1.
Long Island City
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Long Island City is the westernmost residential and commercial neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. L. I. C. is noted for its rapid and ongoing growth and gentrification, its waterfront parks. L. I. C. has among the highest concentration of art galleries, art institutions and it originally was the seat of government of the Town of Newtown, and remains the largest neighborhood in Queens. The area is part of Queens Community Board 1, located north of the Queensboro Bridge and Queens Plaza, Long Island City is the eastern terminus of the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, which is the only non-toll automotive route connecting Queens and Manhattan. Northwest of the terminus are the Queensbridge Houses, a development of the New York City Housing Authority. At time of incorporation, Long Island City had between 12,000 and 15,000 residents and its charter provided for an elected mayor and a ten-member Board of Alderman with two representing each of the citys five wards. City ordinances could be passed by a majority vote of the Board of Aldermen, Long Island City held its first election on July 5,1870. Residents elected A. D. Delmars the first mayor, Delmars ran as both a Democrat and a Republican, the mayor and the aldermen were inaugurated on July 18,1870. In the 1880s, Mayor De Bevoise nearly bankrupted the Long Island City government by embezzling, the petition was ultimately dropped by the citizens. Long Island City continued to exist as a city until 1898. The last mayor of Long Island City was a notorious Irish-American named Patrick Jerome Battle-Axe Gleason, the city surrendered its independence in 1898 to become part of the City of Greater New York. However, Long Island City survives as ZIP code 11101 and ZIP code prefix 111 and was formerly a sectional center facility, the Common Council of Long Island City in 1873 adopted the coat of arms as emblematical of the varied interest represented by Long Island City. It was designed by George H. Williams, of Ravenswood, the overall composition was inspired by New York Citys coat of arms. The shield is rich in historic allusion, including Native American, Dutch, in 1898, Long Island City became part of New York City. Through the 1930s, numerous tunnels, the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. By the 1970s, the factories in Long Island City were being abandoned, in 1981, Queens West on the west side of Long Island City was developed to revitalize the area. In 2006, a resident of nearby Woodside, Hiroyuki Takenaga, Long Island City was once home to many factories and bakeries, some of which are finding new uses. The former Silvercup bakery is now home to Silvercup Studios, which has produced works such as NBCs 30 Rock and HBOs Sex
2.
The Beatles
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The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. They acquired the nickname the Fab Four as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, from 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road, after their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of cancer in November 2001. The Beatles are the band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act, according to the RIAA, the Beatles are also the best-selling music artists in the United States, with 178 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazines list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, as of 2016 and they have received ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and they were also collectively included in Time magazines compilation of the twentieth centurys 100 most influential people. In March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a group with several friends from Quarry Bank school. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a local group was already using the other name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he, in February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, after a month of Harrisons persistence, they enlisted him as their lead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennons Quarry Bank friends had left the group, the three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They used the name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer. By early July, they had changed their name to the Silver Beatles, allan Williams, the Beatles unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full-time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960
3.
Supermodel
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A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term supermodel became prominent in the culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for prominent fashion designers and clothing brands and they may have multimillion-dollar contracts, endorsements, and campaigns. Supermodels have branded themselves as household names and worldwide recognition is associated with their modeling careers and they have been on the covers of magazines such as French, British, American, and Italian Vogue. Claudia Schiffer stated, In order to become a supermodel one must be on all the all over the world at the same time so that people can recognise the girls. Then I have had what I call the super model and you know the sort of man, he goes in for theatrical effect. On 6 October 1942, a writer named Judith Cass had used the term super model for her article in the Chicago Tribune, according to Model, The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross, Gross stated the term supermodel was first used by Dessner. In 1947, anthropologist Harold Sterling Gladwin wrote supermodel in his book Men Out of Asia, on 18 October 1959, Vancouvers Chinatown News described Susan Chew as a super model. The term supermodel had been used several times in the media in the 1960s and 1970s, in 1965, the encyclopedic guide American Jurisprudence Trials used the term super model. American Vogue used the term super-model to describe Jean Shrimpton in the 15 October 1965 edition, Hemingway was again described as a supermodel in the 25 July 1977 edition of Time. Jet also described Beverly Johnson as a supermodel in the 22 December 1977 edition, Model Janice Dickinson has incorrectly stated that she coined the term supermodel in 1979, as a compound of Superman and model. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dickinson stated that her agent Monique Pilar of Elite Model Management asked her, Janice, im a supermodel, honey, and you will refer to me as a supermodel and you will start a supermodel division. Dickinson also claims to be the first supermodel, lisa Fonssagrives is widely considered the worlds first supermodel. She was in most of the fashion magazines and general interest magazines from the 1930s to the 1950s, including Town & Country, Life, Vogue, the original Vanity Fair, Harpers Bazaar. Dorian Leigh has also called the worlds first supermodel, as well as Gia Carangi. In the 1970s, some became more prominent as their names became more recognizable to the general public. Lauren Hutton became the first model to receive a contract from a cosmetics company. Iman is considered to have been the first supermodel of color, donyale Luna was the first black model to appear in British Vogue
4.
