Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south; the kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", it is called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands; the four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area and are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions, with Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one; the population of 127 million is the world's tenth largest. 90.7 % of people live in cities. About 13.8 million people live in the capital of Japan. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world with over 38 million people. Archaeological research indicates; the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD.
Influence from other regions China, followed by periods of isolation from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shōguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. After nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection, the Imperial Court regained its political power in 1868 through the help of several clans from Chōshū and Satsuma – and the Empire of Japan was established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism; the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the Japanese surrender. Since adopting its revised constitution on May 3, 1947, during the occupation led by SCAP, the sovereign state of Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet.
Japan is a member of the ASEAN Plus mechanism, UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the G20, is considered a great power. Its economy is the world's third-largest by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity, it is the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer. Japan benefits from a skilled and educated workforce. Although it has renounced its right to declare war, Japan maintains a modern military with the world's eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a developed country with a high standard of living and Human Development Index, its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, but is experiencing issues due to an aging population and low birthrate. Japan is renowned for its historical and extensive cinema, influential music industry, video gaming, rich cuisine and its major contributions to science and modern technology; the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, pronounced Nihon or Nippon and means "the origin of the sun".
The character nichi means "sun" or "day". The compound therefore means "origin of the sun" and is the source of the popular Western epithet "Land of the Rising Sun"; the earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, the Old Book of Tang. At the end of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan requested that Nihon be used as the name of their country; this name may have its origin in a letter sent in 607 and recorded in the official history of the Sui dynasty. Prince Shōtoku, the Regent of Japan, sent a mission to China with a letter in which he called himself "the Emperor of the Land where the Sun rises"; the message said: "Here, I, the emperor of the country where the sun rises, send a letter to the emperor of the country where the sun sets. How are you". Prior to the adoption of Nihon, other terms such as Yamato and Wakoku were used; the term Wa is a homophone of Wo 倭, used by the Chinese as a designation for the Japanese as early as the third century Three Kingdoms period.
Another form of Wa, Wei in Chinese) was used for an early state in Japan called Nakoku during the Han dynasty. However, the Japanese disliked some connotation of Wa 倭, it was therefore replaced with the substitute character Wa, meaning "togetherness, harmony"; the English word Japan derives from the historical Chinese pronunciation of 日本. The Old Mandarin or early Wu Chinese pronunciation of Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. In modern Shanghainese, a Wu dialect, the pronunciation of characters 日本; the old Malay word for Japan, Japun or Japang, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect Fukienese or Ningpo – and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia in the 16th century. These Early Portuguese traders brought the word
Formula One
Formula One is the highest class of single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and owned by the Formula One Group. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950; the word "formula" in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, which take place worldwide on purpose-built circuits and on public roads; the results of each race are evaluated using a points system to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Drivers must hold valid Super Licences, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA; the races must run on tracks graded "1", the highest grade-rating issued by the FIA. Most events occur in rural locations on purpose-built tracks, but several events take place on city streets. Formula One cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, owing to high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce.
The cars underwent major changes in 2017, allowing wider front and rear wings, wider tyres, resulting in cornering forces closing in on 6.5g and top speeds of up to 375 km/h. As of 2019 the hybrid engines are limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 rpm and the cars are dependent on electronics—although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008—and on aerodynamics and tyres. While Europe is the sport's traditional base, the championship operates globally, with 11 of the 21 races in the 2018 season taking place outside Europe. With the annual cost of running a mid-tier team—designing and maintaining cars, transport—being US$120 million, Formula One has a significant economic and job-creation effect, its financial and political battles are reported, its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, which has resulted in large investments from sponsors and budgets. On 8 September 2016 Bloomberg reported that Liberty Media had agreed to buy Delta Topco, the company that controls Formula One, from private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners for $4.4 billion in cash and convertible debt.
On 23 January 2017 Liberty Media confirmed the completion of the acquisition for $8 billion. The Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1930s; the formula is a set of rules. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, with the first non-championship races being held that year. A number of Grand Prix racing organisations had laid out rules for a world championship before the war, but due to the suspension of racing during the conflict, the World Drivers' Championship was not formalised until 1947; the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958. National championships existed in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for many years, but due to the increasing cost of competition, the last of these occurred in 1983. On 26 November 2017, Formula One unveiled its new logo, following the 2017 season finale in Abu Dhabi during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.
