Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges; the islands are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers. In 2018, 260,897 people resided in the Comune di Venezia, of whom around 55,000 live in the historical city of Venice. Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, considered a statistical metropolitan area, with a total population of 2.6 million. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC; the city was the capital of the Republic of Venice for a millennium and more, from 697 to 1797. It was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as an important center of commerce—especially silk and spice, of art from the 13th century to the end of the 17th.

The city-state of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center, emerging in the 9th century and reaching its greatest prominence in the 14th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. After the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna, the Republic was annexed by the Austrian Empire, until it became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1866, following a referendum held as a result of the Third Italian War of Independence. Venice has been known as "La Dominante", "La Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", "City of Canals"; the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, artwork. Venice is known for several important artistic movements—especially during the Renaissance period—has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi.

Although the city is facing some challenges, Venice remains a popular tourist destination, a major cultural centre, has been ranked many times the most beautiful city in the world. It has been described by the Times Online as one of Europe's most romantic cities and by The New York Times as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man"; the name of the city, deriving from Latin forms Venetia and Venetiae, is most taken from "Venetia et Histria", the Roman name of Regio X of Roman Italy, but applied to the coastal part of the region that remained under Roman Empire outside of Gothic and Frankish control. The name Venetia, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, called by the Greeks Enetoi; the meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti and the Slavic Vistula Veneti. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean "beloved", "lovable", or "friendly".

A connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color'sea-blue', is possible. Supposed connections of Venetia with the Latin verb venire, such as Marin Sanudo's veni etiam, the supposed cry of the first refugees to the Venetian lagoon from the mainland, or with venia are fanciful; the alternative obsolete form is Vinegia. Although no surviving historical records deal directly with the founding of Venice and the available evidence have led several historians to agree that the original population of Venice consisted of refugees—from nearby Roman cities such as Padua, Treviso and Concordia, as well as from the undefended countryside—who were fleeing successive waves of Germanic and Hun invasions; this is further supported by the documentation on the so-called "apostolic families", the twelve founding families of Venice who elected the first doge, who in most cases trace their lineage back to Roman families. Some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen, on the islands in the original marshy lagoons, who were referred to as incolae lacunae.

The traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto —said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD 166–168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the main Roman town in the area, present-day Oderzo; this part of Roman Italy was again overrun in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years by the Huns led by Attila. The last and most enduring immigration into the north of the Italian peninsula, that of the Lombards in 568, left the Eastern Roman Empire only a small strip of coastline in the current Veneto, including Venice; the Roman/Byzantine territory was organized as the Exarchate of Ravenna, administered from that ancient port and overseen by a viceroy appointed by the Emperor in Constantinople. Ravenna and Venice were connected only by sea routes, with the Venetians' isolation came increasing autonomy. New ports were built, including those at Torcello in the Venetian lagoon.

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William Thornton was a planter and public official in Colonial Virginia. Thornton served as member of the House of Burgesses for Brunswick County from 1756–68 and as justice of the county and of the quorum as early as 1760 and as late as 1774/5. Thornton was the great-grandson of William Thornton who arrived in Virginia from England as late as 1646 settling in Gloucester County, Virginia, he was through his paternal line a cousin of fellow burgesses, Francis Thornton of Spotsylvania, Presley Thornton of Northumberland, George Thornton of Spotsylvania, William Thornton of King George and William Thornton of Richmond County, Virginia. William Thornton was born in Virginia to Francis Thornton and Ann Sterling, his father was a wealthy planter of Petsworth Parish, where the Thornton family had been established since the 1640s. Thornton's mother was Ann Sterling a daughter and heiress of Peter Sterling, a colonial surgeon and planter. Peter Sterling was first recorded in 1670 as'Peter Sterling Gent.'

