1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Subdivisions of Russia
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Russia is divided into several types and levels of subdivisions. Since March 18,2014, the Russian Federation consisted of eighty-five federal subjects that are constituent members of the Federation, however, two of these federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol—are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. All federal subjects are of equal rights in the sense that they have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council. They do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy, there are 6 types of federal subjects—22 republics,9 krais,46 oblasts,3 federal cities,1 autonomous oblast, and 4 autonomous okrugs. According to the Treaty, the Republic of Crimea is accepted as a subject with the status of a republic while the City of Sevastopol has received federal city status. Neither the Republic of Crimea nor the city of Sevastopol are politically recognized as parts of Russia by most countries and this was interpreted by the governments of the federal subjects as a sign that the matters of the administrative-territorial divisions became solely the responsibility of the federal subjects. As a result, the modern structures of the federal subjects vary significantly from one federal subject to another. Autonomous okrugs, while being under the jurisdiction of federal subject, are still constitutionally recognized as federal subjects on their own right. Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is an exception in that it is not administratively subordinated to any federal subject of Russia. Okrugs are usually former autonomous okrugs that lost their federal subject status due to a merger with another federal subject. According to the law, the units of the division are as follows, Municipal district. In practice, municipal districts are formed within the boundaries of existing administrative districts. In practice, urban okrugs are usually formed within the boundaries of existing cities of federal subject significance, intra-urban territory of a federal city, a part of a federal citys territory. In Moscow, these are called municipal formations, in St. Petersburg—municipal okrugs, towns, in Sevastopol, they are known as municipal okrugs and a town. Territories not included as a part of municipal formations are known as inter-settlement territories and this municipal formation type would typically be established within the borders of existing city districts. In June 2014, Chelyabinsky Urban Okrug became the first urban okrug to implement intra-urban divisions, all of the federal subjects are grouped into nine federal districts, each administered by an envoy appointed by the President of Russia. For economic and statistical purposes the federal subjects are grouped into twelve economic regions, economic regions and their parts sharing common economic trends are in turn grouped into economic zones and macrozones. In order for the Armed Forces to provide an efficient management of units, their training, and other operational activities
3.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
4.
Federal subjects of Russia
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Since March 18,2014, the Russian Federation constitutionally consists of 85 federal subjects, although the two most recently added subjects are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Three Russian cities of importance have a status of both city and separate federal subject which comprises other cities and towns within federal city keeping old structure of postal address. In 1993, there were 89 federal subjects listed, by 2008, the number of federal subjects had been decreased to 83 because of several mergers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, every federal subject has its own head, a parliament, and a constitutional court. Federal subjects have their own constitution and legislation, subjects have equal rights in relations with federal government bodies. The federal subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council and they do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy. Composition of post-Soviet Russia was formed during the history of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR, the Federation Treaty was included in the text of the 1978 Constitution of the Russian SFSR. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the system became de jure closer to other modern federal states with a republican form of government in the world. There are several groupings of Russian regions, Federal subjects should not be confused with the eight Federal districts which are not subdivisions of Russia, are much larger and each encompass many federal subjects. Federal districts were created by Executive Order of the President of Russia specially for presidential envoys, an official government translation of the Constitution of Russia in Article 5 states,1. Another translation of the Constitution of Russia gives for article 65, each federal subject belongs to one of the following types, b. ^ According to Article 13 of the Charter of Leningrad Oblast, however, St. Petersburg is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ According to Article 24 of the Charter of Moscow Oblast, however, Moscow is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ Not recognized internationally as a part of Russia, the merging process was finished on March 1,2008. No new mergers have been planned since March 2008, Федерального конституционного закона №7-ФКЗ от30 декабря2008 г. Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Российская газета, №237,25 декабря1993 г
5.
Rostov Oblast
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Rostov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of 100,800 square kilometers and its administrative center is the city of Rostov-on-Don, which also became the administrative center of the Southern Federal District in 2002. Rostov Oblast borders Ukraine and also Volgograd and Voronezh Oblasts in the north, Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais in the south, and it is within the Russian Southern Federal District. The Don River, one of Europes largest rivers, flows through the oblast for part of its course, lakes cover only 0. 4% of the oblasts area. The most important ethnicities are the 3,795,607 ethnic Russians, the 77,802 ethnic Ukrainians, the 110,727 ethnic Armenians. Other important groups are the 35,902 Turks,16,493 Belarusians ),13,948 Tatars,17,961 Azeris,11,449 Chechens,16,657 Roma,11,597 Koreans, and 8,296 Georgians. There were also 76,498 people belonging to other ethno-cultural groupings,76,735 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group, according to a 2012 official survey 49. In addition, 26% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, 12% is atheist, major industries of Rostov Oblast are agriculture, agricultural industry, food processing, heavy industry, coal and automobile manufacture. Областной закон №19-ЗС от29 мая1996 г, Областного закона №442-ЗС от23 ноября2015 г. «О поправках к Уставу Ростовской области», Вступил в силу6 июня1996 г. Опубликован, Наше время, №98–99,6 июня1996 г, Областной Закон №30-ЗС от10 октября1996 г. Вступил в силу с момента опубликования, Опубликован, Наше время, №196,31 октября1996 г. Official website of Rostov Oblast Russian South
6.
Area
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Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional figure or shape, or planar lamina, in the plane. Surface area is its analog on the surface of a three-dimensional object. It is the analog of the length of a curve or the volume of a solid. The area of a shape can be measured by comparing the shape to squares of a fixed size, in the International System of Units, the standard unit of area is the square metre, which is the area of a square whose sides are one metre long. A shape with an area of three square metres would have the area as three such squares. In mathematics, the square is defined to have area one. There are several formulas for the areas of simple shapes such as triangles, rectangles. Using these formulas, the area of any polygon can be found by dividing the polygon into triangles, for shapes with curved boundary, calculus is usually required to compute the area. Indeed, the problem of determining the area of plane figures was a motivation for the historical development of calculus. For a solid such as a sphere, cone, or cylinder. Formulas for the areas of simple shapes were computed by the ancient Greeks. Area plays an important role in modern mathematics, in addition to its obvious importance in geometry and calculus, area is related to the definition of determinants in linear algebra, and is a basic property of surfaces in differential geometry. In analysis, the area of a subset of the plane is defined using Lebesgue measure, in general, area in higher mathematics is seen as a special case of volume for two-dimensional regions. Area can be defined through the use of axioms, defining it as a function of a collection of certain plane figures to the set of real numbers and it can be proved that such a function exists. An approach to defining what is meant by area is through axioms, area can be defined as a function from a collection M of special kind of plane figures to the set of real numbers which satisfies the following properties, For all S in M, a ≥0. If S and T are in M then so are S ∪ T and S ∩ T, if S and T are in M with S ⊆ T then T − S is in M and a = a − a. If a set S is in M and S is congruent to T then T is also in M, every rectangle R is in M. If the rectangle has length h and breadth k then a = hk, let Q be a set enclosed between two step regions S and T
7.
