1.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
2.
Altai Krai
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Altai Krai is a federal subject of Russia. It borders with, clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, the krais administrative center is the city of Barnaul. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the krai was 2,419,755, Altai Krai has rolling foothills, grasslands, lakes, rivers, and mountains. The climate is severe with long dry winters and hot. The regions main waterway is the Ob River, the Biya and Katun Rivers are also important. The biggest lakes are Lake Kulundinskoye, Lake Kuchukskoye, and Lake Mikhaylovskoye, Altai Krai has huge reserves of raw materials, especially materials used for building, as well as significant mineral reserves. These include nonferrous metals, lead and iron ores, manganese, tungsten, molybdenum, bauxite, forests cover about 60,000 km² of the krais land. See also Geography of South-Central Siberia, the Altai bees are hardy and healthy they are renowned for producing some of the worlds finest organic honeys. Historically honey was used by the peoples of Altai and Bashkiria as payment or yasak to the Russian Tsars and this area is part of a great crossroads in the ancient world. Nomadic tribes crossed through the territory during periods of migration, the nomadic tribes were composed of different peoples. Archeological sites reveal that ancient humans lived in the area, the Altay people are a Turkic people, some of whom have settled here, who were originally nomadic and date back to the 2nd millennium BCE. The territory of the krai has been controlled by the Xiongnu Empire and Mongolian Xianbei state, Rouran Khaganate, Mongol Empire, Golden Horde, Northern Yuan and Zunghar Khanate. Ref. Lietuvos žydų tremtinių sąrašas Parengė Galina Žirikova pagal, „Genocido aukų vardynas 1939-1941 m. “ Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos centras, the flag of Altai Krai is red and blue with a yellow stripe on it as a symbol of agriculture. In the center of the flag is the coat of arms of Altai Krai, the coat of arms of Altai Krai was established in 2000. It includes a shield of French heraldry form with a basement of 8/10th of its height, bottom edges of the shield are rounded. The shield is divided with a horizontal stripe into two equal parts, in the upper part has a blue background, which is a symbol of glory, is a steamy oven of the 18th century, which reflects a historical past of the krai. In the bottom part on the red background, which is a symbol of dignity, braveness and courage, is an image of the Koluvan Queen of Vases mainly in green color, which is kept in the Hermitage Museum. The shield is framed with golden wheat ears which represent agriculture as an industry of Altai Krai
3.
Omsk Oblast
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Omsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, located in southwestern Siberia. The oblast has an area of 139,700 square kilometers and its population is 1,977,665 with the majority,1.15 million, living in Omsk, the administrative center. The oblast borders with Tyumen Oblast in the north and west, Novosibirsk and Tomsk Oblasts in the east and it shares borders with Kazakhstan to the south, the Tyumen region in the west and north of the Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions in the east. Included in the Siberian Federal District, the territory stretches for 600 km from north to south and 300 km from west to east. The main water artery - Irtysh and its tributaries Ishim, Om, Osha, the region is located in the West Siberian Plain, flat terrain dictates. In the south - the steppe, gradually turning into steppe, forest, along the Irtysh River, in t. N. Irtysh region, there is a oasis microclimate, with a wooded landscape and gully. Here, the most fertile land in the region, also, in the Omsk region has many lakes, Sultan, Tennis, Ik, Ebeyty, Ulzhan, Tobol-Cushla. The highest point in the Omsk region - about 150 m Upland village, the property is located in Omsk region 28 specially protected natural territories of regional destinations. Including parks in Bolshereche and Omsk, the oblast has a classic continental climate, with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Average January temperatures range from -42 °C to -30 °C, average July temperatures range from +28 °C to +25 °C, and can reach up to +35 °C and even +40 °C. The southern plains have notably longer and warmers summers and an onset of freezing temperatures. They are also drier than the northern forests, receiving only 250–300 mm of precipitation annually. Winters, however, are as severe as on the plains as they are further north, spring rains are rare, but late spring freezes are not. The early part of the summer is dominated by hot. As of February 1,2016 on the territory of the Omsk region, there are 35 areas that have the status of protected areas, archeological findings indicate that the present day territory of the oblast has been inhabited for the last 14,000 years. Neolithic societies in the area lived by fishing and hunting, about three thousand years ago, pastoralism began to take hold. Various Turkic states dominated the area throughout the Medieval era, the most notable of these were the Western Turkic Khaganate and the Siberian Khanate. Siberian Tatars, Mongols, Khanty and Mansi tribes, along with others, the Russian history of Omsk began with the 1584 arrival of a Cossack force under the command of ataman Yermak, who defeated local rulers and established nominal Russian control of the area
4.
Novosibirsk Oblast
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Novosibirsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative and economic center is the city of Novosibirsk, the population was 2,665,911 as of the 2010 Census. Novosibirsk Oblast is located in the south of the West Siberian Plain, at the foothills of low Salair ridge, the oblast borders Omsk Oblast in the west, Tomsk Oblast in the north, Kemerovo Oblast in the east, and Altai Krai together with Kazakhstan in the south. The territory of the oblast extends for more than 600 kilometers from west to east, the oblast is mainly plain, in the south the steppes prevail, in the north enormous tracts of woodland with great number of marshes prevail. There are many lakes, the largest ones located at the south, the majority of the rivers belong to the Ob basin, many of them falling in dead lakes. Largest lakes are Chany, Sartlan, Ubinskoye, and some others, as of 2007, the oil reserves of the region amounted to 204 million tons. In addition, Novosibirsk Oblast had free gas reserves of 600 million cubic meters, solute gas reserves of 5.2 billion cubic meters, most of the oil and gas reserves are located in the Severny and Kyshtovsky districts. The following metals can be found in the region, zirconium dioxide, titanium dioxide, bauxite, in addition, there are twenty-three fields of alluvial placer gold in the region and seven residual soil gold fields suitable for open-cut mining in the southeast. Novosibirsk Oblast has 5.527 million tons of high-quality anthracite, as well as 2.720 million tons of long-flame, most of these are located in the Iskitim and Toguchin districts. The north part of the region also has peat fields with estimated reserves of 7.6 billion tons, prospected mineral water reserves in the region amount to 6,948 cubic meters per day. The popular Karachinskaya mineral water originates from the region, the oblast has 4,531,800 hectares of forests, with 509.88 million cubic meters of timber reserves. Most of the forests consist of softwood. Softwood forests cover an area of 3,481,300 hectares, coniferous forests - located mostly near the Ob River and the Salair Ridge - cover an area of 1,011,900 hectares with timber reserves of 121.39 million cubic meters. The economic potential of the forests is reduced by the fact that most of them are located in the north of the region, Novosibirsk Oblast has a continental climate. Average temperature is −19 °C in January and +19 °C in July, during the Middle Ages the region was populated by Siberian Tatar and Teleut tribes. The first Russian village Maslyanino was founded in 1644, in 1716, officer Ivan Butkeyev built the Berd fortress that later became the city of Berdsk, the main center of future colonization and development of the region. Like many other parts of Siberia, the Berd lands became a haven for political dissents, fugitive serfs. The turning point in history of the region was the construction of the Trans-Siberian, founded in 1893, Novosibirsk, then Novonikolayevsk, became a transport hub of sub-regional importance and surpassed other major Siberian cities like Omsk and Tomsk in mere decades
5.
Kemerovo Oblast
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Kemerovo Oblast, also known as Kuzbass after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia, located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains. Kemerovo is the center of the oblast, though Novokuznetsk is the largest city in the oblast. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russias most urbanized regions, with over 70% of the living in its nine principal cities. Its ethnic composition is predominantly Russian, but Ukrainians, Tatars, the population recorded during the 2010 Census was 2,763,135. The oblast was established on January 26,1943, but it has considerably older antecedents, shors, Teleuts and Siberian Tatars are native peoples of the region. The oldest city in Kemerovo Oblast is Novokuznetsk, founded in 1618, the territory of modern Kemerovo Oblast has been inhabited for several thousand years. In 1618, Kuznetsk fort was established in the south of the future oblast to protect the land from Russian and Mongolian Dzhungarian invaders, during the 19th century, the territory of the modern oblast was a part of Tomsk Governorate. After the October Revolution Kuzbass becomes part of the West Siberian Krai, industrial enterprises are being built near the workers settlements, which quickly became a city, Kiselevsk Osinniki Krasnobrodsky, Tashtagol Kaltan Mezhdurechensk and others. During the Great Patriotic War, Kemerovo region became a supplier of coal and metal. From Novokuznetsk steel produced over 50,000 tanks and 45,000 aircraft, in Kuzbass from the occupied areas were evacuated equipment 71 enterprises, most of which have remained in the Kuzbass. In the new Oblast included 17. 5% of the Novosibirsk region,9 of the 12 cities of regional subordination,17 of the 20 workers settlements,23 of the 75 districts, the population of the Kemerovo Oblast was 42% of the total population of the Novosibirsk Oblast. The climate of the oblast is continental, winters are cold and long, summers are warm, the average January temperature ranges from −17 to −20 °C, the average in July is 17 to 18 °C. Average annual precipitation ranges from 300 millimeters on the plains and the foothills of up to 1,000 millimeters or more in mountainous areas. The duration of the period is 100 days in the north area. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russias most important industrial regions, with some of the worlds largest deposits of coal, the south of the region is dominated by metallurgy and the mining industry, as well as mechanical engineering and chemical production. The northern area of the region is more agricultural, the region has a dense railway network, including the Trans-Siberian Railway, which passes through the oblast. Prokopevsk, Kiselevsk, and Andzhero-Sudzhensk are coal-producing centers, and Novokuznetsk is the center of the engineering industry, since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament. The Charter of Kemerovo Oblast is the law of the region
6.
