1.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
2.
Antwerp
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Antwerp is a city in Belgium, the capital of Antwerp province in the region of Flanders. With a population of 510,610, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium and its metropolitan area houses around 1,200,000 people, which is second behind Brussels. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde estuary, the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries, the inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren, after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, lord, referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics, according to folklore, notably celebrated by a statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend about a giant called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He exacted a toll from passing boatmen, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands, eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giants own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and wearpan, a longstanding theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante Verpia, indicating land that forms by deposition in the curve of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a period between 600 and 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, however, many historians think it unlikely that there was a large settlement which would be named Antverpia, but more something like an outpost with a river crossing. However, John Lothrop Motley argues, and so do a lot of Dutch etymologists and historians, aan t werp is also possible. This warp is a hill or a river deposit, high enough to remain dry at high tide. Another word for werp is pol hence polders, historical Antwerp allegedly had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952–1961, produced pottery shards, the earliest mention of Antwerp dates from the 4th century. In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic Franks, the name was reputed to have been derived from anda and werpum. The Merovingian Antwerp was evangelized by Saint Amand in the 7th century, at the end of the 10th century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate in 980, by the German emperor Otto I, in the 11th century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years known as the marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michaels Abbey at Caloes
3.
Mechelen
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Mechelen is a city and municipality in the province of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Mechelen proper, some quarters at its outskirts, the hamlets of Nekkerspoel and Battel, as well as the villages of Walem, Heffen, Leest, Hombeek, and Muizen. The Dyle flows through the city, hence it is referred to as the Dijlestad. Mechelen lies on the urban and industrial axis Brussels–Antwerp, about 25 km from each city. Mechelen is one of Flanders prominent cities of art, with Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent. The area of Mechelen was settled on the banks of the river during the Gallo-Roman period as evidenced by several Roman ruins, around 1200 started the building of the cathedral that is dedicated to the saint. Antwerp lost profitable stapelrechten for wool, oats and salt to Mechelen in 1303 when John II, Duke of Brabant and this started a rivalry between these cities that would last well into the 20th century. In the 15th century, the city came under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy, in 1473 Charles the Bold moved several political bodies to the city, and Mechelen served as the seat of the Superior Court until the French Revolution. In 1490, a postal service between Mechelen and Innsbruck was established. During the 16th century the political influence decreased dramatically, due to many governmental institutions being moved to Brussels. In 1961, Brussels was added to the title, resulting in the current Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, Mechelen also retained further relevance as the Great Council of Mechelen remained the supreme court of the territory until the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1572, during the Eighty Years War, the city was burned and sacked by the Spanish, after this pillaging, the city was rebuilt. It was during this time that the tradition of making, still seen today. The city entered the age in the 19th century. In 1835, the first railway on the European continent linked Brussels with Mechelen and this led to a development of metalworking industries, among others the central railway workshops which are still located in the town today. During the Second World War, the extensive Mechlinian railway structure had caused the Nazi occupation forces to choose Mechelen for their infamous transit camp, over 25,000 Jews and Roma were sent by rail to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp from Mechelen. The site of the camp now houses the Jewish Museum of Deportation. Several famous meetings on the Christian religion are connected to the name of the city, one in 1909 is thought to have inaugurated the Liturgical Movement
4.
Charleroi
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Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By January 1,2008, the population of Charleroi was 201,593. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos, the municipality of Charleroi straddles both banks of the river Sambre in an area marked by industrial activities, which has been nicknamed the Pays Noir, part of the larger sillon industriel. Even though most of the factories have closed since the 1950s, Charleroi lies around 50 kilometres south of Brussels. Several public buildings, temples and villas were built in the area in the Roman period, burial places, with jewels and weapons, have been found. The first written mention of a place called Charnoy dates from a 9th-century offering in the Lobbes abbey, during the Middle Ages, Charnoy was one of the many small hamlets in the area, with no more than about 50 inhabitants, part of the County of Namur. The history of the city of Charleroi began in 1666, in September of that same year, the name Charnoy was officially replaced by that of the newly founded city of Charles-Roi, so named in honor of Charles II. The chronogram FVNDATVR CAROLOREGIVM can be found in the register of the parish of Charnoy for the year 1666, a year later, Louis XIV’s armies, under the command of the Vicomte de Turenne, besieged the unfinished fortress. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban completed the work, the future city was granted its privileges, a bridge was built over the river. The French Prince of Conti took the city again in 1745, glass, steel and coal industries, which had already sprung up a century earlier, could now flourish. Trouble began again in 1790, the year of the uprising that eventually led to the United States of Belgium. The Austrians occupied the city, were forced out by the French after the Battle of Jemappes on November 6,1792, and took it back again four months later. On June 12,1794, the French revolutionary Army of Sambre-et-Meuse under the command of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, invested Charleroi, the city took the revolutionary name of Libre-sur-Sambre until 1800. After Frances defeat in 1814, the area was annexed to the Netherlands. Napoleon stayed in Charleroi for a couple of days in June 1815, after the Industrial Revolution, Charleroi benefited from the increased use of coke in the metallurgical industry. People from across Europe were attracted by the opportunities. Following the Industrial revolution in Wallonia, Charleroi from the 1850s–1860s became one of the most important places where labor strikes broke out, in 1886,12 strikers were killed by the Belgian army in Roux. In the 1880s, miners in Hainaut were recruited by the Dominion Coal Company in Glace Bay and these miners were anxious to flee the repression following bloody strikes and riots in Liège and Charleroi during the Walloon Jacquerie of 1886
5.
