1.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
2.
Maryland's 4th congressional district
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Marylands 4th congressional district comprises portions of Prince Georges County and Anne Arundel County. The seat is represented by Anthony G. Brown, a Democrat, the district is located in the suburbs of Washington, D. C. Marylands Fourth Congressional District was one of the about 50 original Congressional districts, the First Congress of the United States of America. When it was organized in 1788 it covered Baltimore, Baltimore County, according to the 1790 Census, the Fourth District had a population of 53,913, nearly 20% of whom were slaves. In 1792, the Fourth District was moved to western Maryland, with its boundary being a north to south line running about the midpoint of Frederick County. The new district had a population of 36,026, with less than 10% of the population being slaves, the 1800 Census population was 38,015, and the boundaries remained unchanged in 1802. From 1835 to 1843, two seats were apportioned, elected at-large on a general ticket, marylands congressional districts List of United States congressional districts Rep. Anthony Browns official House of Representatives website
3.
Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
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The Lieutenant Governor of Maryland is the second highest-ranking official in the executive branch of the state government of Maryland in the United States. He or she is elected on the ticket as the Governor of Maryland. The current Lieutenant Governor is Boyd Rutherford, the position was first created by the Maryland Constitution of 1864. Under that system of government, the lieutenant governor served as president of the Senate and would assume the office of governor if the incumbent should die, resign, be removed, the states present constitution, adopted in 1867, abolished the lieutenant governorship. However, the position was re-established by an amendment ratified on November 3,1970. Under the 1970 amendment, the Lieutenant Governor shall have only the duties delegated to him by the Governor, marylands lieutenant governorship is thus weaker than the office in several, but not all, other states that have one. In both of those states, as in others, the lieutenant governor is elected in his or her own right. If there is a vacancy in the office of the governor, a vacancy in the lieutenant governorship is filled by a person nominated by the governor and confirmed by a majority vote of the General Assembly voting in joint session. Parties Unionist Democratic Republican Constitution amended November 4,1970 to create Lt. As of January 2017, there are six former U. S. lieutenant governors of Maryland who are living at this time. The most recent death of a former U. S. lieutenant governor of Maryland was that of Blair Lee III, Governor of Maryland Government of Maryland Lieutenant Governor Maryland State Archives. Maryland Manual On-Line, A Guide to Maryland Government
4.
Alexandria, Virginia
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Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is coterminous with the U. S. Census Bureau-census-designated place of Arlington, as a result, the county is often referred to in the region simply as Arlington or Arlington, Virginia. In 2015, the population was estimated at 229,164. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal district of Columbia. In 1846, Congress returned the land southwest of the Potomac River donated by Virginia due to issues involving Congressional representation, the General Assembly of Virginia changed the countys name to Arlington in 1920 to avoid confusion with the adjacent City of Alexandria. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington. Arlington is also bordered by Fairfax County and City of Falls Church to the northwest, west and southwest, as of the 2010 census, the population was 207,627. Due to the proximity to downtown Washington, D. C. It is also home to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the many federal agencies, government contractors, and service industries contribute to Arlingtons stable economy. It is the county in the United States by median family income. According to a 2016 study by Bankrate. com, Arlington is the best place to retire, the area that now constitutes Arlington County was originally part of Fairfax County in the Colony of Virginia. Land grants from the British monarch were awarded to prominent Englishmen in exchange for political favors, one of the grantees was Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who lends his name to both Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of First Lady Martha Washington, the estate was eventually passed down to Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of General Robert E. Lee. The property later became Arlington National Cemetery during the American Civil War, the area that now contains Arlington County was ceded to the new United States federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia. With the passage of the Residence Act in 1790, Congress approved a new permanent capital to be located on the Potomac River, the Residence Act originally only allowed the President to select a location within Maryland as far east as what is now the Anacostia River. However, President Washington shifted the federal territorys borders to the southeast in order to include the city of Alexandria at the Districts southern tip. In 1791, Congress amended the Residence Act to approve the new site, however, this amendment to the Residence Act specifically prohibited the erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the River Potomac. As permitted by the U. S. Constitution, the shape of the federal district was a square, measuring 10 miles on each side
5.
