1.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2.
South Bohemian Region
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South Bohemia is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part of the South Bohemian Region is former Prachens, in 2011, there were 623 municipalities in the region, whereof 54 had a status of town. The region borders the regions Plzeň, Central Bohemia, Vysocina, to the south it borders Austria and Germany. Until 30 May 2001, the region was named as Budějovický kraj or Českobudějovický kraj, after its capital, thanks to its geographical location and natural conditions the region belongs to the areas where the first settlements began to appear in the distant past. In the past centuries, the South Bohemia was famous for fishpond cultivation, the region has been industrialized since the beginning of the twentieth century. Nowadays, it is a destination due to its natural. The travel industry has been recently the fastest growing industry in the region, the region was established based on the constitutional lax No. 347/97 of Collections concerning the formation of higher territorial administrative units, the region and its authorities are specified by Act No. 129-2000 of Collections concerning regions, which came into effect on the day of the regional authorities elections, as of September 2013, South Bohemias population is 636,459 and with only 63 people per 1 km² the region has the lowest population density in the whole country. 64. 2% of region’s population lives in towns or cities, one third of the inhabitants live in the five largest municipalities. Only 4% of region’s population lives in municipalities with less than 200 inhabitants, in 2011, the average age in the region is 41.2 years. Approximately 11% of inhabitants who were 15 years or older had a university degree, according to 2011 census,20. 6% of inhabitants in the region believe in god. The table below gives an overview of town and cities in the region that have more than 8,000 inhabitants, other significant towns are, Vimperk, Dačice, Kaplice, Soběslav, Sezimovo Ústí, Vodňany, Blatná, Veselí nad Lužnicí, Bechyně and Protivín. The following table provides details on the districts of the South Bohemia, South Bohemia consists of the South Bohemian Basin, České Budějovice Basin. The Bohemian Forest is a low range of mountains situated in the south-west, other highlands that can be found in the region are the Brdy Highlands, the Central-Bohemian Highlands, the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the Novohradské Mountains. The highest elevation in the region is the 1, 378-metre high Plechý in the Bohemian Forest, the region is located in the drainage basin of Vltava river. Other significant rivers are Malše, Lužnice, Otava, Nežárka, South Bohemia is famous for its countless ponds. In the past, more than seven thousand ponds were established across the region, with its 489 ha Rožmberk is the largest one, followed by Bezdrev and Horusice pond
3.
Central Bohemian Region
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Central Bohemia is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative center is placed in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the center of the region, the city is not, however, a part of it and creates a region of its own. The Central Bohemian Region is situated in the center of Bohemia, in terms of area it is the largest region in the Czech Republic. It occupies 11,014 km² which is almost 14% of the area of the country. It surrounds the country’s capital Prague and it borders with Liberec Region, Hradec Králové Region, Pardubice Region, Vysočina Region, South Bohemian Region, Plzeň Region and Ústí nad Labem Region. In 2011, the region counted in total 1,145 municipalities where of 26 were municipalities with a municipal office. 1,044 municipalities had less than 2,000 inhabitants,82 municipalities had a status of town. With an area of 11,014 km², the Central Bohemian Region is the largest region of the Czech Republic, the region has relatively various natural conditions. The highest point of the region is located on Tok hill in Brdy Highlands in the part of the region. The lowest point of the region is situated on the surface of the Elbe River near Dolní Beřkovice. The region is divided into two landscape types, the north-eastern part is formed by Polabí lowlands with a high share of land being used for agricultural purposes and deciduous forests. The south-western part of the region is hilly with coniferous and mixed forests, important rivers in the region are Elbe, Vltava, Berounka, Jizera and Sázava. On Vltava river, a series of nine dams were constructed throughout the 20th century, the agricultural land accounts for 83. 5% of all land in the region, which 11p. p. The highest share of the land can be found in Polabí, especially in Kolín. There are a number of parks located in the region. Křivoklátsko is the largest and most important landscape park in the region, another remarkable area is the Bohemian Karst, the largest karst area in the Czech republic where the Koněprusy Caves are located. Finally, Kokořínsko Landscape park is for a part situated in the Central Bohemian Region. As of December 31,2012 the Central Bohemian Region had 1,291,816 inhabitants and was the most populous region in the country, about 53% of the inhabitants lived in towns or cities
4.
Otava (river)
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The Otava is a river in West and South Bohemia, Czech Republic. It is 112 kilometres long and is a tributary of the Vltava. The river flows through several towns, including Sušice, Strakonice, the rivers name is of Celtic origin. It is a river for water sports. The local dialect of Prachens also uses the name Wotāva, information at the Water Management Research Institute
5.
Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973
6.
Bohemian Forest
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The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava and in German as Böhmerwald, is a low mountain range in Central Europe. They create a border between the Czech Republic on one side and Germany and Austria on the other. In Czech, Šumava is also used as a name for the adjacent region in Bohemia. The Bohemian Forest comprises heavily forested mountains with heights of 800–1,400 metres. The highest peak is Großer Arber on the Bavarian side, the highest peak on the Bohemian and Austrian side is Plechý, the most eastern peak is the Sternstein. The range is one of the oldest in Europe, and its mountains are eroded into round forms with few rocky parts, typical for the Bohemian Forest are plateaux at about 1, 000–1,200 m with relatively harsh climates and many peat bogs. The Bohemian Forest is the range between the watersheds of the Black Sea and the North Sea, where water collected by the Vltava, Otava and Úhlava rivers flows. These rivers all spring from the Bohemian Forest, owing to heavy precipitation, the peat bogs and the Lipno Dam, the Šumava region is an important water reservoir for Central Europe. More important for their value than for holding water are several lakes of glacial origin. As a border region, the Bohemian Forest has had a complicated history, in the 20th century it was part of the Iron Curtain, and large areas were stripped of human settlement. Even before that, settlement was sparse and for centuries forests dominated over human dwellings and these unique circumstances led to the preservation of unspoilt nature and forest ecosystems relatively unaffected by human activity. On the other hand, many habitats dependent on farming activity are slowly turning into forest, in the Czech Republic, the most valuable area is protected in the Šumava National Park and Protected Landscape and the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Part of the German section is protected as the Bavarian Forest National Park, the Bohemian Forest is a popular holiday destination because it is excellent hiking country. Most interesting natural and cultural sights are connected with more than 500 km of marked trails. However, park administration is not always successful in its task, Šumava National Park is also suffering problems connected with bark beetles, and there is heated debate about how to deal with it. The origin of the current name Bohemian Forest goes back to 400 BC, the Boii people spread across Europe between 400 BC and 8 BC. Boii is the Roman name of three ancient Celtic tribes, living in Transalpine Gaul, Cisalpine Gaul, and Bohemia, Moravia, the European region of Bohemia owes its name to the Boii, who lived there until the were replaced by the Germanic Marcomanni. The Romans called it Boiohaemum, a Latinization of the Germanic name of the region, the mountain range has been traditionally identified with Γαβρήτα Ὕλη, mentioned in Strabos Geographica and Ptolemys Geographia
7.
