1.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
2.
Flag of Palau
–
The flag of Palau was adopted on 1 January 1981, when the island group separated from the United Nations Trust Territory. As with the flags of several other Pacific island groups, blue is the used to represent the ocean. The current flag was introduced in 1981 when Palau became a republic, previously, the flag of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was flown jointly with the United Nations and American flags. The flags very simple design belies the depth of meaning attributed to it, the explanation for the choice of colours is rooted in the history and customs of the Palauan people. The bright blue of the field, which might be assumed to be symbolic of the Pacific Ocean, is in fact a representation of the transition from foreign domination to self-government, the golden disk, which sits slightly off-centre toward the hoist, represents the full moon. The Palauans consider the moon to be the optimum time for human activity. At this time of the month, celebrations, fishing, sowing, harvesting, tree-felling, the moon is a symbol of peace, love, and tranquility. Futaranosuke Nagoshi, a Japanese professor who studies international relations, made mention of a relation between flag of Palau and that of Japan. According to his idea, the motif of the moon is a kind of homage to the Rising-Sun flag, in a related matter, former Palauan President Kuniwo Nakamura once said with an ironical smile, Thats one way of putting it. Palau at Flags of the World Republic of Palau Convention History of the National Flag
Flag of Palau
–
Palau
3.
Belau rekid
–
Belau rekid is the national anthem of Palau. It was officially adopted in 1980, the music was written by Ymesei O. Ezekiel, to which the combined words of several authors were set. Belau loba klisiich er a kelulul, El dimla ngarngii ra rechuodelmei Meng mengel uoluu er a chimol beluu, bo dole ketek a kerruul er a belluad, Lolab a blakelreng ma duchelreng. Belau a chotil a klengar re kid, Mebo dorurtabedul msa klisichel, bod kai ue reke dchim lokiu a reng, E dongedmokel ra dimla koted. Lomcheliu a rengrdel ma klebkellel, Lokiu a budch ma beltikelreng, dios mo mek ngel tengat ra Be lumam, El dimla dikesam ra rechuodelmei, Beskemam a klisicham ma llemeltam, Lorrurt a klungiolam elmo chrechar. Palau is coming forth with strength and power, By her old ways abides still every hour, one country, safe, secure, one government Under the glowing, floating soft light stands. info Palau page
Belau rekid
–
Belau rekid
4.
Ngerulmud
–
Ngerulmud is the seat of government of the Republic of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. It replaced Koror, Palaus largest city, as capital in 2006, the settlement is located in the state of Melekeok on Babeldaob, the countrys largest island, located 20 kilometres northeast of Koror and 2 km northwest of Melekeok village. It is the worlds least populous capital of a sovereign state, the previous capital of Palau was located provisionally in Koror. The countrys constitution, ratified in 1979, directed the Palau National Congress to establish a permanent capital in Babeldaob within ten years of the effective date. Progress was slow, as Palau lacked engineers and architects, government officials moved their offices from Koror to Ngerulmud shortly after. In April 2013, Ngerulmuds post office was closed permanently, as part of cost-cutting measures implemented by the postmaster and it had been established in December 2011, following an Olbiil era Kelulau resolution, and was one of only two in the country. During its 16 months of operation, expenses had exceeded US$30,000, while revenues, in July 2014, Ngerulmud hosted the official opening of the 45th Pacific Islands Forum. However, the majority of events at the forum were held in Koror, in February 2016, Ngerulmud hosted the 16th Micronesian Presidents Summit, which was attended by the presidents of Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia
Ngerulmud
–
Palau's capitol building in Ngerulmud
Ngerulmud
Ngerulmud
Ngerulmud
5.
English language
–
English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
English language
–
The opening to the Old English epic poem
Beowulf,
handwritten in
half-uncial script: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."
English language
–
Countries of the world where English is a majority native language
English language
–
Title page of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales c.1400
6.
Japanese language
–
Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
Japanese language
–
A page from
Nihon Shoki (The Chronicles of Japan), the second oldest book of classical
Japanese history.
Japanese language
–
Map of Japanese dialects and Japonic languages
Japanese language
–
Two pages from a 12th-century
emaki scroll of
The Tale of Genji from the 11th century.
Japanese language
–
Calligraphy
7.
Ethnic groups
–
An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive
Ethnic groups
–
Before the 1970s, the
Korowai people of
Papua were an
uncontacted people. Their population numbers no more than 3,000.
Ethnic groups
–
The
Assyrians are the indigenous peoples of
Northern Iraq.
Ethnic groups
–
Some European ethnic groups, such as
Basque people, do not constitute a majority in any one country.
8.
White people
–
White people is a racial classification specifier, used for people of Europid ancestry, with the exact implications dependent on context. The contemporary usage of people or a white race as a large group of populations contrasting with black, American Indian. It is today used as a racial classifier in multiracial societies, such as North Africa, United States. The term white race or white people entered the major European languages in the later 17th century, in the context of racialized slavery, description of populations as white in reference to their skin color predates this notion and is found in Greco-Roman ethnography and other ancient sources. Scholarship on race generally distinguishes the concept from pre-modern descriptions of collective difference. In the literature of the Ancient Near East and Classical Antiquity and we know that Egyptians were not oblivious to skin color, however, because artists paid attention to it in works of art, to the extent the pigments at the time permitted. Classicist James Dee states the Greeks do not describe themselves as white people—or as anything else because they had no word in their color vocabulary for themselves. Peoples skin color did not carry meaning, what mattered is where they lived. Religious conversion was sometimes described figuratively as a change in skin color, similarly, the Rigveda uses krsna tvac black skin as a metaphor for irreligiosity. The Ancient Egyptian funerary text known as the Book of Gates distinguishes four groups in a procession and these are the Egyptians, the Levantine/Canaanite peoples or Asiatics, the Nubians and the fair-skinned Libyans. The Egyptians are depicted as a reddish brown, the Nubians as black skinned, the Semites from the Levant and Canaan as light skinned. Herodotus described the Scythian Budini as having blue eyes and bright red hair. And the Egyptians – quite like the Colchians – as melánchroes and he also gives the possibly first reference to the common Greek name of the tribes living south of Egypt, otherwise known as Nubians, which was Aithíopes. Later Xenophon described the Aethiopians as black and the Persian troops as white compared to the skin of Greek troops. These color adjectives are found in contrast to the standard set by the own group. According to historian Irene Silverblatt, Race thinking … made social categories into racial truths, Alastair Bonnett argues that white identity, as it is presently conceived, is an American project, reflecting American interpretations of race and history. According to Gregory Jay, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Before the age of exploration, group differences were based on language, religion. … the European had always reacted a bit hysterically to the differences of skin color, in the 16th and 17th centuries, East Asian peoples were almost uniformly described as white, never as yellow
White people
–
Macedonian mother
Teresa of Calcutta
White people
–
The
Georgian skull
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach discovered in 1795, which he used to hypothesize origination of Europeans from the
Caucasus.
White people
–
Italian inventor of the first telephone
Antonio Meucci
White people
–
French chemist and
microbiologist Louis Pasteur
9.
Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
10.