Russian Census (2010)
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The Russian Census of 2010 is the first census of the Russian Federation population since 2002 and the second after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Preparations for the census began in 2007 and it took place between October 14 and October 25, the census was originally scheduled for October 2010, but was moved to 2013 allegedly for financial reasons, although it was also speculated that political motives were influential in the decision. However, in late 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the Government of Russia allocated 10.5 billion rubles in order to conduct the census as originally scheduled, Results showed the population to stand at 142.9 million. Since the previous 2002 census, population has decreased by 2.3 million, according to the 2010 census, urban population is 105.3 million, rural population is 37.5 million. The urbanisation rate is currently 73. 7%, the median age is 38 years. The ethnic composition is dominated by Russians, demographics of Russia Russian Census 2010 final results Results of 2010 All-Russia population census Official website of the 2010 Census
8.
Population density
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Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume, it is a quantity of type number density. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and most of the time to humans and it is a key geographical term. Population density is population divided by land area or water volume. Low densities may cause a vortex and lead to further reduced fertility. This is called the Allee effect after the scientist who identified it, commonly this may be calculated for a county, city, country, another territory, or the entire world. The worlds population is around 7,000,000,000, therefore, the worldwide human population density is around 7,000,000,000 ÷510,000,000 =13.7 per km2. If only the Earths land area of 150,000,000 km2 is taken into account and this includes all continental and island land area, including Antarctica. If Antarctica is also excluded, then population density rises to over 50 people per km2, thus, this number by itself does not give any helpful measurement of human population density. Several of the most densely populated territories in the world are city-states, microstates, cities with high population densities are, by some, considered to be overpopulated, though this will depend on factors like quality of housing and infrastructure and access to resources. Most of the most densely populated cities are in Southeast Asia, though Cairo, for instance, Milwaukee has a greater population density when just the inner city is measured, and the surrounding suburbs excluded. Arithmetic density, The total number of people / area of land, physiological density, The total population / area of arable land. Agricultural density, The total rural population / area of arable land, residential density, The number of people living in an urban area / area of residential land. Urban density, The number of people inhabiting an urban area / total area of urban land, ecological optimum, The density of population that can be supported by the natural resources. S. States by population density Selected Current and Historic City, Ward & Neighborhood Density
9.
Time in Russia
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There are eleven time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02,00 to UTC+12,00. Daylight saving time is not used in Russia, since 4 December 2016, the time zones are as follows, Daylight saving time in Russia was originally introduced on 30 June 1917 by a decree of the Russian Provisional Government. However, it was abandoned by a Decree of the Soviet government five months later, Daylight saving time was re-introduced in the USSR on 1 April 1981, by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The usage of daylight saving time continued after the Soviet collapse but ended in 2011, on 27 March 2011, clocks were advanced as usual, but they did not go back on 30 October 2011, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently. In the Russian Empire, most of the observed solar time. During the late 19th century, Moscow Mean Time was introduced on 1 January 1880,2,30,17 corresponds to 37. 6166667°, the longitude of Moscow. Other parts of Russia kept solar time for several years. At this time, Russia had the Julian calendar with 12 or 13 days less date compared to Western Europe, so it is possible to say the Moscow actually had GMT-285,29,43, GMT-309,29,43 and GMT-309,28,41. Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar on Thursday,14 February 1918, after the Soviet Union was created, Moscow Time became UTC+2 and the various other time zones were introduced throughout Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union, for example Irkutsk Time GMT+7. Between 1917-1922 the time was ordered, with daylight savings time some of those years. On 21 June 1930, the Soviet Union advanced all clocks by one hour, Moscow Time was now GMT+3 and Irkutsk Time GMT+8. On 1 April 1981, daylight saving time was re-introduced, clocks were moved one hour forward on 1 April, on 1 April 1981,00,00,00, Oymyakonsky District changed its time zone from MSK+6 to MSK+8. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+9 to UTC+12, on 1 April 1982,00,00,00, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug changed its time zone from MSK+10 to MSK+9, thus eliminating Anadyr Time. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+14 to UTC+13, on 27 March 1988,02,00,00, Saratov and Volgograd oblasts changed its time zone from MSK+1 to MSK. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+5 to UTC+4, on 23 May 1993,00,00,00, Novosibirsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+8 to UTC+7, on 28 May 1995,00,00,00, Altai Krai and Altai Republic changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 30 March 1997,02,00,00, Sakhalin Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+8 to MSK+7, on 1 May 2002,03,00,00, Tomsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 1 January 2004,00,00,00, New Siberian Islands, Tomponsky District, the following time zone changes occurred on 28 March 2010, which, in particular, led to abolition of two of the eleven time zones
10.
Geographical renaming
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Geographical renaming is the changing of the name of a geographical feature or area. This can range from the change of a street name to a highly disputed change to the name of a country. Some names are changed locally but the new names are not recognised by other countries, other names may not be officially recognised but remain in common use. Many places have different names in different languages, and a change of language in official or general use has resulted in what is arguably a change of name. There are many reasons to undertake renaming, with political motivation being the cause, for example many places in the former Soviet Union. Sometimes a place reverts to its former name, one of the most common reasons for a country changing its name is newly acquired independence. When borders are changed, sometimes due to a splitting or two countries joining together, the names of the relevant areas can change. This, however, is more the creation of a different entity than an act of geographical renaming, often the older name will persist in colloquial expressions. For example, the known in English as Peking duck retained that name even when the Chinese capital changed its transliteration to Beijing. Names in non-Roman characters can also be spelled differently when Romanised in different European languages. China developed and adopted the pinyin romanisation system in February 1958 in place of previous systems such as the postal romanization, many Chinese geographical entities thus had their English names changed. Pinyin was adopted by the International Organization for Standardisation in 1982, the system is not used by North Korea. Transfer of a city between countries with different patterns of phonology can result in seeming changes of name. Changes can be so slight as Straßburg and Strasbourg, some are translations, Karlsbad became Karlovy Vary. When the formerly-German city of Danzig came under Polish rule, it known in English by its Polish name of Gdańsk. The pattern is far from uniform, and it takes time, decolonisation in India saw a trend to change the established English names of cities to the names in the local language. Since then, changes have included Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, for example, it changed Dihua to Ürümqi and Zhenxi to Barkol. It peacefully dissolved into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993, yugoslavia was originally Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created by joining Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro and parts of Austro-Hungarian Empire inhabited by South Slavs
11.