Chelyabinsk Oblast
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Chelyabinsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the city of Chelyabinsk, during the Middle Ages, the Southern Urals were populated by Bashkir tribes that were part of the Golden Horde, Nogai Horde, and smaller Bashkir unions. The area was incorporated into the Tsardom of Russia in the late 16th century, many cities of Chelyabinsk Oblast, including the city of Chelyabinsk itself, trace their history back to those forts. In 1743, the Chelyabinsk fortress became a center of the Iset Province, the 1750s-1770s saw the emergence of industrial enterprises in South Ural, when the first factory-centered towns like Miass, Kyshtym, and Zlatoust were founded. After South Ural recovered from the Pugachevs Rebellion, the territory of modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast started to more people from the European part of Russia. In 1919, Chelyabinski became the capital of the newly formed Chelyabinsk Governorate. At this time, the population of the new region already exceeded one million people, in 1923, together with the Perm, Yekaterinburg and Tyumen governorates, it was merged into a single Ural Oblast that lasted less than ten years, until 1934. On January 17,1934, Chelyabinsk Oblast was finally established and its current boundaries were formed when Kurgan Oblast was detached from it in 1943. During the 1930s, the economy and industrial output grew as Chelyabinsk Oblast became a key focus of the first Five-Year Plans. The economy continued to grow with the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, as industries were evacuated from the parts of the Soviet Union to Ural. During the war, Magnitogorsk alone produced one third of all Soviet steel, while the city of Chelyabinsk became the center of Soviet tank production. Chelyabinsk Oblast has been associated with nuclear research since the 1940s. While there are no power stations in Chelyabinsk, a number of production reactors were located there starting with the early Cold War. The province was closed to all foreigners until 1992, with the exception of allowing a British medical team following a two-train rail explosion in the mid-1980s. The documentary Chelyabinsk, The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet was made by Slawomir Grunberg about the dumping of radioactive waste in the Techa River. Chelyabinsk Oblast is on the slope of the Southern Urals. Only a small part of the territory to the west is on the slopes of the Southern Urals. Chelyabinsk Oblast is situated in the Southern Urals, near Kurgan, Most of the Oblast is located to the east of the Ural Mountains, which form the continental boundary between Europe and Asia
7.
Tyumen Oblast
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Tyumen Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Tyumen, the oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous okrugs—Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Tyumen is the largest city, with half a million inhabitants. As of 2006, it is by far the richest federal subject of Russia and it was established from several districts of Omsk and Kurgan Oblasts on August 14,1944. The total territory is 160,100 km2, the Tyumen Region was founded in August 14,1944. Tyumen Region includes two autonomous okrugs of the, Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous okrug–the Yugra and Yamalo-Nenetsk autonomous okrug – which are fully legitimate constituents of the, the territory is located in the basin of the river. The biggest rivers are the Tura, the Tobol, the, the Pyshma, the Iset, the hydro-geographical system is characterized with the prevalence of small rivers as well as the significant bogginess of their catchment areas and numerous lakes. The climate is arctic, sub-arctic and temperate in the north - in the center, the average January temperature ranges from -17 ° C in the region of Tyumen to -27 ° C in the north. The duration of the frost period is 130 Tyumen to 210 days a year or more in the tundra region, the region takes place more than 70 thousand watercourses length of more than 10 km of the total length of 584,400 km. The largest area of the river - Ob and Irtysh - are navigable value, in the region there are about 70 thousand lakes. In the north and in the part of the widespread thermokarst lakes. The Red Book of the Tyumen region listed 711 rare and endangered species, in the list of specially protected areas of the south region there are 99 sites, including one international and three federal. Tyumen area is in the Ekaterinburg timezone, concerning Moscow time the time zone has constant displacement +2 hours and is designated in Russia correspondingly as MSK +2. Ekaterinburg time for most of the Tyumen region is different from the lap time by one hour, to a part, including the city of Tyumen. There are variety of fauna and flora in this region, in the northern part can be found ptarmigan, walrus and Arctic fox. Polar bears also occur in the north, the genetic make-up of this Polar bear sub-population is genetically distinct from other circumpolar regions. Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, the politics in the oblast is governed by the Charter of Tyumen Oblast. The laws within the authority of the oblast are passed by the Legislative Assembly of Tymen Oblast which is the legislative body, the highest executive body is the Tyumen Oblast Administration
8.
Sverdlovsk Oblast
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Sverdlovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia located in the Urals Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg, formerly known as Sverdlovsk, most of the oblast is spread over the eastern slopes of the Middle and North Urals and the Western Siberian Plain. Only in the southwest does the oblast stretch onto the slopes of the Ural Mountains. The highest mountains all rise in the North Urals, Konzhakovsky Kamen at 1,569 metres, the Middle Urals is mostly hilly country with no discernible peaks, the mean elevation is closer to 300 to 500 metres above sea level. Principal rivers include the Tavda, the Tura, the Chusovaya, and the Ufa, the area is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude. Rich in natural resources, the oblast is especially famous for metals, minerals, marble and it is mostly here that the bulk of Russian industry was concentrated in the 18th and 19th centuries. The area has continental climate patterns, with cold winters. Only in the southeast of the oblast do temperatures reach +30 °C in July, before the first Russian colonists arrived to the region, it was populated by various Turkic and Ugric tribes. By the 16th century, when the Middle Urals were under influence of various Tatar khanates, the Russian conquest of the Khanate of Kazan in the 1550s paved the way further east, which was now free from Tatar depredations. The first surviving Russian settlements in the date back to the late 16th – early 17th centuries. At that time, those small trading posts were governed under Siberian administration in Tobolsk, after the 1708 administrative reform, Verkhoturye, Pelym and Turinsk became a part of the new Siberian Governorate, in 1737 their territories were assigned to the Kazan Governorate. During the 18th century, rich resources of iron and coal made Ural an industrial heartland of Russia, after getting control over Ural mines, the Demidov family put the region in the forefront of Russian industrialization. Yekaterinburg, Nevyansk and Tagil ironworks, founded in the 1700s to 1720s, throughout the 18th and 19th century those newly founded factory towns enjoyed a status of special mining-metallurgical districts allowed to have a certain rate of financial and proprietary autonomy. During the 1781 reform middle Ural finally got its own administration in the form of the Perm Governorate. When in 1812 the Russian government legalized gold digging for its citizens, entrepreneurs of the Perm Governorate also started the gold rush in West Siberia, soon Yekaterinburgers began to dominate the Russian market of precious metals and gemstones. After the emancipation reform of 1861, major Middle Uralian industries that were dependent on serf labor entered decline. In 1878, Perm and Yekaterinburg were connected with a railroad, in 1888, railroads reached Tyumen, emergence of railroad transportation helped to revitalize economy of Ural. The Bolsheviks established their power in Yekaterinburg and Perm during the first days of the October Revolution of 1917, in early 1918 dethroned Nicholas II and his family were transferred under custody to Yekaterinburg
9.