Politics of Palau
–
It is a de facto non-partisan democracy since no law prevents the formation of political parties. Executive power is exercised by the government, legislative power is vested in both the government and the Palau National Congress. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, presidential elections take place every four years, when the president and vice president run on separate tickets. The president, who is the chief of state and head of government, is currently Tommy E. Remengesau Jr, the Palau National Congress consists of two chambers - the Senate and the House of Delegates. The Senate has currently has 13 members elected nationwide, the House has 16 members, one from each of Palaus states. Each state also elects its own governor and legislature, the Council of Chiefs advises the president on traditional laws and customs. It is made up of the highest traditional chiefs from each state, yutaka Gibbons is Chairman of the Council of Chiefs. The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, National Court, the Court of Common Pleas, the Supreme Court has trial and appellate divisions and is presided over by the Chief Justice of Palau. Palau adopted a constitution on January 1,1981, while calm in recent years, Palau witnessed several instances of political violence in the 1980s. The republics first president, Haruo I, remeliik, was assassinated in 1985, the Minister of State was found to be complicit in the crime. Palaus third president, Lazarus Salii, committed suicide in August 1988 amid bribery allegations, saliis personal assistant had been imprisoned several months earlier after being convicted of firing shots into the home of the Speaker of the House of Delegates. Palau gained independence from the United Nations trusteeship administered by the United States on 1 October 1994, the Senate passed legislation making Palau an offshore financial center in 1998. Opponents to the legislation voiced fears that the country would become a haven for money launderers, in December 1999, a group of major international banks banned U. S. dollar-denominated transactions involving Palau and the other Pacific island states of Vanuatu and Nauru
Politics of Palau
–
Palau Capitol Building
11.
Unitary state
–
The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government. Of the 193 UN member states,165 of them are governed as unitary states, unitary states are contrasted with federal states. In a unitary state, sub-national units are created and abolished, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an example of a unitary state. Many unitary states have no areas possessing a degree of autonomy, in such countries, sub-national regions cannot decide their own laws. Examples are the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway, in federal states, the sub-national governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution, to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the units have a right of existence. The United States of America is an example of a federal state, under the U. S. Constitution, powers are shared between the federal government and the states
Unitary state
–
Unitary states
12.
Presidential system
–
A presidential system is a system of government where a head of government is also head of state and leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch. The United States, for instance, has a presidential system, the executive is elected and often titled president and is not responsible to the legislature, which cannot in normal circumstances dismiss it. Presidential systems are numerous, but the following are true, The executive can veto legislative acts and, in turn. The veto is generally derived from the British tradition of royal assent in which an act of parliament can only be enacted with the assent of the monarch, the president has a fixed term of office. Members of the cabinet serve at the pleasure of the president, cabinet ministers or executive departmental chiefs are not members of the legislature. However, presidential systems often need legislative approval of executive nominations to the cabinet, judiciary, a president generally can direct members of the cabinet, military, or any officer or employee of the executive branch, but cannot direct or dismiss judges. The president can often pardon or commute sentences of convicted criminals, countries that feature a presidential system of government are not the exclusive users of the title of president. For example, a dictator, who may or may not have been popularly or legitimately elected may be, likewise, leaders of one-party states are often called presidents. Most parliamentary republics have presidents, but this position is ceremonial, notable examples include Germany, India, Ireland, Israel. The title is used in parliamentary republics with an executive presidency. In a full-fledged presidential system, a president is chosen directly by the people or indirectly by the party to be the head of the executive branch. Presidential governments make no distinction between the positions of head of state and head of government, both of which are held by the president, a few countries have powerful presidents who are elected by the legislature. These executives are titled president, whereas in practice they are similar to prime ministers, other countries with the same system include Botswana, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Suriname. By contrast, national presidents are figurehead heads of state, like constitutional monarchs, such symbolic presidents can be directly elected by the people or indirectly by a legislative vote. Only a few nations, such as Ireland, have a popularly elected ceremonial president, subnational governments, usually states, may be structured as presidential systems. All of the governments in the United States use the presidential system. On a local level, many cities use Council-manager government, which is equivalent to a parliamentary system, some countries without a presidential system at the national level use a form of this system at a subnational or local level. Supporters generally claim four basic advantages for presidential systems, Direct elections — in a presidential system and this makes the presidents power more legitimate than that of a leader appointed indirectly
Presidential system
–
Presidential republics with a full presidential system.
13.
Republic
–
It is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology, composition, in the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as humanism, is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect, Republics became more common in the Western world starting in the late 18th century, eventually displacing absolute monarchy as the most common form of government in Europe. In modern republics, the executive is legitimized both by a constitution and by popular suffrage, for instance, Article IV of the United States Constitution guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The term originates as the Latin translation of Greek word politeia, cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. And also amongst classical Latin, the term republic can be used in a way to refer to any regime. In medieval Northern Italy, a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments, in the late Middle Ages, writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as libertas populi, a free people, the terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin phrase res publica. While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term can quite literally be translated as public matter. It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, in subsequent centuries, the English word commonwealth came to be used as a translation of res publica, and its use in English was comparable to how the Romans used the term res publica. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, likewise, in Polish, the term was translated as rzeczpospolita, although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland. Presently, the term republic commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the rather than from another basis. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many cities developed again. The modern type of itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the era that are today still called republics
Republic
–
Vaishali was the
capital of the
Vajjian Confederacy, an early republic.
Republic
–
A map of the
Roman Republic
Republic
–
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo,
Neptune offers the wealth of the sea to Venice, 1748–50. This painting is an allegory of the power of the Republic of
Venice.
Republic
–
Beginning of the Republic of
Metz. Election of the first Head-Alderman in 1289, by Auguste Migette.
Metz was then a
free imperial city of the
Holy Roman Emperor.
14.
Tommy Remengesau
–
Thomas Esang Tommy Remengesau, Jr. is a Palauan politician who is the current President of Palau. Remengsau was originally president of Palau from 2001 to 2009 and he was elected to another four-year term as President in November 2012 and took office on 17 January 2013. He became Vice-President in 1992 and was elected as President in 2000 and he wished to make Palau less dependent upon United States aid, and promoted the expansion and growth of the tourist industry through his policy and slogan of, Preserve the Best and Improve the Rest. In Palaus foreign affairs, Remengesau had been active in maintaining Palaus presence in the UN, Remengesau was born in Koror, Palau. His father is Thomas Remengesau, Sr. who was District Administrator of Palau during the Trust Territory era and his mother, Ferista Esang Remengesau, also served as First Lady of Palau. Remengesau was educated at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, at 28 years old, Remengesau targeted the youth voting bloc of Palau and successfully lobbied for their support, in the process becoming known as one of the forefront advocates for the youth of Palau. Remengesau was then elected in 1984 to the Palau National Congress, carried by the youth, in 1992, he was elected Vice-President and served two terms. In 2000, with the support of outgoing President Kuniwo Nakamura, he won the presidential election, defeating ex-senator Peter Sugiyama by a margin of 52% to 46%. He easily won re-election in 2004, defeating Polycarp Basilius by a margin of 66. 5% to 33. 5%, in a race dogged with rumors of financial influence from Taipei. Remengesau announced in 2008 that he would seek a seat in the Senate of Palau in the 2008 general election. He came in 11th in the election, Remengesau was succeeded by President Johnson Toribiong on January 15,2009. Senator Remengesau decried the whole process as an act of selective prosecution, after much speculation and media tabloid surrounding the investigation, Remengesau was found only to have been guilty of not filing properties of land and their values and accrued interest. Remengesau was charged with 19 counts of violating Palaus code of ethics for failing to disclose his interests in real properties, the charges bear on the lack of filing of the transfers and the values of said properties. Remengesau has said that, I am being charged for basically technical information related to the filing of personal assets under the Code of Ethics law, “It was incomplete but it’s not like that we did not file anything. When we filed in years 2000-2002, we believed that what we were filing was in compliance with the law, when asked about the verdict, he replied, “It is interesting because in our inquiries, roughly 90 percent filed the same way I did. And it is also an eye opener. I learned a lot from this trial and I hope other officials will also learn something from this because they now change the way they disclose their assets. ”He added, “From now on. Official biography Time Magazine,2007 Heroes of the Environment - Tommy Remengesau Jr
Tommy Remengesau
–
Tommy Remengesau
15.
