byzantines and by the Bulgarians, bohemond leading a Norman army took the city in 1083. In the 13th and 14th century the city changed hands between the Despotate of Epirus, the Bulgarian, the Byzantine and the Serbian Empire and local Albanian rulers. In the middle of the 13th century Ohrid was one of the cities ruled by Paul Gropa, in 1334 the city was captured by Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and incorporated in the Serbian Empire. After Dusans death the city came under the control of Andrea Gropa, in the early 1370s Marko lost Ohrid to Paul II Gropa, another member of the Gropa family and unsuccessfully tried to recapture it in 1375 with Ottoman assistance
9.
Deutsche Mark
–
The Deutsche Mark, abbreviated DM or D-Mark, was the official currency of West Germany and unified Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, but not in German, it is called the Deutschmark. Mark coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany until 28 February 2002. However, in 2012, it was estimated that as many as 13.2 billion marks were in circulation, with polls showing a narrow majority of Germans favouring the currencys restoration. The Deutsche Bundesbank has guaranteed that all German marks in form may be changed into euros indefinitely. Banknotes and coins can even be sent to the Bundesbank by mail, on 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM1.95583 = €1. One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 Pfennig, a mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1871. Before that time, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16 2⁄3 grams of pure silver. Although the mark was based on rather than silver, a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the mark of 3 marks =1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion. The first mark, known as the Goldmark, was introduced in 1873, with the outbreak of World War I, the mark was taken off the gold standard. The currency thus became known as the Papiermark, especially as inflation, then hyperinflation occurred. The Papiermark was replaced by the Rentenmark from November 15,1923, due to the strains between the Allies each zone was governed independently as regards monetary matters. The US occupation policy was governed by the directive JCS1067, as a consequence a separate monetary reform in the U. S. zone was not possible. Each of the Allies printed its own occupation currency, the Deutsche Mark was officially introduced on Sunday, June 20,1948 by Ludwig Erhard. Large amounts were exchanged for RM10 to 65 Pfennig, in addition, each person received a per capita allowance of DM60 in two parts, the first being DM40 and the second DM20. A few weeks later Erhard, acting against orders, issued an edict abolishing many economic controls which had been implemented by the Nazis. He did this, as he confessed, on Sunday because the offices of the American, British. He was sure if he had done it when they were open
10.
Gull
–
Gulls, often referred to as seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and only related to auks, skimmers. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, an older name for gulls is mew, cognate with German Möwe, Danish måge, Dutch meeuw, and French mouette, this term can still be found in certain regional dialects. Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white and they typically have harsh wailing or squawking calls, stout, longish bills, and webbed feet. Most gulls, particularly Larus species, are ground-nesting carnivores, which take food or scavenge opportunistically. Live food often includes crabs and small fish, gulls have unhinging jaws which allow them to consume large prey. Apart from the kittiwakes, gulls are typically coastal or inland species, the large species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, but two years is typical for small gulls. Large white-headed gulls are typically long-lived birds, with an age of 49 years recorded for the herring gull. Gulls nest in large, densely packed noisy colonies and they lay two or three speckled eggs in nests composed of vegetation. The young are precocial, being born with dark mottled down, gulls—the larger species in particular—are resourceful, inquisitive and intelligent birds, demonstrating complex methods of communication and a highly developed social structure. For example, many gull colonies display mobbing behaviour, attacking and harassing would-be predators, certain species have exhibited tool use behaviour, using pieces of bread as bait with which to catch goldfish, for example. Many species of gulls have learned to coexist successfully with humans and have thrived in human habitats, others rely on kleptoparasitism to get their food. Gulls have been observed preying on live whales, landing on the whale as it surfaces to peck out pieces of flesh. Gulls range in size from the gull, at 120 g and 29 cm, to the great black-backed gull. They are generally uniform in shape, with bodies, long wings. The tails of all but three species are rounded, the exceptions being Sabines gull and swallow-tailed gulls, which have forked tails, and Rosss gull, gulls have moderately long legs, especially when compared to the similar terns, with fully webbed feet. The bill is heavy and slightly hooked, with the larger species having stouter bills than the smaller species. The bill colour is yellow with a red spot for the larger white-headed species and red
North Macedonia