Moroccan Darija
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Moroccan Darija or Moroccan Arabic is a language derived from a variety of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It belongs to the Maghrebi Arabic language continuum and is intelligible, to some extent, with Algerian Arabic. It shows a strong historical and linguistic Berber, French. The Standard Arabic language, not spoken in daily life, is used for official communications by the government, however, Moroccan Darija has a strong presence in Moroccan television entertainment, cinema and commercial advertising and is the most spoken language in daily life. Moroccan Darija is a term for several distinct dialects of Arabic several belonging to two genetically different groups, pre-Hilalian and Hilalian dialects. The dialects are classified in three types, urban, village and mountain sedentary and Jewish dialects. In Morocco, several dialects are spoken, urban dialects of Fes, Rabat, Salé, Taza, Tetouan, Ouezzane, Chefchaouen, Tangiers, Asilah, Larache, Ksar el-Kebir, Meknes. Mountain dialects of the southern and western Rif can be classified in two subdialects, northern dialects and southern dialects, sedentary dialects of Zerhoun and Sefrou and their neighboring tribes, remnants of pre-Hilalian dialects that were more widely spoken before the 12th century. Judeo-Moroccan, nearly extinct but with an extensive remnant literature, Hilalian, or Bedouin, dialects were introduced to Morocco following the settlement of several Hilalian and Mâqilian tribes in western Morocco brought by the Berber Almohad king Yaqub Mansur. Among the dialects, Hassaniya is often considered as distinct from Moroccan Darija, Modern urban koines are also based on the Hilalian dialects and have mainly Hilalian features. According to Elimams studies, the origin of language would go back to over 3,000 years. This Semitic language would be strongly Arabized after the Arab invasion to be assimilated into the language of the conquerors. Moroccan Darija is characterized by a strong Amazigh stratum, following the Arab conquest, Amazigh languages remained widely spoken. More recently, the influx of Andalusi Muslims and Spanish-speaking–Moriscos influenced Urban dialects with Spanish substrate, most vocabulary of Moroccan Darija is derived from Old Arabic and Amazigh, supplemented by French and Spanish loanwords. There are noticeable differences between Moroccan Darija and most other languages. Some words are unique to Moroccan Darija, daba now. Others are shared with Algerian Arabic such as talk, from Classical hadhar babble. There are a number of Moroccan Darija dictionaries in existence, A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic, Moroccan-English, washington, DC, Georgetown University Press,1963 Mujam al-fuṣḥā fil-āmmiyyah al-maghribiyyah معجم الفصحى في العامية المغربية, Muhammad Hulwi, Rabat, al-Madaris 1988
6.