The new logo replaced F1's iconic'flying one', the sport's trademark since 1993. After a hiatus in European motor racing brought about by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the first World Championship for Drivers was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1950, narrowly defeating his Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. However, Fangio won the title in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, his streak interrupted by two-time champion Alberto Ascari of Ferrari. Although the UK's Stirling Moss was able to compete he was never able to win the world championship, is now considered to be the greatest driver never to have won the title. Fangio, however, is remembered for dominating Formula One's first decade and has long been considered the "Grand Master" of Formula One; this period featured teams managed by road car manufacturers Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati. The first seasons were run using pre-war cars like Alfa's 158, they were front-engined, with narrow tyres and 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre aspirated engines.
The 1952 and 1953 World Championships were run to Formula Two regulations, for smaller, less powerful cars, due to concerns over the paucity of Formula One cars available. When a new Formula One, for engines limited to 2.5 litres, was reinstated to the world championship for 1954, Mercedes-Benz introduced the advanced W196, which featured innovations such as desmodromic valves and fuel injection as well as enclosed streamlined bodywork. Mercedes drivers won the championship for two years, before the team withdrew from all motorsport in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster. An era of British dominance was ushered in by Mike Hawthorn and Vanwall's championship wins in 1958, although Stirling Moss had been at the forefront of the sport without securing the world title. Between Hawthorn, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees and Graham Hill, British drivers won nine Drivers' Championships and British teams won fourteen Constructors' Championsh
Giedo van der Garde
Giedo van der Garde is a Dutch racing driver. He drove for the Caterham F1 team in 2013 and joined Sauber as a reserve driver in 2014. Van der Garde has a successful karting career, winning the Dutch championship in 1998. In Super A he was best rookie in 2001 and world champion in 2002; the following year he joined the Formula Renault 2000 Championship and finished sixth, driving for Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing. On the strength of his performance he became part of the Renault F1 Driver Development programme, he joined the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2004 with Signature-Plus but after finishing the year ninth he was dropped by Renault Driver Development. A move to Team Rosberg for 2005 yielded another ninth in the series. For 2006 he joined the ASM team, which had dominated the season in 2005 with Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil; the team claimed the top two places in the championship once more in 2006 – but it was Van der Garde's team mates Paul di Resta and Sebastian Vettel who topped the leader board.
The Dutchman ended the year sixth with a single victory. On 17 December 2006 Van der Garde announced that he would drive in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for Victory Engineering, a team that works together with Carlin Motorsport. Van der Garde had podium positions in mind for the season, but though he was the most consistent driver, always around 6th or 5th, he did not win nor reach the podium, he finished the season 3rd in the Rookie of the year standings. He received several offers for tests in GP2, from teams like DAMS and Arden International, during which he impressed, he signed with P1 Motorsport to compete in the 2008 season. In the first race of the 2008 FR3.5 season in Monza, Van der Garde managed to qualify on pole for the feature race. Due to regulations, he started 8th in the sprint race because of the reverse grid order in the sprint race, he came through the field to clinch victory in the sprint race, converted his pole position into a victory in the feature race to show his fine form in the start of the season.
In the second race at Spa, he narrowly missed out on pole by 0.033 seconds after topping the tables at all practice sessions. In the sprint race, Julien Jousse collided into him forcing Van der Garde into retiring from the race. Having qualified second for the feature race, he lost a position at the start, he overtook Mikhail Aleshin on the first lap to regain his position, overtook Marco Bonanomi for the lead which he held to the checkered flag. After this strong start to the season, Van der Garde was never headed in the championship and duly won it with two races remaining. Van der Garde signed to drive for the iSport International team in the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season, in the 2009 GP2 Series season. At the Hungaroring, he took his first victory, in the sprint race, he added two more wins before the end of the season en route to seventh in the championship standings. He had not been due to compete in the 2009–10 GP2 Asia season, but competed in the second round for Barwa Addax, he drove for the same team in the 2010 GP2 Series season, equalling his seventh place in the drivers' championship, whilst team-mate Sergio Pérez was runner-up.