Krasnodar Krai
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Krasnodar Krai is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Krasnodar and it had a population of 5,226,647. The krai is sometimes referred to as Kuban, a term describing a region of southern Russia. The Republic of Adygea is completely encircled by the krai territory, the krais Taman Peninsula is situated between the Sea of Azov in the north and the Black Sea in the south. In the west, the Kerch Strait separates the krai from the Crimean Peninsula, at its widest extent, the krai stretches for 327 kilometers from north to south and for 360 kilometers from east to west. The krai is split into two parts by the Kuban River, which gave its name to this entire geographic region. The northern part is a zone which shares continental climate patterns. The height of the mountains exceeds 3,000 meters, with Mount Tsakhvoa being the highest at 3,346 meters, Mount Fisht, at 2,867 meters, is the Great Caucasus westernmost peak with a glacier. The Black Sea coast stretches from the Kerch Strait to Adler and is shielded by Caucasus Mountains from the northern winds. Numerous small mountain rivers flow in the areas, often creating picturesque waterfalls. Lake Abrau, located in the region of Abrau-Dyurso, is the largest lake in the northeastern Caucasus region. Lake Ritsa is considered to be one of the most picturesque lakes in the region, in 631, Kubrat was founded on the Kuban State and the Great Bulgar Khans dynasty began. The territory of Krasnodar Region from the 8th to the 10th centuries was part of the Khazars, after the defeat of the Khazar Khanate in 965 Kievan prince Svyatoslav conquered the area, it came under the rule of Kievan Rus, and it then formed the Tmutarakan principality. Later, due to the claims of Byzantium at the end of the 11th century. In that period of history, Russian Circassians first appeared under the name Kasogs, for example, Rededi Prince Kasozhsky was mentioned in The Tale of Igors Campaign. In 1243-1438 the current territory of the Kuban was part of the Golden Horde, after the collapse of the latter, parts of Kuban were held under the Crimean Khanate, Circassia, and the Ottoman Empire, which dominated the region. The Tsardom of Russia began to challenge the protectorate of the Ottoman Empire in the area during the Russian-Turkish wars, in April 1783, by decree of Catherine II, right-bank Kuban and Taman Peninsula were annexed to the Russian Empire. During the campaign for control of the North Caucasus to Russia in 1829 pushed the Ottoman Empire, border was marked on the Black Sea coast
10.
Orenburg Oblast
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Orenburg Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg, from 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkalov. The most important river of the oblast is the Ural, Orenburg is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group, as of a 2012 official survey 40. Muslims constitute 13% of the population, 3% of the population are followers of the Slavic native faith,6. 8% are followers of other religions or did not give an answer to the survey. In addition, 20% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, Orenburg Oblast is one of the major agricultural areas of Russia. List of Chairmen of the Legislative Assembly of Orenburg Oblast Black Dolphin Prison
11.
Volgograd Oblast
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Volgograd Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. The population was 2,610,161 in the 2010 Census, borders length,2,221.9 kilometers Volgograd Oblast borders with Saratov, Rostov, Astrakhan, and Voronezh Oblasts, as well as with the Republic of Kalmykia of Russia and with Kazakhstan. Volgograd has more than 200 rivers and streams, the major ones include, The Volga River The Don River The Medveditsa River The Khopyor River Stalingrad Oblast was established on December 5,1936 on the territory of former Stalingrad Krai. The oblast was given its present name on November 10,1961, the Charter of Volgograd Oblast provides the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Volgograd Oblast is the provinces standing legislative body, the Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group, according to a 2012 official survey 54. In addition, 18% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, 12% is atheist, and 6. 5% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question. Governor of Volgograd Oblast is Anatoliy Brovko Both the flag and the coat of arms of Volgograd Oblast include an image of The Motherland Calls, primary branches of economics are agriculture, food production, heavy industry, gas and petroleum refining. Volga Hydroelectric Station operates on the Volga River, list of Chairmen of the Volgograd Oblast Duma Volgograd floating landing Волгоградская областная Дума. Закона №90-ОД от10 июля2015 г, «О внесении изменений в статью2 Устава Волгоградской области от24 февраля2012 г. Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней после дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Волгоградская правда, №35,29 февраля2012 г. Исполнительный комитет Волгоградского областного Совета депутатов трудящихся, Административно-территориальное деление на1 июля1968 года. Official website of Volgograd Oblast Central Eurasian Information Resource, Images of Volgograd Oblast - University of Washington Digital Collections
12.
Tomsk Oblast
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Tomsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District and its administrative center is the city of Tomsk. The development of the territory which now constitutes the oblast began in the early 17th century, Tomsk itself was founded in 1604. Some of the oblasts 316,900 square kilometers territory is inaccessible because it is covered with taiga woods, Tomsk oblast contains Vasyugan Swamp, the biggest swamp in the northern hemisphere. The oblast borders with Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, long before Siberia became part of Russia, the territory of modern Tomsk Oblast was inhabited by people belonging to the taiga Kulayskoy civilization known for its bronze artifacts. The development of the began in the end of the 16th. The oldest settlement in the area is the village Narym, founded in 1596, the administrative center of the province, the city of Tomsk, was founded in 1604. From 1719 to 1804 in the province of Tobolsk, in 1782, is formed by Tomskaya oblast in the composition of Tobolsky namestnichestva. In 1804 the Tomsk province was founded, which existed until 1925, Tomsk oblast was established August 13,1944 by isolation from the Novosibirsk region of the districts and the former Narym District. On July 26,1995 the Oblasts charter was adopted, since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament. The Charter of Tomsk Oblast is the law of the region. The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast is the provinces standing legislative body, the Legislative Duma exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. Tomsk Oblast is rich in resources, particularly oil, natural gas, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, peat. Forests are also among the most significant assets of the oblast, industry makes up about half of the regional GDP, while agriculture contributes 19% and construction 13%. Chemical and oil industries are the most developed in the region, the oblasts major export items are, oil, methanol, and machines and equipment. Oil extraction and lumbering are the business of the regions joint ventures. Major ethnic groups living in the oblast are Russians, Ukrainian-Belorussian, Siberian Tatars & Volga German, slavs, Finns and Germans make up more than 94. 4% of the population, while Tatars, Chuvash, Armenes and Khants make up the remaining part. Additionally,45,016 people were registered from administrative databases and it is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group
13.
Saratov Oblast
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Saratov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Saratov, as of the 2010 Census, its population was 2,521,892. The oblast is located in the southeast of European Russia, in the part of the Lower Volga region. From west to east its territory stretches for 575 kilometers, the oblast has many water resources, besides the river Volga there are many identified sources and mineral-water deposits. In 1991, the CPSU lost all its power, and the head of the Oblast administration, the Charter of Saratov Oblast is the fundamental law of the oblast. The Legislative Assembly of Saratov Oblast is the provinces standing legislative body, the Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts it passes. Ethnic groups, most of the ethnic Germans who used to live in the area have been repatriated. The ethnic composition was reported to be, Russians, Kazakhs, Tatars, Ukrainians, Armenians, Azerbaijani, Chuvash,64,878 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group, 2% are Muslims, 1% of the population adheres to Rodnovery, and 0. 5% adheres to forms of Hinduism. In addition, 38% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, 16% is atheist, list of Chairmen of the Saratov Oblast Duma Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Саратовская областная Дума. Закон №46-ЗСО от2 июня2005 г, Закона №54-ЗСО от28 апреля2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Устав Саратовской области», Вступил в силу после официального опубликования. Опубликован, Неделя области, Спецвыпуск, №38,4 июня2005 г
14.
Perm Krai
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Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1,2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm is the administrative center, Komi-Permyak Okrug retained its autonomous status within Perm Krai during the transitional period of 2006–2008. It also retained a separate from that of the krai. Starting in 2009, Komi-Permyak Okrugs budget became subject to the law of Perm Krai. The transitional period was implemented in part because Komi-Permyak Okrug relies heavily on subsidies. Perm Krai is located in the east of the East European Plain,99. 8% of its area is in Europe,0. 2% in Asia. Length from north to south –645 kilometres length from west to east –417, the krai borders stretch for over 2,200 kilometres. The highest point is Mount Tulymsky Kamen at 1,496 metres, rivers of Perm Krai belong to the Kama River Basin, the largest tributary of Volga River. There are more than 29,000 rivers in Perm Krai, the total length of all rivers is more than 90,000 kilometres. Only two rivers in Perm Krai have lengths exceeding 500 kilometres and they are the Kama River at 1,805 kilometres and the Chusovaya River,592 kilometres. There are about 40 rivers with lengths from 100 to 500 kilometres, Perm krai has a continental climate. Winters are long and snowy, with temperatures in January varying from −18 °C in the northeast part of krai to −15 °C in southwest part. The record lowest recorded temperature was −53 °C, Perm Krai is rich with minerals, that can be explained its diverse relief in mountainous and flat parts. There are produced, oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds, chromites, peat, limestone, building materials, oil in its area was first discovered in 1929 near settlement Verhnechusovskie Gorodki. Currently there are more than 180 oil and gas fields. Among them are developed,89 oil,2 gas and 18 both oil and gas fields, most of them are small and extracted in central and southern districts of krai. Northern fields a less developed because of deep lying of oil under salt layers, coal has been mined in Perm Krai for more than 200 years. For a long time it played an important role in the fuel, maximum mining was in 1960 and reached 12 million tones, after it mining decrease and there are no exploration of new fields
15.
Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is the worlds largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the regions GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources, Kazakhstan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people as of 2014, Given its large area, its population density is among the lowest. The capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic tribes. This changed in the 13th century, when Genghis Khan occupied the country as part of the Mongolian Empire, following internal struggles among the conquerors, power eventually reverted to the nomads. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, the Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times, in 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy, especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry. Kazakhstans 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, the Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes. The name Kazakh comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, to wander, the name Cossack is of the same origin. The Persian suffix -stan means land or place of, so Kazakhstan can be translated as land of the wanderers. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age, the regions climate, archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the regions vast steppes. Central Asia was originally inhabited by the Scythians, the Cuman entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Under the Mongol Empire, the largest in history, administrative districts were established. These eventually came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate, throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe. Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south, at its height the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control Cumania
16.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
17.
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
18.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
19.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
20.
Mennonite
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The Mennonites are Christian groups belonging to the church communities of Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons of Friesland. Through his writings, Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders, rather than fight, the majority of these followers survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their radical belief in believers baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the peace churches because of their commitment to pacifism. There is controversy among Mennonites about this issue, with some insisting that they are simply a group while others argue that they form a distinct ethnic group. Historians and sociologists have increasingly started to treat Mennonites as an ethno-religious group, there is also a discussion about the term ethnic Mennonite. There are about 2.1 million Anabaptists worldwide as of 2015, Mennonite congregations worldwide embody the full scope of Mennonite practice from plain people to those who are indistinguishable in dress and appearance from the general population. Mennonites can be found in communities in at least 87 countries on six continents, the largest populations of Mennonites are to be found in Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India and the United States. Today, less than 500 Mennonites remain in Ukraine, a relatively small Mennonite presence, known as the Algemene Doopsgezinde Societeit, still continues in the Netherlands, where Simons was born. The early history of the Mennonites starts with the Anabaptists in the German, the German term is Täufer or Wiedertäufer. The Greek word palin is the single most used term translated as again throughout the Greek MSS translated into the English KJV Bible, when the Greek prepositional prefix ana is used, it is always translated separately, and not transliterated. The English transliteration of anbaptizmo demands a transliterated rendering as an-other baptism, hence ANA-baptism and these forerunners of modern Mennonites were part of the Protestant Reformation, a broad reaction against the practices and theology of the Roman Catholic Church. Other significant theological views of the Mennonites developed in opposition to Roman Catholic views or to the views of other Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther, some of the followers of Zwinglis Reformed church thought that requiring church membership beginning at birth was inconsistent with the New Testament example. At a small meeting in Zurich on January 21,1525, Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz and this meeting marks the beginning of the Anabaptist movement. In the spirit of the times, many groups followed, preaching about reducing hierarchy, relations with the state, eschatology and these movements are together referred to as the Radical Reformation. They joined forces to fight the movement, using such as banishment, torture. Despite strong repressive efforts of the churches, the movement spread slowly around western Europe. Officials killed many of the earliest Anabaptist leaders in an attempt to purge Europe of the new sect, by 1530, most of the founding leaders had been killed for refusing to renounce their beliefs. Many believed that God did not condone killing or the use of force for any reason and were unwilling to fight for their lives
21.
Romanization of Russian
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Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic script into the Latin alphabet. Scientific transliteration, also known as the International Scholarly System, is a system that has used in linguistics since the 19th century. It is based on the Czech alphabet and formed the basis of the GOST, OST8483 was the first Soviet standard on romanization of Russian, introduced in 16 October 1935. This standard is an equivalent of GOST 16876-71 and was adopted as a standard of the COMECON. GOST7. 79-2000 System of Standards on Information, Librarianship and it is the official standard of both Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Machine readable passports is an adoption of an ICAO stadards for travel documents and it was used in Russian passports for a short period during 2010–2013. The standard was substituted in 2013 by GOST R ISO/IEC 7501-1-2013, which does not contain romanization, ISO/R9, established in 1954 and updated in 1968, was the adoption of the scientific transliteration by the International Organization for Standardization. It covers Russian and seven other Slavic languages, ISO9,1995 is the current transliteration standard from ISO. It is based on its predecessor ISO/R9,1968, which it deprecates, for Russian, the UNGEGN, a Working Group of the United Nations, in 1987 recommended a romanization system for geographical names, which was based on the 1983 version of GOST 16876-71. It may be found in some international cartographic products, American Library Association and Library of Congress romanization tables for Slavic alphabets are used in North American libraries and in the British Library since 1975. The formal, unambiguous version of the system requires some diacritics and two-letter tie characters, British Standard 2979,1958 is the main system of the Oxford University Press, and a variation was used by the British Library to catalogue publications acquired up to 1975. The BGN/PCGN system is relatively intuitive for Anglophones to read and pronounce, the portion of the system pertaining to the Russian language was adopted by BGN in 1944 and by PCGN in 1947. In Soviet international passports, transliteration was based on French rules, in 1997, with the introduction of new Russian passports, a diacritic-free English-oriented system was established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but this system was also abandoned in 2010. In 2006, GOST52535. 1-2006 was adopted, which defines technical requirements and standards for Russian international passports, in 2010, the Federal Migratory Service of Russia approved Order No. 26, stating that all names in the passports issued after 2010 must be transliterated using GOST52535. 1-2006. The standard was abandoned in 2013, finally in 2013, Order No.320 of the Federal Migratory Service of Russia came into force. It states that all names in the passports must be transliterated using the ICAO system. This system differs from the GOST52535. 1-2006 system in two things, ц is transliterated into ts, ъ is transliterated into ie, Scholarly ¹ Some archaic letters are transcribed in different ways
22.
Germans
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Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans. The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages, before the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Germans constituted the largest divided nation in Europe by far. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans. Thus, the number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied. Today, people from countries with German-speaking majorities most often subscribe to their own national identities, the German term Deutsche originates from the Old High German word diutisc, referring to the Germanic language of the people. It is not clear how commonly, if at all, the word was used as an ethnonym in Old High German, used as a noun, ein diutscher in the sense of a German emerges in Middle High German, attested from the second half of the 12th century. The Old French term alemans is taken from the name of the Alamanni and it was loaned into Middle English as almains in the early 14th century. The word Dutch is attested in English from the 14th century, denoting continental West Germanic dialects, while in most Romance languages the Germans have been named from the Alamanni, the Old Norse, Finnish and Estonian names for the Germans were taken from that of the Saxons. In Slavic languages, the Germans were given the name of němьci, originally with a meaning foreigner, the English term Germans is only attested from the mid-16th century, based on the classical Latin term Germani used by Julius Caesar and later Tacitus. It gradually replaced Dutch and Almains, the latter becoming mostly obsolete by the early 18th century, the Germans are a Germanic people, who as an ethnicity emerged during the Middle Ages. Originally part of the Holy Roman Empire, around 300 independent German states emerged during its decline after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years War and these states eventually formed into modern Germany in the 19th century. The concept of a German ethnicity is linked to Germanic tribes of antiquity in central Europe, the early Germans originated on the North German Plain as well as southern Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the number of Germans was significantly increasing and they began expanding into eastern Europe, during antiquity these Germanic tribes remained separate from each other and did not have writing systems at that time. In the European Iron Age the area that is now Germany was divided into the La Tène horizon in Southern Germany and the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany. By 55 BC, the Germans had reached the Danube river and had either assimilated or otherwise driven out the Celts who had lived there, and had spread west into what is now Belgium and France. Conflict between the Germanic tribes and the forces of Rome under Julius Caesar forced major Germanic tribes to retreat to the east bank of the Rhine, in Roman-held territories with Germanic populations, the Germanic and Roman peoples intermarried, and Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions intermingled. The adoption of Christianity would later become an influence in the development of a common German identity
23.