Berber language
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Berber or the Berber languages or the Amazigh language are a family of similar and closely related languages and dialects indigenous to North Africa. Large Berber-speaking migrant communities, numbering today about 4 million, have been living in Western Europe, about half of this population was born in Europe. Berber constitutes a branch of the Afroasiatic language family, and has been attested since ancient times, the number of Berbers is much higher than the number of Berber speakers. The bulk of the populations of the Maghreb countries are considered to have Berber ancestors, in Algeria, for example, a majority of the population consists of Arabized Berbers. There is a cultural and political movement among speakers of the closely related varieties of Northern Berber to promote and unify them under a standard language, called. The name Tamaziɣt is the current native name of the Berber language in the Moroccan Middle-Atlas region, the Rif regions, in other Berber-speaking area this name was lost. There is historical evidence, from medieval Berber manusctipts, that all native North Africans from Libya to Morocco have called their language, Tamaziɣt. The name Tamaziɣt is currently being used by educated Berbers to refer to the written Berber language. Around 90 percent of the Berber-speaking population speak one of six major varieties of Berber and they are, in the order of demographic weight, Tashelhit, Kabyle, Atlas Tamazight, Riffian, Shawi and Tuareg. The Berber languages and dialects have had a tradition, on and off, for about 2,500 years, although the tradition has been frequently disrupted by cultural shifts. They were first written in the Libyco-Berber and Tifinagh abjad, still used by the Tuareg, the oldest dated inscription is from about 200 BCE. The Berber Latin alphabet was used by most European and Berber linguists during the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th and 20th century European and native Berber linguists, a modernized form of the Tifinagh alphabet, called Neo-Tifinagh, was adopted in Morocco in 2003 for writing Berber, but many Moroccan Berber publications still use the Berber Latin alphabet. Algerians mostly use the Berber Latin alphabet in Berber language education at public schools, Mali and Niger recognize a Tuareg-Berber Latin alphabet customized to the Tuareg phonological system. However, traditional Tifinagh is still used in those countries, the term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century, and is still used today. It was borrowed from Latin Barbari, the Latin word is also found in the Arabic designation for these populations, البربر, al-Barbar, see names of the Berber people. Etymologically, the Berber root Mazigh means free man, noble man, the feminine Tamazight traditionally referred specifically to the Riffian and Central Atlas Tamazight languages. European languages distinguish between the words Berber and barbaric, while Arabic has the same word al-barbari for both meanings, some other Berber writers, especially in Morocco, prefer to refer to Berber with Amazigh when writing about it in French or English
7.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
8.
Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German
9.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
10.
Sunni Islam
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Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted between 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service
11.
Arab Christians
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Arab Christians are Arabs of the Christian faith. Arab Christians, forming Greek Orthodox and Latin Christian communities, are estimated to be 520, 000–703,000 in Syria,221,000 in Jordan,127,000 in Israel and around 50,000 in Palestine. There is also a sizable Arab Christian Orthodox community in Lebanon and marginal communities in Iraq, Turkey, the first Arab tribes to adopt Christianity were likely Nabataeans and Ghassanids. The last king of the Lakhmids, al-Numan III ibn al-Mundhir, today Arab Christians still play important roles in the Arab world, and Christians are relatively wealthy, well educated, and politically moderate. Arab Christians are not the only Christian group in the Middle East, with significant non-Arab indigenous Christian communities of Chaldeans, Arameans, Armenians, Arab Christians are Indigenous peoples of Western Asia, with a presence there predating the seventh-century Early Muslim conquests in the Fertile Crescent. There were many Arab tribes which adhered to Christianity beginning with the 1st century, including the Nabateans, Nabateans were possibly among the first Arab tribes to arrive to the Southern Levant in the very late first millennium BC. The Nabataeans initially adopted pagan beliefs, but they became Christians by the time of the Byzantine period around the 4th century, the new Arab invaders, who soon pressed forward into their seats found the remnants of the Nabataeans transformed into peasants. Their lands were divided between the new Qahtanite Arab tribal kingdoms of the Byzantine vassals, the Ghassanids and the Himyarite Kingdom, the tribes of Tayy, Banu Abdul Qays, and Taghlib are also known to have included many Christians in the pre-Islamic period. The southern Arabian city of Najran was a center of Arabian Christianity, made famous by the persecution by one of the kings of Yemen, Dhu Nawas, who was himself an enthusiastic convert to Judaism. The leader of the Arabs of Najran during the period of persecution, some modern scholars suggest that Philip the Arab was the first Christian emperor of Rome. By the fourth century, a significant number of Christians occupied the Sinai Peninsula, Mesopotamia, the New Testament has a biblical account of Arab conversion to Christianity recorded in the book of Acts. When Saint Peter preaches to the people of Jerusalem, they ask, And how is it that we hear, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. Arab Christians are thus one of the oldest Christian communities, the first mention of Christianity in Arabia occurs in the New Testament as the Apostle Paul refers to his journey in Arabia following his conversion. Later, Eusebius discusses a bishop named Beryllus in the see of Bostra, Christians existed in Arab lands from at least the 3rd century onward. Following the fall of large portions of former Byzantine and Sasanian provinces to the Arab armies, historically, a number of minority Christian sects were persecuted as heretic under Byzantine rule. Those who refused war and refused to convert were deemed to have agreed to pay jizya and it is a common agreement that after the rapid expansion of Islam from the 7th century onward, many Christians chose not to convert to Islam. Many scholars and intellectuals like Edward Said believed Christians in the Arab world have made significant contributions to the Arab civilization since the 7th century AD and still do. Some of the top poets at times were Arab Christians, and many Arab Christians were physicians, writers, government officials
12.