Elbe
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The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia, then Germany and its total length is 1,094 kilometres. The Elbes major tributaries include the rivers Vltava, Saale, Havel, Mulde, Schwarze Elster, the Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 148,268 square kilometres, the fourth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries, with its largest parts in Germany, much smaller parts lie in Austria and Poland. The basin is inhabited by 24.5 million people, the Elbe rises at an elevation of about 1,400 metres in the Krkonoše on the northwest borders of the Czech Republic near Labská bouda. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, here the Elbe enters the vast vale named Polabí, and continues on southwards through Hradec Králové and then to Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west, at the village of Káraný, a little above Brandýs nad Labem, it picks up the Jizera. At Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the Vltava, or Moldau, upstream from the confluence the Vltava is in fact much longer, and has a greater discharge and a larger drainage basin. Some distance lower down, at Litoměřice, the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Ohře, in its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile marshlands, former flood plains of the Elbe now diked. At Magdeburg there is a viaduct, the Magdeburg Water Bridge, from the sluice of Geesthacht on downstream the Elbe is subject to the tides, the tidal Elbe section is called the Low Elbe. Within the city-state the Unterelbe has a number of streams, such as Dove Elbe, Gose Elbe, Köhlbrand, Northern Elbe, Reiherstieg. Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the stream by dikes. In 1390 the Gose Elbe was separated from the stream by a dike connecting the two then-islands of Kirchwerder and Neuengamme. The Dove Elbe was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort and these hydraulic engineering works were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation, and to improve the water supply of the Port of Hamburg. The Northern Elbe passes the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the old Elbe Tunnel, a bit more downstream the Low Elbes two main anabranches Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite south of Altona-Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right after both anabranches reunited the Low Elbe is passed under by the New Elbe Tunnel, the last structural road link crossing the river before the North Sea. At the bay Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg at kilometre 634, the Northern Elbe and the Southern Elbe used to reunite, leaving the city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between Holstein and the Elbe-Weser Triangle with Stade until it flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven. Near its mouth it passes the entrance to the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel before it debouches into the North Sea, the Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague
8.
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
9.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
10.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
11.
River
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A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water, small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the term river as applied to geographic features. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location, examples are run in parts of the United States, burn in Scotland and northeast England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always, Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. Potamology is the study of rivers while limnology is the study of inland waters in general. Extraterrestrial rivers of liquid hydrocarbons have recently found on Titan. Channels may indicate past rivers on other planets, specifically outflow channels on Mars and rivers are theorised to exist on planets, a river begins at a source, follows a path called a course, and ends at a mouth or mouths. The water in a river is confined to a channel. In larger rivers there is also a wider floodplain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. Floodplains may be wide in relation to the size of the river channel. This distinction between river channel and floodplain can be blurred, especially in areas where the floodplain of a river channel can become greatly developed by housing. Rivers can flow down mountains, through valleys or along plains, the term upriver refers to the direction towards the source of the river, i. e. against the direction of flow. Likewise, the term describes the direction towards the mouth of the river. The term left bank refers to the bank in the direction of flow. The river channel typically contains a stream of water, but some rivers flow as several interconnecting streams of water. Extensive braided rivers are now found in only a few regions worldwide and they also occur on peneplains and some of the larger river deltas. Anastamosing rivers are similar to braided rivers and are quite rare
12.
Bohemia
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Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, after World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945, border regions with sizeable German-speaking minorities of all three Czech lands were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland, in 1990, the name was changed to the Czech Republic, which become a separate state in 1993 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Until 1948, Bohemia was a unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its lands. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria, in the west by Bavaria and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia, in the northeast by Silesia, and in the east by Moravia. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy, the Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia and the Battle of Mutina. After this, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps, much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied as Boiohaemum. The earliest mention was by Tacitus Germania 28, and later mentions of the name are in Strabo. The name appears to include the tribal name Boi- plus the Germanic element *haimaz home and this Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobods kingdom was centred, within the Hercynian forest. The Czech name Čechy is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group, the Czechs, Bohemia, like neighbouring Bavaria, is named after the Boii, who were a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, to the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast in Hungaria, were Sarmatian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king Marobodus and he took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. In late classical times and the early Middle Ages, two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni, many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals, other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia. These are precursors of todays Czechs, though the amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves, the first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia. Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by Samos tribal confederation and his death marked the end of the old Slavonic confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia. Other sources divide the population of Bohemia at this time into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare, Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but only became dominant much later, in the 10th or 11th century
13.