Life (magazine)
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Life was an American magazine that ran weekly from 1883 to 1936 as a humor magazine with limited circulation. Time owner Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936, solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name, Life was published weekly until 1972, as an intermittent special until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. After 2000 Time Inc. continued to use the Life brand for special, Life returned to regularly scheduled issues when it became a weekly newspaper supplement from 2004 to 2007. The website life. com, originally one of the channels on Time Inc. s Pathfinder service, was for a time in the late 2000s managed as a joint venture with Getty Images under the name See Your World, LLC. On January 30,2012 the LIFE. com URL became a channel on Time. com. When Life was founded in 1883, it was developed as similar to the British magazine and it was published for 53 years as a general-interest light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes and social commentary. The Luce Life was the first all-photographic American news magazine, the magazines role in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing. Life was wildly successful for two generations before its prestige was diminished by economics and changing tastes, Life was founded January 4,1883, in a New York City artists studio at 1155 Broadway, as a partnership between John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller. Mitchell held a 75 per cent interest in the magazine with the remainder by Miller, both men retained their holdings until their deaths. Miller served as secretary-treasurer of the magazine and was very successful managing the side of the operation. Mitchell, a 37-year-old illustrator who used a $10,000 inheritance to invest in the weekly magazine, Mitchell created the first Life name-plate with cupids as mascots, he later drew its masthead of a knight leveling his lance at the posterior of a fleeing devil. Mitchell took advantage of a new printing process using zinc-coated plates. This edge helped because Life faced stiff competition from the humor magazines Judge and Puck. Edward Sandford Martin was brought on as Lifes first literary editor, the motto of the first issue of Life was, While theres Life, theres hope. The new magazine set forth its principles and policies to its readers and we shall try to domesticate as much as possible of the casual cheerfulness that is drifting about in an unfriendly world. The magazine was a success and soon attracted the leading contributors. Among the most important was Charles Dana Gibson, three years after the magazine was founded, the Massachusetts native first sold Life a drawing for $4, a dog outside his kennel howling at the moon. Encouraged by a publisher who was also an artist, Gibson was joined in Life early days by such illustrators as Palmer Cox
5.
Coco Chanel
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Gabrielle Bonheur Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. She was the founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, a prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realising her design aesthetic in jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. 5, has become an iconic product and she is the only fashion designer listed on TIME magazines list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Chanel designed her iconic interlocked-CC monograph, meaning Coco Chanel, using it since the 1920s, Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She achieved both financial success as a businesswoman and catapulted to prominence in French high society, thanks to the connections she made through her work. These included many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron and her social connections appeared to encourage a highly conservative personal outlook. One of Chanels lovers was a German military officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage, after the war ended, Chanel was interrogated about her relationship with von Dincklage, but she was not charged as a collaborator. After several years in Switzerland after the war, she returned to Paris, in 2011, Hal Vaughan published a book on Chanel based on newly declassified documents of that era, revealing that she had collaborated with Germans in intelligence activities. One plan in late 1943 was for her to carry an SS separate peace overture to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to end the war and she was Jeannes second child with Albert Chanel, the first, Julia, was born less than a year earlier. Albert Chanel was an itinerant street vendor who peddled work clothes and undergarments, living a life, traveling to. The family resided in rundown lodgings, in 1884, he married Jeanne Devolle, persuaded to do so by her family who had united, effectively, to pay Albert to marry her. At birth, Chanels name was entered into the registry as Chasnel. Jeanne was too unwell to attend the registration, and Albert was registered as travelling, with both parents absent, the infants last name was misspelled, probably due to a clerical error. The couple had five children who survived—two boys and three girls—who lived crowded into a lodging in the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde. When Gabrielle was 12, her mother died of bronchitis at the age of 32 and her father sent his two sons out to work as farm laborers and sent his three daughters to the Corrèze, in central France, to the convent of Aubazine, which ran an orphanage. Its religious order, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary, was founded to care for the poor and rejected and it was a stark, frugal life, demanding strict discipline. Despite the tragedy of this, being placed in the orphanage may have been the best thing for Coco’s future because it is where she learned to sew. At age eighteen, Chanel, too old to remain at Aubazine, later in her life, Chanel would retell the story of her childhood somewhat differently, she would often include more glamorous accounts, which were generally untrue
6.