Palau National Congress
–
Palau has a bicameral legislature, the Palau National Congress, consisting of the House of Delegates and the Senate of Palau, which both sit at the capitol complex in Ngerulmud, Melekeok State. The House of Delegates has 16 members, each serving four-year terms in single-seat constituencies, the Senate has 13 members, also serving four-year terms in multi-seat constituencies. In the last elections, held on 1 November 2016, only non-partisans were elected, headed as of 1996 by Congressional Librarian Harry Besebes, it has a 3000 item collection, with annual accessions of 350. The library employs 2 staff members, both professional librarians, politics of Palau List of legislatures by country
Palau National Congress
16.
Upper house
–
An upper house, sometimes called a Senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the house is usually smaller. Examples of upper houses in countries include the UKs House of Lords, Canadas Senate, Indias Rajya Sabha, Russias Federation Council, Irelands Seanad, Germanys Bundesrat, a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral. An upper house is different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects, Powers, In a parliamentary system. Therefore, in countries the Upper House votes on only limited legislative matters. Cannot vote a motion of no confidence against the government, while the house always can. In a presidential system, It may have equal or nearly equal power with the lower house and it may have specific powers not granted to the lower house. For example, It may give advice and consent to some executive decisions and it may have the sole power to try impeachments against officials of the executive, following enabling resolutions passed by the lower house. Status, In some countries, its members are not popularly elected, membership may be indirect and its members may be elected with a different voting system than that used to elect the lower house. Less populated states, provinces, or administrative divisions may be represented in the upper house than in the lower house. Members terms may be longer than in the house. Members may be elected in portions, for staggered terms, rather than all at one time, in some countries, the upper house cannot be dissolved at all, or can be dissolved only in more limited circumstances than the lower house. It typically has fewer members or seats than the lower house and it has usually a higher age of candidacy than the lower house. In parliamentary systems the upper house is seen as an advisory or revising chamber. Some or all of the restrictions are often placed on upper houses. No absolute veto of proposed legislation, though suspensive vetoes are permitted in some states, in countries where it can veto legislation, it may not be able to amend the proposals. A reduced or even absent role in initiating legislation, additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as perfect bicameralism or equal bicameralism. An example is the British House of Lords, bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month
Upper house
–
The Canadian Senate chamber at
Parliament Hill in
Ottawa,
Ontario.
Upper house
–
Inside the Australian Senate
17.
Lower house
–
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position below the house, in many legislatures worldwide. A legislature composed of one house is described as unicameral. In comparison with the house, lower houses frequently display certain characteristics, Powers In a parliamentary system, Much more power. Able to override the upper house in some ways, can vote a motion of no confidence against the government. In a presidential system, Somewhat less power, as the house alone gives advice. Given the sole power to impeach the executive Status Always elected directly, while the house may be elected directly, indirectly. Its members may be elected with a different voting system to the upper house, most populated administrative divisions are better represented than in the upper house, representation is usually proportional to population. Elected all at once, not by staggered terms, in a parliamentary system, can be dissolved by the executive. Has total or original control over budget and monetary laws, lower age of candidacy than the upper house. Many lower houses are named in the manner, House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies
Lower house
–
Inside the Australian House of Representatives
Lower house
–
Dáil Éireann, Republic of Ireland
18.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
–
Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
–
Flag
United States
–
The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
–
The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
19.
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
–
The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1986. Spain initially claimed the islands that comprised the territory of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Subsequently, Germany established competing claims over the islands, Germany, in turn, continued to retain possession until the islands were captured by Japan during World War I. The League of Nations formally placed the islands in the former South Pacific Mandate, the islands then remained under Japanese control until captured by the United States in 1944 during World War II. The TTPI entered UN trusteeship pursuant to Security Council Resolution 21 on July 18,1947 and was designated an area in its 1947 trusteeship agreement. The Territory contained 100,000 people scattered over an area the size of continental United States. They represented a variety of cultures and spoke nine languages, the Ponapeans and Kusaieans, Marshallese and Palauans, Truckese, Yapese and Chamorros had little in common, except they were in the same general area of the Pacific Ocean. The large distances between people, lack of an economy, language and cultural barriers, all worked against the union, the six district centers became upscale slums, containing deteriorated Japanese-built roads, with electricity, modern music and distractions, alienated youth and bewildered elders. The remainder of the islands stayed as they were historically, not progressing, a Congress of Micronesia first levied an income tax in 1971. It affected mainly foreigners working at bases in the region. On October 21,1986, the U. S. ended its administration of the Marshall Islands District. The termination of U. S. administration of the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, in 1969, the 100 occupied islands comprised 700 square miles over an area of 3,000,000 square miles of sea. The latter area was comparable in size to the continental United States, the water area is about 2% of the Pacific Ocean. The population of the islands was 200,000 in the part of the 19th century. The population decreased to 100,000 by 1969 due to emigration, war, at that time, the population inhabited less than 100 out of 2,141 of the Marshall, Mariana, and Caroline Islands. The area is now divided into four jurisdictions, The following sovereign states have become associated with the United States under the Compact of Free Association
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
–
Flag
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
–
Arrival of
UN Visiting Mission,
Majuro, 1978. The sign reads "Please release us from the bondage of your trusteeship agreement."
20.
List of countries and dependencies by population
–
This is a list of countries and dependent territories by population. For instance, the United Kingdom is considered as a single entity while the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are considered separately, in addition, this list includes certain states with limited recognition not found in ISO 3166-1. The population figures do not reflect the practice of countries that report significantly different populations of citizens domestically, some countries, notably Thailand, do not report total population, exclusively counting citizens, for total populations an international agency must issue an estimate. Also given in percent is each countrys population compared to the population of the world, figures used in this chart are based on the most up to date estimate or projections by the national census authority where available, and are usually rounded off. Where updated national data are not available, figures are based on the projections for 2016 by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Because the compiled figures are not collected at the time in every country, or at the same level of accuracy. Furthermore, the addition of figures from all countries may not equal the world total, a handful of nations have not conducted a census in over 30 years, providing high error margin estimates only. Areas that form parts of sovereign states, such as the countries of the United Kingdom, are counted as part of the sovereign states concerned. Note, All dependent territories or constituent countries that are parts of states are shown in italics
List of countries and dependencies by population
–
A map of world population in 2014
21.
Gross domestic product
–
Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
Gross domestic product
–
Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocks) in no particular order
22.
Purchasing power parity
–
Observed deviations of the exchange rate from purchasing power parity are measured by deviations of the real exchange rate from its PPP value of 1. PPP exchange rates help to minimize misleading international comparisons that can arise with the use of exchange rates. For example, suppose that two countries produce the same amounts of goods as each other in each of two different years. But if one countrys GDP is converted into the countrys currency using PPP exchange rates instead of observed market exchange rates. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century, the best-known purchasing power adjustment is the Geary–Khamis dollar. The real exchange rate is equal to the nominal exchange rate. If purchasing power parity held exactly, then the exchange rate would always equal one. However, in practice the exchange rates exhibit both short run and long run deviations from this value, for example due to reasons illuminated in the Balassa–Samuelson theorem. There can be marked differences between purchasing power adjusted incomes and those converted via market exchange rates. This discrepancy has large implications, for instance, when converted via the exchange rates GDP per capita in India is about US$1,965 while on a PPP basis it is about US$7,197. At the other extreme, Denmarks nominal GDP per capita is around US$62,100, the purchasing power parity exchange rate serves two main functions. PPP exchange rates can be useful for making comparisons between countries because they stay fairly constant from day to day or week to week and only change modestly, if at all, from year to year. The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries, people in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and this is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries. Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods, furthermore, the basket of goods representative of one economy will vary from that of another, Americans eat more bread, Chinese more rice. Hence a PPP calculated using the US consumption as a base will differ from that calculated using China as a base, additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when more than two countries are to be compared. Various ways of averaging bilateral PPPs can provide a stable multilateral comparison. These are all issues of indexing, as with other price indices there is no way to reduce complexity to a single number that is equally satisfying for all purposes
Purchasing power parity
–
Big Mac hamburgers, like this one from
Japan, are similar worldwide.