Leesburg, Virginia
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Leesburg is a historic town within and the county seat of Loudoun County, Virginia. Leesburg is 33 miles west-northwest of Washington, D. C. along the base of Catoctin Mountain and its population according to the 2010 Census is 42,616. The town is also the terminus of the Dulles Greenway. The Federal Aviation Administrations Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center is in Leesburg, prior to European settlement, the area around Leesburg was occupied by various Native American tribes. John Lederer testified that the entire Piedmont region had once occupied by the Tacci, alias Dogi. In 1699, the Algonquian Piscataway moved to an island in the Potomac in the environs of Leesburg, what would become known as the Old Carolina Road was a major route of travel between north and south for Native tribes. According to local historians, a battle was fought near present Leesburg between the warring Catawba and Lenape tribes, neither of whom lived in the area. A war party of Lenape had traveled from their home in New Jersey and neighboring regions, all the way to South Carolina to inflict a blow on their distant enemies, the Catawba. As they were returning northward, a party of Catawbas overtook them before they reached the Potomac, the date of this conflict is unknown, but it seems the Lenape and Catawba were indeed at war in the 1720s and 1730s. European settlement of near Leesburg began in the late 1730s as tidewater planters moved into the area from the south and east establishing large farms, many of the First Families of Virginia were among those to settle in the area including the Carters, Lees and Masons. The genesis of Leesburg occurred sometime before 1755 when Nicholas Minor acquired land around the intersection of the Old Carolina Road, the villages prosperity changed the following year when the British Colonial Council ordered the establishment of the county Court House at the crossroads. Accordingly, Minor had a laid out on the traditional Virginia plan of six criss-cross streets. On October 12 of that year the Virginia General Assembly founded the town of Leesburg upon the 60 acres that Minor laid out, when the post office was established in Leesburg in 1803 the branch was named Leesburgh, the h persisted until 1894. During the War of 1812, Leesburg served as a haven for the United States Government and its archives when it was forced to flee Washington. When reconstruction began on the Capitol, Potomac Marble from quarries just south of Leesburg was used, early in the American Civil War Leesburg was the site of the Battle of Balls Bluff, a resounding Confederate victory. The battlefield is marked by one of Americas smallest national cemeteries, the town frequently changed hands over the course of the war as both armies traversed the area during the Maryland and Gettysburg campaigns. The Battle of Mile Hill was fought just north of the prior to its occupation by Robert E. Lee in September 1862. Leesburg also served as a base of operations for Col. John S. Mosby and his partisan Raiders, some people consider the local courthouse among the few courthouses in Virginia not burned during the Civil War, though it was not built until 1894
6.
Know Nothing
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The Native American Party, renamed the American Party in 1855 and commonly known as the Know Nothing movement, was an American political party that operated nationally in the mid-1850s. The motivators of the Partys rise were,1. )Nativist sentiment caused by the sudden, unprecedented influx of German and Irish immigrants in the late 1840s,2. )A rapid, steep decline in wages caused by the sudden influx of very large numbers of Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine,3. )The threat members perceived that the expansion of slavery into factory labor. In the eyes of supporters of both the Free Soil and Know Nothing movements, the existence of black slavery threatened to reduce free, white workers to wage slaves, and 4. )Fear that land in the western territories would be awarded to wealthy slave plantation owners rather than to white small farmers. It was due to fear that slavery would destroy the economic prospects of working families that the Party enrolled massive numbers of voters in the wake of the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. The Partys most prominent leaders were U. S, the American Party nominated former President Millard Fillmore in the 1856 presidential election. Anti-Catholicism had been a factor in colonial America but played little role in American politics until the arrival of large numbers of Irish and it then reemerged in nativist attacks on Catholic immigration. It appeared in New York politics as early as 1843, under the banner of the American Republican Party, the movement quickly spread to nearby states, using that name or Native American Party or variants of it. They succeeded in a number of local and Congressional