MTR
The Mass Transit Railway is a major public transport network serving Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited, it consists of heavy rail, light rail, feeder bus service centred on an 11-line rapid transit network serving the urbanised areas of Hong Kong Island and the New Territories; the system includes 218.2 km of rail with 159 stations, including 91 heavy rail stations and 68 light rail stops. The MTR is one of the most profitable metro systems in the world. Under the government's rail-led transport policy, the MTR system is a common mode of public transport in Hong Kong, with over five million trips made in an average weekday, it achieves a 99.9 per cent on-time rate on its train journeys. As of 2014, the MTR has a 48.1 per cent market share of the franchised public transport market, making it the most popular transport option in Hong Kong. The integration of the Octopus smart card fare-payment technology into the MTR system in September 1997 has further enhanced the ease of commuting on the MTR.
Construction of the MTR was prompted by a study, released in 1967, commissioned by the Hong Kong Government in order to find solutions to the increasing road congestion problem caused by the territory's fast-growing economy. Construction started soon after the release of the study, the first line opened in 1979; the MTR was popular with residents of Hong Kong. There are continual debates regarding where to expand the MTR network; as a successful railway operation, the MTR has served as a model for other newly built systems in the world urban rail transit in China. During the 1960s, the government of Hong Kong saw a need to accommodate increasing road traffic as Hong Kong's economy continued to grow strongly. In 1966, British transportation consultants Freeman, Wilbur Smith & Associates were appointed to study the transportation system of Hong Kong; the study was based on the projection of the population of Hong Kong for 1986, estimated at 6,868,000. On 1 September 1967, the consultants submitted the Hong Kong Mass Transport Study to the government, which recommended the construction of a 40-mile rapid transit rail system in Hong Kong.
The study suggested that four rail lines be developed in six stages, with a completion date set between December 1973 and December 1984. Detailed positions of lines and stations were presented in the study; these four lines were the Kwun Tong line, Tsuen Wan line, Island line, Shatin line. The study was submitted to the Legislative Council on 14 February 1968; the consultants received new data from the 1966 by-census on 6 March 1968. A short supplementary report was submitted on 22 March 1968 and amended in June 1968; the by-census indicated that the projected 1986 population was reduced by more than one million from the previous estimate to 5,647,000. The dramatic reduction affected town planning; the population distribution was different from the original study. The projected 1986 populations of Castle Peak New Town, Sha Tin New Town, and, to a lesser extent, Tsuen Wan New Town, were revised downward, the plan of a new town in Tseung Kwan O was shelved. In this updated scenario, the consultants reduced the scale of the recommended system.
The supplementary report stated that the suggested four tracks between Admiralty station and Mong Kok station should be reduced to two, only parts of the Island line, Tsuen Wan line, Kwun Tong line should be constructed for the initial system. The other lines would be placed in the list of extensions; this report led to the final study in 1970. In 1970, a system with four lines was laid out and planned as part of the British consultants' new report, Hong Kong Mass Transit: Further Studies; the four lines were to be the Kwun Tong line, Tsuen Wan line, Island line, East Kowloon line. However, the lines that were constructed were somewhat different compared to the lines that were proposed by the Hong Kong Mass Transport Study. In 1972, the Hong Kong government authorised construction of the Initial System, a 20-kilometre system that translates to today's Kwun Tong line between Kwun Tong and Prince Edward, Tsuen Wan line between Prince Edward and Admiralty, Island line between Sheung Wan and Admiralty.
The Mass Transit Steering Committee, chaired by the Financial Secretary Philip Haddon-Cave, began negotiations with four major construction consortia in 1973. The government's intention was to tender the entire project, based on the British design, as a single tender at a fixed price. A consortium from Japan, led by Mitsubishi, submitted the only proposal within the government's $5 billion price ceiling, they signed an agreement to construct the system in early 1974, but in December of the same year, pulled out of the agreement for reasons stemming from fears of the oil crisis. Several weeks in early 1975, the Mass Transit Steering Group was replaced by the Mass Transport Provisional Authority, which held more executive powers, it announced that the Initial System would be reduced to 15.6 kilometres and renamed the "Modified Initial System". Plans for a single contract were abandoned in favour of 25 engineering contracts and 10 electrical and mechanical contracts. On 7 May 1975 the Legislative Council passed legislation setting up the government-owned Mass Transit Railway Corporation to replace the Mass Transport Provisional Authority.