Taganrog Fortress
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Taganrog Fortress was a star fort-style fortress built during the reign of Peter the Great and re-constructed by the order of Catherine the Great. Peter the Great tried to conquer the Turkish fortress of Azov to get an entrance to the Sea of Azov and his first Azov campaigns in 1695 failed, but his second attempt the next year led to victory. To insure Russian positions in the South, and to shelter the Russian Navy, Peter the Great needed a new haven for the Azov Flotilla, Azov could not serve as naval base because of shallow waters of the river Don. That is why, a few days after Turkish capitulation, on July 27,1696 the Russian tsar set out for an expedition to explore the coastline of Azov Sea. The expedition stopped at the cape Tagan-Rog on July 27, where Peter the Great spent the night of July 27–28,1696, the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog was officially founded by Peter The Great on September 12,1698. The project for planning and building works in the city was established in 1698 by Austrian engineer Baron Ernst Friedrich von Borgsdorf, Taganrog is one of the first Russian cities, which was built according to a detailed pre-established plan. It was also the first artificial haven, and the first fortress made of earth as primary material, the construction was generally completed by 1709. The Saint Trinity fortress was situated on the territory of the cape, earth mounds around 8 metres high. Within fortress ramparts were other defensive constructions - three bastions, two demi-bastions, three armed with cannons and howitzers. Alongside the rampart were casemates, powder magazines, barracks, to prevent an eventual attack from the land there was an additional dry ditch 40 metres wide and 5 metres deep alongside the rampart. Inside the fortress territory was out in a radial pattern of star fort united by the central plaza. It had monarchs house, various buildings, Saint Trinity cathedral, warehouses, marketplace, ovens, by the middle of 1711 there were 206 buildings made of stone and 162 wood structures inside the fortress for garrison and inhabitants in case of a siege. The main part of the population lived outside the fortress in the so-called slobodas, in 1711 the fortress was defended by 293 cannons and 40 howitzers not counting artillery in the haven and on Cherepakha Islet. Taganrog havens water area was about 774 thousand sq. metres, from the seaside were erected towers, the berth was near the coast. Taganrog seaport is considered as the first port in the world to be created in the open sea, some 30 thousand oak piles were used in the construction of the haven with 199 boxes loaded with stones in between them. Another part of project was an artificial islet Cherepashka, which was made in the Azov Sea in about 2 kilometers from the fortress. The islet was 59 by 38 metres, there was a citadel, which had an area of 1200 square metres with 127 cannons. In the middle stood a wooden izba for garrison, which was replaced by a stone building
12.
Wikimedia Commons
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Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound, and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, the repository contains over 38 million media files. In July 2013, the number of edits on Commons reached 100,000,000, the project was proposed by Erik Möller in March 2004 and launched on September 7,2004. The expression educational is to be according to its broad meaning of providing knowledge. Wikimedia Commons itself does not allow fair use or uploads under non-free licenses, for this reason, Wikimedia Commons always hosts freely licensed media and deletes copyright violations. The default language for Commons is English, but registered users can customize their interface to use any other user interface translations. Many content pages, in particular policy pages and portals, have also translated into various languages. Files on Wikimedia Commons are categorized using MediaWikis category system, in addition, they are often collected on individual topical gallery pages. While the project was proposed to also contain free text files. In 2012, BuzzFeed described Wikimedia Commons as littered with dicks, in 2010, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger reported Wikimedia Commons to the FBI for hosting sexualized images of children known as lolicon. Wales responded to the backlash from the Commons community by voluntarily relinquishing some site privileges, over time, additional functionality has been developed to interface Wikimedia Commons with the other Wikimedia projects. Specialized uploading tools and scripts such as Commonist have been created to simplify the process of uploading large numbers of files. In order to free content photos uploaded to Flickr, users can participate in a defunct collaborative external review process. The site has three mechanisms for recognizing quality works, one is known as Featured pictures, where works are nominated and other community members vote to accept or reject the nomination. This process began in November 2004, another process known as Quality images began in June 2006, and has a simpler nomination process comparable to Featured pictures. Quality images only accepts works created by Wikimedia users, whereas Featured pictures additionally accepts nominations of works by third parties such as NASA, the three mentioned processes select a slight part from the total number of files. However, Commons collects files of all quality levels, from the most professional level across simple documental, files with specific defects can be tagged for improvement and warning or even proposed for deletion but there exists no process of systematic rating of all files. The site held its inaugural Picture of the Year competition, for 2006, all images that were made a Featured picture during 2006 were eligible, and voted on by eligible Wikimedia users during two rounds of voting
13.
Russian Census (2002)
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Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, carried out on October 9 through October 16,2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics, the census data were collected as of midnight October 9,2002. The census was intended to collect statistical information about the resident population of Russian Federation. All detailed census tables are for the resident population, a sample of the participants were also asked more detailed questions about their economic and housing situation. Also, the census also counted two more groups of people, Russian citizens currently living abroad for more one year in connection with the employment with the federal government. Persons permanently residing abroad, but temporarily present in Russia, Foreign citizens present in Russia as employees of foreign diplomatic missions or international organizations, and members of their household, were excluded from the census altogether. The Census recorded the resident population of 145,166,731 persons and that included urban population of 106,429,000 and rural population of 38,738,000. The non-resident populations included, Russian citizens living abroad in connection with the government service,107,288. Census participants were asked what country they were citizens of,142,442,000 respondents reported being Russian citizens, among them,44,000 also had citizenship of another country. Among Russias resident population,1,025,413 foreign citizens and 429,881 stateless persons were counted,1,269,023 persons did not report their citizenship. Among the questions asked were Are you competent in the Russian language, and What other languages are you competent in. As the census manual explained, competence meant either the ability to speak, read and write a language, the questions did not distinguish native and non-native speakers, nor did they try to measure the degree of language competence. For small children, presumably, the answer was based on the language spoken by the parents. 142.6 million of the responders claimed competence in Russian, other widely reported languages are listed in the table below. 1.42 million responders did not provide language information, for a more detailed list, see List of languages of Russia. Demographics of Russia Russian Empire Census Soviet Census Official census home page Population of Chechnya, was the Census correct
14.
Soviet Census (1989)
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The census found the total population to be 286,730,819 inhabitants. In 1989, the Soviet Union ranked as the third most populous in the world, above the United States, although it was well behind China and India. In 1989, about half of the Soviet Unions total population lived in the Russian SFSR, almost two-thirds of the population was urban, leaving the rural population with some 34. 3%. In this way, its gradual increase continued, as shown by the represented by 47. 9%,56. 3% and 62. 3% of 1959,1970 and 1979 respectively. The previous postwar censuses, conducted in 1959,1970 and 1979, had enumerated 208,826,650,241,720,134, and 262,436,227 inhabitants respectively. In 1990, the Soviet Union was more populated than both the United States and Canada together, having some 40 million more inhabitants than the U. S. alone. However, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991, the next census was possibly planned for 1999. Research Guide to Russian and Soviet Censuses, Ithaca, Cornell University Press,1986, dewdney, Population change in the Soviet Union, 1979-1989, Geography, Vol.75, Pt.3, No. Subjects of Russia, on the www. statoids. com website
15.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
16.
Taganrog Bay
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Taganrog Bay or Tahanrih Bay is the northeastern arm of the Sea of Azov. It also may be perceived as an estuary of the Don River. The bay serves as a boundary between the Kuban coast line in Russia and the northern Azov littoral region in Ukraine and Russia. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the boundary here hasnt been established. At its northeast end is the mouth of the Don River, length, about 140 kilometres, width at the mouth,31 kilometres, median depth, about 5 metres. It may freeze some winters from December to March, two other rivers, the Kalmius and the Mius, flow into the bay. The flow of water into the bay is the factor for current development in the Sea of Azov. Its mouth is marked by the Dolgaya Spit on the south and it abounds in sandy spits that partly enclose shallow bays. Rivers Don, Kalmius, Mius and Yeya drain into the Taganrog Bay Basin, the major ports are Taganrog, Mariupol, and Yeysk. Rostov-on-Don is a few miles up the Don river, the concentration of salt water in the Gulf is uneven. East, the most shallow part of the bay, which receives water directly to Don desalinized, Taganrog Yeisk in Russia and Mariupol in the Ukraine are the main ports of Taganrog Bay. One strange phenomenon is the presence of fresh and salt water in the bay. The water in the eastern and shallower part of the bay, the western end of the bay is completely salt water
17.
