1.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
4.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
5.
Washington Metro
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The Washington Metro, known colloquially as Metro and branded Metrorail, is the heavy rail rapid transit system serving the Washington, D. C. metropolitan area in the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name, besides the District, Metro serves several jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia. In Maryland, Metro provides service to Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, in Virginia, to Arlington and Fairfax counties and the independent city of Alexandria. Combined with its ridership in the independent Virginia cities of Falls Church and Fairfax, the system is currently being expanded into Loudoun County, Virginia. It operates mostly as a subway in the District itself, while most of the tracks are at surface level or elevated. Opened in 1976, the network now includes six lines,91 stations, Metro is the second-busiest rapid transit system in the United States in number of passenger trips, after the New York City Subway. There were 215.3 million trips on Metro in fiscal year 2015, in June 2008, Metro set a monthly ridership record with 19,729,641 trips, or 798,456 per weekday. Fares vary based on the distance traveled, the time of day, Riders enter and exit the system using a proximity card called SmarTrip. Metro also has the distinction of having the longest, single-tier escalator in the Western Hemisphere in the Wheaton station, during the 1960s plans were laid for a massive freeway system in Washington. But the plan met fierce opposition, and was altered to include a Capital Beltway system plus rail line radials, the Beltway received full funding, funding for the ambitious Inner Loop Freeway system was partially reallocated toward construction of the Metro system. In 1960 the federal government created the National Capital Transportation Agency to develop a rail system. In 1966, a bill creating WMATA was passed by the government, the District of Columbia, Virginia. WMATA approved plans for a 98-mile regional system in 1968, the first portion of the system opened March 27,1976, with 4.6 miles available on the Red Line with five stations from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North, all in the District of Columbia. Underground stations were built with arches of concrete, highlighted by soft. The name Metro was suggested by Massimo Vignelli, who designed the subway maps for the New York City Subway, the 103-mile, 83-station system was completed with the opening of the Green Line segment to Branch Avenue on January 13,2001. This did not mean the end of the growth of the system, the first in-fill station, NoMa – Gallaudet University on the Red Line between Union Station and Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood, opened November 20,2004. Construction began in March 2009 for an extension to Dulles Airport to be built in two phases, the first phase, five stations connecting East Falls Church to Tysons Corner and Wiehle Avenue in Reston, opened on July 26,2014. Metro construction required billions of dollars, originally provided by Congress under the authority of the National Capital Transportation Act of 1969
6.
Blue Line (Washington Metro)
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The Blue Line of the Washington Metro in the United States consists of 27 rapid transit stations from Franconia–Springfield to Largo Town Center. It has stations in Fairfax County, Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia, the District of Columbia, thirteen of the lines stations are shared with the Orange Line,18 are shared with the Silver Line and 9 are shared with the Yellow Line. Only one station – Arlington Cemetery Station – is exclusive to the Blue Line, planning for Metro began with the Mass Transportation Survey in 1955 which attempted to forecast both freeway and mass transit systems sufficient to meet the needs of 1980. In 1959, the final report included two rapid transit lines which anticipated subways in downtown Washington. It did not include a route in Prince Georges County, the route continued in rapid transit plans until the formation of WMATA. With the formation of WMATA in October 1966, planning of the system shifted from federal hands to a body with representatives of the District, Maryland. Congressional route approval was no longer a key consideration, instead, routes had to serve each local suburban jurisdiction to assure that they would approve bond referenda to finance the system. In March 1968, the WMATA board approved its 98-mile Adopted Regional System which included the Blue Line from Huntington to Addison Road, the ARS contained a Blue Line/Orange Line station at Oklahoma Avenue between Stadium/Armory and the Anacostia River Bridge. Local residents objected to a proposed 1, 000-car commuter parking lot at that station, in reaction to their lobbying, the DC government insisted that the station be removed and that the tunnel for the line be extended through the neighborhood. This then made the line the only one to have a station canceled due to neighborhood opposition, to better accommodate tourists, a Smithsonian station exit was added on the Mall and the federal government requested in 1972 that the Arlington Cemetery Station be added to the Blue Line. The federal government paid the cost of design changes. Service on the Blue Line began on July 1,1977, the line was extended by three stations to Addison Road on November 22,1980. Service south of National Airport began on June 15,1991 when Van Dorn Street opened, the original plan for the line was completed when this link was extended to Franconia–Springfield on June 29,1997. Two new stations in Maryland – Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center – opened on December 18,2004, beginning December 1,1979, the Orange Line diverged westward from Rosslyn to Ballston. The Blue and Orange Lines remain co-aligned from Rosslyn to Stadium-Armory, the Blue Line was originally planned to follow a slightly different route. The plan would have sent Blue Line trains to Huntington, with Yellow Line trains serving Franconia–Springfield and this was changed due to a shortage of rail cars at the time of the completion of the line to Huntington. From 1999 to 2008, the Blue Line operated to Huntington on July 4, the ARS had the Blue Line end at Addison Road. However, sports fans continually argued for an extension to the Capital Centre sports arena in Largo
7.