Nador
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Nador is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 161,726. It is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a lagoon named Sebkha Bou Areq. Nador was founded in the 19th century and was under Spanish colonial rule until Morocco’s independence in 1956, Nador Province has over 600,000 inhabitants, predominantly of Riff-Berber ethnicity. The origin of the city name is disputed and it may have originated from Has Nador, which was a small village by the lagoon, or it may have come from Arabic terms meaning either lighthouse or sight. The economy of Nador and Nador province includes fishery, agriculture, some light, in the summer months of June to August thousands of people originating from the Nador area and living in Europe return to the city. The total of these annual visitors may exceed 250,000 and they mainly stay with relatives or in rented or owned apartments, rather than staying in Nadors hotels. Nador was infamous as a centre of smuggling cheap Spanish and Chinese duty-free goods, currently the smuggling has declined but it still alive competing with a smuggling stream from Algeria. Many used consumer goods from Europe and China find their way to Morocco and Africa via Melilla and Nador, the goods range from conserved food, clothes, shoes, electric home appliances, up to sophisticated hardware. Nador’s population grew by 566% between 1960 and 1971, from 4,806 people in 1960 and 32,000 in 1971 and its population has since grown with over 500% once again, to a total estimated population of 200,000 in 2015. Only eight years previously, in 2007, the city had a population of 120,000,98 percent of the city-population is made up by Riffian-Berbers. The Amazigh culture is dominant and Nador is the largest Tarifit-speaking city in the world, the population density in the city of Nador is many times that of the larger Nador Province. Nador is the 17th largest city in Morocco and is the capital of Nador Province in the Oriental Region of northern Morocco and it is located on the Sebkha Bou Areq lagoon on the Mediterranean coastline. The city sprawls along the coast and it is approximately 75 kilometres west of the Algerian border,10 kilometres south of the Spanish enclave of Melilla, and 380 kilometres east of the Moroccan capital of Rabat. The city center of Nador is largely a grid of streets around the axis of Avenue Hassan II, with the main bus-. Avenue Mohammed V runs from the waterfront to the citys governmental facilities. Mohammed V Boulevard has open plazas and Spanish Iberian-style architecture, particularly seen in the Roman Catholic churches, the administrative city center, main post office, and the Grand Mosque are all located on the Youssef Ben Tachfine Boulevard. As well as being a haven for birds, this area is frequently visited by locals because of its natural beauty. There are major freshwater and saline sites covering large areas of protected sand dunes, marsh-, insects include Damselfly, Caelifera, Six-eyed sand spider, and numerous others
13.
Tangier
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Tangier is a major city in northwestern Morocco. It is located on the Maghreb coast at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. It is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah prefecture of Morocco, the history of Tangier is very rich, due to the historical presence of many civilisations and cultures starting from before the 5th century BC. Between the period of being a strategic Berber town and then a Phoenician trading centre to the era around the 1950s. In 1923, it was considered as having international status by foreign colonial powers, the city is currently undergoing rapid development and modernisation. Projects include new tourism projects along the bay, a business district called Tangier City Center, a new airport terminal. Tangiers economy is set to benefit greatly from the new Tanger-Med port. The citys name is said to come from Tingis, the daughter of Atlas, however, it more likely derives from the Semitic word tigisis, meaning harbour. Tangier is also referred to as Boughaz or nicknamed as the bride of the north by the Moroccans, Tangier was founded in the early 5th century BC by Carthaginian colonists, who were probably the first ones to settle around the coast. The Greeks ascribed the citys establishment to the giant Antaios, whose tomb and skeleton are pointed out in the vicinity, the cave of Hercules, a few miles from the city, is a major tourist attraction. It is believed that Hercules slept there before attempting one of his twelve labours, the commercial town of Tingi came under Roman rule during the 2nd century BC. It was initially autonomous, and then, under Augustus, became a colony and it was the scene of the martyrdoms of Saint Marcellus of Tangier. Tingis was the main Roman city of Mauretania Tingitana in the 4th century and enjoyed huge development, in the 5th century, Vandals conquered and occupied Tingi and from here swept across the Maghreb. A century later, Tangier fell to the Byzantine Empire, before coming under the control of the Umayyad Caliphate in 702, due to its Christian past, it is still a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. When the Portuguese, driven in part by religious fervour, started their colonial expansion by taking Ceuta in 1415. They failed to capture the city in 1437 but finally occupied it in 1471, a partial plan of the original kasbah was found in 2009–12, in a Portuguese document now preserved in the Military Archives of Sweden in Stockholm. The Portuguese rule lasted until 1662, when it was given to Englands King Charles II as part of the dowry from the Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza, the English gave the city a garrison and a charter which made it equal to English towns. The English planned to improve the harbour by building a mole, with an improved harbour the town would have played the same role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy
14.