Czechs
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Ethnic Czechs were called Bohemians in English until the early 20th century, referring to the late Iron Age tribe of Celtic Boii and the land Bohemia. The Czech diaspora is found in numbers in the United States, Canada, Israel, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy. The Czech ethnic group is part of the West Slavic subgroup of the larger Slavic ethno-linguistical group, the West Slavs have origin in early Slavic tribes which settled in Central Europe after East Germanic tribes had left this area during the migration period. The West Slavic tribe of Bohemians settled in the area of Bohemia during the migration period and they formed an independent principality in the 9th century, the Duchy of Bohemia, under the Přemyslid dynasty. According to mythology, the father of the Czech people were Forefather Čech. The Czech are closely related to the neighbouring Slovaks, the Czech–Slovak languages form a dialect continuum rather than being two clearly distinct languages. Czech cultural influence in Slovak culture is noted as having much higher than the other way around. Czech people have a history of coexistence with Germanic people. The Czech National Revival took place in the 18th and 19th centuries aiming to revive Czech language, culture, the Czech were the initiators of Pan-Slavism. The Czech ethnonym was the name of a Slavic tribe in central Bohemia that subdued the tribes in the late 9th century. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown, according to legend, it comes from their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia. Research regards Čech as a derivative of the root čel-, the Czech ethnonym was adopted by the Moravians in the 19th century. The name Bohemia is Germanic, English used that name until after the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the population of the Czech lands has been influenced by different human migrations that wide-crossed Europe over time. In their Y-DNA haplogroups, which are inherited along the male line,34. 2% of Czech males belong to R1a, which is particularly common in a large region extending from South Asia and Southern Siberia to Central Europe and Scandinavia. The population of the Czech Republic descends from diverse peoples of Slavic, Celtic and Germanic origin, presence of West Slavs in the 6th century during the Migration Period has been documented on the Czech territory. Slavs settled in Bohemia, Moravia and Austria sometime during the 6th or 7th centuries, according to a popular myth, the Slavs came with Forefather Čech who settled at the Říp Mountain. The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century, in 880, Prague Castle was constructed by Prince Bořivoj, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty and the city of Prague was established. Vratislav II was the first Czech king in 1085 and the duchy was raised to a kingdom under Ottokar I in 1198
14.
Bridge
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A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles without closing the way underneath such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. There are many different designs that each serve a particular purpose, the Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word bridge to an Old English word brycg, of the same meaning. The word can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēw-. The word for the game of the same name has a different origin. The first bridges made by humans were probably spans of cut wooden logs or planks and eventually stones, using a simple support, some early Americans used trees or bamboo poles to cross small caverns or wells to get from one place to another. Dating to the Greek Bronze Age, it is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence, several intact arched stone bridges from the Hellenistic era can be found in the Peloponnese. The greatest bridge builders of antiquity were the ancient Romans, the Romans built arch bridges and aqueducts that could stand in conditions that would damage or destroy earlier designs. An example is the Alcántara Bridge, built over the river Tagus, the Romans also used cement, which reduced the variation of strength found in natural stone. One type of cement, called pozzolana, consisted of water, lime, sand, brick and mortar bridges were built after the Roman era, as the technology for cement was lost. In India, the Arthashastra treatise by Kautilya mentions the construction of dams, a Mauryan bridge near Girnar was surveyed by James Princep. The bridge was swept away during a flood, and later repaired by Puspagupta, the use of stronger bridges using plaited bamboo and iron chain was visible in India by about the 4th century. A number of bridges, both for military and commercial purposes, were constructed by the Mughal administration in India and this bridge is also historically significant as it is the worlds oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge. European segmental arch bridges date back to at least the Alconétar Bridge, rope bridges, a simple type of suspension bridge, were used by the Inca civilization in the Andes mountains of South America, just prior to European colonization in the 16th century. During the 18th century there were innovations in the design of timber bridges by Hans Ulrich Grubenmann, Johannes Grubenmann. The first book on bridge engineering was written by Hubert Gautier in 1716, a major breakthrough in bridge technology came with the erection of the Iron Bridge in Shropshire, England in 1779. It used cast iron for the first time as arches to cross the river Severn, with the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, truss systems of wrought iron were developed for larger bridges, but iron does not have the tensile strength to support large loads. With the advent of steel, which has a tensile strength, much larger bridges were built. In 1927 welding pioneer Stefan Bryła designed the first welded bridge in the world
15.
Charles Bridge
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The Charles Bridge is an historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, the bridge replaced the old Judith Bridge built 1158–1172 that had been badly damaged by a flood in 1342. This new bridge was called the Stone Bridge or the Prague Bridge but has been the Charles Bridge since 1870. As the only means of crossing the river Vltava until 1841 and this solid-land connection made Prague important as a trade route between Eastern and Western Europe. The bridge is 621 metres long and nearly 10 metres wide, following the example of the Stone Bridge in Regensburg and it is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Lesser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side. The Old Town Bridge Tower is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world, the bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, originally erected around 1700 but now all replaced by replicas. Throughout its history, the Charles Bridge suffered several disasters and witnessed many historic events, Czech legend has it that construction began on Charles Bridge at 5, 31am on 9 July 1357 with the first stone being laid by Charles IV himself. Given the bridges long life perhaps the Emperors belief holds some weight, a flood in 1432 damaged three pillars. In 1496 the third arch broke down after one of the pillars lowered, being undermined by the water. During the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648, the Swedes occupied the west bank of the Vltava, during the fighting, they severely damaged one side of the Old Town bridge tower and the remnants of almost all gothic decorations had to be removed from it afterward. During the late 17th century and early 18th century the bridge gained its typical appearance when an alley of baroque statues was installed on the pillars. During a great flood in 1784, five pillars were severely damaged and although the arches did not break down, the original stairway to Kampa Island was replaced by a new one in 1844. The next year, another great flood threatened the bridge, in 1848, during the revolutionary days, the bridge escaped unharmed from the cannonade, but some of the statues were damaged. In 1866, pseudo-gothic gas lights were erected on the balustrade, in the 1870s, the first regular public-transport line went over the bridge (officially called Charles Bridge after 1873 later replaced by a horse tram. The bridge towers underwent a reconstruction between 1874 and 1883. On 2–5 September 1890, another flood struck Prague and severely damaged the Charles Bridge. Thousands of rafts, logs and other floating materials that escaped from places upstream gradually formed a huge barrier leaning against the bridge, three arches were torn down by the great pressure and two pillars collapsed from being undermined by the water, while others were partly damaged. With the fifth pillar, two statues – St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Xavier, both by Ferdinand Brokoff – also fell into the river
16.