Sea of Azov
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The Sea of Azov is a sea in Eastern Europe. To the south it is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea, the sea is bounded in the north by mainland Ukraine, in the east by Russia, and in the west by the Crimean Peninsula. The Don and Kuban are the rivers that flow into it. The Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world, there is a constant outflow of water from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. The sea is affected by the inflow of numerous rivers, which bring sand, silt, and shells, which in turn form numerous bays, limans. Because of these deposits, the sea bottom is relatively smooth, also, due to the river inflow, water in the sea has low salinity and a high amount of biomass that affects the water colour. Abundant plankton results in high fish productivity. The sea shores and spits are low, they are rich in vegetation, the name likely derives from the settlement of an area around Azov, whose name comes from the Kipchak Turkish asak or azaq. A Russian folk etymology, however, instead derives it from an eponymous Cuman prince named Azum or Asuf, a formerly common spelling of the name in English was the Sea of Azoff, which is closer to the Russian pronunciation. In antiquity, the sea was known as the Maeotis Swamp from the marshlands to its northeast. It remains unclear whether it was named for the nearby Maeotians or if that name was applied broadly to various peoples who happened to live beside it. Other names included Lake Maeotis or Maeotius, the Maeotium or Maeotic Sea, the Cimmerian or Scythican Swamps, the Maeotians themselves were said by Pliny to call the sea Temarenda or Temerinda, meaning Mother of Waters. The medieval Russians knew it as the Sea of Surozh after the adjacent city now known as Sudak and it was known in Ottoman Turkish as the Balük-Denis from its high productivity. There are traces of Neolithic settlement in the now covered by the sea. In 1997, William Ryan and Walter Pitman of Columbia University published a theory that a flood through the Bosporus occurred in ancient times. Subsequent work has been both to support and to discredit this theory, and archaeologists still debate it. This has led some to associate this catastrophe with prehistoric flood myths, the Maeotian marshes around the mouth of the Tanais River were famous in antiquity, as they served as an important check on the migration of nomadic people from the Eurasian steppelands. The Maeotians themselves lived by fishing and farming, but were avid warriors able to defend themselves against invaders
18.
Don River (Russia)
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The Don is one of the major rivers of Russia and the 5th longest river in Europe. The Don basin is between the Dnieper basin to the west, the Volga basin to the east, and the Oka basin to the north. The Don rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast of Tula, from its source, the river first flows southeast to Voronezh, then southwest to its mouth. The main city on the river is Rostov on Don and its main tributary is the Seversky Donets. In antiquity, the river was viewed as the border between Europe and Asia by some ancient Greek geographers, during the times of the old Scythians it was known in Greek as the Tanaïs and has been a major trading route ever since. Tanais appears in ancient Greek sources as both the name of the river and of a city on it, situated in the Maeotian marshes, pliny gives the Scythian name of the Tanais as Silys. According to Plutarch, the Don River was also home to the legendary Amazons of Greek mythology, the area around the estuary is speculated to be the source of the Black Death. While the lower Don was well known to ancient geographers, its middle, the Don Cossacks, who settled the fertile valley of the river in the 16th and 17th centuries, were named after the river. The fort of Donkov was founded by the princes of Ryazan in the late 14th century and it is shown as Donko in Mercators Atlas, Donkov was again relocated in 1618, appearing as Donkagorod in Joan Blaeus map of 1645. Both Blaeu and Mercator follow the 16th-century cartographic tradition of letting the Don originate in a great lake, Mercator still follows Giacomo Gastaldo in showing a waterway connecting this lake to Ryazan and the Oka River. In modern literature, the Don region was featured in the work And Quiet Flows the Don of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, at its easternmost point, the Don comes near the Volga, and the Volga-Don Canal, connecting the two rivers, is a major waterway. The water level of the Don in this area is raised by the Tsimlyansk Dam and this facility, with its dam, maintains sufficient water level both in its section of the Don and in the lowermost stretch of the Seversky Donets. This is presently the last lock on the Don, below Kochetovsky lock, the sufficient depth of the navigation waterway is maintained by dredging
19.
History of Taganrog
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The southern Russian city of Taganrog began as one of Russias first planned cities under Peter the Great. To protect the newly conquered Sea of Azov region, the Russians opened a base there in 1698. However, after the Turkish victory in the war of 1710–1711, Taganrog city, after further conflicts the place finally became part of Russia under Catherine the Great following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74. The re-founded city was populated by Greek colonists, the oldest extant church in the city, St. Nicholas Church, was built in 1778 and the Bell of Chersonesos was originally cast for it. Much further development took place under the city governor Balthasar von Campenhausen in the early 19th century, tsar Alexander I had a palace in the city and died there in 1825. During the Crimean War Taganrog came under siege by the English and French in 1855, Taganrog was General Denikins headquarters during the Russian Civil War. After the Soviet victory it joined Ukrainian SSR, transferring to Russian SFSR in 1924, under German occupation in World War II between 1941 and 1943, thousands of residents, particularly Jews, were murdered by the SS. Through the Soviet and post-Soviet periods Taganrog has retained its importance as an industrial and technological centre and his first Azov campaign in 1695 failed, but his second attempt the next year led to victory. To keep Azov in his possession and to hold off the Ottoman Turkish navy, tsar Peter I officially founded the first Russian naval base, Taganrog on September 12,1698. Taganrog became one of the first Russian cities built according to a detailed plan, the project for planning and building works in the city was established in 1698, based on the instructions provided by the tsar. In 1704 the ploughing of virgin lands started, next year were planted the imperial vineyard and orchards. The building and construction of the seaport, fortress and town were completed by the end of the first decade of the 18th century. The seaport of Taganrog represented an irregular surface of some 774,000 square meters. Boyar Aleksei Shein was in charge for construction of the haven, the pentagonal fortress was erected on the Cape. Inside the fortress were built stone living-quarters for soldiers and civil population, by the middle of 1711, according to the information of Mandating Chamber of Taganrog, there were over 8000 inhabitants in Taganrog. As the development of the life in the region progressed, Taganrog retained its military and administrative significance and gradually became the handicraft. In 1700–1711, the Azov Sea Navy was the guardian of Russias Southern frontiers, but in 1710 Turkey unleashed a new war against Russia. Russian troops commanded by Boris Sheremetev were surrounded by superior Turkish forces near Prut River, the Russian tsar had to sign Treaty of the Pruth returning Azov to Turkey and destroying Taganrog
20.
Bronze Age
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The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
21.
Iron Age
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The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions, meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper, stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more common in lower-priced goods
22.