Purchasing power parity
–
GDP Per capita by
countries in 2014, calculated using PPP
exchange rates, based on
IMF data.
23.
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
–
The gross domestic product per capita figures on this page are derived from PPP calculations. Such calculations are prepared by various organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and this is why GDP per capita is often considered one of the indicators of a countrys standard of living, although this can be problematic because GDP per capita is not a measure of personal income. Several economies which are not considered to be sovereign states are included in the list because they appear in the sources and these economies are not ranked in the following tables, but are listed in sequence for comparison. Non-sovereign entities, former countries or other groupings are marked in italics. All figures are in current Geary–Khamis dollars, more known as international dollars
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
24.
Human Development Index
–
The Human Development Index is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. A country scores higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the level is higher. The 2010 Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, while the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that the IHDI is the actual level of human development, and the HDI can be viewed as an index of potential human development. The origins of the HDI are found in the annual Human Development Reports produced by the Human Development Reports Office of the United Nations Development Programme, nobel laureate Amartya Sen, utilized Haqs work in his own work on human capabilities. The following three indices are used,1, Life Expectancy Index = LE −2085 −20 LEI is 1 when Life expectancy at birth is 85 and 0 when Life expectancy at birth is 20. Education Index = MYSI + EYSI22.1 Mean Years of Schooling Index = MYS15 Fifteen is the maximum of this indicator for 2025. 2.2 Expected Years of Schooling Index = EYS18 Eighteen is equivalent to achieving a degree in most countries. Income Index = ln − ln ln − ln II is 1 when GNI per capita is $75,000 and 0 when GNI per capita is $100. Finally, the HDI is the mean of the previous three normalized indices, HDI = LEI ⋅ EI ⋅ II3. Standard of living, as indicated by the logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. This methodology was used by the UNDP until their 2011 report, the formula defining the HDI is promulgated by the United Nations Development Programme. The 2016 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on March 21,2017, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2015 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. The rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data. Countries in the top quartile of HDI with a missing IHDI, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Brunei, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The 2015 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on December 14,2015, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2014 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. Note, The green arrows, red arrows, and blue dashes represent changes in rank, the rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data
Human Development Index
–
Mahbub ul Haq
Human Development Index
–
Amartya Sen
25.
List of countries by Human Development Index
–
This is a list of all the countries by the Human Development Index as included in a United Nations Development Programmes Human Development Report. The latest report was released on 21 March 2017 and compiled on the basis of estimates for 2015, in the 2010 Human Development Report a further Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index was introduced. While the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that the IHDI is the level of human development. The Human Development Index is a statistic of life expectancy, education. A country scores higher HDI when the life expectancy at birth is longer, the period is longer. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, the average HDI of regions of the World and groups of countries are also included for comparison. Countries fall into four broad human development categories, Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development, because of the new methodology adopted since the 2010 Human Development Report, the new reported HDI figures appear lower than the HDI figures in previous reports. From 2007 to 2010, the first category was referred to as developed countries, the original high human development category has been split into two as above in the report for 2007. The country with the largest decrease in HDI since 1998 is Zimbabwe, the country with the largest decrease since 2009 is Cape Verde, which decreased by 0.170. The only year without a Human Development Report since 1990 was 2012, the latest report was launched on 21 March 2017
List of countries by Human Development Index
–
0.900 and over
26.
United States dollar
–
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
United States dollar
–
Series of 1917
$1 United States bill
United States dollar
–
Federal Reserve Notes
United States dollar
–
Spanish silver real or
peso of 1768
United States dollar
–
Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President
William McKinley.
27.
ISO 4217
–
The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
ISO 4217
–
An
airline ticket showing the price in the ISO 4217 code "
EUR " (bottom left) and not the
currency sign €
ISO 4217
–
A list of exchange rates for various base currencies given by a
money changer in Thailand, with the Thailand Baht as the counter (or quote) currency.
28.
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Key concepts
Coordinated Universal Time
–
World map of current time zones
29.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
Daylight saving time
–
Ancient
water clock that lets hour lengths vary with season.
Daylight saving time
–
G. V. Hudson invented modern DST, proposing it first in 1895.
Daylight saving time
–
Retailers generally favor DST.
United Cigar Stores hailed a 1918 DST bill.
Daylight saving time
–
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.
30.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
This is so fundamental to traffic flow that it is sometimes referred to as the rule of the road. About two-thirds of the population use RHT, with the remaining 76 countries and territories using LHT. Countries that use LHT account for about a sixth of the worlds area, in the early 1900s some countries including Canada, Spain, and Brazil had different rules in different parts of the country. During the 1900s many countries standardised within their jurisdictions, and changed from LHT to RHT, in 1919,104 of the worlds territories were LHT and an equal number were RHT. From 1919 to 1986,34 of the LHT territories switched to RHT, many of the countries with LHT are former British colonies in the Caribbean, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Mozambique, Suriname, East Timor, in Europe, only four countries still drive on the left, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus, all of which are islands. Nearly all countries use one side or the other throughout their entire territory, most exceptions are due to historical considerations and involve islands with no road connection to the main part of a country. China is RHT except the Special Administrative Regions of China of Hong Kong, the United States is RHT except the United States Virgin Islands. The United Kingdom is LHT, but its overseas territories of Gibraltar, according to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, water traffic is RHT. For aircraft the US Federal Aviation Regulations provide for passing on the right, light rail vehicles generally operate on the same side as other road traffic in the country. Many countries use RHT for automobiles but LHT for trains, often because of the influence of the British on early railway systems, in some countries rail traffic remained LHT after automobile traffic switched to RHT, for example in China, Brazil, and Argentina. However, France, Belgium, and Switzerland have used RHT for automobiles since their introduction, there is no technical reason to prefer one side over the other. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman troops kept to the left when marching, in 1998, archaeologists found a well-preserved double track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon. The first reference in English law to an order for LHT was in 1756, northcote Parkinson, believed that ancient travellers on horseback or on foot generally kept to the left, since most people were right handed. If two men riding on horseback were to start a fight, each would edge toward the left, in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII directed pilgrims to keep left. In the late 1700s, traffic in the United States was RHT based on use of large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. The wagons had no seat, so a postilion sat on the left rear horse. Seated on the left, the driver preferred that other wagons pass him on the left so that he could be sure to keep clear of the wheels of oncoming wagons, in France, traditionally foot traffic had kept right, while carriage traffic kept left
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
A sign on
Australia 's
Great Ocean Road reminding foreign motorists to keep left. Such signs are placed at the exit of parking areas associated with scenic views, where other road traffic may at times be sparse.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
Right-hand traffic
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
One of many road signs in the British county of
Kent placed on the right-hand side of the road.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
The change of traffic directions at the Laos–Thai border takes place on Lao territory just off the
Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge.
31.
Island country
–
An island country is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. As of 2011,46 of the 193 UN member states are island countries, the percentage of island countries that are democratic is higher than that of continental countries. Historically they have been prone to political stability than their continental counterparts. Island countries have often been the basis of maritime conquest and historical rivalry between other countries, Island countries are more susceptible to attack by large, continental countries due to their size and dependence on sea and air lines of communication. Many island countries are vulnerable to predation by mercenaries and other foreign invaders. Many island countries rely heavily on fish for their supply of food. Some are turning to renewable energy—such as wind power, hydropower, geothermal power, some island countries are more affected than other countries by climate change, which produces problems such as reduced land use, water scarcity and sometimes even resettlement issues. Some low-lying island countries are slowly being submerged by the water levels of the Pacific Ocean. Climate change also impacts island countries by causing natural disasters such as cyclones, hurricanes, flash floods. In 2011, the Center for Climate Change Law held a conference attended by 272 registrants from 39 island nations titled Legal Issues for Threatened Island Nations, many island countries rely heavily on imports and are greatly affected by changes in the global economy. The dominant industry for many countries is tourism. Island countries are small with low populations, although some, like Indonesia. Some island countries are centred on one or two islands, such as the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, New Zealand, Cuba, Bahrain, Singapore, Malta. Others are spread out over hundreds or thousands of islands, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Seychelles. Geographically, the country of Australia is considered a continental landmass rather than an island, in the past, however, it was considered an island country for tourism purposes and is still often referred to as such
Island country
–
Island countries in the world
32.