Construction of the Modified Initial System (now part of
Greece
Greece the Hellenic Republic, self-identified and known as Hellas, is a country located in Southern and Southeast Europe, with a population of 11 million as of 2016. Athens is largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is located at the crossroads of Europe and Africa. Situated on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, Turkey to the northeast; the Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a large number of islands, of which 227 are inhabited. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres; the country consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace and the Ionian Islands.
Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, Western drama and notably the Olympic Games. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as poleis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, in which Greek language and culture were dominant. Rooted in the first century A. D. the Greek Orthodox Church helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World. Falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence.
Greece's rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The sovereign state of Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, a high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the tenth member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001, it is a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Greece's unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry, prominent shipping sector and geostrategic importance classify it as a middle power, it is the largest economy in the Balkans. The names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages and cultures.
The Greek name of the country is Hellas or Ellada, its official name is the Hellenic Republic. In English, the country is called Greece, which comes from Latin Graecia and means'the land of the Greeks'; the earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, in the Greek province of Macedonia. All three stages of the stone age are represented for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via which farming spread from the Near East to Europe. Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilisation, beginning with the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete, the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland; these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek.
The Mycenaeans absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, during a time of regional upheaval known as the Bronze Age collapse. This ushered from which written records are absent. Though the unearthed Linear B texts are too fragmentary for the reconstruction of the political landscape and can't support the existence of a larger state contemporary Hittite and Egyptian records suggest the presence of a single state under a "Great King" based in mainland Greece; the end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to the year of the first Olympic Games. The Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea, So
Metro International
Metro International is a Swedish global media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the Metro newspapers. Metro International's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 41 percent since launch of the first newspaper edition in 1995, it is a freesheet, meaning that distribution is free, with revenues thus generated through advertising. This newspaper is intended for commuters who move daily in and out of big cities' business areas during rush hours; the company was founded by Per Andersson and started as a subsidiary of the Modern Times Group along with Viasat Broadcasting. It is now controlled through the Mats Qviberg owned investment company Custos; the first edition of the newspaper was published as Metro Stockholm and distributed in the Stockholm metro. As of 2012, all European editions have been sold so that Metro International can focus on Latin America, considered the last growth market for free newspapers; as of October 2009, there were 56 daily editions in 15 languages and in 19 countries across Europe and South America, Asia, for an audience of more than 17 million daily readers and 37 million weekly readers.
Metro newspaper editions are distributed in high-traffic commuter zones or in public transport networks, via a combination of self-service racks and by hand distributors on weekdays. Saturday editions are published in Stockholm, Santiago, São Paulo, Lima; the distribution points are located either in or around public transport networks, office buildings, retail outlets, at key distribution points on busy streets, or in other high-density population areas such as college campuses. Metro International launched several editions in Canada during 2000, leading to the creation of several commuter newspaper competitors, such as Sun Media's 24 Hours; the local name of the Metro newspaper editions may vary due to trademark issues. Peruvian and Mexican editions are called Publimetro, the Spanish edition is named Metro Directo. Not all newspapers named. Associated Newspapers publishes; this UK Metro is not related to Metro International, which used the name Morning News for its freesheet distributed there.