Colonies in antiquity
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Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city, not from a territory-at-large. Bonds between a colony and its metropolis remained often close, and took specific forms, however, unlike in the period of European colonialism during the early and late modern era, ancient colonies were usually sovereign and self-governing from their inception. An Egyptian colony that was stationed in southern Canaan dates to slightly before the First Dynasty, narmer had Egyptian pottery produced in Canaan and exported back to Egypt, from regions such as Arad, En Besor, Rafiah, and Tel ʿErani. Shipbuilding was known to the ancient Egyptians as early as 3000 BC, the Archaeological Institute of America reports that the earliest dated ship—75 feet long, dating to 3000 BC – may have possibly belonged to Pharaoh Aha. Egypt at its height controlled Crete across the Mediterranean Sea, the Phoenicians were the major trading power in the Mediterranean in the early part of the first millennium BC. They had trading contacts in Egypt and Greece, and established colonies as far west as modern Spain, from Gadir the Phoenicians controlled access to the Atlantic Ocean and the trade routes to Britain. The most famous and successful of Phoenician colonies was founded by settlers from Tyre in 814–813 BC and called Kart-Hadasht (Qart-ḥadašt, the Carthaginians later founded their own colony in the southeast of Spain, Carthago Nova, which was eventually conquered by their enemy, Rome. But in most cases the motivation was to establish and facilitate relations of trade with foreign countries, colonies were established in Ionia and Thrace as early as the 8th century BC. There were two types of colony, one known as an ἀποικία - apoikia and the other as an ἐμπορίov - emporion. The first type of colony was a city-state on its own, through this Greek expansion the use of coins flourished throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The Greeks also colonised modern-day Crimea on the Black Sea, among the settlements they established there was the city of Chersonesos, at the site of modern-day Sevastopol. Another area with significant Greek colonies was the coast of ancient Illyria on the Adriatic Sea, the extensive Greek colonization is remarked upon by Cicero when noting that It were as though a Greek fringe has been woven about the shores of the barbarians. Several formulae were generally adhered to on the solemn and sacred occasions when a new colony set forth, if a Greek city was sending out a colony, an oracle, especially one such as the Oracle of Delphi, was almost invariably consulted beforehand. A person of distinction was selected to guide the emigrants and make the necessary arrangements and it was usual to honor these founders of colonies, after their death, as heroes. Some of the fire was taken from the public hearth in the Prytaneum. After the conquests of the Macedonian Kingdom and Alexander the Great, the relation between colony and mother-city, known literally as the metropolis, was viewed as one of mutual affection. Any differences that arose were resolved by peaceful means whenever possible and it is worth noting that the Peloponnesian War was in part a result of a dispute between Corinth and her colony of Corcyra. The charter of foundation contained general provisions for the arrangement of the affairs of the colony, the constitution of the mother-city was usually adopted by the colony, but the new city remained politically independent
23.
Black Sea Region
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The Black Sea Region is a geographical region of Turkey. 4,137,166 people live in cities and 4,301,747 people in villages and this makes it the only one of the seven regions of Turkey in which more people live in rural rather than urban areas. The Black Sea region has a steep, rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges, a few larger rivers, those cutting back through the Pontic Mountains, have tributaries that flow in broad, elevated basins. The higher slopes facing northwest tend to be densely forested, because of these natural conditions, the Black Sea coast historically has been isolated from Anatolia. The mild, damp climate of the Black Sea coast makes commercial farming profitable. Running from Zonguldak in the west to Rize in the east, the Samsun area, close to the midpoint, is a major tobacco-growing region, east of it are numerous citrus groves. East of Samsun, the area around Trabzon is world-renowned for the production of hazelnuts, all cultivable areas, including mountain slopes wherever they are not too steep, are sown or used as pasture. The western part of the Black Sea region, especially the Zonguldak area, is a center of coal mining, the North Anatolian Mountains in the north are an interrupted chain of folded highlands that generally parallel the Black Sea coast. In the west, the mountains tend to be low, with elevations rarely exceeding 1,500 meters, lengthy, trough-like valleys and basins characterize the mountains. Rivers flow from the mountains toward the Black Sea, the southern slopes—facing the Anatolian Plateau—are mostly unwooded, but the northern slopes contain dense growths of both deciduous and evergreen trees. Black Sea region has a climate, with high and evenly distributed rainfall the year round. At the coast, summers are warm and humid, and winters are cool, the Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year. The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimeters annually which is the highest precipitation in the country, snowfall is quite common between the months of December and March, snowing for a week or two, and it can be heavy once it snows. The water temperature in the whole Turkish Black Sea coast is always cool and fluctuates between 8° and 20 °C throughout the year
24.
Herodotus
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Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire and lived in the fifth century BC, a contemporary of Socrates. The Histories is the work which he is known to have produced. Despite Herodotus historical significance, little is known of his personal life and his place in history and his significance may be understood according to the traditions within which he worked. His work is the earliest Greek prose to have survived intact, of these only fragments of Hecataeuss work survive yet they allow us glimpses into the kind of tradition within which Herodotus wrote his own Histories. In his introduction to Hecataeus’s work, Genealogies, This points forward to the ‘folksy’ yet ‘international’ outlook typical of Herodotus. Yet, one scholar has described the work of Hecataeus as “a curious false start to history” since despite his critical spirit. It is possible that Herodotus borrowed much material from Hecataeus, as stated by Porphyry in a recorded by Eusebius. But Hecataeus did not record events that had occurred in living memory, unlike Herodotus, Herodotus claims to be better informed than his predecessors by relying on empirical observation to correct their excessive schematism. For example, He argues for continental asymmetry as opposed to the theory of a perfectly circular earth with Europe. Yet, he retains idealizing tendencies, as in his notions of the Danube. His debt to previous authors of prose ‘histories’ might be questionable, however, this point is one of the most contentious issues in modern scholarship. It is on account of the strange stories and the folk-tales he reported that his critics in early modern times branded him “The Father of Lies”. Even his own contemporaries found reason to scoff at his achievement, similarly, the Athenian historian Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a “logos-writer”. Moreover, Thucydides developed a historical topic more in keeping with the Greek world-view, the interplay of civilizations was more relevant to Greeks living in Anatolia, such as Herodotus himself, for whom life within a foreign civilization was a recent memory. Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus’s own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, modern accounts of his life typically go something like this, Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. His name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian Delian League, the epic poet Panyassis – a relative of Herodotus – is reported to have taken part in a failed uprising. Herodotus expresses affection for the island of Samos, and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos, Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, yet he was born in Halicarnassus, which was a Dorian settlement
25.
Peter the Great
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Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a larger empire that became a major European power. He led a revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized. Peters reforms made an impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government trace their origins to his reign. From an early age, Peters education was put in the hands of tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peters elder half-brother and this position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family and Naryshkin family over who should inherit the throne, Peters other half-brother, Ivan V, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent and this arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis daughters from his first marriage, in the subsequent conflict some of Peters relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and this throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name and he engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peters mother sought to force him to adopt a conventional approach. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun, by the summer of 1689, Peter planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with the leaders of the Streltsy, Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name, still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina and it was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became an independent sovereign
26.