Pacific Ocean
–
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
Pacific Ocean
–
Maris Pacifici by
Ortelius (1589). One of the first printed maps to show the Pacific Ocean; see also
Waldseemüller map (1507).
Pacific Ocean
–
The Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
–
USS
Lexington under air attack on 8 May 1942 during the
Battle of the Coral Sea
Pacific Ocean
–
Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1702–1707.
33.
Caroline Islands
–
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end. Historically, this area was also called Nuevas Filipinas or New Philippines as they were part of the Spanish East Indies, the Carolines span a distance of approximately 3540 kilometers, from Tobi, Palau at the westernmost point to Kosrae at the easternmost. The group consists of about 500 small coral islands, east of the Philippines, in the Pacific Ocean, most of the islands comprise low, flat coral atolls, but some rise high above sea level. Other significant populations include Filipinos and Japanese, the natives live mainly on horticulture and fishing, also supplementing their diet with many different varieties of bananas and taro, either of the swamp or purple varieties. On some islands housing continues to be built with materials including coconut thatch. The language spoken in commerce is English, but there are several indigenous languages and they traditionally believe in a Supreme Being and in a bad spirit, yet they have hardly any religious rites. Due to extensive work, Christianity is the primary religion practiced in this region of Micronesia. Master Micronesian Navigator Mau Piailug was from the Carolinian island of Satawal and he learned the traditional navigation techniques of the Weriyeng school. These techniques had been preserved while similar techniques had been forgotten partly due to the remoteness of the Carolinian Islands. In 1985 a study was made on the origin of the sidereal compass used in the Caroline Islands, different islands and island groups in the Carolines passed down unique and variant oral legends recounting the origins and early histories of their peoples. On Pohnpei, for example, pre-colonial history is divided into three eras, Mwehin Kawa or Mwehin Aramas, Mwehin Sau Deleur, and Mwehin Nahnmwarki, Pohnpeian legend recounts that the Saudeleur rulers, the first to bring government to Pohnpei, were of foreign origin. The Saudeleur centralized form of rule is characterized in Pohnpeian legend as becoming increasingly oppressive over several generations. Arbitrary and onerous demands, as well as a reputation for offending Pohnpeian deities, the Saudeleur Dynasty ended with the invasion of Isokelekel, another semi-mythical foreigner, who replaced the Saudeleur rule with the more decentralized nahnmwarki system in existence today. The Spanish explorers Toribio Alonso de Salazar and Diego de Saavedra arrived on August 22,1526, on 1 January 1528 the discoverer Álvaro de Saavedra took possession of the Uluti Islands on behalf of the King of Spain. Spanish explorers visited the archipelago in 1542,1543, and 1545, in 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first Governor-General of the Philippines, passed through. The name was extended to include the Palau Islands and the archipelagos which were named the Gilbert Islands, the occupation of the Caroline Islands had, as in most of the Spanish colonies, a marked religious character. A royal decree of October 19,1707 granted authorization for the sending of missionaries in several expeditions to the islands, one such expedition was made by Father Juan Antonio Cantova, who was killed
Caroline Islands
–
Sunset at Colonia on
Yap
Caroline Islands
–
Map of Caroline Islands
Caroline Islands
–
Women fishing with nets,
Chuuk (1899–1900)
Caroline Islands
–
Spanish-Caroline currency used in 1899 in the Caroline Islands. Is appreciated the mark of a circular punch.
34.
Micronesia
–
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a cultural history with two other island regions, Polynesia to the east and Melanesia to the south. The region has a marine climate, and is part of the Oceania ecozone. There are four main archipelagos along with numerous outlying islands, Micronesia is divided politically among several sovereign countries. One of these is the Federated States of Micronesia, which is often called Micronesia for short and is not to be confused with the overall region, Micronesia began to be settled several millennia ago, although there are competing theories about the origin and arrival of the first settlers. The earliest known contact with Europeans occurred in 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan reached the Marianas, the coinage of the term Micronesia is usually attributed to Jules Dumont dUrvilles usage in 1832, however Domeny de Rienzi had used the term a year previously. Micronesia is a region that includes approximately 2100 islands, with a land area of 2,700 km2, the largest of which is Guam. The total ocean area within the perimeter of the islands is 7,400,000 km2, there are four main island groups in Micronesia, the Caroline Islands the Gilbert Islands the Mariana Islands the Marshall Islands Plus the island country of Nauru. The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago consisting of about 500 small coral islands, north of New Guinea, the Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands, arranged in an approximate north-to-south line. In a geographical sense, the equator serves as the line between the northern Gilbert Islands and the southern Gilbert Islands. The Republic of Kiribati contains all of the Gilberts, as well as the island of Tarawa, the Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of fifteen volcanic mountains. Guam and the Northern Marianas are two of the five remaining U. S, the Marshall Islands is an island country, located north of Nauru and Kiribati, east of the Federated States of Micronesia, and south of the U. S. territory of Wake Island. The country consists of 29 low-lying atolls and 5 isolated islands, comprising 1,156 individual islands, the atolls and islands form two groups, the Ratak Chain and the Ralik Chain. All the islands in the chain are part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, having few natural resources, the islands wealth is based on a service economy, as well as some fishing and agriculture. Of the 29 atolls,24 of them are inhabited, Bikini Atoll is an atoll in the Marshall Islands. There are 23 islands in the Bikini Atoll, the islands of Bokonijien, Aerokojlol, and Nam were vaporized during nuclear tests that occurred there. The islands are composed of low coral limestone аnd sand, the average elevation is only about 2.1 metres above low tide level. Nauru is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean,42 km south of the Equator, listed as the worlds smallest republic
Micronesia
–
Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas in the
Pacific Ocean, along with
Polynesia and
Melanesia.
Micronesia
–
Map of Micronesia (shown in dark magenta)
Micronesia
–
Beach scenery at
Laura,
Majuro, Marshall Islands
Micronesia
–
Image of the
Castle Bravo nuclear test, detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini Atoll
35.
Koror
–
Koror is the state comprising the main commercial centre of the Republic of Palau. It consists of islands, the most prominent being Koror Island. The state of Koror contains about 70% of the population of the country, the nations former capital and largest town, also called Koror, is located here. The town has a population of 11,200 and is located at 7°20′32″N 134°28′38″E, on 7 October 2006, Ngerulmud replaced Koror as Palaus capital city. The first sighting of Koror, Babeldaob, and Peleliu recorded by Westerners was by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos at the end of January,1543 and they were then charted as Los Arrecifes. Two years later they were explored in detail by the expedition of Spanish naval officer Bernardo de Egoy, malakal Island, the site of Korors port. Koror Island is also connected by the Koror–Babeldaob Bridge to the state of Airai in the island of Babeldaob, much of Palaus economy comes from tourism. The Rock Islands of Palau are all located in the state, scuba diving shops and facilities are located all over Koror. Accommodation like hotels, bars, restaurants, cafes, and resorts are all available, dolphins Pacific, the worlds largest dolphin research facility, is open for tourists who are interested in swimming and interacting with trained dolphins. Most tourists to Palau stay in Koror, which is the centre for Palaus resort services, Koror has businesses that cater to speakers of many languages. In 2002, of the 17,000 people living in Palau, belau Air has its headquarters in cody, as did the short-lived Pacific Flier in 2010
Koror
–
Palau boatyard on Malakal Island, August 1973
Koror
–
Typical weather scene in Koror
Koror
–
WCTC Shopping Centre
36.