Vinohrady Water Tower
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Vinohrady Water Tower is a building in Vinohrady in Prague 10 which was originally built as a water tower. Today its architecture is acknowledged as culturally important although it is now converted to accommodate offices, the viewing platform at the top is 40 metres above the street level. The Vinohrady water tower building was created in 1882 to house steam engines, the engines pumped water up from the reservoir, creating a gravitational feed to nearby homes and businesses. Antonin Turek designed the building while he was the municipal architect, the seventh floor originally contained a tank that could hold 200 cubic metres of water. Initially this was pumped from the River Vltava until 1912, when the source was switched to a plant at Káraný. The water descended from the tank to supply Strašnice, Žižkov, in 1914 the towers steam engines were replaced with electric motors. The revised system used water that was treated at a plant at Podoli, today its architecture is acknowledged to be of national historical importance, even though the building serves no modern purpose for water supply, as the motors, pumps and pipes have been removed. In 1993, the inside was converted to offices and apartments. On each corner there are the statues of angels with clock faces between them, below the clocks are four medallions celebrating Vinohrady. In 1991 the tower was recognised as being of importance and was listed by the Czech Ministry of Culture
17.
Dam
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A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity, a dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The word dam can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, the first known appearance of dam occurs in 1165. However, there is one village, Obdam, that is mentioned in 1120. The word seems to be related to the Greek word taphos, so the word should be understood as dike from dug out earth. The names of more than 40 places from the Middle Dutch era such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used to control the level, for Mesopotamias weather affected the Tigris. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan,100 kilometres northeast of the capital Amman and this gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high and 1 m-wide stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide earth rampart. The structure is dated to 3000 BC, the Ancient Egyptian Sadd-el-Kafara Dam at Wadi Al-Garawi, located about 25 km south of Cairo, was 102 m long at its base and 87 m wide. The structure was built around 2800 or 2600 BC as a dam for flood control. During the Twelfth Dynasty in the 19th century BC, the Pharaohs Senosert III, Amenemhat III, two dams called Ha-Uar running east-west were built to retain water during the annual flood and then release it to surrounding lands. The lake called Mer-wer or Lake Moeris covered 1,700 km2 and is today as Berkat Qaroun. One of the wonders of the ancient world was the Great Dam of Marib in Yemen. Repairs were carried out during various periods, most important around 750 BC and these extensive works were not actually finalized until 325 AD and allowed the irrigation of 25,000 acres. By the mid-late 3rd century BC, an intricate water-management system within Dholavira in modern-day India was built, the system included 16 reservoirs, dams and various channels for collecting water and storing it. Eflatun Pınar is a Hittite dam and spring temple near Konya and it is thought to be from the time of the Hittite empire between the 15th and 13th century BC
18.
Lipno Dam
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The Lipno Dam is a dam and hydroelectric plant constructed along the Vltava River in the Czech Republic. Due to frequent flooding and subsequent damage, the Vltava River in Southern Bohemia was problematic for Český Krumlov, to harness the power of the river, and to prevent continued catastrophe, it was decided that a hydroelectric plant would be built high on the Vltava. Preparatory work at the town of Lipno began in 1951, construction on the dam began in 1952, and the dam was completed in 1960. The stream bed of the Vltava near Lipno was chosen because it has a slight incline, the dam is built along the highest-elevated stage of the Vltava Rivers cascade, thus enabling large amounts of hydropower out-put. This area is mountainous, and borders the Šumava National Park, a smaller reservoir near Vyšší Brod is linked to the main reservoir by an artificial underground waterway. This smaller reservoir, named Lipno II, serves to level the water of the main reservoir, Lipno Hydro Power Plant has two turbines with a nominal capacity of 64 MW each having a total capacity of 128 MW. Media related to Lipno_Dam at Wikimedia Commons http, //www. pvl. cz
19.
Czech language
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Czech, historically also Bohemian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. It is spoken by over 10 million people and is the language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of being intelligible to a very high degree. In the later 18th to mid-19th century, the written standard was codified in the context of the Czech National Revival. The main vernacular, known as Common Czech, is based on the vernacular of Prague, the Moravian dialects spoken in the eastern part of the country are mostly also counted as Czech, although some of their eastern variants are closer to Slovak. The Czech phoneme inventory is moderate in size, comprising five vowels, words may contain uncommon consonant clusters, including one consonant represented by the grapheme ř, or lack vowels altogether. Czech orthography is simple, and has used as a model by phonologists. Czech is classified as a member of the West Slavic sub-branch of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and this branch includes Polish, Kashubian, Upper and Lower Sorbian and Slovak. Slovak is by far the closest genetic neighbor of Czech, the West Slavic languages are spoken in an area classified as part of Central Europe. Around the 7th century, the Slavic expansion reached Central Europe, the West Slavic polity of Great Moravia formed by the 9th century. The Christianization of Bohemia took place during the 9th and 10th centuries, the Bohemian language is first recorded in writing in glosses and short notes during the 12th to 13th centuries. Literary works written in Czech appear in the early 14th century, the first complete Bible translation also dates to this period. Old Czech texts, including poetry and cookbooks, were produced outside the university as well, literary activity becomes widespread in the early 15th century in the context of the Bohemian Reformation. There was no standardization distinguishing between Czech and Slovak prior to the 15th century, the publication of the Kralice Bible between 1579 and 1593 became very important for standardization of the Czech language in the following centuries. In 1615, the Bohemian diet tried to declare Czech to be the official language of the kingdom. After the Bohemian Revolt which was defeated by the Habsburgs in 1620 and this emigration together with other consequences of the Thirty Years War had a negative impact on the further use of the Czech language. In 1627, Czech and German became official languages of the Kingdom of Bohemia and in the 18th century German became dominant in Bohemia and Moravia, the modern standard Czech language originates in standardization efforts of the 18th century. Changes include the shift of í to ej and é to í and the merging of í
20.