Volga River
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The Volga is the longest river in Europe. It is also Europes largest river in terms of discharge and watershed, the river flows through central Russia and into the Caspian Sea, and is widely regarded as the national river of Russia. Eleven of the twenty largest cities of Russia, including the capital, some of the largest reservoirs in the world can be found along the Volga. The river has a meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Волга-матушка Volga-Matushka in Russian literature and folklore. The Slavic name is a translation of earlier Scythian Rā Volga, literally wetness, cognate with Avestan Raŋhā mythical stream and Sanskrit rasā́- dew, liquid, juice. The Scythian name survives in modern Mordvin Rav Volga, the Turkic peoples living along the river formerly referred to it as Itil or Atil big river. In modern Turkic languages, the Volga is known as İdel in Tatar, Атăл in Chuvash, Idhel in Bashkir, Edil in Kazakh, the Turkic peoples associated the Itils origin with the Kama. Thus, a tributary to the Kama was named the Aq Itil White Itil which unites with the Kara Itil Black Itil at the modern city of Ufa. The name Indyl is used in Adyge language, among Asians, the river was known by its other Turkic name Sarı-su yellow water, but the Oirats also used their own name, Ijil mörön or adaptation river. Presently the Mari, another Uralic group, call the river Jul, formerly, they called the river Volgydo, a borrowing from Old Russian. The Volga is the longest river in Europe and it belongs to the closed basin of the Caspian Sea, being the longest river to flow into a closed basin. From there it turns south, flows past Ulyanovsk, Tolyatti, Samara, Saratov and Volgograd, at its most strategic point, it bends toward the Don. Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, is located there, the Volga has many tributaries, most importantly the rivers Kama, the Oka, the Vetluga, and the Sura. The Volga and its tributaries form the Volga river system, which flows through an area of about 1,350,000 square kilometres in the most heavily populated part of Russia. The Volga Delta has a length of about 160 kilometres and includes as many as 500 channels, the largest estuary in Europe, it is the only place in Russia where pelicans, flamingos, and lotuses may be found. The Volga freezes for most of its length for three each year. The Volga drains most of Western Russia and its many large reservoirs provide irrigation and hydroelectric power. The Moscow Canal, the Volga–Don Canal, and the Volga–Baltic Waterway form navigable waterways connecting Moscow to the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov, high levels of chemical pollution have adversely affected the river and its habitats
24.
European Russia
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Russia is not proportionately populated between the smaller western portion of the country that is considered part of Europe, and the larger eastern portion that is part of Asia. European Russia contains about 77% of the population in an area comprising almost 4 million km2. This territory makes up 38% of Europe and its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south, it is defined by the border with Kazakhstan. This area includes Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the two largest cities in Russia, the eastern portion of Russia, mostly Siberia, is part of Asia and makes up more than 75% of the territory with 22% of the countrys population at 2.5 persons per km2. The term “European Russia” was used in the Russian Empire to refer to traditional East Slavic territories under Russian control, including what is now Belarus, administrative districts do not exactly line up with European Russia, but they are decent approximations, depending on exactly how Europe is defined. There are two trends, one to use administrative divisions north of the terminus of the Ural River. Similarly, the imaginary line if straight, could include parts of very sparsely populated Northwestern Federal District
25.
Saratov
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Saratov is a city and the administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River located upstream of Volgograd. The name Saratov may be derived from the Turkic words Saryk Atov, another version of the name origin is Sary Tau, meaning yellow mountain in the Tatar language. Uvek, a city of the Golden Horde, stood near the site of the city of Saratov from the mid-13th century until its destruction by Tamerlane in 1395. While the exact date of the foundation of modern Saratov is unknown,1590, during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, who constructed several settlements along the Volga River in order to secure the southeastern boundary of his state. Town status was granted to it in 1708, by the 1800s, Saratov had grown to become an important shipping port on the Volga. The Ryazan-Ural Railroad reached Saratov in 1870, in 1896, the line crossed the Volga and continued its eastward expansion. During World War II, Saratov was a station on the North-South Volzhskaya Rokada, the city of Saratov played an important role in the history of the Volga Germans. Until 1941, the town of Pokrovsk, located just across the Volga from Saratov, the ethnic German population of the region numbered 800,000 in the early 20th century, with some people whose families had been there for generations. The Volga German community came to include industrialists, scientists, musicians and architects, others were expelled to western Europe after World War II ended in 1945. Beginning in the 1980s, a portion of the surviving members of the ethnic Germans emigrated from the Soviet Union to Germany. Reminders of the prominent place of Germans in the city remain. The building was converted into the childrens cinema Pioneer during the Soviet period, a new cathedral was built in 2000 elsewhere in the city, the Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Saratov. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the city of oblast significance of Saratov—an administrative unit with the equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Saratov is incorporated as Saratov Urban Okrug, Saratov has moderately continental climate with warm and dry summers and an abundance of sunny days. The warmest month is July with daily temperature near +23 °C. Summers are hot and dry in Saratov, daytime temperatures of +30 °C or higher are commonplace, up to +40.9 °C during a heat wave in 2010. Snow and ice are dominant during the winter season, days well above freezing and nights below −25 °C both occur in the winter. Saratov Oblast is highly industrialized, due in part to the richness in natural and industrial resources of the area, the oblast is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centers in Russia
26.
Moravian Church
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The modern Unitas Fratrum, with about 750,000 members worldwide, continues to draw on traditions established during the eighteenth century. The Moravians continue their tradition of missionary work, for example in the Caribbean. This is reflected in their global distribution. The Church places a value on ecumenism, personal piety, missions. The Church’s emblem is the Lamb of God with the flag of victory, surrounded by the Latin inscription, Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur. The Hussite movement that was to become the Moravian Church was started by Jan Hus in early 15th century Bohemia, since these actions predate the Protestant Reformation by a century, some historians claim the Moravian Church was the first Protestant church. The movement gained support in the Crown of Bohemia, however, Hus was summoned to attend the Council of Constance, which decided that he was a heretic and had him burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. In 1434, an army of Utraquists and Catholics defeated the Taborites at the Battle of Lipany, the Utraquists signed the Compacts of Basel on 5 July 1436. Within fifty years of Hus death, a contingent of his followers had become independently organised as the Bohemian Brethren or Unity of the Brethren, a brother known as Gregory the Patriarch was very influential in forming the group, as well as the teachings of Peter Chelcicky. This group held to a strict obedience to the Sermon on the Mount, which included non-swearing of oaths, non-resistance, because of this, they considered themselves separate from the majority Hussites that did not hold those teachings. They received episcopal ordination through the Waldensians in 1467 and these were some of the earliest Protestants, rebelling against Rome some fifty years before Martin Luther. By the middle of the 16th century as many as 90 per cent of the inhabitants of the Bohemian Crown were Protestant, the majority of nobility was Protestant, the schools and printing-shops established by the Moravian Church were flourishing. Protestantism had an influence to the education of the population. Even in the middle of the 16th century there was not a town without a Protestant school in the Bohemian crown lands. With the University of Prague also firmly in hands of Protestants, therefore, the Jesuits were invited, with the backing of the Catholic Habsburg rulers, to come to the Bohemian Crown and establish a number of Catholic educational institutions. One of these is the university in the Moravian capital of Olomouc, in 1582 they forced closure of local Protestant schools. The Revolt started by unplanned second Defenestrations of Prague and was defeated in 1620 in the Battle of White Mountain near Prague, as consequence the local Protestant noblemen were either executed or expelled from the country while the Habsburgs placed Catholic nobility in their place. The war, plague, and subsequent disruption led to a decline in the population from over 3 million to some 800,000 people, by 1622 the entire education system was in the hands of Jesuits and all Protestant schools were closed
27.
Russian Mennonite
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Since the late 19th century, many of them have come to countries throughout the Western Hemisphere. The rest were relocated, so that few of their descendants now live at the location of the original colonies. Russian Mennonites are traditionally multilingual with Plautdietsch as their first language, the term Russian Mennonite refers to the country where they resided after the split from Germany and not to their ethnic heritage. In the early-to-mid 16th century, Mennonites began to move from the Low Countries and Flanders to the Vistula delta region, seeking religious freedom and they gradually replaced their Dutch and Frisian languages with the Plautdietsch dialect spoken in the area, blending into it elements of their native tongues. Today Plautdietsch is the distinct Mennonite language which developed over a period of 300 years in the Vistula delta region, the Mennonites of Dutch origin were joined by Mennonites from other parts of Germany including the German speaking parts of what is today Switzerland. Some few Poles became Mennonites and were assimilated into the Vistula delta Mennonites, in 1772, most of the West-Prussian Mennonites land in the Vistula area became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in the first of the Partitions of Poland. Frederick William II of Prussia ascended the throne in 1786 and imposed heavy fees on the Mennonites in exchange for continued military exemption. Catherine the Great of Russia issued a Manifesto in 1763 inviting all Europeans to come and settle various pieces of land within Russia, for a variety of reasons, Germans responded to this in large numbers. Mennonites from the Vistula delta region of Prussia later sent delegates to negotiate an extension of this Manifesto and, in 1789, the Mennonite migration to Russia from Prussia was led by Jacob Hoeppner and Johann Bartsch. Their settlement territory was northwest of the Sea of Azov, and had just been acquired from the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War, many of the Mennonites in Prussia accepted this invitation, establishing Chortitza on the Dnieper River as their first colony in 1789. A second larger colony, Molotschna, was founded in 1803, Mennonites lived alongside Nogais—semi-nomadic pastoralists—in the Molochna region of southern Ukraine starting from 1803, when Mennonites first arrived, until 1860, when the Nogai Tatars departed. Mennonites provided agricultural jobs to Nogais and rented pasture from them, Nogai raids on Mennonite herds were a constant problem in the first two decades of settlement. Two Mennonite settlements on the Vistula near Warsaw, Deutsch-Kazun and Deutsch-Wymysle, some of these families emigrated to the Molotschna settlement after it was established. Deutsch-Michalin near Machnovka was founded in 1787, many families from this settlement moved to nearby Volhynia in 1802. Swiss Mennonites of Amish descent from Galicia settled near Dubno, Volhynia province in 1815, other Galician Mennonites lived near Lemberg. When the Prussian government eliminated exemption from service on religious grounds. They were offered land along the Volga River in Samara and exemption from service for twenty years. Two settlements, Trakt and Alt-Samara, were founded in 1853 and 1861 respectively, by 1870 about 9000 individuals had immigrated to Russia, mostly to the Chortitza and Molotschna settlements which, with population increase, numbered about 45,000
28.