Silver Line (Washington Metro)
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The Silver Line of the Washington Metro in the United States consists of 28 existing and six planned rapid transit stations from Wiehle–Reston East to Largo Town Center. It has stations in Fairfax County and Arlington, Virginia, the District of Columbia, only five stations are exclusive to the Silver Line, which began service on July 26,2014. Phase 2 will expand the line another 11.5 miles to Loudoun County via Washington Dulles International Airport, preliminary construction of Phase 2 began in 2014 and is scheduled to open in 2019. The $6.8 billion project is the largest expansion by route mileage since the inception of Metro in 1976, the Silver Line has two primary goals. The first is to link Washington, D. C. by rail to Washington Dulles International Airport and the cities of Tysons Corner, Reston, Herndon. The second is to spur development in Tysons Corner and reduce overall reliance on highway traffic in the business district, Virginias largest. The districts area is comparable in size to downtown Washington, D. C. but is rather insulated from its surrounding neighborhoods and has no existing grid pattern in its streets. Funding for the phase of the project will be shared by Loudoun County, Fairfax County, the Commonwealth of Virginia. It follows the Blue and Orange Line tracks through DC, continuing through Arlington along the Orange Line, the new tracks run in the median of the Dulles Connector Road to an elevated bridge, which takes them over Virginia Route 123. Two elevated stops along the west side of Route 123 serve the national headquarters of CapitalOne, SAIC, the tracks then enter a tunnel which emerges in the median of Virginia Route 7. Two elevated stations above Route 7 serve the section of Tysons Corner. The elevated track then swings into the median of the Dulles Access Road until it reaches the airport, along the way, five new stations would be built with platforms in the median of the access road and a faregate and pedestrian bridges to parking areas elevated above the highway. The garage has drawn criticism because of alleged construction flaws, as currently planned, upon reaching the airport the track will enter a tunnel which will follow the path of the arrivals driveway of the airport terminal to a station located close to the terminal. The track would leave the tunnel near the hotel and economy parking lots. A storage yard and maintenance facility would branch off to the west occupying the airports buffer zone north of the end of its major runways, the final two stops would be in the median of the Dulles Greenway, serving the Ashburn suburb. Hence, the line is expected to draw both airport traffic and commuters from the far suburbs of Washington, DC. Buses currently provide these users with limited public transportation, in contrast, the Silver Line is expected to provide trains once every six minutes during rush hours and once every fourteen minutes during non-rush hours. Metros new 7000 series cars have been ordered at a price of $3 million per car,64 of which are for Silver Line service, the contract was signed on July 2,2010 for 428 cars
8.