elections, notably in 1844 in Philadelphia, in the early 1850s, numerous secret orders grew up, of which the Order of United Americans and the Order of the Star Spangled Banner came to be the most important. They merged in New York in the early 1850s as an order that quickly spread across the North, reaching non-Catholics. The name Know Nothing originated in the organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, outsiders called them Know Nothings, and the name stuck. In 1855, the Know Nothings first entered politics under the American Party label, the immigration of large numbers of Irish and German Catholics to the United States in the period between 1830 and 1860 made religious differences between Catholics and Protestants a political issue. Violence occasionally erupted at the polls, Protestants alleged that Pope Pius IX had put down the failed liberal Revolutions of 1848 and that he was an opponent of liberty, democracy and Republicanism. One Boston minister described Catholicism as the ally of tyranny, the opponent of material prosperity, the foe of thrift, the enemy of the railroad, the caucus, and the school. In 1849, a secret society, the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, was created by Charles B. Allen in New York City. Fear of Catholic immigration led to a dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party, activists formed secret groups, coordinating their votes and throwing their weight behind candidates sympathetic to their cause. When asked about these organizations, members were to reply I know nothing. Immigration during the first five years of the 1850s reached a level five times greater than a decade earlier, most of the new arrivals were poor Catholic peasants or laborers from Ireland and Germany who crowded into the tenements of large cities
7.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution and it was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854. The Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883
8.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
9.
George Washington University
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The George Washington University is a private research university in Washington, D. C. GW is the largest institution of education in Washington, D. C. In his will, Washington left his 50 shares in the Potomac Company to help endow the university, however, due to the companys financial difficulties, the funding did not materialize. The university was chartered by an act of Congress on February 9,1821 and its name was changed to Columbian University in 1873 and to the George Washington University in 1904, in honor of Washington. GWs Graduate School of Political Management is the school of applied politics in the nations capital. GWs professional schools and the Elliott School of International Affairs are consistently ranked highly in national and international college rankings lists, the Princeton Review consistently ranks GW as one of the Most Politically Active schools. Some of the graduates have gone on to high positions within both the U. S. government and foreign governments. Notable alumni include former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and he presented numerous letters to Congress and included the subject in his last will and testament. Baptist missionary and leading minister Luther Rice raised funds to purchase a site in Washington, the first commencement in 1824 was considered an important event for the young city of Washington, D. C. In attendance were President Monroe, John C, Calhoun, Henry Clay, Marquis de Lafayette and other dignitaries. During the Civil War, most students left to join the Confederacy, walt Whitman was among many of the volunteers to work on the campus. Following the war, in 1873, Columbian College became the Columbian University and moved to a downtown location centered on 15th and H streets. The university moved its operations to the D. C. neighborhood of Foggy Bottom in 1912. The George Washington University, like much of Washington, D. C. traces many of its origins back to the Freemasons, the Bible that the presidents of the university use to swear an oath on upon inauguration is the Bible of Freemason George Washington. Freemasonry symbols are displayed throughout the campus including the foundation stones of many of the university buildings. Many of the Colleges of the George Washington University stand out for their age, the Law School is the oldest law school in the District of Columbia. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences is the 11th oldest medical school in the nation, the Columbian College was founded in 1821, and is the oldest unit of the university. The Elliott School of International Affairs was formalized in 1898, the majority of the present infrastructure and financial stability at GW is due to the tenures of Presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin, Lloyd Hartman Elliott and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
10.