Babeldaob
–
Babeldaob is the largest island in the island nation of the Republic of Palau. It is in the western Caroline Islands, and the second largest island in the Micronesia region of Oceania, Palaus capital, Ngerulmud, is located on Babeldaob, in Melekeok State. Babeldaob is one of the most underdeveloped populated islands in the Pacific Ocean, the area of Babeldaob,331 km2, makes up over 70% of the area of the entire Republic of Palau. It has about 30% of the population, with about 6,000 people living on it. Babeldaob is located northeast of Koror Island, and its northern portion contains the site of the new national capital, the southern end of the island is in Airai State, Palaus second-most populous state. The Airai Airport on the island is the principal airport. The Koror-Babeldaob Bridge links Babeldaob Island at Airai to Koror Island, unlike most of the islands of Palau, Babeldaob is mountainous. It contains Palaus highest point, the 242 m -tall Mount Ngerchelchuus, babeldaobs eastern coast has many sandy beaches, in particular north from Melekeok to Ngaraard, and the islands western coast has a shoreline with many mangrove forests. They were then charted as Los Arrecifes, two years later they were explored in detail by the expedition of Spanish naval officer Bernardo de Egoy. It was in the Spanish East Indies from 1686 to 1899, as a consequence of the Spanish–American War, Spain sold Palau, the Carolines and the Northern Marianas to the German Empire for 17 million goldmark pursuant to the German–Spanish Treaty. The newly acquired islands were administered from German New Guinea, Babeldaob was the destination to which the 426 members of the Sokehs tribe were banished by colonial authorities following the Sokehs Rebellion on Sokehs Island and Pohnpei. In the early months of World War I, Imperial Japan occupied all German islands north of the equator, as a League of Nations mandatory power after the war, Japan returned the Sokehs to Pohnpei in stages between 1917 and 1927. Babeldaob was bypassed by the Allied forces during the war, ngebedech Terraces – a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site on this island. Forgotten Campaign, The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942
Babeldaob
–
Beach near
Melekeok
37.
Melekeok
–
Melekeok is a state of the Republic of Palau located on the central east coast of Babeldaob Island. The seat of government of the country Ngerulmud, is located in the state, the state consists of long beaches, hills, steep ridges, rivers and the largest and only natural freshwater lake in the Republic of Palau and Micronesia, Lake Ngardok. Melekeok is located on the eastern coast of the largest island in the Palau Archipelago, Melekeok State extends from a lagoon, on the east coast, to the Central Divide or Rael Kedam to the west, and is approximately 11 square miles in total area. The state is bordered by Ngiwal State to the north, Ngchesar State to the south, melekeoks Lake Ngardok is the largest natural body of fresh water in all of Micronesia at 4.93 square kilometres, it has a small population of saltwater crocodiles Crocodylus porosus. The State of Melekeok consists of eight inhabited villages, Ngeburch, Ngeruling, Ngermelech, Melekeok, Ngerubesang, Ngeremecheluch, Ertong, the state capitol is located in the settlement of Ngerulmud. The Republic of Palaus Capitol Complex is located on a hill, according to the 2005 census,391 people resided in the State of Melekeok. They are distributed among seven villages, with Melekeok being the largest, the new capital, Ngerulmud, had not been established at the time of the census
Melekeok
–
The capitol building of Palau, Melekeok
Melekeok
–
Map of State of Melekeok
38.
Maritime boundary
–
A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earths water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of national rights over mineral and biological resources, encompassing maritime features, limits. Generally, a boundary is delineated at a particular distance from a jurisdictions coastline. Some maritime boundaries have remained indeterminate despite efforts to clarify them and this is explained by an array of factors, some of which involve regional problems. The delineation of maritime boundaries has strategic, economic and environmental implications, the terms boundary, frontier and border are often used as if they were interchangeable, but they are also terms with precise meanings. The terms frontier, borderland and border are zones of indeterminate width, such areas forms the outermost part of a country. Borders are bounded on one side by a national boundary, there are variations in the specific terminology of maritime boundary agreements which have been concluded since the 1970s. Such differences are less important than what is being delimited, features that affect maritime boundaries include islands and the submerged seabed of the continental shelf. The process of boundary delimitation in the ocean encompasses the natural prolongation of geological features, the process of establishing positional borders encompasses the distinction between previously resolved and never-resolved controversies. The limits of maritime boundaries are expressed in polylines and in layers of sovereignty and control. The conditions under which a state may establish such baseline are described in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a baseline of a country can be the low water line, a straight baseline or a combination of the two. The zones of maritime boundaries are expressed in concentric limits surrounding coastal, inland waters—the zone inside the baseline. Territorial sea—the zone extending 12 nm. from the baseline, contiguous zone—the area extending 24 nm. from the baseline. Exclusive Economic Zone—the area extending 200 nm. from the baseline except when the space between two countries is less than 400 nm, in the case of overlapping zones, the boundary is presumed to conform to the equidistance principle or it is explicitly described in a multilateral treaty. Contemporary negotiations have produced tripoint and quadripoint determinations, the northernmost point in the boundary is a tripoint with the Solomon Islands. The boundary runs in a roughly north–south direction and then turns and runs west–east until it almost reaches the 170th meridian east, the effect of these negotiated specifics is reflected in the map of Australian maritime zones at the right. The concept of maritime boundaries is a new concept. The historical record is a backdrop for evaluating border issues, the development of customary law affects all nations
Maritime boundary
–
Features, limits and zones
39.
Indonesia
–
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country located mainly in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the worlds largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands. At 1,904,569 square kilometres, Indonesia is the worlds 14th-largest country in terms of area and worlds 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea. It has an population of over 260 million people and is the worlds fourth most populous country. The worlds most populous island, Java, contains more than half of the countrys population, Indonesias republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status and its capital and countrys most populous city is Jakarta, which is also the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the second highest level of biodiversity. The country has abundant natural resources like oil and natural gas, tin, copper, agriculture mainly produces rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber. Indonesias major trading partners are Japan, United States, China, the Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Indonesia consists of hundreds of native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, a shared identity has developed, defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesias national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, articulates the diversity that shapes the country, Indonesias economy is the worlds 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP, the largest in Southeast Asia, and is considered an emerging market and newly industrialised country. Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, Indonesia is a member of the G20 major economies and World Trade Organization. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indós, the name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, in the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia, they preferred Malay Archipelago, the Netherlands East Indies, popularly Indië, the East, and Insulinde
Indonesia
–
A
Borobudur ship carved on
Borobudur, c. 800 CE. Indonesian outrigger boats may have made trade voyages to the east coast of Africa as early as the 1st century CE.
Indonesia
–
Flag
Indonesia
–
The
nutmeg plant is native to Indonesia's
Banda Islands.
Indonesia
–
Tan Malaka, Indonesian philosopher, guerilla, and national hero.
40.
Philippines
–
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
Philippines
–
King Philip II of Spain.
Philippines
Philippines
–
Tabon Cave and its carvings.
Philippines
–
The
Banaue Rice Terraces where
Ifugao/Igorot utilized terrace farming in the steep mountainous regions of northern Philippines over 2000 years ago.
41.