Van der Garde remained with Barwa Addax for the 2011 GP2 Asia Series season, with Charles Pic replacing the Formula One-bound Pérez as his team-mate. He finished third in the championship, behind Romain Grosjean and Jules Bianchi, led the main series after two rounds despite not winning a race, he did, take his first series pole position and fastest lap at Catalunya. He took pole position for the Monaco round as well, but was penalised for an incident in qualifying, he took no points from the weekend and lost his championship lead to Grosjean, who secured the title with one round of the series remaining. He held second place in the championship until the last round of the season at Monza, where he had a disastrous weekend and slipped back to fifth in the standings, behind Luca Filippi and Pic; as part of his deal to become the Caterham Formula One team's reserve driver, Van der Garde joined the marque's GP2 team for the 2012 season, alongside Rodolfo González. He returned to the winner's circle with race victories at Catalunya and Singapore, but again was not consistent enough to mount a championship challenge, finishing sixth in the points standings.
On 9 February 2015, Van der Garde returned to this series for testing, racking up over 350 km at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. He drove for the first time. 2006 saw Van der Garde being brought into the McLaren Young Drivers Programme. On 15 December 2006 Van der Garde was confirmed as the Super Aguri Formula One team's test and reserve driver for the 2007 season. On 1 February 2007 Van der Garde was unexpectedly announced by Spyker F1 as the team's test and reserve driver. On 2 February 2007 Super Aguri confirmed their belief their existing contract with Van der Garde was still in force, stating "Super Aguri F1 Team has a valid contract with Giedo van der Garde to drive for the team in the position of Friday and Test Driver for the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship; the contract was submitted by the SAF1 Team to the Contracts Recognition Board on 23rd January 2007." However, on 20 June 2007 Van der Garde tested at Silverstone with Spyker, indicating the contract dispute had been resolved. Spyker intended Van der Garde to be the team's Friday driver at the Australian Grand Prix, but he failed to obtain the necessary superlicence from the FIA in time.
Van der Garde was a candidate to race in Formula One for Virgin in 2011, but that seat went to Belgian Jérôme d'Ambrosio. On 4 February 2012, it was announced tha
1991 Formula One World Championship
The 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 45th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1991 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1991 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 10 March and ended on 3 November. Ayrton Senna won his third and last Drivers' Championship, McLaren-Honda won their fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship. Senna won seven of the sixteen races. Senna's fierce rival Alain Prost failed to win a race with Ferrari and was fired before the end of the season due to a dispute with the team. 1991 saw the debuts of future world champions Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen, as well as the retirement of three-time champion Nelson Piquet. The following teams and drivers competed in the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship. McLaren retained their successful 1990 lineup of Gerhard Berger. Williams re-signed their former driver Nigel Mansell on the promise that he would be the top driver in the team after several years as number two to Nelson Piquet at Williams and Alain Prost at Ferrari.
He was partnered by Riccardo Patrese, retained from 1990. Ferrari kept Alain Prost as lead driver and replaced the departed Mansell with Jean Alesi, a young driver who had impressed at Tyrrell. Benetton began the season with two experienced Brazilian drivers: Roberto Moreno and triple world champion Nelson Piquet. During the season, Moreno was controversially replaced by German rookie Michael Schumacher. Former greats Lotus had had a torrid 1990 with a severe career-ending accident for Martin Donnelly, loss of title sponsorship from Camel and a management buyout; the new cars and British Racing Green after decades of yellow or black, were piloted by rookie driver Mika Häkkinen, Julian Bailey who had made his F1 debut with Tyrrell in 1988, though Bailey was replaced by Johnny Herbert. The team had appointed Donnelly as'number one driver' as Martin was hoped to come back racing by April 1991, though his 1990 crash at Jerez ended his racing career. Lotus went back to using Judd V8 power in 1991 after a dismal 1990 using the fast but fragile Lamborghini V12 engine.