University of Virginia
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The University of Virginia, frequently referred to simply as Virginia, is a public research university and the flagship for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, UVA is known for its foundations, student-run honor code. UNESCO designated UVA as Americas first and only collegiate World Heritage Site in 1987, the university was established in 1819, and its original governing Board of Visitors included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Monroe was the sitting President of the United States at the time of its foundation, former Presidents Jefferson and Madison were UVAs first two rectors and the Academical Village and Jefferson conceived and designed the original courses of study. The universitys research endeavors are highly recognized, in 2015, Science honored UVA faculty for discovering two of its top 10 annual scientific breakthroughs, from the fields of Medicine and Psychology. UVA is one of 62 institutions in the Association of American Universities and it is the only AAU member university in Virginia. UVA is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation, the university was the first non-founding member, and the first university of the American South, to attain AAU membership in 1904. UVAs academic strength is broad, with 121 majors across the eight undergraduate, students compete in 26 collegiate sports and UVA leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in mens NCAA team national championships with 17. UVA is second in womens NCAA titles with 7, UVA was awarded the Capital One Cup in 2015 after fielding the top overall mens athletics programs in the nation. Students come to attend the university in Charlottesville from all 50 states and 147 countries, the historic 1, 682-acre campus is internationally protected by UNESCO and considered one of the most beautiful collegiate grounds in the country. UVA additionally maintains 2,913 acres southeast of the city, the university also manages the College at Wise in Southwest Virginia, and until 1972 operated George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington in Northern Virginia. In 1817, three Presidents and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Marshall joined 24 other dignitaries at a meeting held in the Mountain Top Tavern at Rockfish Gap, after some deliberation, they selected nearby Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia. Farmland just outside Charlottesville was purchased from James Monroe by the Board of Visitors as Central College, the school laid its first buildings cornerstone late in that same year, and the Commonwealth of Virginia chartered the new university on January 25,1819. John Hartwell Cocke collaborated with James Madison, Monroe, and Joseph Carrington Cabell to fulfill Jeffersons dream to establish the university, Cocke and Jefferson were appointed to the building committee to supervise the construction. The universitys first classes met on March 7,1825, another innovation of the new university was that higher education would be separated from religious doctrine. Jefferson opined to philosopher Thomas Cooper that a professorship of theology should have no place in our institution, Jefferson was intimately involved in the university to the end, hosting Sunday dinners at his Monticello home for faculty and students until his death. Thus, he eschewed mention of his accomplishments, such as the Louisiana Purchase. This was a source of frustration for Jefferson, who assembled the students during the schools first year, on October 3,1825, to such behavior
11.
Charlottesville, Virginia
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Charlottesville, colloquially Cville and formally the City of Charlottesville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 48,210 and it is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after the British Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the City of Charlottesville with the County of Albemarle for statistical purposes, bringing its steadily growing population to approximately 150,000. Charlottesville is the heart of the Charlottesville metropolitan area, which includes Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Charlottesville was the home of two Presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. While both served as Governor of Virginia, they lived in Charlottesville, and traveled to and from Richmond, Orange, located 26 miles northeast of the city, was the hometown of President James Madison. The University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson and one of the original Public Ivies, straddles the citys border with Albemarle. Monticello, located 3 miles southeast of the city, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located on a hilltop overlooking Charlottesville, Monticello attracts thousands of tourists every year. At the time of European encounter, part of the area that became Charlottesville was occupied by a Monacan village called Monasukapanough, Charlottesville was formed in 1762 by an Act of the Assembly of Albemarle County. Thomas Walker was named its first trustee and it was along a trade route called Three Notched Road which led from Richmond to the Great Valley. It was named for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of the United Kingdom as the wife of King George III, during the American Revolutionary War, the Convention Army was imprisoned in Charlottesville between 1779 and 1781 at the Albemarle Barracks. Unlike much of Virginia, Charlottesville was spared the brunt of the American Civil War, the only battle to take place in Charlottesville was the skirmish at Rio Hill, an encounter in which George Armstrong Custer briefly engaged local Confederate home guards before he retreated. The mayor surrendered the city to Custers men to keep the town from being burned, 1820–30, was accidentally burnt during General Sheridans 1865 raid through the Shenandoah Valley. The factory had taken over by the Confederacy and used to manufacture woollen clothing for the soldiers. It caught fire when some coals taken by Union troops to burn the railroad bridge had been dropped on the floor. The factory was rebuilt immediately and was known as the Woolen Mills until its liquidation in 1962, the first black church in Charlottesville was established in 1864. Previously, it was illegal for African-Americans to have their own churches, a current predominantly African-American church can trace its lineage to that first church. Congregation Beth Israels 1882 building is the oldest synagogue building standing in Virginia. The closures were required by a series of laws collectively known as the Stanley plan
12.
Naples
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Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