Kansas
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Kansas /ˈkænzəs/ is a U. S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribes name is said to mean people of the wind or people of the south wind. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous, tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. When it was opened to settlement by the U. S. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided. The abolitionists eventually prevailed, and on January 29,1861, after the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. By 2015, Kansas was one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles is the 15th largest state by area and is the 34th most populous of the 50 United States with a population of 2,911,641, residents of Kansas are called Kansans, officially. Mount Sunflower is Kansass highest point at 4,041 feet, for a millennia, the land that is currently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, in 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, from 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state, the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30,1854, establishing the U. S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas all along its eastern border. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery, the secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas, Kansas was admitted to the United States as a free state on January 29,1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature and his application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record
29.
The Dakotas
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The Dakotas is a collective term for the U. S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. The two states combined have a population of 1,592,657, slightly less than Idaho, the number of inhabitants increased by 133,430 from the year before. The Dakotas have an area of 147,878 square miles. The two states also have a density of 9.8 per sq. mi. A sub-region of the Frontier Strip, the Dakotas are also within the Midwestern United States, the Upper Missouri River and the Upper Missouri River Valley are important geological features in the area, as well. The area is inhabited by people of Northern European origin. 44. 9% of the population are of German ancestry,21. 8% of Norwegian, both of the Dakotas have humid continental climate, with warm to hot summers and cold to even subarctic temperatures in winter. Due to the difference in parallel altitude summer and winter temperatures differ some degrees between southern and northern areas of respective states, off the Beaten Path, The Dakotas. Aberdeen Pierre Rapid City Sioux Falls Bismarck Fargo Grand Forks Minot The Californias The Canadas The Carolinas The Floridas The Virginias Historic map of the Dakotas
30.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
31.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
32.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
33.
Operation Barbarossa
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Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germanys invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, which was launched on Sunday 22 June 1941. In the two leading up to the invasion, the two countries signed political and economic pacts for strategic purposes. Nevertheless, the German High Command began planning an invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1940, over the course of the operation, about four million Axis personnel invaded the western Soviet Union along a 2, 900-kilometer front, the largest invasion force in the history of warfare. In addition to troops, the Wehrmacht employed some 600,000 motor vehicles, the offensive marked an escalation of the war, both geographically and in the formation of the Allied coalition. Despite their successes, the German offensive stalled in the Battle of Moscow and was pushed back by the Soviet winter counteroffensive. The Red Army repelled the Wehrmachts strongest blows and forced the unprepared Germans into a war of attrition, the Wehrmacht would never again mount a simultaneous offensive along the entire strategic Soviet–Axis front. The failure of the operation drove Hitler to demand further operations of limited scope inside the Soviet Union, such as Case Blue. The failure of Operation Barbarossa proved a point in the fortunes of the Third Reich. Most importantly, the operation opened up the Eastern Front, in more forces were committed than in any other theater of war in world history. The German armies captured 5,000,000 Soviet prisoners of war who were not granted protections stipulated in the Geneva Conventions, a majority of them never returned alive. The Nazis deliberately starved 3.1 million of the prisoners to death as part of a Hunger Plan that aimed to reduce the population of Eastern Europe, over a million Soviet Jews were murdered by Einsatzgruppen death squads and gassing as part of the Holocaust. On 10 February 1939, Hitler told his commanders that the next war would be purely a war of Weltanschauungen. Totally a peoples war, a racial war, on 23 November, once World War II had already started, Hitler declared that racial war has broken out and this war shall determine who shall govern Europe, and with it, the world. The racial policy of Nazi Germany viewed the Soviet Union as populated by non-Aryan Untermenschen, Hitler claimed in Mein Kampf that Germanys destiny was to turn to the East as it did six hundred years ago. Accordingly, it was stated Nazi policy to kill, deport, or enslave the majority of Russian and other Slavic populations and repopulate the land with Germanic peoples, under the Generalplan Ost. Likening the Soviets to the forces of Genghis Khan, Hitler told Croatian military leader Slavko Kvaternik that the Mongolian race threatened Europe. Following the invasion, Wehrmacht officers told their soldiers to target people who were described as Jewish Bolshevik subhumans, the Mongol hordes, the Asiatic flood, German army commanders cast the Jews as the major cause behind the partisan struggle. The main guideline policy for German troops was Where theres a partisan, theres a Jew, many German troops viewed the war in Nazi terms and regarded their Soviet enemies as sub-human
34.
Catherine the Great
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Catherine II of Russia, also known as Catherine the Great, was a Russian monarch. She was the female leader of Russia, reigning from 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67. She came to following a coup détat when her husband. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever, in both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. In the west, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherines former lover, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, in the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities, an admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and the continued to depend on serfdom. This was one of the reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachevs Rebellion of cossacks. The period of Catherine the Greats rule, the Catherinian Era, is considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress and she enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. Catherine was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, she was nicknamed Figchen. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt, two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden, Gustav III and Charles XIII. In accordance with the then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm, I see nothing of interest in it, although Catherine was born a princess, her family had very little money. Catherines rise to power was supported by her mothers relatives who were both wealthy nobles and royal relations. Catherine first met Peter III at the age of 10, based on her writings, she found Peter detestable upon meeting him. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age, Peter also still played with toy soldiers
35.
Szczecin
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Szczecin is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea, it is a major seaport, as of June 2011, the population was 407,811. Szczecin is located on the Oder, south of the Szczecin Lagoon, the city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branches of the river. The citys recorded history began in the 8th century as a Slavic Pomeranian stronghold, in the 12th century, when Szczecin had become one of Pomeranias main urban centres, it lost its independence to Piast Poland, the Duchy of Saxony, the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark. At the same time, the House of Griffins established themselves as rulers, the population was Christianized. The native Slavic population was subjected to discrimination and Germanization in the following centuries, between 1237 and 1243, the town was rebuilt, granted extensive autonomy rights and eventually joined the Hanseatic League. After the Treaty of Stettin in 1630, the town came under the control of the Swedish Empire, in the late-19th century Stettin became an industrial town, vastly increasing in size and population, and served as a major port for Berlin. During the Nazi era, opposition groups and minorities were persecuted and treated as enemies, by the end of World War II Stettins status was in doubt, and the Soviet occupation authorities at first appointed officials from the citys almost entirely German pre-war population. In July 1945, however, Polish authorities were permitted to take power, Stettin was renamed Szczecin and became part of the newly established the Polish Peoples Republic, and from 1989 the Republic of Poland. From 1999 onwards, Szczecin has served as the site of the headquarters of NATOs Multinational Corps Northeast, the names Szczecin and Stettin are of Slavic origin, though the exact etymology is the subject of ongoing research. Other medieval names for the town are Burstaborg and Burstenburgh and these names, which literally mean brush burgh, are likely derived from the translation of the citys Slavic name. The recorded history of Szczecin began in the century, when West Slavs settled Pomerania. Since the 9th century, the stronghold was fortified and expanded toward the Oder bank, Mieszko I of Poland took control of Pomerania between 960 and 967, and the region with the city of Szczecin became part of Poland in 967. Subsequent Polish rulers, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Liutician federation all aimed to control the territory, after the decline of the neighbouring regional centre Wolin in the 12th century, the city became one of the more important and powerful seaports of the Baltic Sea. In a campaign in the winter of 1121–1122, Bolesław III Wrymouth, the inhabitants were Christianized by two missions of Bishop Otto of Bamberg in 1124 and 1128. At this time, the first Christian church of Saints Peter, Polish minted coins were commonly used in trade in this period. The population of the city at that time is estimated to be at around 5, Polish rule ended with Boleslaws death in 1138. There, a Polish contingent supplied by Mieszko III the Old joined the crusaders, however, the citizens had placed crosses around the fortifications, indicating they already had been Christianised
36.