Russian Navy
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The Russian Navy is the naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. The regular Russian Navy was established by Peter the Great in October 1696, ascribed to Peter I is the oft quoted statement, A ruler that has but an army has one hand, but he who has a navy has both. The symbols of the Russian Navy, the St. Andrews ensign, neither Janes Fighting Ships nor the International Institute for Strategic Studies list any standard ship prefixes for the vessels of the Russian Navy. For official U. S. Navy photographs, they are referred to as RFS—Russian Federation Ship. However, the Russian Navy itself does not use this convention, a rearmament program approved in 2007 placed the development of the navy on an equal footing with the strategic nuclear forces for the first time in Soviet and Russian history. This program, covering the period until 2015, expected to see the replacement of 45 percent of the inventory of the Russian Navy, out of 4.9 trillion rubles allocated for military rearmament,25 percent will go into building new ships. Another setback is attributed to Russias domestic shipbuilding industry which is reported to have been in decline as to their capabilities of constructing contemporary hardware efficiently, some analysts even say that because of this Russias naval capabilities have been facing a slow but certain irreversible collapse. The origins of the Russian navy may be traced to the period between the 4th and the 6th century, the first Slavic flotillas consisted of small sailing ships and rowboats, which had been seaworthy and able to navigate in riverbeds. During the 9th through 12th centuries, there were flotillas in the Kievan Rus consisting of hundreds of vessels with one, riverine vessels in 9th century Kievan Rus guarded trade routes to Constantinople. The citizens of Novgorod are known to have conducted military campaigns in the Baltic Sea —although contemporary Scandinavian sources state that the fleet was from Karelia or Estonia, ladya was a typical boat used by the army of Novgorod. There were also smaller sailboats and rowboats, such as ushkuys for sailing in rivers, lakes and skerries, kochis, during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Cossacks conducted military campaigns against the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire, using sailboats and rowboats. The Don Cossacks called them strugs and these boats were capable of transporting up to 80 men. The Cossack flotillas numbered 80 to 100 boats, the centralized Russian state had been fighting for its own access to the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov since the 17th Century. By the end of century, the Russians had accumulated some valuable experience in using riverboats together with land forces. Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, the construction of the first three-masted ship to be entirely within Russia was finished in 1636. She was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein with a European design, in 1668, they built a 26-gun ship, the Oryol, a yacht, a boat with a mast and bowsprit, and a few rowboats. Unquestionably the most celebrated Russian explorer was Semyon Dezhnev, who, in 1648, rounding the Chukotsk Peninsula, Dezhnev passed through the Bering Sea and sailed into the Pacific Ocean. The regular Russian Navy was created at the initiative of Peter the Great, during the Second Azov campaign of 1696 against the Ottoman Empire, the Russians employed for the first time 2 warships,4 fireships,23 galleys and 1300 strugs, built on the Voronezh River
27.
Catherine the Great
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Catherine II of Russia, also known as Catherine the Great, was a Russian monarch. She was the female leader of Russia, reigning from 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67. She came to following a coup détat when her husband. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever, in both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. In the west, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherines former lover, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, in the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities, an admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and the continued to depend on serfdom. This was one of the reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachevs Rebellion of cossacks. The period of Catherine the Greats rule, the Catherinian Era, is considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress and she enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. Catherine was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, she was nicknamed Figchen. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt, two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden, Gustav III and Charles XIII. In accordance with the then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm, I see nothing of interest in it, although Catherine was born a princess, her family had very little money. Catherines rise to power was supported by her mothers relatives who were both wealthy nobles and royal relations. Catherine first met Peter III at the age of 10, based on her writings, she found Peter detestable upon meeting him. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age, Peter also still played with toy soldiers
28.
Black Sea Fleet
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The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic command of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. Its ships are based in various harbors of the Black Sea and it is considered to have been founded by Prince Potemkin on May 13,1783, together with its principal base, the city of Sevastopol. Russia struggled for a time against its main rival in the region. The Black Sea Fleet defeated the Turks in 1790, and fought the Ottomans during World War I, the Romanians during World War II, the division of the fleet in 1997 became the basis of the Ukrainian Navy. The Black Sea Fleet is considered to have founded by Prince Potemkin on May 13,1783, together with its principal base. Formerly commanded by such legendary admirals as Dmitriy Senyavin and Pavel Nakhimov, in 1790, Russian naval forces under the command of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov defeated the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Kerch Strait. From 1841 onward, the fleet was confined to the Black Sea by the London Straits Convention, the crew of the battleship Potemkin revolted in 1905 soon after the Navys defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. Lenin wrote that the Potemkin uprising had had an importance in terms of being the first attempt at creating the nucleus of a revolutionary army. During World War I, there were a number of encounters between the Russian and Ottoman navies in the Black Sea, german submarines of the Constantinople Flotilla and Turkish light forces would continue to raid and harass Russian shipping until the wars end. During the Russian Civil War, the vast majority of the Black Sea Fleet was scuttled by Bolsheviks in Novorossiysk, most of the ships became part of the Russian Squadron of Wrangls armed forces and after the evacuation sailed to Tunisia. Out of those ships, some were passed to the French Navy, few ships that did stay in Black Sea were salvaged in the 1920s, while a large scale new construction programme began in the 1930s. Over 500 new ships were built during that period as well as expansion of coastal infrastructure took place. The Fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral F. S, oktyabrskiy on the outbreak of war with Germany in June 1941. The Fleet gave an account of itself as it fought alongside the Red Army during the Siege of Odessa. In 1952, Turkey decided to join NATO, placing the Bosporus Strait in the Western sphere of influence, together with the advent of long-range nuclear weapons, this dramatically decreased the strategic value of any naval activity in the Black Sea.11.94. 124th Maritime Missile Aviation Regiment - disbanded 1993, 943rd Maritime Missile Aviation Regiment - disbanded 1996. The military importance of the fleet has degraded since the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to significant funding cuts and, to a degree, the loss of its major missions. In 1992, the part of the personnel, armaments
29.
Crimea
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The peninsula is located south of the Ukrainian region of Kherson and west of the Russian region of Kuban. It is connected to Kherson Oblast by the Isthmus of Perekop and is separated from Kuban by the Strait of Kerch, the Arabat Spit is located to the northeast, a narrow strip of land that separates a system of lagoons named Sivash from the Sea of Azov. Crimea has historically been at the boundary between the world and the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Crimea and adjacent territories were united in the Crimean Khanate during the 15th to 18th century, in 1783, Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire. It became the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within newly independent Ukraine in 1991, with Sevastopol having its own administration, within Ukraine, the ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet and its facilities were divided between Russias Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Naval Forces. The two navies shared some of the harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or used by either country. Sevastopol remained the location of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval Forces Headquarters also based in the city, most of the international community does not recognize the annexation and considers Crimea to be Ukrainian territory. Russia currently administers the peninsula as two federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Ukraine continues to assert its right over the peninsula, the classical name Tauris or Taurica is from the Greek Ταυρική, after the peninsulas Scytho-Cimmerian inhabitants, the Tauri. In English usage since the modern period the Crimean Khanate is referred to as Crim Tartary. The Italian form Crimea also becomes current during the 18th century, the omission of the definite article in English became common during the later 20th century. The name Crimea follows the Italian form from the Crimean Tatar name for the city Qırım which served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde, the name of the capital was extended to the entire peninsula at some point during Ottoman suzerainty. The origin of the word Qırım is uncertain, suggestions argued in various sources include, a corruption of Cimmerium. A derivation from the Turkic term qirum, from qori-, other suggestions that have not been supported by sources but are apparently based on similarity in sound include, a derivation from the Greek Cremnoi. However, he identifies the port, not in Crimea, no evidence has been identified that this name was ever in use for the peninsula. The classical name was revived in 1802 in the name of the Russian Taurida Governorate, in the 8th century BCE the Cimmerians migrated to the region and subsequently the Scythians as well it being the site of Greek colonies. The most important city was Chersonesos at the edge of todays Sevastopol, the Persian Achaemenid Empire expanded to Crimea. Later occupiers included the Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, the Byzantine Empire, Khazars, the Kipchaks, the Golden Horde, consideration of the succeeding residents of the peninsula by their linguistic grouping is also of relevance
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Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
31.