Oujda
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Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental region of eastern Morocco. It is located about 15 kilometres west of the Algerian border, however, it is likely that the name is linked to the hunt for Sulaiman Al-Chamakh who assassinated King Idris the first by order of the Abbasid Caliphate. They had sent him to kill the King who had established an emirate, independent of the Abbasid Caliphate and he poisoned the King before fleeing to the east. He was, however, tracked by the Moors who found, ever since this event the city has been called Oujda. There is some evidence of a settlement during the Roman occupation, uqba ibn Nafi began the Umayyad-Arab conquest of the region, during the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate, a conquest which was completed in AD705 by Musa bin Nusayr. The city was founded in 994 by Ziri ibn Atiyya, Berber king of the Zenata tribes, further additions were made in 1048. In the mid-11th century, Oujda acquired prominence through its position on the road east from Sijilmasa. The city was rebuilt in the 13th century by sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub and it was torn between the rulers of Fes and the disputed Tlemcen, and from the 16th century, it was contested by the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco and the Turks in Algiers. In 1692, Sultan Ismail led in the Turks, who established their hegemony on Algeria, Oujda fell again under Turkish rule in the following century for few weeks. The French occupied it in 1844 and again in 1859, to the west of the city is the site of the major Franco-Moroccan Battle of Isly in 1844. The French had to withdraw because of the strong Moroccan resistance, in 1907 and 1908 Oujda was reconquered by General Bugeaud and Marshal Lyautey and used as a French military base to control eastern Morocco. The modern city owes much of its present form to the French, the 1948 Anti-Jewish Riots in Oujda and Jerada occurred in this city. The crowd, sparked off by an incident, poured into the Jewish quarter. In the three hours that passed before the army could control the mob, five people had killed, thirty had been severely injured, shops. In 2010, Rod Solaimani chronicled his trip to Oujda for MTV, the Moroccan border with Algeria is just east of Oujda, on the other side of the border is the Algerian town of Maghnia. The border has been closed since 1994, the city is located 60 km south of the Mediterranean sea and 15 km west of Algeria, with an estimated altitude of 450 metres. 5 km south from city centre is located Jbel Hamra, a typical Mediterranean forest, into the east of this forest is located Sidi Maafa park. To the north of the city is the Rif area, the city has a Mediterranean climate
15.
Zakaria Bakkali
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Zakaria Bakkali is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Valencia CF and the Belgium national football team as a winger. He is most famous for becoming the youngest Eredivisie player of all-time to score a hat-trick, on 30 July 2013, Bakkali made his debut for PSV against Zulte Waregem in a UEFA Champions League qualifying match. He made his Eredivisie debut against ADO Den Haag in the game of the season on 3 August. On 7 August 2013, he scored his first senior goal in the second-leg of the Champions League tie against Zulte Waregem in a 3–0 win. On 10 August, he scored a hat-trick in PSVs 5–0 defeat of NEC Nijmegen at the Philips Stadion, in the middle of 2014, Bakkali was set for a move to Atlético Madrid for a fee of around €2-3 million, but the move fell through. After the move failed, interest from the Premier League began to rise throughout the 2014–15 season, after rejecting a new contract from PSV, Bakkali was banished from the first-team, with PSV agreeing to sell him in the winter transfer window. Scottish club Celtic offered £750,000 on transfer deadline day for Bakkali, on 6 July 2015, Bakkali moved to La Liga club Valencia CF, after agreeing to a five-year deal. He made his debut against Werder Bremen in the 2015 Audi quattro Cup final on 11 July 2015. He scored his first goal for Valencia on 31 October 2015 in a 3–0 home win over local rivals Levante, after his breakthrough into the PSV first team, Belgium senior coach Marc Wilmots selected him in his 25-man squad for the friendly match against France. Due to an injury sustained the day before the game. He was recalled to the Belgium squad in October 2015 for Euro 2016 qualifiers against Andorra, as of match played 15 January 2017. As of match played 10 October 2015, voetbal International profile Belgium stats at Belgian FA Zakaria Bakkali on Soccerway Zakaria Bakkali at National-Football-Teams. com
16.