Three teams that started the 1990 season would not make the start of the 1991 season: EuroBrun had failed to complete the season. Onyx Grand Prix pulled out during 1990, but went as far as designing a 1991 car before folding, while the absence of Life, a team that failed to prequalify for every race, surprised no-one; the Osella team was now Fondmetal, though driver Olivier Grouillard was retained along with the 1989 Osella car and most of the staff. The Arrows team was renamed Footwork after an investment by Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi, President of Footwork Express Co. Ltd. There were two new entrants for the 1991 season, their drivers were Bertrand Gachot and Andrea de Cesaris, though Gachot's incarceration for assault partway through the season would mean that Michael Schumacher, Alessandro Zanardi and Roberto Moreno drove the car. The other new team was the Modena Team, it began life in late 1990 as GLAS with Mexican investment. Former Arrows, Alfa Romeo and Spirit driver, Mauro Baldi, was one of the proposed drivers and they had brokered a deal with Lamborghini that would see the Italian marque, operating under Lamborghini Engineering and build a chassis for the team as well as supply their V12 engines.
But, the Mexican investors pulled out before the season began. Lamborghini stepped in and provided financial assistance to save the team and relocated the team to Modena and initiated the subsequent name-change; the team signed up Eric van de Poele. Although the team was a de facto factory effort by Lamborghini, Lamborghini entered the team under a separate name to avoid being associated with a struggling team, but this did not stop fans alike from referring to the team as Lambo though. 1991 would be a difficult year for the team, as aside from the drivers failing to qualify their cars, finances become an issue after Lamborghini's once off investment in the team had dried up. 1991 would in fact turn out to be the team's only season in the sport. At the start of the season, pre-qualifying was needed for five teams: both cars of the Jordan and Modena teams and the single entrants of the Fondmetal and Coloni teams. A change to the points system in 1991 saw the winning driver now awarded 10 points instead of 9 as previously.
More points from all races would now count towards the championship, instead of only each driver's best eleven results as previously. The season started off at the Phoenix street circuit that had a modified layout to make it more of a challenge to drivers. Senna took pole ahead of Prost, Mansell and Alesi. At the start and Prost maintained their places while Mansell sliced ahead of Patrese and Piquet lost out to Alesi and Berger; the order at the end of lap 1 was: Senna, Mansell, Patrese and Berger. Early on, as Senna was pulling away from Prost, Alesi got past Patrese for fourth. However, Patrese closed up on Mansell, he shot into an escape road and rejoined behind Alesi and Berger. He closed up on them with Berger attacking Alesi but unable to pass. Patrese passed Berger on lap 34. On the next lap, Mansell's gearbox failed and soon afterward, on lap 36, Berger had fuel pump
Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways is the second-largest airline in the United Arab Emirates. Its head office is in Abu Dhabi, near Abu Dhabi's International Airport. Etihad commenced operations in November 2003; the airline operates more than 1,000 flights per week to over 120 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas, with a fleet of 117 Airbus and Boeing aircraft as of February 2018. In 2015, Etihad carried 14.8 million passengers, a 22.3% increase from the previous year, delivering revenues of US$9.02 billion and net profits of US$103 million. Its main base is Abu Dhabi International Airport. In addition to its core activity of passenger transportation, Etihad operates Etihad Holidays and Etihad Cargo. Etihad established its own airline alliance, Etihad Airways Partners, in October 2015, that includes Jet Airways, Air Serbia and Air Seychelles. Etihad Airways holds minority equity investments in the participating airlines. Booking for these airlines is consolidated under one network.
Etihad Airways was established as the second flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates in July 2003 by Royal Decree issued by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who wanted an airline for Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saif Al Nahyan established the airline, it started with an initial paid-up capital of AED500 million. Services were launched with a ceremonial flight to Al Ain on 5 November 2003. On 12 November 2003, Etihad commenced commercial operations with the launch of services to Beirut, Lebanon. Prior to the establishment of Etihad, Gulf Air was the airline, based at Abu Dhabi International Airport and was co-owned by Bahrain and the Sultanate of Oman. In June 2004, the airline placed an US$8-billion aircraft order for five Boeing 777-300ERs and 24 Airbus aircraft, including four Airbus A380s, its first A380 was delivered in December 2014. The airline announced what was the largest aircraft order in commercial aviation history at the Farnborough Airshow in 2008, for up to 205 aircraft—100 firm orders, 55 options and 50 purchase rights.