However, Metro International and Associated Metro do collaborate on the Dublin Metro Herald newspaper, which they both own a third of, along with The Irish Times. The Dublin Metro newspaper uses format, however, it is reported that Metro International has plans to launch a rival free evening newspaper in London. There are other examples of newspapers named Metro that are not part of the Metro International Group. In Belgium, Mass Transit Media, a joint venture of Concentra and Rossel, publishes the free daily newspaper Metro. In California, Metro Silicon Valley is a free weekly newspaper, founded in 1985. Neither of these newspapers have links to Metro International. In Hong Kong, Metro International sold Metro Daily in 2013 to a local businessman. Metro was first launched in Stockholm on 13 February 1995; the first international edition launched in Budapest, Hungary in Hungarian and became the most popular daily with 400.000 daily edition. The newspaper had two editions, in Budapest; the popular Metro - renamed as Metropol - was sold to a Hungarian private editor in 2011 and became target of the political fights.
The newspaper was closed in 2015. A German-language edition is published in Switzerland by Metro Publication AG under the name Metropol on 31 January 2000 as a direct competitor to 20 Minuten; the newspaper ceased publication without announcement on 13 February 2002. In 2000, a Spanish edition named Publimetro is published in Buenos Aires, with a circulation of 390,000. Facing competition from the free daily La Razón published by Grupo Clarín, Publimetro is suspended indefinitely a year later. A weekly magazine named Metropop starts publication in Hong Kong on 27 April 2006. At the end of 2006, Metro started a dedicated technology paper, Metro Teknik, distributed weekly to companies, science parks, technical universities around Sweden. Due to financial difficulties in the press sector in general, the free press in particular, Metro International closed down its Polish edition on 5 January 2007. Earlier, the Danish afternoon version of the newspaper was closed down, the business in Finland was sold.
As of October 2008, the Croatian Metro edition was cancelled, due to disappointing advertorial income. As of 29 January 2009, Metro International closed down its Spanish operations. In 2009, Metro sold its US papers; as of 31 May 2012, Metro International was delisted from the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm stock exchange. In August 2016, the French version of the newspaper, published since 2002 and property of TF1 since 2011, is discontinued. In September 2016, the Portuguese version of the newspaper, published since 2004 and property of Cofina since 2009, is discontinued. South Korea: Metro is published in Busan and Seoul Hong Kong: Metro is distributed across MTR stations in Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, Tsuen Wan and Tseung Kwan O There are national editions in the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. City editions of Metro are published in many major cities. Belgium has a bilingual free newspaper with the same name, but it is not owned by Metro International. Metro in the United Kingdom is not part of the network.
In France, the Metronews has been acquired and merged by the media company LCI - itself property of TF1. Canada: The first Canadian
Stockholm metro
The Stockholm Underground is a rapid transit system in Stockholm, Sweden. The first line opened in 1950, today the system has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. There are three coloured main lines on the tube maps; these do however form seven actual routes. Routes number 17, 18 and 19, 13 and 14 and 10 and 11 all go through Stockholm City Centre in a centralized metro system. All seven actual lines use The T-Centralen hub station. Apart from this central station for the metro, there exists just one other junction, the Fridhemsplan station, although both the green and red lines are mutually accessible at the Slussen and Gamla Stan stations; the underground is like the London Underground and the Paris Métro, but unlike the U-Bahn and S-Bahn in Berlin, in that it is equipped with ticket gates. Single tickets must be bought in advance, or at ticket machines that are available in all underground stations and on several tram- bus- or boat stops. Passengers can buy tickets at the ticket booth, just by the gates to the underground.
In 2017, the underground carried 353 million passengers, which corresponds to 1,2 million in a normal weekday. The 105.7-kilometre-long underground system is owned by the Stockholm County Council through the company Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. The operation is contracted to MTR Nordic since 2 November 2009; the Stockholm underground system has been called'the world's longest art gallery', with more than 90 of the network's 100 stations decorated with sculptures, rock formations, paintings, installations and reliefs by over 150 different artists. The decision to build an underground was made in 1941; the following years, in some cases earlier, some routes were built with near underground standard but operated with trams. These included Slussen -- Blåsut and Telefonplan -- Hägerstensåsen; the first part of the metro was opened on 1 October 1950, from Slussen to Hökarängen, having been converted from tram to metro operation. In 1951 a second line from Slussen to Stureby was opened. In 1952, a second system, from Hötorget to the western suburbs was opened.