Peter III of Russia
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Peter III was emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was born in Kiel as Karl Peter Ulrich, the child of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and Anna Petrovna. The German Peter could hardly speak Russian and pursued a strongly pro-Prussian policy and his death could also have been the result of a drunken brawl with his bodyguard when he was being held captive after Catherines coup. Peter was born in Kiel, in the duchy of Holstein-Gottorp and his parents were Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Anna Petrovna. His mother died three months after his birth, in 1739, Peters father died, and he became Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as Charles Peter Ulrich at the age of 11. When his mother Annas younger sister, Elizabeth, became Empress of Russia, she brought Peter from Germany to Russia, previously in 1742, the 14-year-old Peter was proclaimed King of Finland during the Russo-Swedish War, when Russian troops held Finland. This proclamation was based on his rights to territories held by his childless great-uncle. About the same time, in October 1742, he was chosen by the Swedish parliament to become heir presumptive to the Swedish throne and it has been reported that the underage Peters succession rights to Sweden were renounced on his behalf. Also in November, Karl Peter Ulrich converted to Eastern Orthodoxy under the name of Peter Fedorovich, Empress Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica, daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. The young princess formally converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna and they married on 21 August 1745. The marriage was not a one, but produced one son, the future Emperor Paul. Catherine later claimed that Paul was not fathered by Peter, that, in fact, during the sixteen years of their residence in Oranienbaum, Catherine took numerous lovers, while her husband did the same in the beginning. The classical view of Peters character is drawn out of the memoirs of his wife. She described him as an idiot, drunkard from Holstein, good-for-nothing etc and this portrait of Peter can be found in most history books, including 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, There have been many attempts to revise the traditional characterisation of Peter and his policies. Currently, a newly established union is working on a project to build a memorial for Peter III in Kiel, after Peter succeeded to the Russian throne, he withdrew Russian forces from the Seven Years War and concluded a peace treaty with Prussia. He gave up Russian conquests in Prussia and offered 12,000 troops to make an alliance with Frederick II of Prussia, Russia thus switched from an enemy of Prussia to an ally — Russian troops withdrew from Berlin and marched against the Austrians. This dramatically shifted the balance of power in Europe, suddenly handing the delighted Frederick the initiative, Frederick recaptured southern Silesia and subsequently forced Austria to the negotiating table. As Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Peter planned war against Denmark in order to parts of Schleswig to his Duchy
37.
Kiel
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Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 240,832. Kiel lies approximately 90 kilometres north of Hamburg, for instance, the city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. The Olympic sailing competitions of the 1936 and the 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Kiel, Kiel has also been one of the traditional homes of the German Navys Baltic fleet, and continues to be a major high-tech shipbuilding centre. Located in Kiel is the GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel at the University of Kiel, Kiel is an important sea transport hub, thanks to its location on the Kiel Fjord and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, Kiel Canal. A number of ferries to Sweden, Norway, Russia. Moreover, today Kiel harbour is an important port of call for cruise ships touring the Baltic Sea, Kiel was one of the founding cities of original European Green Capital Award in 2006. In 2005 Kiels GDP per capita was €35,618, which is well above Germanys national average, within Germany and parts of Europe, the city is known for its leading handball team, THW Kiel. The city is home to the University of Kiel, Kiel Fjord was probably first settled by Normans or Vikings who wanted to colonize the land which they had raided, and for many years they settled in German villages. This is evidenced by the geography and architecture of the fjord, the city of Kiel was founded in 1233 as Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count Adolf IV of Holstein, and granted Lübeck city rights in 1242 by Adolfs eldest son, John I of Schauenburg. Being a part of Holstein, Kiel belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and was situated only a few south of the Danish border. Kiel, the capital of the county of Holstein, was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring pirates, the University of Kiel was founded on 29 September 1665, by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. A number of important scholars, including Theodor Mommsen, Felix Jacoby, Hans Geiger and Max Planck, from 1773 to 1864, the town belonged to the King of Denmark. However, because the king ruled Holstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire only through a personal union, thus Kiel belonged to Germany, but it was ruled by the Danish king. Even though the Empire was abolished in 1806, the Danish king continued to rule Kiel only through his position as Duke of Holstein, when Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848, Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1850. On 24 March 1865 King William I based Prussias Baltic Sea fleet in Kiel instead of Danzig, the Imperial shipyard Kiel was established in 1867 in the town. When William I of Prussia became Emperor William I of the German Empire in 1871, he designated Kiel, the prestigious Kiel Yacht Club was established in 1887 with Prince Henry of Prussia as its patron. Emperor Wilhelm II became its commodore in 1891, because of its new role as Germanys main naval base, Kiel very quickly increased in size in the following years, from 18,770 in 1864 to about 200,000 in 1910. Much of the old centre and other surroundings were levelled and redeveloped to provide for the growing city
38.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
39.
Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
40.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
41.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
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Habsburg Monarchy
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The Monarchy was a composite state composed of territories within and outside the Holy Roman Empire, united only in the person of the monarch. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, from 1804 to 1867 the Habsburg Monarchy was formally unified as the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 to 1918 as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The two entities were never coterminous, as the Habsburg Monarchy covered many lands beyond the Holy Roman Empire, the monarchy had no official name. The entity had no official name, Austrian Empire, This was the official name. Note that the German version is Kaisertum Österreich, i. e. the English translation empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, Austria-Hungary, This was the official name. An unofficial popular name was the Danubian Monarchy also often used was the term Doppel-Monarchie meaning two states under one crowned ruler, Crownlands or crown lands, This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire, and then of Austria-Hungary from 1867 on. The Hungarian parts of the Empire were called Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen or Lands of Holy Stephens Crown, the Bohemian Lands were called Lands of the St. Wenceslaus Crown. Burgenland came to Austria in 1921 from Hungary, Salzburg finally became Austrian in 1816 after the Napoleonic wars. Vienna, Austrias capital became a state January 1,1922, after being residence, Upper and Lower Austria, historically, were split into Austria above the Enns and Austria below the Enns. Upper Austria was enlarged after the Treaty of Teschen following the War of the Bavarian Succession by the so-called Innviertel, formerly part of Bavaria. Hereditary Lands or German Hereditary Lands or Austrian Hereditary Lands, In a narrower sense these were the original Habsburg Austrian territories, i. e. basically the Austrian lands, in a wider sense the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were also included in the Hereditary lands. The term was replaced by the term Crownlands in the 1849 March Constitution, within the Habsburg Monarchy, each province was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. An even greater attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary, in particular, ceased to exist as a separate entity, in this system, the Kingdom of Hungary was given sovereignty and a parliament, with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed, it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy, instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance. Austria-Hungary collapsed under the weight of the various unsolved ethnic problems that came to a head with its defeat in World War I, to these were added in 1779 the Inn Quarter of Bavaria, and in 1803 the Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen
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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
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Baden
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Baden is a historical German territory. Together with Württemberg and the former Prussian province of Hohenzollern, two other territories, it currently forms the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. Finally, the state of Baden-Württemberg was formed a few years later, history of Baden List of states in the Holy Roman Empire Baden-Württemberg Province of Hohenzollern Württemberg Baden in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
45.