Lock (water navigation)
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A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. Locks are used to make a more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Later canals used more and larger locks to allow a direct route to be taken. Since 2016 the largest lock worldwide is the Kieldrecht Lock in the Port of Antwerp, a pound lock is a type of lock that is used almost exclusively nowadays on canals and rivers. A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound, in contrast, an earlier design with a single gate was known as a flash lock. Pound locks were first used in medieval China during the Song Dynasty, having been pioneered by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyue in 984. The gates were hanging gates, when they were closed the water accumulated like a tide until the level was reached. The water level could differ by 4 feet or 5 feet at each lock, in medieval Europe a sort of pound lock was built in 1373 at Vreeswijk, Netherlands. This pound lock serviced many ships at once in a large basin, yet the first true pound lock was built in 1396 at Damme near Bruges, Belgium. A famous civil engineer of pound locks in Europe was the Italian Bertola da Novate, who constructed 18 of them on the Naviglio di Bereguardo between the years 1452 and 1458. When a stretch of river is navigable, a lock is sometimes required to bypass an obstruction such as a rapid, dam. In large scale river navigation improvements, weirs and locks are used together, a river improved by these means is often called a Waterway or River Navigation. Sometimes a river is made entirely non-tidal by constructing a sea lock directly into the estuary, in more advanced river navigations, more locks are required. Where a longer cut bypasses a stretch of river, the upstream end of the cut will often be protected by a flood lock. The longer the cut, the greater the difference in level between start and end of the cut, so that a very long cut will need additional locks along its length. At this point, the cut is, in effect, a canal, Early completely artificial canals, across fairly flat countryside, would get round a small hill or depression by simply detouring around it. However, locks continued to be built to supplement these solutions, all pound locks have three elements, A watertight chamber connecting the upper and lower canals, and large enough to enclose one or more boats. The position of the chamber is fixed, but its level can vary
21.
Weir
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A weir /ˈwɪər/ is a barrier across the horizontal width of the river that alters the flow characteristics of the water and usually results in a change in the vertical height of the river level. There are many designs of weir, but commonly water flows freely over the top of the weir crest before cascading down to a lower level, Weirs are commonly used to prevent flooding, measure discharge and help render rivers navigable. In some locations the terms dam and weir are synonymous, a dam is usually specifically designed to impound water behind a wall, whilst a weir is designed to alter the river flow characteristics. A common distinction between dams and weirs is that flows over the top of a weir or underneath it for at least some of its length. Accordingly the crest of a spillway on a large dam may therefore be referred to as a weir. Weirs can vary in size both horizontally and vertically, with the smallest being only a few inches in height whilst the largest may be hundreds of metres long, some common weir purposes are outlined below. Weirs allow hydrologists and engineers a method of measuring the volumetric flow rate in small to medium-sized streams/rivers or in industrial discharge locations. Since the geometry of the top of the weir is known and all flows over the weir. However, this can only be achieved in locations where all water flows over the top of the weir crest, if these conditions are not met it can make flow measurement complicated, inaccurate or even impossible. The discharge calculation can be summarised as, Q = C L H n Where Q is flow rate of fluid C is the flow coefficent for the structure, Flow measurement weirs must be well maintained if they are to remain accurate. As weirs are a physical barrier they can impede the movement of fish and other animals up. This can have an effect of fish species that migrate as part of their breeding cycle. For example, weirs in the Great Lakes region have helped to prevent invasive Sea lamprey from colonising further upstream, mill ponds are created by a weir impounding water that then flows over the structure. The energy created by the change in height of the water can then be used to power waterwheels and power mill, Weirs are commonly used to control the flow rates of rivers during periods of high discharge. Sluice gates can be altered to increase or decrease the volume of flowing downstream. Weirs of this purpose are commonly found upstream of towns and villages, by slowing the rate at which water moves downstream even slightly a disproportionate effect can be had on the likelihood of flooding. On larger rivers a weir can also alter the characteristics of a river to the point that vessels are able to navigate areas previously inaccessible due to extreme currents or eddies. Many larger weirs will have built in that allow boats and river users to shoot the weir
22.
Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
23.
Water tourism
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Nautical tourism is tourism that combines sailing and boating with vacation and holiday activities. It is a form of tourism that is more popular in the summertime. First defined as a segment in Europe and South America, it has since caught on in the United States. Many tourists who enjoy sailing combine water travel with other activities, supplying the equipment and accessories for those activities has spawned businesses for those purposes. With many nautical enthusiasts living on board their vessels even in port, nautical tourists bring demand for a variety of goods, marinas developed especially for nautical tourists have been built in Europe, South America and Australia. Tourist services available at marinas catering to tourists include, Leasing of berths for sailing vessels. Leasing of sailing vessels for holiday and recreational use, Reception, safe-guarding, preparation and keeping sailing vessels in order. Providing information to nautical enthusiasts Leasing of water scooters, jet skis, among the more interesting locations frequented by nautical tourists, Greek islands and the Croatian coast offers services at more than 50 ports, touting it as Mediterranean as it once was. Croatias Greeces efforts have been so successful they have offered to the tourism industry as a model for sustainable nautical tourism. During this years Adriatic Boat Show the official ceremony of opening the site of marina for mega-yachts has been held. Marina Mandalina & Yacht Club, situated in Šibenik, in 2011 will be able to accept 79 yachts up to 100 meters in length, italy has gone to great lengths to attract boating tourists to its ports as well. Water travel used to be the form of transportation between cities in the Netherlands. Since improvements in the road and rail structure, less and less commercial freight traffic is using the water. In the latter half of the 20th century the growth of tourism exceeded the amount of freight traffic. Water tourists are a strong lobby for protecting old water routes from being closed or filled, both refurnished antique canal boats and modern tour boats are available for tourist day trips in most Dutch cities. A steady tourist industry has kept both the old canals of Amsterdam and their canal mansions open for water traffic and their popularity has introduced water traffic safety laws to ensure that the commercial passenger boats have right-of-way over private skiffs and low yachts, while preventing fatal accidents. Australia has invested $1.5 billion in facilities designed to attract nautical tourists, a growing worldwide industry segment, nautical tourism has become popular in South America. The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism has a devoted to the subject
24.