In 1957, the two parts were connected via the Central station and the Old Town, forming the Green Line. During the period 1950-1960 the Green Line was extended piece by piece; the Red Line was opened in 1964, from T-Centralen over Liljeholmen ending in Fruängen and Örnsberg, both in the Southwest. It was extended piece by piece until 1978, when it reached Mörby centrum via a bridge over Stocksundet sea strait; the third and final system, the Blue Line, was opened in 1975, with two lines running northwest from the city center. As the construction requirements have become more strict over the years, newer segments have more tunnels than older, the Blue Line is all in tunnel; the latest addition to the whole network, Skarpnäck station, was opened in 1994. There are 100 stations in use in the Stockholm metro. One station, was built but never taken into use. One station has been demolished; the Bagarmossen old surface station was demolished and replaced with a new underground station, this being prior to the metro extension to the Skarpnäck metro station.
The Stockholm metro is well known for its decoration of the stations. Several of the stations are left with the bedrock exposed and unfinished, or as part of the decorations. At Rissne, an informative wall fresco about the history of Earth's civilizations runs along both sides of the platform; the following details relate to the present network. The designations "blue line", etc. have only been used since the late 1970s, only since the 1990s. They originated from the fact that the "blue line" tended to operate newer train stock painted blue, while the "green line" had older stock in the original green livery. There was never any red painted stock, but red was chosen to differentiate this line from the other two networks on route maps; the Green line has 3 routes and 49 stations: 37 above ground stations. The track is 41,256 metres long, it opened 1 October 1950. It is used by 451,000 passengers per workday or 146 million per year; the Red line has 2 routes and 36 stations: 15 above ground stations.
The track is 41,238 metres long. It opened 5 April 1964, it is used by 394,000 passengers per workday or 128 million per year. The Blue line has 20 stations: 19 subterranean and one elevated station; the track is 25,516 metres long. It opened 31 August 1975, it is used by 171,000 passengers per 55 million per year. Trains are operated with extended all night service on Fridays and Saturdays. All lines have trains every 10 minutes during daytime, reduced to every 15 minutes in early mornings and late evenings, every 30 minutes during nights. Additional trains in peak hours gives a train every 5–6 minutes on most stations, with 2–3 minutes between trains on the central parts of the network; the metro contains four interchanges and lacks any kind
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains, it has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region, as of 2016, was 1,347,359, the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806. There is archaeological debate regarding where Dublin was established by the Gaels in or before the 7th century AD. Expanded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion; the city expanded from the 17th century and was the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State renamed Ireland. Dublin is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts and industry; as of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha −", which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world.
The name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, from dubh meaning "black, dark", lind "pool", referring to a dark tidal pool. This tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, Irish rhymes from County Dublin show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn; the original pronunciation is preserved in the names for the city in other languages such as Old English Difelin, Old Norse Dyflin, modern Icelandic Dyflinn and modern Manx Divlyn as well as Welsh Dulyn. Other localities in Ireland bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin and Difflin. Scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b, rendering Duḃlinn or Duiḃlinn; those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh, part of Loch Linnhe.
It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements; the Viking settlement of about 841, a Gaelic settlement, Áth Cliath further up river, at the present day Father Mathew Bridge, at the bottom of Church Street. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a place name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church. There are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Anglicised as Hurlford; the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times, but the writings of Ptolemy in about AD 140 provide the earliest reference to a settlement there.
He called it Eblana polis. Dublin celebrated its'official' millennium in 1988, meaning the Irish government recognised 988 as the year in which the city was settled and that this first settlement would become the city of Dublin, it is now thought the Viking settlement of about 841 was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements which became the modern Dublin; the subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay. The Dubhlinn was a pool on the lowest stretch of the Poddle, used to moor ships; this pool was fully infilled during the early 18th century, as the city grew. The Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library within Dublin Castle. Táin Bó Cuailgne refers to Dublind rissa ratter Áth Cliath, meaning "Dublin, called Ath Cliath". Dublin was established as a Viking settlement in the 10th century and, despite a number of attacks by the native Irish, it remained under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169.