Washington Redskins
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The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Redskins compete in the National Football League as a member of the National Football Conference East division. The Redskins have played more than 1,000 games since 1932, the Redskins have won five NFL Championships. The franchise has captured 14 NFL divisional titles and six NFL conference championships, the Redskins were the first team in the NFL with an official marching band, and also the first team to have a fight song, Hail to the Redskins. The team began play as the Boston Braves in 1932, based in Boston, before relocating to Washington, the Redskins won the 1937 and 1942 Championship games, as well as Super Bowls XVII, XXII, and XXVI. They also played in, and lost, the 1936,1940,1943 and they have made 24 postseason appearances, and have an overall postseason record of 23–18. All of the Redskins league titles were attained during two 10-year spans, from 1936 to 1945, the Redskins went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them. The second period lasted between 1982 and 1991 where the Redskins appeared in the seven times, captured four Conference titles. The Redskins have also experienced failure in their history, the most notable period of general failure was from 1946 to 1970, during which the Redskins posted only four winning seasons and did not have a single postseason appearance. During this period, the Redskins went without a winning season during the years 1956–1968. In 1961, the franchise posted their worst regular season record with a 1–12–1 showing, since 1992, the Redskins have only won the NFC East three times, made five postseason appearances, and had nine seasons with a winning record.85 billion. They also set the NFL record for attendance in 2007. The team name and logo have been the subject of controversy, with lawsuits being filed by Native American groups who consider the team name, polls conducted in the 2010s have shown a lack of major support among fans for a name change. The team originated as the Boston Braves, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1932, at the time the team played in Braves Field, home of the Boston Braves baseball team. The following year the club moved to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, to round out the change, Marshall hired William Lone Star Dietz, who was part Sioux, as the teams head coach. However, Boston wasnt much of a town at the time. The Redskins relocated to Washington, D. C. in 1937, in their early years in Washington, the Redskins shared Griffith Stadium with the Washington Senators baseball team. The Redskins played and won their first game in Washington, D. C. on September 16,1937, on December 5,1937, they earned their first division title in Washington against the Giants, 49–14, for the Eastern Championship
9.
Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
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Interstate 495 is a 64-mile Interstate Highway that surrounds Washington, D. C. the capital of the United States of America, and the citys inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway, the DC Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington and it is the basis of the phrase Inside the Beltway, used when referring to issues dealing with American government and politics. I-95 utilizes the southern and eastern half of the Capital Beltway to circumnavigate Washington, the Beltway passes through Prince Georges County and Montgomery County in Maryland, and Fairfax County and the independent city of Alexandria in Virginia. Except for the westernmost part of Woodrow Wilson Bridge south of downtown Washington, the two directions of travel, clockwise and counterclockwise, have become known respectively as the Inner Loop and the Outer Loop. The route descriptions below follow the direction of the Outer Loop, starting at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, south of Washington. Most Beltway interchanges provide access to Washington, with I-95 and I-295 from the south, I-66 from the west, and US50 from both the west and the east among the most frequently used. Originally, the entire Beltway was simply I-495, and I-95 was planned to serve downtown Washington, D. C. from the south and north, intersecting the Beltway in Virginia and in Maryland. However, environmental litigation stopped completion of this plan, and the portion of I-95 inside the Beltway from the south northward into downtown Washington was redesignated I-395 in 1977. The small built portion from the north was converted into a park-and-ride lot, I-95 was then rerouted along the eastern side of the Beltway, with the I-495 designation left only along the western side. In 1989, the I-495 designation was returned to the portion as well. The Beltway, four lanes in each direction, travels over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the tidal Potomac River between Alexandria, Virginia, and Prince Georges County, Maryland. The Federal Highway Administration recognizes 0.11 miles of the bridge as crossing the tip of the southernmost corner of the District of Columbia, however, signage for these boundary crossings is lacking. The Beltway enters Maryland during its Potomac River crossing over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, west of Forest Heights, the highway next intersects MD210, a major north–south route from southern D. C. to Indian Head in Charles County, Maryland. Heading northeastward, the Beltway interchanges with local highways, including MD5 and MD4 on either side of Andrews Air Force Base. Past the MD4 interchange, the Beltway turns north through Glenarden, the Beltway then interchanges with US 50/unsigned I-595, a major highway from downtown Washington eastward to Annapolis, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Marylands Eastern Shore. Both US50 and MD450 provide access to the New Carrollton Metro, MARC commuter rail, and Amtrak stations, turning northwest, the Beltway then enters Greenbelt Park, intersecting the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in the northeastern edge of the park. Just after the B-W Parkway, I-95/I-495 passes an interchange with MD201, now turned fully west, the Beltway runs through the northern edge of College Park, interchanging with the access roadway for the Greenbelt Metro and MARC commuter rail stations, then US1. Beyond the US1 interchange, I-95 separates from I-495 at the College Park Interchange, I-495 continues west, alone, on the Capital Beltway, while I-95 turns northeast towards Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston
10.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
United States of America
Maryland
Prince George's