Stalin Monument (Prague)
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Stalins Monument was a massive granite statue honoring Joseph Stalin that was unveiled on 1 May 1955 after more than 5½ years of work in Prague, Czechoslovakia. It was the worlds largest representation of Stalin, the monument was located on a huge concrete pedestal, which can still be visited in Letná Park. It was the largest group statue in Europe, measuring 15.5 m high and 22 m long, the sculptor was Otakar Švec, who killed himself the day before the unveiling. The process of de-Stalinization began shortly after the unveiling of the monument, the monument, therefore, became an increasing source of embarrassment to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and was taken down with 800 kilograms of explosives. In 1990, pirate radio station Radio Stalin operated from a bomb shelter beneath the statues plinth, the same shelter was also the home of Pragues first rock club in the early 1990s. Since 1991 the marble pedestal has been used as the base of a giant kinetic sculpture of a metronome, in 1996 the pedestal was briefly used as a base for a 35-foot-tall statue of Michael Jackson as a promotional stunt for the start of his HIStory World Tour. A billboard promoting Civic Democratic Party leader Václav Klaus was erected on the site during the Czech parliamentary elections of 1998 but was removed soon after due to high winds. Work began on Pragues Stalin monument towards the end of 1949, the City of Prague has been considering several options for redevelopment of the site for years, including a plan to build an aquarium. The remaining socle is a meeting point for skateboarders
25.
Proto-Germanic
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Proto-Germanic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. The end of the Common Germanic period is reached with the beginning of the Migration Period in the fourth century, the Proto-Germanic language is not directly attested by any coherent surviving texts, it has been reconstructed using the comparative method. Fragmentary direct attestation exists of Common Germanic in early runic inscriptions, the Proto-Germanic language developed in southern Scandinavia, the Urheimat of the Germanic tribes. Proto-Germanic developed out of pre-Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, Proto-Germanic itself was likely spoken after c. Early Germanic expansion in the Pre-Roman Iron Age placed Proto-Germanic speakers in contact with the Continental Celtic La Tène horizon, a number of Celtic loanwords in Proto-Germanic have been identified. By the 1st century AD, Germanic expansion reaches the Danube and the Upper Rhine in the south, at about the same time, extending east of the Vistula, Germanic speakers come into contact with early Slavic cultures, as reflected in early Germanic loans in Proto-Slavic. By the 3rd century, LPGmc speakers had expanded over significant distance, the period marks the breakup of Late Proto-Germanic and the beginning of the Germanic migrations. The earliest coherent text in Proto-Norse become available c.400 in runic inscriptions, the delineation of Late Common Germanic from Proto-Norse about then is largely a matter of convention. Early West Germanic becomes available in the 5th century with the Frankish Bergakker inscription, between the two points, many sound changes occurred. Phylogeny as applied to historical linguistics involves the descent of languages. The Germanic languages form a tree with Proto-Germanic at its root that is a branch of the Indo-European tree, borrowing of lexical items from contact languages makes the relative position of the Germanic branch within Indo-European less clear than the positions of the other branches of Indo-European. In the course of the development of linguistics, various solutions have been proposed, none certain. In the evolutionary history of a family, philologists consider a genetic tree model appropriate only if communities do not remain in effective contact as their languages diverge. The internal diversification of West Germanic developed in an especially non-treelike manner, Proto-Germanic is generally agreed to have begun about 500 BC. Its hypothetical ancestor between the end of Proto-Indo-European and 500 BC is termed Pre-Proto-Germanic, whether it is to be included under a wider meaning of Proto-Germanic is a matter of usage. The fixation of the led to sound changes in unstressed syllables. For Lehmann, the boundary was the dropping of final -a or -e in unstressed syllables, for example, post-PIE *wóyd-e > Gothic wait. Antonsen agreed with Lehmann about the boundary but later found runic evidence that the -a was not dropped, ékwakraz … wraita, I, Wakraz
26.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
27.
Annales Fuldenses
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Throughout this period they are a near contemporary record of the events they describe and a primary source for Carolingian historiography. They are usually read as a counterpart to the found in the West Frankish Annales Bertiniani. The Annals were composed at the Abbey of Fulda in Hesse, some scholars believe that the whole work was first put together by an unknown compiler only in the 870s. It has also suggested that they were continued after 864 by Meinhard. However, already after 863 the three or two groups of the Annals break off into different overlapping versions, continuing Rudolfs work down to 882 and 896. The two alleged principal extensions have been styled the Mainz and Bavarian continuations respectively, the Mainz version shows strong links with the circle of Liutbert, Archbishop of Mainz, and is written from a Franconian perspective and are partisan to Liutbert and the kings he served. The Bavarian continuation was written in Regensburg until 896 and thereafter in Niederalteich. A new edition is eagerly awaited, the years 714 to 830 are largely based on the Royal Frankish Annals and the Annals of Lorsch. After that date the Annals of Fulda are relatively independent, the events recorded in the annals include the death of Louis the Pious and the subsequent dividing of the Frankish Empire into three parts at the Treaty of Verdun. After 860, the focus mainly on events in eastern Francia and on its king Louis the German. It also describes in detail the raids conducted by the Vikings in the Frankish Empire from 845 onwards. Other events recorded in the annals include various miraculous events such as comets, earthquakes, the annals end in 901, a year after the succession of Louis the Child. Along with the Annales Bertiniani, the West Frankish narratives of the same events), ninth-century Histories 2, trans. and annotated by Timothy Reuter, 1–14. The Annals of the Holy Roman Empire, the Annals of Fulda, The Annals of Fulda parts 1-5, The Funeral Annals of Fulda, The Oldest Annals of Fulda transl. and annotated by Grzegorz Kazimierz Walkowski ISBN 978-83-930932-6-7
28.