It was upon the death of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn in early 1166 that Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, proceeded to Dublin and was inaugurated King of Ireland without opposition. According to some historians, part of the city's early economic growth is attributed to a trade in slaves. Slavery in Ireland and Dublin reached its pinnacle in the 10th centuries. Prisoners from slave raids and kidnappings, which captured men and children, brought revenue to the Gaelic Irish Sea raiders, as well as to the Vikings who had initiated the practice; the victims came from Wales, England and beyond. The King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, after his exile by Ruaidhrí, enlisted the help of Strongbow, the Earl of Pembroke, to conquer Dublin. Following Mac Murrough's death, Strongbow declared himself King of Leinster after gaining control of the city. In response to Strongbow's successful invasion, King Henry II of England affirmed his ultimate sovereignty by mou
Seoul
Seoul the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. With surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province, Seoul forms the heart of the Seoul Capital Area. Seoul is ranked as the fourth largest metropolitan economy in the world and is larger than London and Paris. Strategically situated on the Han River, Seoul's history stretches back over two thousand years, when it was founded in 18 BCE by the people of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea; the city was designated the capital of Korea under the Joseon dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by a mountainous and hilly landscape, with Bukhan Mountain located on the northern edge of the city; as with its long history, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. More Seoul has been a major site of modern architectural construction – major modern landmarks include the N Seoul Tower, the 63 Building, the Lotte World Tower, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Lotte World, Trade Tower, COEX, the IFC Seoul.
Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. As the birthplace of K-pop and the Korean Wave, Seoul received over 10 million international visitors in 2014, making it the world's 9th most visited city and 4th largest earner in tourism. Today, Seoul is considered a leading and rising global city, resulting from the South Korean economic boom - referred to as the Miracle on the Han River - which transformed it into the world's 7th largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of US$635.4 billion in 2014 after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles. International visitors reach Seoul via AREX from the Incheon International Airport, notable for having been rated the best airport for nine consecutive years by the Airports Council International. In 2015, it was rated Asia's most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis, with the GDP per capita in Seoul being $39,786. Inhabitants of Seoul are faced with a high cost of living, for which the city was ranked 6th globally in 2017.
Seoul is an expensive real estate market, ranked 5th in the world for the price of apartments in the downtown center. With major technology hubs centered in Gangnam and Digital Media City, the Seoul Capital Area is home to the headquarters of 15 Fortune Global 500 companies, including Samsung, LG, Hyundai. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, the metropolis exerts a major influence in global affairs as one of the five leading hosts of global conferences. Seoul has hosted the 1986 Asian Games, 1988 Summer Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, more the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit; the city has been known in the past by the names Wiryeseong, Hanseong, Keijō. During Japan's annexation of Korea, "Hanseong" was renamed "Keijō" by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja'漢', which refers to Han people or the Han dynasty and in Japanese is a term for "China", its current name originated from the Korean word meaning "capital city", believed to have descended from an ancient word, which referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla.
Ancient Gyeongju was known in documents by the Chinese-style name Geumseong, but it is unclear whether the native Korean-style name Seorabeol had the same meaning as Geumseong. Unlike most place names in Korea, "Seoul" has no corresponding hanja. On January 18, 2005, the Seoul government changed its official Chinese name from the historic Hancheng, still in common use, to Shou'er. Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, began around 4000 BCE. Seoul is first recorded as the capital of Baekje in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area. Pungnaptoseong, an earthen wall located southeast Seoul, is believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site; as the Three Kingdoms competed for this strategic region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century, from Goguryeo to Silla in the 6th century. In the 11th century Goryeo, which succeeded Unified Silla, built a summer palace in Seoul, referred to as the "Southern Capital".