Federated States of Micronesia
–
Together, the states comprise around 607 islands that cover a longitudinal distance of almost 2,700 km just north of the equator. While the FSMs total land area is small, it occupies more than 2,600,000 km2 of the Pacific Ocean. The capital is Palikir, located on Pohnpei Island, while the largest city is Weno, each of its four states is centered on one or more main high islands, and all but Kosrae include numerous outlying atolls. The Federated States of Micronesia is spread across part of the Caroline Islands in the region of Micronesia. The term Micronesia may refer to the Federated States or to the region as a whole, the FSM was formerly a part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a United Nations Trust Territory under U. S. Other neighboring island entities, and also members of the TTPI, formulated their own constitutional governments and became the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The FSM has a seat in the United Nations, the ancestors of the Micronesians settled over four thousand years ago. A decentralized chieftain-based system eventually evolved into a centralized economic. Nan Madol, consisting of a series of artificial islands linked by a network of canals, is often called the Venice of the Pacific. European explorers—first the Portuguese in search of the Spice Islands and then the Spanish—reached the Carolines in the sixteenth century, the Spanish incorporated the archipelago to the Spanish East Indies and in the 19th century established a number of outposts and missions. In 1887, they founded the town of Santiago de la Ascension in what today is Kolonia on the island of Pohnpei, following defeat in the Spanish–American War, the Spanish sold the archipelago to Germany in 1899 under the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899. Germany incorporated it into German New Guinea, during World War I, it was captured by Japan. Following the war, the League of Nations awarded a mandate for Japan to administer the islands as part of the South Pacific Mandate, during World War II, a significant portion of the Japanese fleet was based in Truk Lagoon. In February 1944, Operation Hailstone, one of the most important naval battles of the war, took place at Truk, in which many Japanese support vessels and aircraft were destroyed. On May 10,1979, four of the Trust Territory districts ratified a new constitution to become the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands chose not to participate. The FSM signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States, independence was formally concluded under international law in 1990, when the United Nations officially ended the Trusteeship status pursuant to Security Council Resolution 683. The Compact was renewed in 2004, the Federated States of Micronesia is governed by the 1979 constitution, which guarantees fundamental human rights and establishes a separation of governmental powers. The unicameral Congress has fourteen members elected by popular vote, four senators—one from each state—serve four-year terms, the remaining ten senators represent single-member districts based on population, and serve two-year terms
Federated States of Micronesia
–
Map of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Federated States of Micronesia
–
Flag
Federated States of Micronesia
–
View of Kolonia Town from Sokehs Ridge in
Pohnpei.
Federated States of Micronesia
–
A large (approximately 2.4 m or about 8 ft in height) example of Yapese stone money (
Rai stones) in the village of Gachpar.
42.
Negrito
–
The Negrito are several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia. The Negrito peoples show strong similarities with the Pygmy peoples of Africa but are genetically closer to surrounding Southeast Asian populations. They may be descended from ancient Australoid-Melanesian settlers of Southeast Asia, the word Negrito is the Spanish diminutive of negro, used to mean little black person. Many on-line dictionaries give the plural in English as either negritos or negritoes, the plural in Spanish is negritos. The appropriateness of using the label Negrito to bundle together peoples of different ethnicity based on similarities in stature, Haplogroup O-P31 is also common among Austroasiatic-speaking Negrito peoples, such as the Maniq and the Semang. Aeta men are of great interest to genetic, anthropological and historical researchers because at least 83% of them belong to haplogroup K2b, in the form of its rare primary clades K2b1* and P*. Most Aeta males carry K-P397, which is uncommon in the Philippines and is strongly associated with the indigenous peoples of Melanesia and Micronesia. Basal P* is rare outside the Aeta and some groups within Maritime South East Asia. The use of single-nucleotide polymorphism shows the genomes of Andamanese people to be closest to those of South Asians and this suggests a relation between Andaman islanders and South Asians. Bulbeck likewise noted that the Andamaneses nuclear DNA clusters with that of other Andamanese Islanders, as they carry Haplogroup D-M174, however, this is a subclade of the D haplogroup which has not been seen outside of the Andamans, a fact that underscores the insularity of these tribes. Analysis of mtDNA, which is inherited exclusively by maternal descent, all Onge belong to M32 mtDNA, a subgroup of M, which is unique to Onge people. Their parental Y-DNA is exclusively Haplogroup D, which is only found in Asia. These were specific mtDNA mutations that are shared exclusively by Australian aborigines and these Indian tribes, a study of human blood group systems and proteins in the 1950s suggested that the Andamanese peoples were more closely related to Oceanic peoples than African Pygmy peoples. Genetic studies on Philippine Negritos, based on polymorphic blood enzymes and antigens, Negrito peoples may descend from Australoid-Melanesian settlers of Southeast Asia. Despite being isolated, the different peoples do share similarities with their neighboring populations. They also show relevant phenotypic variations which require explanation, in contrast, a recent genetic study found that unlike other early groups in Malesia, Andamanese Negritos lack the Denisovan hominin admixture in their DNA. Denisovan ancestry is found among indigenous Melanesian and Aboriginal Australian populations between 4–6%, indeed this sentiment is echoed in a more recent work from 2013 which concludes that at the current level of genetic resolution. There is no evidence of an ancestral population for the different groups traditionally defined as “negritos. ”A number of features would seem to suggest a common origin for the Negritos and Negrillos
Negrito
–
Negrito
Negrito
–
Negrito group photo (
Malaysia, 1905).
Negrito
–
Negritos in a fishing boat (
Philippines, 1899).
Negrito
–
A young
Onge mother with her baby (
Andaman Islands, 1905).
43.
Spanish East Indies
–
The Spanish East Indies were the Spanish territories in Asia-Pacific from 1565 until 1899. They comprised the Philippines, the Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands, Cebu was the first seat of government, later transferred to Manila. From 1565 to 1821 these territories, together with the Spanish West Indies, were administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain based in Mexico City, the King of Spain traditionally styled himself King of the East and West Indies. After Mexican independence, they were ruled directly from Madrid, administrative affairs of the Spanish East Indies were handled by the Captaincy General of the Philippines and the Real Audiencia of Manila. The few remaining islands were ceded to the United States when the Treaty of Washington was ratified in 1901, Spanish contact began on 6 March 1521, when a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan reached the Mariana Islands. He named Guam and the other islands Islas de los Ladrones because the natives came aboard his galleon, the expedition later continued its journey west and reached the island of Homonhon in the eastern Philippines on 16 March, with only 150 crewmen. There they were able to communicate with the local peoples because the Malayan interpreter, Enrique of Malacca, Miguel López de Legazpi set out from Mexico, and established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines in 1565, which became the town of San Miguel in present-day Cebu. In 1571, the city of Manila was founded and made seat of the Spanish Captaincy General of the Philippines and these and other Asian territories claimed by the Spanish crown were to be governed from the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Mexico City. The Manila-Acapulco galleons shipped products gathered from both Asia-Pacific and the Americas, such as silk, spices, silver, gold and other Asian-Pacific islander products to Mexico, in 1606, the Spaniards established some form of trade links with the Maluku Islands and remained until 1663. Contacts with Japan were also established and Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent as ambassador in 1611, on the north eastern coastal region of Taiwan, the Spaniards built Fort Santo Domingo near Keelung in 1626 and a mission in Tamsui in 1628, which they occupied until 1642. In 1668, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores established the first mission on Guam, in 1762 British troops briefly captured the city of Manila during the Seven Years War. The British promised support for an uprising led by Diego Silang and his wife Gabriela, under the peace settlement Manila was exchanged, along with British-occupied Havana, for Florida and Minorca. It was handed back to Spanish authorities in April 1764, the Seven Years War prompted Charles III to initiate extensive governmental reforms throughout the overseas possessions. An intendencia was established in Manila in 1784 to handle the government finances, in a similar vein, to promote innovation and education among the residents of the islands, Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of the Friends of the Country. For over 256 years, the Spanish East Indies were governed by a general. All economic matters of the Philippines were managed by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in 1821 the New Spanish Viceroyalty collapsed following the Mexican War of Independence, which resulted in the First Mexican Empire. In 1574 the Captaincy General of the Philippines was created as a dependency of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Islas Carolinas Islas Marianas Islas Palau The Spanish used several names that are not currently used. Gran Moluca for the island of Mindanao and Nueva Castilla for Luzon, because Spanish interest in the region was primarily focused on its use as a base for trade with East Asia, direct Spanish control over the area expanded slowly
Spanish East Indies
–
Map of the Spanish East Indies (1857)
Spanish East Indies
–
Flag
Spanish East Indies
Spanish East Indies
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Routes of early Spanish expeditions in the Philippines.