Poltava
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Poltava is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the city of the Poltava Oblast and of the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltavas estimated population is 294,962 as of 2015 and it is still unknown when Poltava was founded, although the town was not attested before 1174. However, for unknown, municipal authorities chose to celebrate the citys 1100th anniversary in 1999. The settlement is indeed an old one, as archeologists unearthed a Paleolithic dwelling as well as Scythian remains within the city limits, the present name of the city is traditionally connected to the settlement Ltava which is mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle in 1174. With the Mongol invasion of Rus in 1238-39 many cities of the middle Dnieper region were destroyed, in the mid 14th century the region was part of the Duchy of Kiev that was a vassal of the Algirdas Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to the Russian historian Aleksandr Shennikov, the region around modern Poltava was a Cuman Duchy of Mansur who was a son of Mamai. Shennikov also claims that the Mansur Duchy joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a state rather than a vassal state. In 1399 the army of Mansur assisted the army of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in battle of the Vorskla River, the city for the first time is mentioned under the name of Poltava no later than 1430. Supposedly in 1430 the Lithuanian duke Vytautas gave the city along with Glinsk, in 1430 Murza Olexa was baptized as Alexander Glinsky who was a progenitor of the Glinsky family. In 1482 Poltava was razed by the Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray, in 1537 Ografena Vasylivna Glinska passed Poltava to her son-in-law Mykhailo Ivanovych Hrybunov-Baibuza. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the territory around Poltava was passed to the Crown of Poland, in 1630 Poltava was passed to a Polish magnate Bartholomew Obalkowski. In 1641 it changed its owner again who was Alexander Koniecpolski, in 1646 Poltava became part of Wiśniowiecki Ordynatsia governed by the Ruthenian-Polish magnate Jeremi Wiśniowiecki. In 1648 Poltava was the base of a regiment of the Ukrainian Cossacks. In 1658 Poltava became a center of anti-government revolt led by the local leader Martyn Pushkar who contested legitimacy of Ivan Vyhovskys election to the post of Hetman of Zaporizhian Host, the uprising was extinguished with help of Crimean Tatars. On the issue boyar Vasily Borisovich Sheremetev wrote to Alexei Mikhailovich on 8 June 1658, and if the Great Sovereign allows to place a voivode in the city and rebuilt the city until the fall that in Plotava Circassians and residents built their houses and stock-piled their food. With the signing of the 1667 truce of Andrusovo, the city part of the Tsardom of Muscovy. The city suffered from the Great Turkish War when in 1695 Petro Ivanenko led anti-Muscovite uprising with help of Crimean Tatars who ravaged the local monastery, the same year the Poltava Regiment actively participated in the Azov campaigns which resulted in taking the Turkish fortress Kyzy-Kermen
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Ukraine
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Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
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2002 European floods
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The flood was of a magnitude expected to occur roughly once a century. Flooding resulted from the passage of two Genoa low pressure systems which brought warm moist air from the Mediterranean northwards, the effects of El Niño are believed to have possibly contributed although others disagree. The floods started with heavy rainfall in the Eastern Alps, which resulted in floods in Northern Italy, Bavaria and the Austrian states of Salzburg and Upper Austria. The floods gradually moved eastwards along the Danube, although the damage in the cities on its shores was not as severe as in the areas affected by the floods later. Rivers changed their courses in unexpected ways, catching residents off guard, several villages in Northern Bohemia, Thuringia and Saxony were more or less destroyed by rivers changing their courses or massively overflowing their banks. The floods that hit Europe during August 2002 were part of a system that was also affecting Asia. Within Europe, however, the areas that sustained significant damage included the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Spain, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, several rivers in the region, including the Vltava, Elbe and Danube reached record highs. Prague received significant damage from what were deemed to be the worst floods ever to hit the capital, the flow of Vltava culminated at 5300 m³/s, 20% more than during the flood of 1845. Among the regions of the city most severely affected were, Karlín, Kampa and Holešovice. Most of Pragues art work was saved due to warning of high water levels, however there was significant damage to the Prague Metro subway system. The evacuations before the worst of the flooding have been cited as one of the reasons for relatively little loss of life in the capital, an estimated 40,000 people were evacuated from Prague. One of the most visible victims of the flood was Gaston. For some time, it was believed he would survive, however he died following capture in Dresden, in total,17 people lost their lives in the Czech Republic due to the floods, and damage from the flood was estimated at between 70 and 73 billion CZK. In Germany, the 10 years of work that had been carried out since reunification in 1990 in the town of Grimma. Dresden received significant damage when the Elbe River reached a high of 9.4 meters. More than 30,000 people were evacuated from various neighborhoods throughout the city, dresdens Zwinger Palace, home to a significant number of Europes artistic treasures including Raphaels Sistine Madonna was at risk from the flooding Elbe, however all of the art works could be saved. The Semper Opera House also suffered damage, the Black Sea Coast region was among the most severely hit regions of Russia with significant loss of life due to a tornado that hit the tourist region and destroyed homes. This was after earlier summer floods in southern Russia, all told, damage in the region was calculated at more than $400 million
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2013 European floods
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Extreme flooding in Central Europe began after several days of heavy rain in late May and early June 2013. Flooding and damages primarily affected south and east German states, western regions of the Czech Republic, in addition, Switzerland, Slovakia, Belarus, Poland, Hungary and Serbia were affected to a lesser extent. The flood crest progressed down the Elbe and Danube drainage basins and tributaries, leading to high water and flooding along their banks. The spring weather preceding the flooding had been wet in the region, Austria saw twice as much rainfall as average during the month, resulting in the ground in the region becoming saturated. Soils in Germany were showing record levels of prior to the rains. The already saturated soils led to greater runoff when the rains began, late May saw a blocking high Sabine located over the Sole sea area to the west of the UK and France. This split the jet stream over Europe which maintained the pattern in Central Europe. Though later analysis found this flooding did not fit into this type, low pressure areas Frederik and Günther formed over the northern Adriatic and tracked north towards central Europe. The high