Vogue (magazine)
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Vogue is an American fashion and lifestyle magazine made up of many components including fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. Vogue began as a newspaper in 1892 in the United States. The British Vogue was the first international edition launched in 1916, Turnures intention was to create a publication that celebrated the ceremonial side of life, one that attracts the sage as well as debutante, men of affairs as well as the belle. From its inception, the magazine targeted the new New York upper class, the magazine at this time was primarily concerned with fashion, with coverage of sports and social affairs included for its male readership. Despite the magazines content, it very slowly during this period. Condé Montrose Nast purchased Vogue in 1905 one year before Turnures death and he changed it to a bi-weekly magazine and started Vogue overseas in the 1910s. Under Nast, the magazine shifted its focus to women. The magazines number of publications and profit increased dramatically under Nasts management, by 1911, the Vogue brand had garnered a reputation that it continues to maintain, targeting an elite audience and expanding into the coverage of weddings. According to Condé Naste Russia, after the First World War made deliveries in the Old World impossible, the decision to print in England proved to be successful causing Nast to release the first issue of French Vogue in 1920. The magazines number of subscriptions surged during the Great Depression, during this time, noted critic and former Vanity Fair editor Frank Crowninshield served as its editor, having been moved over from Vanity Fair by publisher Condé Nast. In July of 1932, American Vogue placed its first color photograph on the cover of the magazine, the photograph was taken by photographer Edward Steichen and portrays a woman swimmer holding a beach ball in the air. Nast was responsible for introducing color printing and the two-page spread and he greatly impacted the magazine and turned it into a successful business and the womens magazine we recognize today and greatly increased the sales volumes until his death in 1942. Toward this end, Vogue extended coverage to include East Village boutiques such as Limbo on St, marks Place, as well as including features of downtown personalities such as Andy Warhols Superstar Jane Holzers favorite haunts. Vogue also continued making household names out of models, a practice continued with Suzy Parker, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Lauren Hutton, Veruschka, Marisa Berenson, Penelope Tree. In 1973, Vogue became a monthly publication, under editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella, the magazine underwent extensive editorial and stylistic changes to respond to changes in the lifestyles of its target audience. Mirabella states that she was chosen to change Vogue because women werent interested in reading about or buying clothes that served no purpose in their changing lives and she was selected to make the magazine appeal to the the free, working, liberated woman of the seventies. She changed the magazine by adding text with interviews, arts coverage, when that type of stylihtic ceange f ell out of favor in the 1980s, Mirabella was brutally fired. Her take on it, For a magazine devoted to style, in July of 1988, after Vogue had began to lose ground to a three-year-old upstart Elle, Anna Wintour was named editor-in-chief
7.
Cary Grant
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Cary Grant was a British-American actor, known as one of classic Hollywoods definitive leading men. He began a career in Hollywood in the early 1930s, and became known for his accent, debonair demeanor. He became an American citizen in 1942, Born in Horfield, Bristol, Grant became attracted to theatre at a young age, and began performing with a troupe known as The Penders from the age of six. After attending Bishop Road Primary School and Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol, he toured the country as a stage performer and he established a name for himself in vaudeville in the 1920s and toured the United States before moving to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Along with the later Arsenic and Old Lace and I Was a Male War Bride, having established himself as a major Hollywood star, he was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart. In the 1940s and 1950s, Grant forged a relationship with the director Alfred Hitchcock, appearing in films such as Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief. Hitchcock admired Grant and considered him to have been the actor that he had ever loved working with. His comic timing and delivery made Grant what Premiere magazine considers to have quite simply. Grant was married five times, three of his marriages were elopements with actresses—Virginia Cherrill, Betsy Drake and Dyan Cannon and he has one daughter with Cannon, Jennifer Grant. After his retirement from acting in 1966, Grant pursued numerous business interests, representing cosmetics firm Fabergé. He was presented with an Honorary Oscar by his friend Frank Sinatra at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970, in 1999, the American Film Institute named Grant the second greatest male star of Golden Age Hollywood cinema, after Humphrey Bogart. Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18,1904 at 15 Hughenden Road in the northern Bristol suburb of Horfield and he was the second child of Elias James Leach and Elsie Maria Leach. Elias, the son of a potter, worked as a tailors presser at a factory, while Elsie. Grants elder brother, John William Elias Leach, died of tuberculous meningitis, Grant considered himself to have been partly Jewish. He had an upbringing, his father was an alcoholic. Wanting the best for her son, Elsie taught Grant song and dance when he was four and she would occasionally take him to the cinema where he enjoyed the performances of Charlie Chaplin, Chester Conklin, Fatty Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, Mack Swain and Broncho Billy Anderson. Grant entered education when he was four-and-a-half and was sent to the Bishop Road Primary School, Bristol, another biographer, Geoffrey Wansell, notes that Elsie blamed herself bitterly for the death of Grants older brother John, and never recovered from it. Grant later acknowledged that his experiences with his fiercely independent mother affected his relationships with women later in life
8.