44.
Imperial Germany
–
The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
Imperial Germany
Imperial Germany
–
Flag
Imperial Germany
–
Otto von Bismarck
Imperial Germany
–
A postage stamp from the
Carolines
45.
German New Guinea
–
German New Guinea was the first part of the German colonial empire. It was a protectorate from 1884 until 1914 when it fell to Australian forces following the outbreak of the First World War and it consisted of the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups. The mainland part of German New Guinea and the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago. The Micronesian islands of German New Guinea are now governed as the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, the mainland portion, Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, was formed from the northeastern part of New Guinea. The islands to the east of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, on annexation, were renamed the Bismarck Archipelago, due to their accessibility by water, however, these outlying islands were, and have remained, the most economically viable part of the territory. With the exception of German Samoa, the German islands in the Western Pacific formed the Imperial German Pacific Protectorates. These were administered as part of German New Guinea and they included the German Solomon Islands, the Carolines, Palau, the Marianas, the Marshall Islands, the total land area of German New Guinea was 249,500 square kilometres. By the end of 1875, one German trader reported, German trade and German ships are encountered everywhere, the most important ones were the Kolonialverein of 1882 and the Society for German Colonization founded in 1884. But you know, my map of Africa is here and you see here is Russia, over there is France. And us, we are here – right in the middle between those two, despite his personal objections, it was Bismarck himself who eventually organised the acquisition of much of what would become the German colonial empire. The very first attempts at the new policy came in 1884 when Bismarck had to put German trading interests in southwestern Africa under imperial protection. Bismarck told the Reichstag on 23 June 1884 of the change in German colonial policy, annexations would now proceed, recent explorations had given the basis for reconsideration, it is considered useful by geology and biology people as holding in its forests the key to solve problems. A profitable field for cultivation but London had only sent missionaries to save souls, as we Germans have learnt a little about conducting colonial policy, and as our wishes and plans turn with a certain vivacity towards New Guinea. He also instructed the London Agent for Queensland to urge the Imperial Colonial Office to an act of annexation, when news of this reached London, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Derby promptly repudiated the act. Finsch encouraged them to pursue the founding of a colony on the north-east coast of New Guinea, on 3 November 1884, under the auspices of the Deutsche Neuguinea-Compagnie, the German flag was flown over Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the Bismarck Archipelago and the German Solomon Islands. Albert Hahl joined the German Colonial Office in 1895 and until 1914 played a part in New Guineas administration. After 1901 Hahl attempted to apply his system to the whole of New Guinea and he was forced to retire because of disagreements with Berlin officials, and became an active writer on New Guinea and was a leader in German colonial societies between the wars. By the mid-1880s German church authorities had devised a program for missionary work in New Guinea and assigned it to the Rhenish Mission, under the direction of Friedrich Fabri
German New Guinea
–
1895 20 Mark gold coin issued by the
German New Guinea Company.
German New Guinea
–
Flag
German New Guinea
–
Native recruits during drill in German New Guinea
German New Guinea
–
20-pfennig "Yacht", postmarked
Matupi, 11 March 1902
46.
Imperial Japanese Navy
–
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 until 1945, when it was dissolved following Japans defeat and surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force was formed after the dissolution of the IJN, the Japanese Navy was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for aircraft and it was the primary opponent of the Western Allies in the Pacific War. This eventually led to the Meiji Restoration, accompanying the re-ascendance of the Emperor came a period of frantic modernization and industrialization. Following the attempts at Mongol invasions of Japan by Kubilai Khan in 1274 and 1281, Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the 16th century, during the Warring States period, when feudal rulers vying for supremacy built vast coastal navies of several hundred ships. Around that time Japan may have developed one of the first ironclad warships when Oda Nobunaga, in 1588 Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a ban on Wakō piracy, the pirates then became vassals of Hideyoshi, and comprised the naval force used in the Japanese invasion of Korea. Japan built her first large ocean-going warships in the beginning of the 17th century, from 1604 the Bakufu also commissioned about 350 Red seal ships, usually armed and incorporating some Western technologies, mainly for Southeast Asian trade. For more than 200 years, beginning in the 1640s, the Japanese policy of seclusion forbade contacts with the outside world and prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships on pain of death. Contacts were maintained, however, with the Dutch through the port of Nagasaki, the Chinese also through Nagasaki and the Ryukyus and Korea through intermediaries with Tsushima. Apart from Dutch trade ships no other Western vessels were allowed to enter Japanese ports, an exception was during the Napoleonic wars. However frictions with foreign ships started from the beginning of the 19th century, the Nagasaki Harbour Incident involving the HMS Phaeton in 1808 and other subsequent incidents in the following decades led to the Shogunate to enact an edict to repel foreign vessels. Western ships which were increasing their presence around Japan due to whaling, the shogunate also began to strengthen the nations coastal defenses. Numerous attempts to open Japan ended in failure in part to Japanese resistance, during 1853 and 1854, American warships under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry entered Edo Bay and made demonstrations of force requesting trade negotiations. After two hundred years of seclusion the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa led to the opening of Japan to international trade and this was soon followed by the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce and treaties with other powers. In 1855, with Dutch assistance, the Shogunate acquired its first steam warship, Kankō Maru, samurai such as the future Admiral Enomoto Takeaki were sent by the Shogunate to study in the Netherlands for several years. In 1859 the Naval Training Center relocated to Tsukiji in Tokyo, in 1857 the Shogunate acquired its first screw-driven steam warship Kanrin Maru and used it as an escort for the 1860 Japanese delegation to the United States. In 1865 the French naval engineer Léonce Verny was hired to build Japans first modern naval arsenals, at Yokosuka, in 1867–1868 a British Naval mission headed by Commander Richard Tracey went to Japan to assist the development of the Japanese Navy and to organize the naval school of Tsukiji. The Shogunate also allowed and then ordered various domains to purchase warships and to develop naval fleets, Satsuma, a naval center had been set up by the Satsuma domain in Kagoshima, students were sent abroad for training and a number of ships were acquired
Imperial Japanese Navy
–
Naval
battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185.
Imperial Japanese Navy
–
Ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
–
Replica of the Japanese-built 1613
galleon San Juan Bautista, in
Ishinomaki, Japan.
Imperial Japanese Navy
–
A 1634 Japanese
Red seal ship, combining eastern and western naval technologies
_(small_islands_magnified).svg)
0.780[4]
listen), historically Belau or Pelew), officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu er a Belau),[5] is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. The country contains approximately 340 islands, forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands in Micronesia, and has an area of 466 square kilometers (180 sq mi).[6] The most populous island is Koror, the capital Ngerulmud is located on the nearby island of Babeldaob, in Melekeok State. Palau shares maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Aimeliik
Airai
Angaur
Hatohobei
Kayangel
Koror
Melekeok
Ngaraard
Ngarchelong
Ngardmau
Ngaremlengui
Ngatpang
Ngchesar
Ngiwal
Peleliu
Sonsorol
.jpg)
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Travel guide from Wikivoyage
Learning resources from Wikiversity
Data from Wikidata
Wikimedia Atlas of Palau