Marouane Fellaini
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Marouane Fellaini-Bakkioui, known as Marouane Fellaini, is a Belgian professional football player who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Belgium national team. Born in Etterbeek to Moroccan parents, Fellaini played youth football for Anderlecht, Mons, Royal Francs Borains and Charleroi S. C. before joining Standard Liège. After winning the Belgian First Division and the Ebony Shoe as a Liège player, at Everton, he was the clubs Young Player of the Season for 2008–09, when the club were losing finalists in the FA Cup. After five years at Everton, he transferred to Manchester United in a deal worth £27.5 million in September 2013, on the international stage, Fellaini has been a full international for Belgium since 2007, earning over 70 caps. He represented the team at the 2008 Olympics, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Fellaini was born to Moroccan parents from Tangier and brought up in Brussels, he has an identical twin named Mansour Fellaini. Instead of returning home, he opted to become a bus driver for STIB and he would later take early retirement to oversee his sons career. Born in Etterbeek, Brussels Capital-Region, Fellaini began playing football at the age of 8 for Anderlecht, Fellainis first love was track, with the 10,000 metres being his preferred event. As a child he would run to school while his classmates used to make their journey by bus or car. However, Fellainis father Abdellatif, who was a footballer himself. In his first season at Anderlechts Academy, he scored 26 goals and he was at Anderlechts academy until the age of 10 when he joined Mons, due to his father getting a new job in the city. Three years later, he joined R. Francs Borains before leaving the club when he signed for Sporting Charleroi, at the age of 17, he signed his first permanent contract with Standard Liège. Between 2006 and 2008, he made 84 appearances for the club and he made his Everton debut in a 3–2 away victory at Stoke City on 14 September 2008, and scored his first goal for the team against Newcastle United in a 2–2 home draw on 5 October 2008. Fellaini went on to score 9 goals in his first season and he kept his promise as he only picked up 3 further bookings in 16 games following the meeting, although his total was still more than any other Premier League player. At the end of the 2008–09 season Fellaini was named Evertons Young Player of the Season, in his time in England he has become well known for his large afro hairstyle, becoming a fan favourite with Everton fans regularly sporting Afro wigs as a homage to Fellaini. Later Fellaini reverted to play in his least favourite defensive midfield area, Fellaini was stretchered off in the 34th minute of the Merseyside derby on 6 February after a two-footed tackle by Sotirios Kyrgiakos, ruling him out for the rest of the 2009–10 season. Sotirios Kyrgiakos was then sent off as a result of Fellainis injury, in November 2011, he signed a new five-year contract with the club. He finished the season having won the most tackles, aerial duels and he won the second highest number of tackles in the league and won possession of the ball 190 times, the most out of any player. In the opening game of the 2012–13 Premier League season against Manchester United, Fellaini received plaudits for his outstanding performance and he continued the season in great form with goals against Arsenal, Manchester City, Sunderland and Fulham amongst others
17.
Islam in Belgium
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Islam is the second largest religion in Belgium, accounting for 5 to 7% of the total population. Muslims are concentrated in regions of the country, constituting 23. 6% of the population in Brussels. A2008 estimation shows that 6% of the Belgian population, about 628,751, is Muslim, either Sunni, Shia, Alevi, Muslims cover 25. 5% of the population of Brussels,4. 0% of Wallonia and 3. 9% of Flanders. The majority of Belgian Muslims live in the cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels. According to estimates released in 2007 by sociologist Jan Hertogen, the largest group of immigrants in Belgium, the Turks are the third-largest group, and the second-largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 159,336. Other nationalities represented are mostly Arabs, Pakistanis and West Africans, Moroccan and Turkish immigrants began coming in large numbers to Belgium starting in the 1960s as guest workers. Though the guest-worker program was abolished in 1974, many immigrants stayed, today the Muslim community continues to grow through marriage migration. More than 60% of Moroccan and Turkish youth marry partners from their home countries, since 2009, Mohamed is the most popular given name in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgiums two largest cities. In 1974, Islam was recognized as one of the religions in Belgium. In 2006, the government gave €6.1 million to Islamic groups, according to a 2005 Université Libre de Bruxelles study, about 10% of the Muslim population are practicing Muslims. There are an estimated 328–380 mosques in the country, according to a 2006 opinion poll, 61% of the Belgian population thought tensions between Muslims and other communities would increase in the future. In December 2004, the Belgian government said it was considering a ban on the wearing of any religious symbols for civil servants. However, the board also has the authority to restrict that right for organizational reasons, or for the good functioning of the school. At the end of 2005, approximately twenty municipalities had issued a ban on walking the streets completely veiled, in a few cases women were fined €150 for ignoring the ban. Under a 1993 executive order, persons in the streets must be identifiable, a veil which does not completely cover the body is however allowed. On 30 September 2003, a Belgian court convicted 18 men for involvement in a terror cell, nizar Trabelsi was sentenced to 10 years for plotting a suicide attack against the NATO air base at Kleine Brogel. In October 2004, a Belgian court sentenced eight Sunni Islamic militants to prison terms of up to 5 years for plotting attacks and for links to Al Qaeda. According to prosecutors, Saber Mohammed received three phone calls from senior Al Qaeda figure Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which he was believed to be forwarding for colleagues
18.
Morocco
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Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
19.