pressure Sabine and low pressure brought a airflow from the north across Germany. The air mass was pushed to the south west by the flow, where it was lifted as it moved south from the North European Plain over the Thuringian Forest, Ore Mountains. The air was then lifted along the side of the Alps in Austria as the air masses were pushed into the Alps by the northerly flow. Heavy rain was reported in the Austrian states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol and the area of Salzburg, and to the mountains of Upper Austria and Lower Austria and Upper Styria in a short time. On 30 May to 1 June,150 to 200 mm of rain fell, in places reaching around 250 mm, the rainfall experienced in Austria has an expected return period of between 30 and 70 years. The bulk of the fell in only two days in Salzburg, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg, which is thought to have a return period of more than 100 years. Following the intense rain, sporadic showers and rainfall continued to raise the risk of further flooding, some Flash flooding occurred in the Polish capital Warsaw on 9 June, as a result of thunderstorms. The flood waters were expected to exceed the levels seen during the disastrous once in a century Central European floods of 2002 in some areas, in Bavaria and eastern Germany water levels significantly exceeded those of 2002 in many places on the Danube and Elbe. In Passau, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz, in Dresden, by contrast, the old city centre was largely spared, unlike in 2002. Thanks to better control, fewer dykes on the upper reaches of the Elbe broke than in 2002
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Prague Zoo
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Prague Zoo is a Zoo in Prague, Czech Republic. It was opened in 1931 with the goal to advance the study of zoology, protect wildlife, and educate the public in the district of Troja in the north of Prague. In 2013, the Zoo occupied a total of 58 hectares with 45 hectares in use for exhibits and housed about 4,200 animals that represented almost 650 species, Prague Zoological Garden has contributed significantly to saving Przewalskis horse. For many years, it was the biggest breeder of the species in the world, in 2007, Forbes Traveler Magazine listed Prague Zoo as the seventh best Zoo in the world. In 2015, TripAdvisor listed it as the fourth best Zoo in the world,1931 The Opening - On 28 September “The building site of the zoological garden” was opened for the public and in the sunny afternoon the first visitors entered the gate. 1938 The first young Andean condor in the world was hatched and reared,1942 The first polar bear cub was artificially bred in the world. 1959 Dr. Zdeněk Veselovský was appointed the director of the zoo, under his leadership, the Prague Zoo reached some world class successes in the area of breeding and scientific research. 1971 Opened a new pavilion for large mammals,1977 A new chairlift was opened. 1991 Largest cat species pavilion was introduced,2001 The first artificial breeding of a Przewalskis Horse in the world. 2002 Prague suffered the worst floods in its history, a large part of the Zoo was under water and many animals died. 2004 Czech largest and most expensive animal pavilion Indonesian Jungle has been opened,2007 First breeding of Komodo dragon in Prague Zoo. Forbes Traveler listed Prague Zoo among the worlds best zoos,2009 A new exhibition for brown fur seals with a larger swimming pool and a grandstand was opened. 2010 Breeding of Texas tortoise for the first time in Europe 2011 Moja, the first Czech transport of four Przewalski’s horses into the wild in Mongolia. 2012 Historically most pups were born -1,557 in 211 species and this includes the world’s first breeding of the crowned river turtle and the rufous-cheeked laughingthrush, as well as Prague Zoo’s first breeding of the red panda. 2013 A large new Elephant Valley pavilion was introduced and first elephant was born in Prague Zoo, Zoo was in June flooded for the second time, however thanks to timely evacuation there was not a larger loss of animals. 2014 A pavilion for 33 critically endangered Chinese giant salamanders including three adult, was introduced, the main attraction is the largest specimen in Europe. Official website Další zoologické zahrady v České republice
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Hydroelectricity
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Hydroelectricity is electricity produced from hydropower. In 2015 hydropower generated 16. 6% of the total electricity and 70% of all renewable electricity. Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 33 percent of global hydropower in 2013, China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 920 TWh of production in 2013, representing 16.9 percent of domestic electricity use. The cost of hydroelectricity is relatively low, making it a source of renewable electricity. The hydro station consumes no water, unlike coal or gas plants, the average cost of electricity from a hydro station larger than 10 megawatts is 3 to 5 U. S. cents per kilowatt-hour. With a dam and reservoir it is also a source of electricity since the amount produced by the station can be changed up or down very quickly to adapt to changing energy demands. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, Hydropower has been used since ancient times to grind flour and perform other tasks. In the mid-1770s, French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published Architecture Hydraulique which described vertical-, by the late 19th century, the electrical generator was developed and could now be coupled with hydraulics. The growing demand for the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well, in 1878 the worlds first hydroelectric power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland, England by William George Armstrong. It was used to power an arc lamp in his art gallery. The old Schoelkopf Power Station No.1 near Niagara Falls in the U. S. side began to produce electricity in 1881. The first Edison hydroelectric power station, the Vulcan Street Plant, began operating September 30,1882, in Appleton, Wisconsin, by 1886 there were 45 hydroelectric power stations in the U. S. and Canada. By 1889 there were 200 in the U. S. alone, at the beginning of the 20th century, many small hydroelectric power stations were being constructed by commercial companies in mountains near metropolitan areas. Grenoble, France held the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism with over one million visitors, by 1920 as 40% of the power produced in the United States was hydroelectric, the Federal Power Act was enacted into law. The Act created the Federal Power Commission to regulate hydroelectric power stations on federal land, as the power stations became larger, their associated dams developed additional purposes to include flood control, irrigation and navigation. Federal funding became necessary for development and federally owned corporations, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. Hydroelectric power stations continued to become larger throughout the 20th century, Hydropower was referred to as white coal for its power and plenty. Hoover Dams initial 1,345 MW power station was the worlds largest hydroelectric station in 1936
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listen); German: Moldau, IPA: [ˈmɔldaʊ]) is the longest river within the Czech Republic, running southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice and Prague, and finally merging with the Elbe at Mělník. It is commonly referred to as the "Czech national river".[citation needed]
Geographic data related to Vltava at OpenStreetMap
Geographic data related to