It was only from this period. When Joseon replaced Goryeo, the capital was moved to Seoul, where it remained until the fall of the dynasty; the Gyeongbok Palace, built in the 14th century, served as the royal residence until 1592. The other large palace, constructed in 1405, served as the main royal palace from 1611 to 1872. After Joseon changed her name to the Korean Empire in 1897, Hwangseong designated Seoul; the city was surrounded by a massive circular stone wall to provide its citizens security from wild animals and attacks. The city has grown beyond those walls and although the wall no longer stands, the gates remain near the downtown district of Seoul, including most notably Sungnyemun and Heunginjimun (commonly known as Dong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and abbreviated as HK, is a special administrative region on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With over 7.4 million people of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre territory, Hong Kong is the world's fourth most densely populated region. Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after Qing Empire ceded Hong Kong Island at the end of the First Opium War in 1842; the colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 after the Second Opium War, was further extended when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. The entire territory was transferred to China in 1997; as a special administrative region, Hong Kong's system of government is separate from that of mainland China and its people identify more as Hongkongers rather than Chinese. A sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages, the territory has become one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports.
It is the world's seventh-largest trading entity, its legal tender is the world's 13th-most traded currency. Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it has severe income inequality; the territory has the largest number of skyscrapers in most surrounding Victoria Harbour. Hong Kong ranks seventh on the UN Human Development Index, has the sixth-longest life expectancy in the world. Although over 90 per cent of its population uses public transportation, air pollution from neighbouring industrial areas of mainland China has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates; the name of the territory, first spelled "He-Ong-Kong" in 1780 referred to a small inlet between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between local fishermen. Although the source of the romanised name is unknown, it is believed to be an early phonetic rendering of the Cantonese pronunciation hēung góng; the name translates as "fragrant harbour" or "incense harbour".
"Fragrant" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's freshwater influx from the Pearl River or to the odor from incense factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export. Sir John Davis offered an alternative origin; the simplified name Hong Kong was used by 1810 written as a single word. Hongkong was common until 1926, when the government adopted the two-word name; some corporations founded during the early colonial era still keep this name, including Hongkong Land, Hongkong Electric and Shanghai Hotels and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The region is first known to have been occupied by humans during the Neolithic period, about 6,000 years ago. Early Hong Kong settlers were a semi-coastal people who migrated from inland and brought knowledge of rice cultivation; the Qin dynasty incorporated the Hong Kong area into China for the first time in 214 BCE, after conquering the indigenous Baiyue. The region was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom after the Qin collapse, recaptured by China after the Han conquest.
During the Mongol conquest, the Southern Song court was located in modern-day Kowloon City before its final defeat in the 1279 Battle of Yamen. By the end of the Yuan dynasty, seven large families had settled in the region and owned most of the land. Settlers from nearby provinces migrated to Kowloon throughout the Ming dynasty; the earliest European visitor was Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares, who arrived in 1513. Portuguese merchants established a trading post called in Hong Kong waters, began regular trade with southern China. Although the traders were expelled after military clashes in the 1520s, Portuguese-Chinese trade relations were reestablished by 1549. Portugal acquired a permanent lease for Macau in 1557. After the Qing conquest, maritime trade was banned under the Haijin policies; the Kangxi Emperor lifted the prohibition, allowing foreigners to enter Chinese ports in 1684. Qing authorities established the Canton System in 1757 to regulate trade more restricting non-Russian ships to the port of Canton.
Although European demand for Chinese commodities like tea and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was insignificant. To counter the trade imbalance, the British sold large amounts of Indian opium to China. Faced with a drug crisis, Qing officials pursued ever-more-aggressive actions to halt the opium trade; the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium, ordering imperial commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the opium trade in 1839. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade, forcing a British military response and triggering the First Opium War; the Qing ceded Hong Kong Island in the Convention of Chuenpi. However, both countries did not ratify the agreement. After over a year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the United Kingdom in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. Administrative infrastructure was built up by early 1842, but piracy and hostile Qing policies towards Hong Kong prevented the government from attracting merchants.
The Taiping Rebellion, when many wealthy Chinese fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colon
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