North African communities of Paris
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The Paris metropolitan area has a large North African/Maghrebian population. As of 2012 the majority of those of African origin living in Paris come from the Maghreb, including Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. There were 30,000 people with Algerian nationality,21,000 persons with Moroccan nationality, in addition, there were thousands of Maghrebian Jews who fled the Maghreb as a consequence of the post-World War II Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries. According to French police records, there have been Algerian and other North African residents of the 18th, 19th, many North Africans settled in the city in the 1920s, making up the largest immigrant group to the city during that period. Even though the Algerians were French citizens, they perceived as not being French due to racial, many North African residents took a more negative view of France after the Rif War occurred. The areas in Paris settled by North Africans in the 1920s and 1930s were rue des Anglais, Les Halles, in addition a Moroccan community appeared in Gennevilliers and Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine also received North Africans. In 1945 French authorities counted 60,000 North Africans, of them, they included 50,000 Kabyles,5,000 to 6,000 Chleuh, Algerian Moroccan Arabs, and small Tunisian population. The numbers of students had decreased from the period between the World Wars, and only a number of the north Africans included intellectuals, doctors. Hussey stated that initially North Africans settled the same communities as they did before. The police chief of Paris, Maurice Papon, enacted a policy against Algerians in Paris during the years 1958 through 1962. The height of violence against Algerians occurred in September and October 1961, the Paris massacre of 1961 affected the Algerian community. In 2005, young male Maghrebians made up the majority of those involved in the rioting in the Paris region, researcher Nabil Echchaibi reported that the riots were primarily orchestrated by minorities of North and West African descent, mostly in their teens. Almost all the rioters were French second-generation migrants and only about 7 percent of those arrested were foreigners. Davidson wrote that Goutte dOr in Paris in 1948 appears to have had 5,720 North Africans and it had been perceived to have become North African in the post-World War II period. As of 200818. 1% of the population of the northern Parisian commune of Saint-Denis was Maghrebian, melissa K. Brynes, author of French Like Us. In the 1950s and 1960s Maghrebians began to arrive in Sarcelles, political organization came in subsequent decades. Originally the Muslims worshipped in converted makeshift areas, but later purpose-built mosques appeared, in the 1990s Maghrebians were first elected to the commune council. Maxwell wrote that Maghrebians began obtaining key positions only in the recent vicinity of 2012 due to low turnout, Sarcelles gained a large population of Sephardic Jews as a consequence of the post-World War II Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries
20.
Moroccans in Spain
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Moroccans in Spain form 12. 7% of the 6,058,291 foreigners in Spain. They were formerly the largest foreign group in Spain, but were surpassed by Romanians in 2007, in 2003, they were estimated to make up about 6% of all Moroccans abroad. Before 1985, Moroccans did not require visas to enter Spain, many young came for seasonal or short-term work in agriculture and industry, coming and going from Spain without settling there. A new visa law implemented that year, La Ley de Extranjeria, was quite restrictive, as late as 1992, official statistics showed only 16,665 Moroccans residing in Spain. In the following years, many Moroccans came to jobs in the agricultural, hospitality, construction. By 2000, their population had increased to 201,182 individuals, along with the growing numbers of migrants, their composition also shifted, with a higher proportion of women among them. By 2008, official statistics showed 752,695 legal Moroccan residents of Spain, beginning in September that year, Spanish authorities began offering payments to unemployed immigrants if they agreed to cancel their residency and leave the country. With official statistics showing 82,262 unemployed Moroccans in Spain, however, according to provisional figures, the Moroccan population of Spain continued to grow during the year, and had reached 85,800 by the beginning of 2011,8. 8% higher than the 2008 total. 141–206, ISBN 9954-400-19-2, retrieved 2009-03-24 Población extranjera por sexo, avance del Padrón a 1 de enero de 2009. Datos provisionales, Spain, Instituto Nacional de Estadística,2009, retrieved 2009-06-13 Población extranjera por sexo, datos a nivel nacional, comunidad autónoma y provincia. Spain, Instituto Nacional de Estadística,2008, retrieved 2009-06-13 Población extranjera por sexo, datos a nivel nacional, comunidad autónoma y provincia. 122–140, ISBN 9954-400-19-2, retrieved 2009-03-24 López García, Berriane, Mohamed, eds
21.
Moroccans in Sweden
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Regional income inequalities were substantial, distribution of personal incomes was extremely imbalanced and unemployment rates in countryside were high. There was about half a decade of immigration of Moroccan workers to Sweden, between 1966 and 1973, since then there have been a small but constant inflow of family members, mainly spouses and also aged parents, on average an annual arrival of 1,100 persons. By 2003, this number reached to 63.000, of this group 54% were born in Morocco and 46% were born in Sweden, members of the second generation. There have been indications of change in conditions for Moroccans in Sweden in last decade. The current number of employed in Moroccan businesses in Sweden is 49.500, while half of these businesses are in the hotel. The role of the media and communication, either as a bridge to homeland or more recently as a link between Morocco and Sweden, has been vital in the diasporas experiences
22.