Alexander I of Russia
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Alexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, Alexander was the first Russian King of Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. He was sometimes called Alexander the Blessed and he was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, in the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia, Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the The State Council, plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution. In foreign policy, he changed Russias position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance and he fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, the tsars greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleons invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. As part of the coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He helped Austrias Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements, in the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary, reactionary and fearful of plots against him, he ended many earlier reforms. He purged schools of teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev. Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia and he left no children as heirs and both of his brothers wanted the other to become emperor. After a period of confusion that included the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers, he was succeeded by his younger brother. Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, some sources allege that she planned to remove her son Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, but from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy
32.
Governor of Taganrog
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The Governor of Taganrog was the head of the Taganrog borough or governorate, between October 8,1802 and May 19,1887. Taganrog was also the center of uezd from 1816 to 1834, rostov was subordinated to Yekaterinoslav Governorate in 1834, while Nakhichevan and Mariupol remained within Taganrogs governorate until 1859. By the end of the 18th century, Taganrog lost its importance as a base with Crimea. The cities on Black Sea and Azov Sea transformed into important trade centers, the trade development demanded new measures and Alexander I of Russia introduced the office of governors who were in direct contact with H. I. M. The governorships were introduced in four Russian cities, Odessa, Taganrog, Feodosiya, the emperor appointed to this post dynamic people with initiative. The post co-existed with the Head of the City or mayor and helped to develop trade and raise well-being of its citizens
33.
Alexander I Palace
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Alexander I Palace in Taganrog is a one-story stone building in Russian classicism style on Grecheskaya Street,40 where Russian emperor Alexander I of Russia died in 1825. The mansion was built in 1806 and belonged to different owners, the most significant of them was the Governor of Taganrog Pyotr Papkov. Emperor Alexander I of Russia stayed there twice – in 1818 and 1825, after his death the building was bought by his widow empress consort Elizabeth Alexeievna and the first memorial museum in Russia dedicated to the Emperor was established there. For 12 years beginning in 1864 an amateur choir conducted by Pavel Chekhov sang in the Church of Exaltation of the Cross, at the end of 1860s – beginning of 1870s Alexander, Nicolas and Anton Chekhov sang there in choral parts of descant and alto. In 1928 the memorial museum was closed and some of the exhibits were moved into the Alferaki Palace, the building of the Palace of Alexander I houses a children’s sanatorium called “Beryozka”. Taganrog Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, Taganrog,2003
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Grain
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Grains are small, hard, dry seeds, with or without attached hulls or fruit layers, harvested for human or animal consumption. Agronomists also call the plants producing such seeds grain crops, the two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals such as wheat and rye, and legumes such as beans and soybeans. Because of the ubiquity of grain as a source, the term grain is often used to describe something small. After being harvested, dry grains are more durable than other foods, such as starchy fruits. Thus, major global commodity markets exist for canola, maize, rice, soybeans, wheat, in botany, grains and cereals are synonymous with caryopses, the fruits of the grass family. In agronomy and commerce, seeds or fruits from other plant families are called if they resemble caryopses. For example, amaranth is sold as grain amaranth, and amaranth products may be described as whole grains, the pre-Hispanic civilizations of the Andes had grain-based food systems but, at the higher elevations, none of the grains was a cereal. All three grains native to the Andes are broad-leafed plants rather than such as corn, rice. All cereal crops are members of the grass family, cereal grains contain a substantial amount of starch, a carbohydrate that provides dietary energy. As is the case all other whole plant foods, pulses also contain carbohydrate. Vegetable oils provide dietary energy and some essential fatty acids and they are also used as fuel or lubricants. Those who handle grain at grain facilities may encounter numerous occupational hazards, risks include grain entrapment, where workers are submerged in the grain and unable to remove themselves, explosions caused by fine particles of grain dust, and falls
35.
Industrialisation
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As industrial workers incomes rise, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tend to expand and provide a further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth. Later commentators have called this the First Industrial Revolution, the invention of the assembly line gave this phase a boost. Coal mines, steelworks, and textile factories replaced homes as the place of work, by the end of the 20th century, East Asia had become one of the most recently industrialised regions of the world. The BRICS states are undergoing the process of industrialisation, there is considerable literature on the factors facilitating industrial modernisation and enterprise development. The concentration of labour into factories has increased urbanisation and the size of settlements, to serve, workers have to either leave their families or bring them along in order to work in the towns and cities where these industries are found. The family structure changes with industrialisation, the sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there is an extended family structure spanning many generations who probably remained in the same location for generations. In industrialised societies the nuclear family, consisting of parents and their growing children. Families and children reaching adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to where jobs exist, extended family bonds become more tenuous. Currently the international development community endorses development policies like water purification or primary education and Co-Operation amongst third world communities, the relationships among economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction are complex. Higher productivity is argued to be leading to lower employment, division of labour Newly industrialised country Idea of Progress Chandler Jr. Alfred D. The Visible Hand, The Management Revolution in American Business, belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Hewitt, T. Johnson, H. and Wield, D. industrialisation and Development, Oxford University Press, hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Revolution. Kemp, Tom Historical Patterns of Industrialisation, Longman, London, ISBN 0-582-09547-6 Kiely, R industrialisation and Development, A comparative analysis, UCL Press, London. The Unbound Prometheus, Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present, Cambridge, New York, Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Pomeranz, Ken The Great Divergence, China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy by Tilly, industrialization as an Historical Process, European History Online, Mainz, Institute of European History,2010, retrieved,29 February 2011
36.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
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German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
38.
Foundry
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A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, the most common metals processed are aluminium and cast iron. However, other metals, such as bronze, brass, steel, magnesium, in this process, parts of desired shapes and sizes can be formed. In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, the solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods, melting is performed in a furnace. Virgin material, external scrap, internal scrap, and alloying elements are used to charge the furnace, virgin material refers to commercially pure forms of the primary metal used to form a particular alloy. Alloying elements are either forms of an alloying element, like electrolytic nickel, or alloys of limited composition. External scrap is material from other forming processes such as punching, forging, internal scrap consists of gates, risers, defective castings, and other extraneous metal oddments produced within the facility. The process includes melting the charge, refining the melt, adjusting the melt chemistry, refining is done to remove deleterious gases and elements from the molten metal to avoid casting defects. Material is added during the process to bring the final chemistry within a specific range specified by industry and/or internal standards. Certain fluxes may be used to separate the metal from slag and/or dross, during the tap, final chemistry adjustments are made. Several specialised furnaces are used to heat the metal, furnaces are refractory-lined vessels that contain the material to be melted and provide the energy to melt it. Modern furnace types include electric arc furnaces, induction furnaces, cupolas, reverberatory, furnace choice is dependent on the alloy system quantities produced. For ferrous materials EAFs, cupolas, and induction furnaces are commonly used, reverberatory and crucible furnaces are common for producing aluminium, bronze, and brass castings. Furnace design is a process, and the design can be optimized based on multiple factors. Furnaces in foundries can be any size, ranging from ones used to melt precious metals to furnaces weighing several tons. They are designed according to the type of metals that are to be melted, furnaces must also be designed based on the fuel being used to produce the desired temperature. For low temperature melting point alloys, such as zinc or tin, electricity, propane, or natural gas are usually used to achieve these temperatures
39.