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
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The Twilight Zone is an American science-fiction, fantasy, psychological-supernatural horror anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. Each story typically features a moral and a surprise ending, the series is notable for featuring both established stars and younger actors who would become more famous later on. Serling served as producer and head writer, he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the shows 156 episodes. He was also the shows host and narrator, delivering monologues at the beginning, Serlings opening and closing narrations usually summarize the episodes events encapsulating how and why the main character had entered the Twilight Zone. In 2016, it was ranked No.8 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 greatest shows of all time, in 2002, The Twilight Zone was ranked No.26 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the third best-written TV series ever, by the late 1950s, Rod Serling was a regular name in television. His successful teleplays included Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight, but constant changes and edits made by the networks, in Requiem for a Heavyweight, the line Got a match. But according to comments in his 1957 anthology Patterns, Serling had been trying to delve into more controversial than his works of the early 1950s. Despite bad reviews, activists sent numerous letters and wires protesting the production, the script, however, was rejected and shelved for a year until Bert Granet discovered and produced it as an episode of Desilu Playhouse in 1958. The show was a success and enabled Serling to finally begin production on his anthology series. There is a dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity and it is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of mans fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination and it is an area which we call The Twilight Zone. The Twilight Zone premiered the night of October 2,1959 and its the one series that I will let interfere with other plans, said Terry Turner for the Chicago Daily News. Even as the show proved popular to televisions critics, it struggled to find an audience of television viewers. CBS was banking on a rating of at least 21 or 22, the series future was jeopardized when its third episode, Mr. Denton on Doomsday earned a 16.3 rating. With one exception, the first season featured scripts written only by Rod Serling and these three were responsible for 127 of the 156 episodes in the series. Additionally, with one exception, Serling never appeared on camera during any first-season episode, Serling did appear on screen in Twilight Zone promotional spots plugging the following weeks episode – just not in the episodes themselves
9.
I've Got a Secret
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Ive Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todmans own panel show Whats My Line, the original version of Ive Got a Secret premiered on June 19,1952, on CBS and ran until April 3,1967. This version began broadcasting in black and white and switched to a format in 1966. The show was revived for the 1972–73 season in syndication and again from June 15 to July 6,1976. Oxygen launched a revival series in 2000, which ran until 2001. A second revival by GSN with an all-gay panel premiered on April 17,2006, the show was originally hosted by radio and television personality Garry Moore. After several months of a panel, game show host Bill Cullen, acerbic comedian Henry Morgan, TV hostess Faye Emerson. In 1958, Emerson left the show to star in a play and was replaced by actress Betsy Palmer, later that year, Meadows relocated to the West Coast and was replaced by former Miss America Bess Myerson. At various times, guest hosts substituted for Moore, including panelists Morgan and Palmer, additionally, other comedians and celebrities appeared as guests on the panel when others were away. The announcer for most of the 1952-67 run was John Cannon, Moore left the show after the 1963–64 season. After his comedy program The Garry Moore Show was canceled, Moore chose to retire from television to travel the world with his wife, Moore was replaced by Steve Allen, who left his own syndicated talk show to take over the game, on September 21,1964. Allen also hosted the show during the 1972−73 revival, former panelist Bill Cullen hosted the show for its brief 1976 CBS summer run. Frequent panelists on this revival were Richard Dawson, Henry Morgan, Pat Carroll, the version seen on Oxygen was hosted by Stephanie Miller until August 2001. Regular panelists on this version included Jim J. Bullock, Jason Kravits, Amy Yasbeck, each typical episode featured two regular contestant rounds, followed by a celebrity guest round, occasionally followed by an additional regular round. Each round was a game where the panel tried to determine a contestants secret. The concept of a secret was fairly wide reaching, Secrets were always intended to be unusual, amazing, embarrassing or humorous. They commonly included such types as something which happened to a person, owning something, or an occupation, hobby, one or more contestants would enter. The host would introduce the contestant or ask their name and hometown and he would then ask them to whisper your secret to me, and well show it to the folks at home
10.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
11.
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
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Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