Etihad reported its first full-year net profit in 2011, of US$14 million, in line with the strategic plan announced by CEO James Hogan in 2006. In December 2011, Etihad announced it had taken a 29.21% stake in Air Berlin, Europe's sixth-largest airline, James Hogan was appointed Vice Chairman. It followed this up with minority stakes in other airlines—Air Seychelles, Aer Lingus, Virgin Australia. On 1 August 2013, the President of the company, James Hogan, signed a deal with Aleksandar Vučić, First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, in Belgrade, giving Etihad a 49% stake in the Serbian national carrier Jat Airways; the Serbian Government retained 51% of the shares, with the company being rebranded as Air Serbia. In September 2012, the Indian government announced that foreign airlines could take a stake of up to 49% in Indian carriers. On 24 April 2013, Jet Airways announced that it was ready to sell a 24% stake in the airline to Etihad for US$379 million; the deal was completed on 12 November 2013.
At the 2013 Dubai Airshow, Etihad announced that it was acquiring a 33.3% stake in the Swiss carrier Darwin Airline. Darwin was rebranded as Etihad Regional from March 2014. Etihad sold Darwin in 2017. On 1 August 2014, Etihad agreed to take a 49% stake in the Italian flag carrier Alitalia for an estimated €560 million; the deal was closed on 8 August 2014. On 1 January 2015, Alitalia-CAI formally passed its operations to Alitalia-SAI, a new entity owned 49% by Etihad and 51% by the Alitalia-CAI shareholders. In May 2016, the management structure was reshuffled, as James Hogan became CEO of the airline's parent company, Etihad Aviation Group. Peter Baumgartner the airline's Chief Commercial Officer, became Chief Executive Officer of the airline, reporting to Hogan. In May 2017, a week after Alitalia collapsed into administration, Etihad Aviation Group announced that CEO James Hogan and CFO James Rigney would leave the group on 1 July 2017; as an interim measure the board of directors appointed Ray Gammell as CEO while searching for a permanent replacement.
On January 9, 2018, Etihad Airways appointed Mark Powers as Group CFO, replacing interim Group CFO Ricky Thirion. On 2 July 2017, the United States Department of Homeland Security unbanned Etihad Airways and exempted Etihad Airways from the 2017 electronics ban after the airline enhanced its passenger screening processes. In February 2019, Etihad announced large order cancellations for both and Boeing aircraft; the airline terminated contracts for all 42 Airbus A350-900s, 2 A350-1000s and 19 of 24 ordered Boeing 777X. Etihad has its head office, in Abu Dhabi, near Abu Dhabi International Airport. Etihad spent 183.6 million UAE dirhams in 2007 to arrange to have its new head office and training center built. The new head office was scheduled to be finished by the end of 2007. Etihad is governed by a board of directors chaired by H. E. Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei and operates in terms of its founding legislation and the Article of Association of the Company; the Board consists of seven independent non-executive members and has two sub-committees, being an Executive Committee and an Audit Committee, each with its own charter and chairman.
Other members of the board include: H. E. Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, H. E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, H. E. Mohamed Hareb Sultan Al Yousef, H. E. Hamad Abdulla Al Shamsi, H. E. Khalifa Sultan Al Suwaidi, H. E. Ahmed Ali Matar Al Romaithi; the airline was led by James Hogan (formerly CEO o
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country located in Northwestern Europe. The European portion of the Netherlands consists of twelve separate provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, the North Sea to the northwest, with maritime borders in the North Sea with Belgium and the United Kingdom. Together with three island territories in the Caribbean Sea—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba— it forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the official language is Dutch, but a secondary official language in the province of Friesland is West Frisian. The six largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Tilburg. Amsterdam is the country's capital, while The Hague holds the seat of the States General and Supreme Court; the Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, the largest in any country outside Asia. The country is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union.
It hosts several intergovernmental organisations and international courts, many of which are centered in The Hague, dubbed'the world's legal capital'. Netherlands means'lower countries' in reference to its low elevation and flat topography, with only about 50% of its land exceeding 1 metre above sea level, nearly 17% falling below sea level. Most of the areas below sea level, known as polders, are the result of land reclamation that began in the 16th century. With a population of 17.30 million people, all living within a total area of 41,500 square kilometres —of which the land area is 33,700 square kilometres —the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It is the world's second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products, owing to its fertile soil, mild climate, intensive agriculture; the Netherlands was the third country in the world to have representative government, it has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848.