Owning 1000 acres in Baltimore County, Maryland. By 1671 Sterling was in Gloucester County and where he gave power of attorney to Thomas Long to oversee his landholdings and legal matters in Maryland. Sterling's daughters Ann and Mary were orphaned by 1711 and appear to have prudently managed their father's estate adding 400 acres on Horn Harbor Creek through a land patent for the importation of nine women to the Colony. Thornton's father would go on to inherit the lands of his grandfather and would serve as a vestryman of Petsworth Parish; as part of the planting elite he was afforded an education far above that of most colonial Americans. Though it is not known where he received his education it is he attended the College of William & Mary, as no records indicate he was sent to England as a number of sons of Virginia planters were, he married his first cousin Jane Clack on June 1736 at Ware Parish. The church had been built by her paternal grandfather, an Oxford educated Anglican minister during his tenure.

In 1752, William Thornton removed to Virginia. At the time the country was in the frontier reaches of the Colony. Thornton rose to be one of the foremost citizens of his county through his large land grant and familial connection, his prominence gained him political prowess leading to his election to the House of Burgesses in 1756. By 1760 he was able to expand his power in Brunswick County by attaining the position of Justice. Thornton appears to have over-reached in the powers of his office, in 1764, the citizens of Brunswick County sent a petition to the Acting Colonial Governor, Francis Fauquier complaining of the conduct and character of the justices of the county court; the petition alleges that Thornton and his brother-in-law John Clack appeared on the bench in cases they had a personal interest in and refused to hear evidence in cases which resulted in innocent people having to pay costs. If the petition had any effect it appears not to have taken so until 1768, when Thornton left the office of Burgess.

Little is known of his years, he appears to have focused on planting and retired from the political realm of Williamsburg before the Revolution. William Thornton and Jane Clack were the parents of thirteen children. Four of his sons, William and Reuben are known to have served during the American Revolution receiving the ranks of officers. Many of his descends held vast tracts of land and prominent social and political positions in the Southside of Virginia. Children of William Thornton and Jane Clack are: Francis Thornton. James Thornton, he married Elizabeth Jones March 1762 in Granville County, North Carolina. John Thornton. Elizabeth Thornton. Francis Thornton, he married a purported Miss Wyatt 1768. He married October 15, 1801 in Charlotte County, Virginia. Through his daughter Susan Lacy Thornton he is the great-great grandfather of tenor Riccardo Martin 3rd great grandfather of Bijie Martin and the 4th great grandfather of Charles F. G. Kuyk. Through his daughter Mary Nunnally he is the great grandfather of J. Waddy Tate William Thornton.

He married Sarah Goodrich February 1774 in Brunswick County, Virginia. Sterling Clack Thornton, he married Sallie Moseley. He married Mary Jones March 1777 in Petersburg, Virginia, his grandson was U. S. diplomat John A. Bridgland. Reuben Thornton, he married Prudence Jones. Ann Sterling Thornton, she married? Osborne, November 26, 1792. Mary Thornton, she married Thomas Faircloth, November 28, 1792. Jane Thornton, she married Richard Clough, February 10, 1790. Peter Presley Thornton, he marrie

The Australia–New Zealand Maritime Treaty is a 2004 treaty between Australia and New Zealand in which the two countries formally delimited the maritime boundary between the two countries. The treaty was signed in Adelaide on 25 July 2004 by Foreign Minister of Australia Alexander Downer and Foreign Minister of New Zealand Phil Goff, it formalised the ocean borders, de facto recognised by both countries since the early 1980s, when the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was created. The treaty defines the boundaries between Australia and New Zealand's exclusive economic zones and continental shelf claims, it defines two separate maritime boundaries, both of which are approximate median points between Australian and New Zealand territory. The two separate boundaries are not connected; the first and more northern boundary separates the North Island and Three Kings Islands of New Zealand from Australia's Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. The northern boundary is composed of 27 individual straight-line segments defined by 28 separate coordinate points.

The second and more southern boundary defined by the treaty separates Australia's Macquarie Island from New Zealand's Auckland Island and Campbell Island. The southern boundary is composed of nine individual straight-line maritime segments defined by ten separate coordinate points; the treaty came into effect on 25 January 2006. The full name of the treaty is Treaty between the Government of Australia and the Government of New Zealand establishing certain Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Boundaries. Charney, Jonathan I. David A. Colson, Robert W. Smith.. International Maritime Boundaries, 5 vols. Hotei Publishing: Leiden. ISBN 9780792311874.