Leather
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Leather is a durable and flexible material created by tanning animal rawhide and skin, often cattle hide. It can be produced at manufacturing scales ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry, people use leather to make various goods—including clothing, bookbinding, leather wallpaper, and as a furniture covering. It is produced in a variety of types and styles. Several tanning processes transform hides and skins into leather, Chrome-tanned leather, invented in 1858, is tanned using chromium sulfate and it is more supple and pliable than vegetable-tanned leather and does not discolor or lose shape as drastically in water as vegetable-tanned. It is also known as wet-blue for its color derived from the chromium, more exotic colors are possible when using chrome tanning. The chrome tanning method usually only takes a day to finish, and it is reported that chrome-tanned leather adds up to 80% of the global leather supply. Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannins and other found in different vegetable matter, such as tree bark prepared in bark mills, wood, leaves, fruits. It is supple and brown in color, with the exact shade depending on the mix of chemicals and it is the only form of leather suitable for use in leather carving or stamping. Vegetable-tanned leather is not stable in water, it tends to discolor, so if left to soak and then dried it shrinks, in hot water, it shrinks drastically and partly congeals—becoming rigid, and eventually brittle. Boiled leather is an example of this, where the leather has been hardened by being immersed in hot water, historically, it was occasionally used as armour after hardening, and it has also been used for book binding. Aldehyde-tanned leather is tanned using glutaraldehyde or oxazolidine compounds and this is the leather that most tanners refer to as wet-white leather due to its pale cream or white color. It is the type of chrome-free leather, often seen in shoes for infants. Formaldehyde tanning is another aldehyde tanning method, brain-tanned leathers fall into this category, and are exceptionally water absorbent. Brain tanned leathers are made by a process that uses emulsified oils, often those of animal brains such as deer, cattle. They are known for their softness and washability. Chamois leather also falls into the category of aldehyde tanning, and like brain tanning, produces a porous, chamois leather is made using marine oils that oxidize easily to produce the aldehydes that tan the leather to color it. Rose-tanned leather is a variation of oil tanning and brain tanning. Rose-tanned leather tanned leaves a powerful rose fragrance even years from when it is manufactured and it has been called the most valuable leather on earth, but this is mostly due to the high cost of rose otto and its labor-intensive tanning process
40.
Oil press
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Expeller pressing is a mechanical method for extracting oil from raw materials trademarked by Anderson International Corp. Mr. Valerius D. Anderson founded the V. D. Anderson Company in Cleveland, in 1900, Mr. V. D. Anderson created the first successful continuously operated Expeller® press. The raw materials are squeezed under high pressure in a single step, when used for the extraction of food oils, typical raw materials are nuts, seeds and algae, which are supplied to the press in a continuous feed. As the raw material is pressed, friction causes it to heat up, an expeller press is a screw-type machine that mainly presses oil seeds through a caged barrel-like cavity. Other materials used with an expeller press include but are not limited to meat by-products, synthetic rubber, raw materials enter one side of the press and waste products exit the other side. The machine uses friction and continuous pressure from the drives to move. The oil seeps through small openings that do not allow seed fiber solids to pass through, afterward, the pressed seeds are formed into a hardened cake, which is removed from the machine. Pressure involved in expeller pressing creates heat in the range of 140–210 °F, some companies claim that they use a cooling apparatus to reduce this temperature to protect certain properties of the oils being extracted. Expeller processing cannot remove every last trace of liquid from the raw material, a significant amount remains trapped inside of the cake left over after pressing. Some raw materials, however, do not release oil by simple expelling, in order to remove oil from commodities that do not respond to expelling or to extract the final traces of oil after expelling, it is necessary to use solvent extraction. The earliest expeller presses utilized a continuous screw design, the compression screws were much like the screws of a screw conveyor—that is, the helicoid flighting started at one end and ended at the other. Valerius Anderson invented the interrupted screw design and patented it in the year 1900 and he wrote that brewers slops, slaughterhouse refuse and other soft and mushy materials dewater poorly in continuous screw presses. His invention consisted of putting interruptions in the flighting of a compression screw and it was much like having a hanger bearing in a screw conveyor, there is no flighting on the shaft at that point, so material tends to stop moving and pile up. It is only after solids accumulate in the gap that the downstream flighting catches material, when this happens, material is forced along its way. The result is better dewatering and thus a more consistent press cake, after the 1900 patent, a major improvement was made with the addition of resistor teeth. Fitted into the gaps where there is no flighting, these increase the agitation within the press. As the years went by, applications of the interrupted screw design were expanded beyond slippery and this took place because competing continuous screw presses worked best only under conditions of constant feed, at constant consistency. If either the consistency or the flow rate diminished, squeezing would diminish until it was inadequate for proper moisture removal, at the same time, if the consistency increased, the press could jam
41.
Consulates
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A consul is distinguished from an ambassador, the latter being a representative from one head of state to another. In Classical Greece, some of the functions of the modern consul were fulfilled by a proxenos, unlike the modern position, this was a citizen of the host polity. The proxenos was usually a rich merchant who had ties with another city. The position of proxenos was often hereditary in a particular family, modern honorary consuls fulfil a function that is to a degree similar to that of the ancient Greek institution. Consuls were the highest magistrates of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, the term was revived by the Republic of Genoa, which, unlike Rome, bestowed it on various state officials, not necessarily restricted to the highest. The Consolat de mar was an institution established under the reign of Peter IV of Aragon in the fourteenth century and it was primarily a judicial body, administering maritime and commercial law as Lex Mercatoria. Although the Consolat de mar was established by the Corts General of the Crown of Aragon and this distinction between consular and diplomatic functions remains to this day. Modern consuls retain limited powers to settle disputes on ships from their country. The Consulado de mercaderes was set up in 1543 in Seville as a merchant guild to control trade with Latin America, as such, it had branches in the principal cities of the Spanish colonies. The connection of consul with trade and commercial law is retained in French, in francophone countries, a juge consulaire is a non-professional judge elected by the chamber of commerce to settle commercial disputes in the first instance. Like the term embassy, the consulate may refer not only to the office of consul. The consulate may share premises with the embassy itself, a consul of the highest rank is termed a consul-general, and his or her office a consulate-general. He or she typically has one or several deputy consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, consulates-general need not have their offices in the capital city, but rather could have them in the most important/appropriate cities in terms of bilateral relations. In the United States, for example, most countries have a consulate-general in New York City, consuls of various ranks may have specific legal authority for certain activities, such as notarizing documents. As such, diplomatic personnel with other responsibilities may receive consular letters patent, aside from those outlined in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, there are few formal requirements outlining what a consular official must do. Nonetheless, consulates proper will be headed by consuls of various ranks, and although it is never admitted publicly, consulates, like embassies, may also gather intelligence information from the assigned country. Contrary to popular belief, although many of the staff of consulates may be career diplomats, in practice, the extension and application of consular privileges and immunities can be subject to wide discrepancies from country to country. Consulates are more numerous than diplomatic missions, such as embassies, ambassadors are posted only in a foreign nations capital
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Cherven Bryag, Bulgaria (1963)
Lüdenscheid, Germany (1991)
Odessa, Ukraine
Jining, Shandong, China (June 3, 2009)[21]