The country has a tradition of pillarisation and a long record of social tolerance, having legalised abortion and human euthanasia, along with maintaining a progressive drug policy. The Netherlands abolished the death penalty in 1870, allowed women's suffrage in 1917, became the world's first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001, its mixed-market advanced economy had the thirteenth-highest per capita income globally. The Netherlands ranks among the highest in international indexes of press freedom, economic freedom, human development, quality of life, as well as happiness; the Netherlands' turbulent history and shifts of power resulted in exceptionally many and varying names in different languages. There is diversity within languages; this holds for English, where Dutch is the adjective form and the misnomer Holland a synonym for the country "Netherlands". Dutch comes from Theodiscus and in the past centuries, the hub of Dutch culture is found in its most populous region, home to the capital city of Amsterdam.
Referring to the Netherlands as Holland in the English language is similar to calling the United Kingdom "Britain" by people outside the UK. The term is so pervasive among potential investors and tourists, that the Dutch government's international websites for tourism and trade are "holland.com" and "hollandtradeandinvest.com". The region of Holland consists of North and South Holland, two of the nation's twelve provinces a single province, earlier still, the County of Holland, a remnant of the dissolved Frisian Kingdom. Following the decline of the Duchy of Brabant and the County of Flanders, Holland became the most economically and politically important county in the Low Countries region; the emphasis on Holland during the formation of the Dutch Republic, the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 16th, 17th and 18th century, made Holland serve as a pars pro toto for the entire country, now considered either incorrect, informal, or, depending on context, opprobrious. Nonetheless, Holland is used in reference to the Netherlands national football team.
The region called the Low Countries and the Country of the Netherlands. Place names with Neder, Nieder and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in places all over Europe, they are sometimes used in a deictic relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Oben, Superior or Haut. In the case of the Low Countries / Netherlands the geographical location of the lower region has been more or less downstream and near the sea; the geographical location of the upper region, changed tremendously over time, depending on the location of the economic and military power governing the Low Countries area. The Romans made a distinction between the Roman provinces of downstream Germania Inferior and upstream Germania Superior; the designation'Low' to refer to the region returns again in the 10th century Duchy of Lower Lorraine, that covered much of the Low Countries. But this time the corresponding Upper region is Upper Lorraine, in nowadays Northern France; the Dukes of Burgundy, who ruled the Low Countries in the 15th century, used the term les pays de par deçà for the Low Countries as opposed to les pays de par delà for their original
Germany
Germany the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north and the Czech Republic to the east and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres, has a temperate seasonal climate. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a decentralized country, its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport. Germany's largest urban area is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Essen; the country's other major cities are Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Bremen and Nuremberg. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity.
A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation was formed in 1815; the German revolutions of 1848–49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights. In 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the revolution of 1918–19, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic; the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a dictatorship, the annexation of Austria, World War II, the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, Austria was re-established as an independent country and two new German states were founded: West Germany, formed from the American and French occupation zones, East Germany, formed from the Soviet occupation zone.
Following the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was reunified on 3 October 1990. Today, the sovereign state of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic led by a chancellor, it is a great power with a strong economy. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer of goods; as a developed country with a high standard of living, it upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection, a tuition-free university education. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993, it is part of the Schengen Area and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20, the OECD. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential and successful artists, musicians, film people, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors.
Germany has a large number of World Heritage sites and is among the top tourism destinations in the world. The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine; the German term Deutschland diutisciu land is derived from deutsch, descended from Old High German diutisc "popular" used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz "popular", derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- "people", from which the word Teutons originates; the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a coal mine in Schöningen between 1994 and 1998 where eight 380,000-year-old wooden javelins of 1.82 to 2.25 m length were unearthed. The Neander Valley was the location where the first non-modern human fossil was discovered.
The Neanderthal 1 fossils are known to be 40,000 years old. Evidence of modern humans dated, has been found in caves in the Swabian Jura near Ulm; the finds included 42,000-year-old bird bone and mammoth ivory flutes which are the oldest musical instruments found, the 40,000-year-old Ice Age Lion Man, the oldest uncontested figurative art discovered, the 35,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels, the oldest uncontested human figurative art discovered. The Nebra sky disk is a bronze artefact created during the European Bronze Age attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, it is part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme. The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south and west from the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well
Adrian Sutil 
Christijan Albers 
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