Hesse
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Hesse or Hessia is a federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany, with just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden, the largest city is Frankfurt am Main, the English name Hesse originates in the Hessian dialects. The variant Hessia comes from the medieval Latin Hassia, the German term Hessen is used by the European Commission because their policy is to leave regional names untranslated. The term Hesse ultimately derives from a Germanic tribe called the Chatti, an inhabitant of Hesse is called a Hessian. The synthetic element hassium, number 108 on the table, is named after the state of Hesse. As early as the Paleolithic period, the Central Hessian region was inhabited, due to the favorable climate of the location, people lived there about 50,000 years ago during the last glacial period, as burial sites show from this era. Finds of paleolitical tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago, the Züschen tomb is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist, it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to the fourth millennium BC, it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture. An early Celtic presence in what is now Hesse is indicated by a mid-fifth-century BC La Tène style burial uncovered at Glauberg, the region was later settled by the Germanic Chatti tribe around the first century BC, and the name Hesse is a continuation of that tribal name. The ancient Romans had a camp in Dorlar, and in Waldgirmes directly on the eastern outskirts of Wetzlar was a civil settlement under construction. Presumably, the government for the occupied territories of the right bank of Germania was planned at this location. The governor of Germania, at least temporarily, likely had resided here, the settlement appears to have been abandoned by the Romans after the devastating Battle of the Teutoburg Forest failed in the year 9 AD. The Chatti were also involved in the Revolt of the Batavi in 69 AD, Hessia occupies the northwestern part of the modern German state of Hesse, its borders were not clearly delineated. Its geographic center is Fritzlar, it extends in the southeast to Hersfeld on the Fulda river, in the north to past Kassel and up to the rivers Diemel, to the west, it occupies the valleys of the rivers Eder and Lahn. It measured roughly 90 kilometers north-south, and 80 north-west, the area around Fritzlar shows evidence of significant pagan belief from the first century on. Excavations have produced a horse burial and bronze artifacts, a possible religious cult may have centered on a natural spring in Geismar, called Heilgenbron, the name Geismar itself may be derived from that spring. By 650, the Franks were establishing themselves as overlords, which is suggested by evidence of burials
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Palatinate (region)
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The Palatinate, historically also Rhenish Palatinate, is a region in southwestern Germany. It occupies more than a quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the west, the Palatinate borders on Saarland, historically also comprising the states Saarpfalz District. In the northwest, the Hunsrück mountain range forms the border with the Rhineland region, in the south, the German-French border separates the Palatinate from Alsace. One-third of the region is covered by the Palatinate Forest, including the Palatinate Forest Nature Park popular with hikers and it is Germanys largest contiguous forested area with about 1,771 km2 and is part of the Franco-German Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve. The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and its highest mountain is the Donnersberg with a height of 687 m, situated in the North Palatine Uplands near Kirchheimbolanden. Most of the major Palatinate towns lie in the eastern part of the Upper Rhine Plain down to the River Rhine. Here the German Wine Route passes through the renowned Palatinate wine region, major rivers include the Upper Rhine tributaries Lauter, Queich and Speyerbach, as well as Schwarzbach and Glan in the west. Historically the Electoral Palatinate and several territories were part of the Palatinate. The Palatinate is divided into four non-administrative sub-regions, comprising the rural districts and independent towns and cities, North Palatinate. Like most of Europe, the Palatinate is part of the climate zone influenced by the Atlantic. Wet air from the westerly and southwesterly winds leads to precipitation in the Mittelgebirge ranges. Here the clemency of the weather permits the cultivating of almond and fig trees, stone pines, Mediterranean Cypress, palms, the lower hilly regions are known for their extended chestnut forests, sometimes referred to as German Tuscany in tourist advertising. Formerly a Celtic region, this area was conquered by the Roman Empire under Emperor Augustus in about 12 BCE, during the decay of the Empire, Alamanni tribes settled here, their territory was conquered by Francia under King Clovis I about 496. From 511 onwards the area belonged to the part of Frankish Austrasia. From the Middle Ages until 1792, the Palatinate was divided into 45 secular and ecclesiastical territories, the largest and most important of these was the Electorate of the Palatinate, a number of territories on both sides of the Rhine formerly held by the Counts palatine of Lotharingia. In 1214 the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach was enfeoffed with these estates and they lost control with the reunification with Bavaria under Elector Charles Theodore in 1777. The major ecclesiastical territory in the region was the Bishopric of Speyer, the Imperial city of Landau joined the Alsacien Décapole in 1521 to preserve its status. Nevertheless, it was seized by France after the Thirty Years War, other larger regional entities included the Duchy of Zweibrücken and the Prince-Bishopric of Speyer
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Rhineland
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The Rhineland is the name used for a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine River, chiefly its middle section. In the High Middle Ages, numerous Imperial States along the river emerged from the stem duchy of Lotharingia. The term covered the whole occupied zone west of the Rhine including the bridge-heads on the eastern banks, after the collapse of the French dominated West Bank in the early 19th century, the regions of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg were annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1822 the Prussian administration reorganized the territory as the Rhine Province, following the First World War, the western part of Rhineland was occupied by Entente forces, then demilitarized under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German forces remilitarized the territory in 1936, as part of a diplomatic test of will, stretching down to the North Palatine Uplands in the south, this area, except for the Saarland, more or less corresponds with the modern use of the term. The southern and eastern parts are mainly hill country, cut by valleys, principally the Middle Rhine up to Bingen and its Ahr, Moselle. The border of the North German plain is marked by the lower Ruhr, in the south, the river cuts the Rhenish Massif. The area encompasses the western part of the Ruhr industrial region, toponyms as well as local family names often trace back to the Frankish heritage. The lands on the shore of the Rhine are strongly characterised by Roman influence. In the core territories, large parts of the population are members of the Catholic Church. On the right bank of the Rhine, between the Main and the Lahn, were the settlements of the Mattiaci, a branch of the Germanic Chatti, while farther to the north were the Usipetes and Tencteri. Julius Caesar conquered the tribes on the left bank, and Augustus established numerous fortified posts on the Rhine. The Frankish conquerors of the Rhenish districts were singularly little affected by the culture of the Roman provincials they subdued, by the 8th century the Frankish dominion was firmly established in western Germania and northern Gaul. On the division of the Carolingian Empire at the Treaty of Verdun the part the province to the east of the fell to East Francia. As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split up into small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes. After the Imperial Reform of 1500/12, the territory was part of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Upper Rhenish, aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine played a large role in German history. At the Peace of Basel in 1795, the whole of the bank of the Rhine was taken by France. The population was about 1.6 million in small states
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Kazakhs
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The Kazakhs are a Turkic people who mainly inhabit the southern part of Eastern Europe Ural mountains and northern parts of Central Asia, the region also known as Eurasian sub-continent. Kazakhs were one of the nations most severely affected by the Soviet famine of 1932–33, the Kazakhs probably began using this name during either the 15th or 16th centuries. There are many theories on the origin of the word Kazakh or Qazaq, some speculate that it comes from the Turkish verb qaz, because the Kazakhs were wandering steppemen, or that it derives from the Proto-Turkic word khasaq. Another theory on the origin of the word Kazakh is that it comes from the ancient Turkic word qazğaq, according to the notable Turkic linguist Vasily Radlov and the orientalist Veniamin Yudin, the noun qazğaq derives from the same root as the verb qazğan. Therefore, qazğaq defines a type of person who seeks profit, Kazakh was a common term throughout medieval Central Asia, generally with regard to individuals or groups who had taken or achieved independence from a figure of authority. Timur described his own youth without directory authority as his Qazaqliq, at the time of the Uzbek nomads Conquest of Central Asia, the Uzbek Abul-Khayr Khan had differences with the Chinggisid chiefs Giray/Kirey and Janibeg/Janibek, descendants of Urus Khan. These differences probably resulted from the defeat of Abul-Khayr Khan at the hands of the Qalmaqs. It is not explicitly explained that this is why the later Kazakhs took the name permanently, the group under Kirey and Janibek are called in various sources Qazaqs and Uzbek-Qazaqs. Later Russian language sources incorrectly termed them Kirghiz and Kirghiz-Kaisak, in the 17th century, Russian convention seeking to distinguish the Qazaqs of the steppes from the Cossacks of the Russian Imperial military transforms the ending of the word to kh instead of q or k. Kazakh – Казах Cossack – Казак The Russian term Cossack probably comes from the same Kypchak etymological root, wanderer, brigand, due to their nomadic pastoral lifestyle, Kazakhs kept an epic tradition of oral history. The nation, which amalgamated nomadic tribes of various Kazakh origins and it was important for a Kazakh to know his or her genealogical tree for no less than seven generations back. In modern Kazakhstan, tribalism is fading away in business and government life, still it is common for a Kazakh man or woman to ask another one which tribe he or she belongs to when getting acquainted with each other. Nowadays, it is more of a tradition than necessity, there is no hostility between tribes. Kazakhs, regardless of their origin, consider themselves one nation. Their age is unknown so far in extant historical texts, with the earliest mentions in the 17th century, Kazakh belongs to the Kipchak group of the Turkic language family. Kazakh, like most of the Turkic language family lacks phonemic vowel length, Kazakh was written with the Arabic script during the 19th century, when a number of poets, educated in Islamic schools, incited revolt against Russia. Russias response was to set up schools and devise a way of writing Kazakh with the Cyrillic alphabet. By 1917, the Arabic script was reintroduced, even in schools, in 1927, a Kazakh nationalist movement sprang up but was soon suppressed
Russia
Kazakhstan