Moroccan American
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Moroccan Americans are Americans of Moroccan ancestry, as well as persons who have dual Moroccan and United States citizenship. Moroccan presence in the United States was rare until the mid-twentieth century, only Azemmouri and three of his comrades survived during the eleven-year- long of journey, of 5,000 mile, from Florida to the West Coast, ending the tour in Texas. He was the first explorer who entered an Indian village, after of World War II, some groups of Sephardic Jews from Morocco emigrated to United States, fleeing poverty in North Africa. Most of them got established in zones where already had established Sephardic Jews communities from Spain, Turkey, after French independence of Morocco in 1956, a number of their best young researchers, though limited, left Paris to study at American universities, entering in scientific faculties. Arabized Moroccans, however, not arrived to United States in significant numbers until the late 1970s, during the 1980s and 1990s, many Moroccans entered the United States to attend colleges, universities, graduate schools, and medical schools. If well, some Moroccans emigrated to United States seeking work, opening retail stores. In 1990 there were about 15,000 Moroccan Americans with most of them being in New York City, Morocco experienced an unemployment rate of 16 to 20 percent. Moroccan Citizens began migrating during this period to relieve the high unemployment rate, most migrants attempted to enter France, Italy, and Spain. But by the end of the 1990s, the European Union began limiting visas for North Africans, Moroccans with higher levels of job skills were able to consider emigration to the United States. To escape their country’s high unemployment rate, Moroccans who immigrated to the United States typically had more education, most immigrants settled in New York City, New England, the District of Columbia, California, and Texas where they established small businesses or entered professional jobs. Some Moroccan Jewish families are settled in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, by the end of the 1990s, most Moroccan immigrants were students or recent university graduates. Although there were many men who started exercising in jobs such as taxi drivers, restaurant workers. As of the 2000 U. S. Census 38,923 Americans stated they were of Moroccan descent, as of 200927,000 Moroccans, about 70% of the entire Moroccan American community, had immigrated between 1992 and 2002. As of 2009 most Moroccan Americans live in urban areas. A grand majority of Moroccan Americans practice Islam, most Moroccans are Sunni Muslims of the Malaki madhhab. Morocco has historically allowed women a degree of freedom relatively high in the Islamic world, Moroccans in New York City established the Islamic Mission of America for the Propgation of Islam and Defense of the Faith and the Faithful, the second mosque in New York. A small minority of Moroccans identify with Judaism, specifically Sephardic Judaism, the traditional headgear for Moroccan men is the fez, a close-fitting red felt hat with a flattened top and a tassel. The fez is common throughout the Islamic world but it is thought to have originated from Morocco and it is also referred to as tarbush, checheya and phecy
23.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
24.
Demographics of Belgium
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All figures are from the National Institute for Statistics unless otherwise indicated. Belgium had a population of 11,190,846 people on 1 January 2015 as compared to 10,839,905 people on 1 January 2010, between 1990 and 2000 the increase was only 291,000. The population of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels on January 1,2010 was 6,251,983,3,498,384 and 1,089,538, respectively. In the beginning of 2012, people of foreign background and their descendants were estimated to have formed 25% of the total population, of these New Belgians,1,200,000 are of European ancestry and 1,350,000 are from non-Western countries. Since the relaxation of the Belgian nationality law more than 1.3 million migrants have acquired Belgian citizenship and are now considered new Belgians. 89. 2% of inhabitants of Turkish origin have been naturalized, in 2007, there were 1.38 million foreign-born residents in Belgium, corresponding to 12. 9% of the total population. Of these,685000 were born outside the EU and 695000 were born in another EU Member State, note, Territorial changes in East-Belgium occurred in 1925,1940 and 1944. 4.8 in 20103.4 in 2011 The total fertility rate gradually increased during the last decade from 1.60 in 1997,1.65 in 2002 and 1.82 in 2007. The rates in Brussels are higher than the average, while they are below the average in Flanders. Male,74.4 in 1999,77.2 in 2009 Female,80.9 in 1999,82.4 in 2009 Total,77.7 in 1999,79. The largest group of immigrants and their descendants in Belgium are Italians, with more than 450,000 people, the Moroccans are the third-largest group, and the largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 220,000. See the Brussels article for more details, Belgiums three official languages are Dutch, spoken by 59% of the population, French, spoken by 40%, and German, spoken by less than 1%. 58% of Belgians, are nominally Roman Catholic, muslims, other Christians and other minority religions comprise 14% of the population. 27% are agnostic, atheist or other non-believers, the following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated
