Johnny Archer
Johnny Archer is an American professional pool player. He is nicknamed "the Scorpion". On June 8, 2009, Johnny Archer was nominated to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame. Archer grew up with his two brothers and two sisters in Twin City and began playing pool at the age of 12, he is one of the most successful nine-ball players of the past two decades, having won the majority of the game's major tournaments at least once, culminating in his being named Billiards Digest Player of the Decade at the end of the 1990s. Archer is a two-time WPA World Nine-ball Champion, winning in both 1992 when he defeated Bobby Hunter, again in 1997 after beating Lee Kun-fang of Chinese Taipei, he was a runner-up the following year, losing in the final to Takahashi Kunihiko of Japan. He was the 1999 US Open champion, has won over 60 professional tournaments throughout his career, he has been a regular on the US Mosconi Cup team, having joined them a record seventeen times, winning on nine of those occasions.
In 2003, one of Archer's most successful years, he won tournaments such as Sudden Death Seven-ball and the first World Summit of Pool. Archer won the 2006 US$50,000 winner-take-all International Challenge of Champions by defeating Thorsten Hohmann in the finals. In 2007, he won. While in the 2005 event the entire purse was awarded to the winner, in the 2007 event the purse was split; the Ripley's Believe It or Not! television show, on September 3, 2003, pitted Archer and Jeremy Jones against each other in a challenge match in speed pool. The show had them timed against each other, to try to beat the record, which at that time stood at 1 minute 30 seconds to break a full rack of balls and pocket all fifteen balls, move to another table and do it again. Archer was the victor; the event was recorded in a warehouse in Los Angeles where other challenge matches were taking place to beat records. Archer has rejoined the staff of Inside Pool Magazine, where he writes a monthly instruction column. For 2007, he was ranked # 3 in Billiard Magazine's "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll.
2014 Music City Open runner up 2007 Pool & Billiard Magazine Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players, #3 2007 Joss Northeast Nine-ball Tour Classic VIII at Turning Stone Resort and Casino 2006 International Challenge of Champions winner 2007 Texas Hold'Em Billiards Champion 2006 SML Open winner 2003 World Summit of Pool winner 2003 Brunswick Pro Players Champion 2003 Sudden Death Seven-ball winner 2003 On Cue. He's an avid golfer, ascribes his strong pool break to playing a lot of golf, noting similarities in having the timing right and using one's whole body in the stroke. Archer co-owned the now defunct Marietta Billiard Club in Georgia. Archer's official website
Las Vegas Valley
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U. S. state of Nevada. The state's largest urban agglomeration, it is the heart of the Las Vegas–Paradise-Henderson, NV MSA; the Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a 600 sq mi basin area surrounded by mountains to the north, south and west of the metropolitan area. The Valley is home to the three largest incorporated cities in Nevada: Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Five unincorporated towns governed by the Clark County government are part of the Las Vegas Township and constitute the largest community in the state of Nevada; the names Las Vegas and Vegas are interchangeably used to indicate the Valley, the Strip, the city, as a brand by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to denominate the region. The Valley is affectionately known as the "ninth island" by Hawaii natives and Las Vegans alike, in part due to the large number of people from Hawaii who live in and travel to Las Vegas. Since the 1990s the Las Vegas Valley has seen rapid growth, tripling its population of 741,459 in 1990 to 2,227,053 estimated in 2018.
The Las Vegas Valley remains one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States, in its short history has established a diverse presence in international business, urban development and entertainment, as well as one of the most iconic and most visited tourist destinations in the world. In 2014, a record breaking 41 million visited the Las Vegas area, producing a gross metropolitan product of more than $100 billion; the first reported non-Native American visitor to the Las Vegas Valley was the Mexican scout Rafael Rivera in 1829. Las Vegas was named by Mexicans in the Antonio Armijo party, including Rivera, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 19th century, areas of the valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas, or meadows, hence the name Las Vegas; the area was settled by Mormon farmers in 1854 and became the site of a United States Army fort in 1864, beginning a long relationship between southern Nevada and the U.
S. military. Since the 1930s, Las Vegas has been identified as a gaming center as well as a resort destination targeting adults. Nellis Air Force Base is located in the northeast corner of the valley; the ranges that the Nellis pilots use and various other land areas used by various federal agencies, limit growth of the valley in terms of geographic area. Businessman Howard Hughes arrived in the late 1960s and purchased many casino hotels, as well as television and radio stations in the area. Legitimate corporations began to purchase casino hotels as well, the mob was run out by the federal government over the next several years; the constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was augmented by a new source of federal money from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of military personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom, now leveling off; the Las Vegas area remains one of the world's top entertainment destinations. The valley is contained in the Las Vegas Valley landform.
This includes the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, the unincorporated towns of Summerlin South, Spring Valley, Sunrise Manor, Enterprise and Whitney. The valley is technically located within the larger metropolitan area, as the metropolitan area covers all of Clark County including parts that do not fall within the valley; the government of Clark County has an "Urban Planning Area" of Las Vegas. This definition is a rectangular area, about 20 mi from east to west and 30 miles from north to south. Notable exclusions from the "Urban Planning Area" include Red Rock, Blue Diamond, Mount Charleston; the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is the largest police department in the valley and the state and exercises jurisdiction in the entire county. There are 3,000 police officers that cover the city of Las Vegas; the department does not exercise primary jurisdiction in areas with separate police forces such as North Las Vegas, Boulder City, Nellis Air Force Base and the Paiute reservation.
The Las Vegas Valley lies in the Mojave Desert. The surrounding land is desert with mountains in the distance; the Las Vegas Valley lies in a high-altitude portion of the Mojave Desert, with a subtropical hot-desert climate. The Valley averages less than 5 in of rain annually. Daily daytime summer temperatures in July and August range from 100 °F to 110 °F, while nights range from 72 °F to 80 °F. Low humidity, tempers the effect of these temperatures, though dehydration, heat exhaustion, sun stroke can occur after a limited time outdoors in the summer; the interiors of automobiles prove deadly to small children and pets during the summer and surfaces exposed to the sun can cause first- and second-degree burns to unprotected skin. July and August can be marked by "monsoon season", when moist winds from the Gulf of California soak much of the Southwestern United States. While not only raising humidity levels, these winds develop into dramatic desert thunderstorms that can sometimes cause flash flooding.
Winters in the Las Vegas Valley are chilly, but sunny. Winter highs in December and January range from 52 °F to 60 °F, while nighttime lows range from 34 °F to 42 °F (
Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pocket billiards player from Tarlac, Central Luzon and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion, nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, sometimes called "Bustie" in the United States. Bustamante is the youngest of eight siblings. People in his vicinity nicknamed him "Django" because of his scrappy nature and the way he appeared with a cigarette in his mouth reminded them of the movie character of that name; the character was portrayed by an Italian actor. Their father made a living through building toilets and planting rice, Bustamante engaged himself in the activities also, his life in pool began when he worked in his sister's pool hall and spotting balls on the tables. When the patrons left and the place closed for the night, the young Bustamante would grab a stick and practice alone, he never has been concentrating in pocket billiards from 10 years of age. He quoted: "Magaling ako noon pa at 1975 pa halos hindi na natatalo sa aming lugar kaya naglibot ako, una sa buong Luzon tapos sa buong bansa na para lamang kumita ng pera."
After some success in the Philippines, Bustamante moved to Germany where he stayed for more than a decade, competing in a number of tournaments in Europe. Bustamante has been playing since the age of ten, has won titles such as the Munich Masters, the German Nine-ball Championship, the Japan Nine-ball Championship, making him one of billiards' greatest international stars. With his win in Tulsa, Bustamante locked up the 1998 Camel Pro Billiards Series year-long point fund's top spot, he finished the season in record-breaking style, winning the Columbus 10-Ball Open and becoming the first player to win three Camel titles in one season. His Columbus 10-Ball title completed the first Camel trifecta, with titles in each of the three games contested on the Camel Pro Billiards Series: eight-ball, nine-ball and ten-ball. Known for his style at the table and behind-the-back shots, Bustamante is one of the best Filipino players of the game along with fellow Kapampangan Efren Reyes, Marlon Manalo and Ronato Alcano.
He holds the world record for having the most powerful break shot. In 1999, Bustamante finished 3rd place in the WPA World Nine-ball Championship after losing to Efren Reyes, who won it. Months he won the International Challenge of Champions, he won that tournament again three years later. The next year, Bustamante won the Motolite 9-ball Tournament, an event held in the Philippines, at the expense of Antonio Lining; the victory earned him $30K, the largest first prize offered in a Philippine-held tournament at that time. The year 2002 was the darkest year for Bustamante considering his experience at the World Pool Championships. While the tournament was still going on, Bustamante was most shocked when he received a phone call from his wife informing him that his daughter, less than a year old, had died. Devastated by this, Bustamante considered forfeiting his contention at the tournament to return to the Philippines, but some people around convinced him to go on. On his way to the final, Bustamante bested Antonio Lining in the last 16, Efren Reyes in the quarter finals, Ching Shun Yang in the semis.
In the final, he met the 2-time winner of the tournament. Bustamante could have won the title. At one point, he missed. Strickland returned to the table and won three racks in a row to win the match 17-15, his loss in the finals of the World Championship was most a big blow to him because his lack of focus on the match cost him the tournament. On, Bustamante regained momentum and began winning more tournaments. Bustamante won the Peninsula Nine-ball Open, Gabriel's Las Vegas International Nine-ball tournament, the IBC Tokyo Nine-ball International, the All Japan Nine-ball Championship, he won the Sudden Death Seven-ball tournament and dedicated the victory to his daughter, whom he had tragically lost. With such a string of victories, he became the AZBilliards 2002 Player of the Year. Bustamante won the tournament called the World Pool League in 2004 where he defeated the world nine-ball champion Alex Pagulayan, he was bested by Steve Knight of Great Britain. In 2007, he was undefeated in the United States Pro Tour Championship held at the Normandie Casino in Los Angeles, California.
For 2007, he was ranked # 7 in Billiard Magazine's "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll. He competed in the 2008 World Straight Pool Championship as the Philippines' only entry; this was his first-ever participation in straight pool event. In the end, he finished at 2nd place behind the tournament winner. In 2010, Bustamante again reached the finals of the World Nine-ball Championship. Unlike his first final eight years ago, fate did not deny him. Bustamante won the match and the title against Taiwan's Kuo Po-cheng, a second-placer in the 2005 event. On July 27, 2010, Francisco Bustamante, along with Terry Bell and Larry Hubbart who are founders of the American Pool Players Association, were elected to the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame. In this, Bustamante would become the second player from the Philippines after Efren Reyes to be added; the three were inducted on October 21, 2010. On June 15, 2008, Efren Reyes, Francisco "Dj
Spain
Spain the Kingdom of Spain, is a country located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula, its territory includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country. Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are part of Spanish territory; the country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar. With an area of 505,990 km2, Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, the fourth largest country in the European continent. By population, Spain is the fifth in the European Union. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. Iberian cultures along with ancient Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian settlements developed on the peninsula until it came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania, based on the earlier Phoenician name Spn or Spania.
At the end of the Western Roman Empire the Germanic tribal confederations migrated from Central Europe, invaded the Iberian peninsula and established independent realms in its western provinces, including the Suebi and Vandals. The Visigoths would forcibly integrate all remaining independent territories in the peninsula, including Byzantine provinces, into the Kingdom of Toledo, which more or less unified politically and all the former Roman provinces or successor kingdoms of what was documented as Hispania. In the early eighth century the Visigothic Kingdom fell to the Moors of the Umayyad Islamic Caliphate, who arrived to rule most of the peninsula in the year 726, leaving only a handful of small Christian realms in the north and lasting up to seven centuries in the Kingdom of Granada; this led to many wars during a long reconquering period across the Iberian Peninsula, which led to the creation of the Kingdom of Leon, Kingdom of Castile, Kingdom of Aragon and Kingdom of Navarre as the main Christian kingdoms to face the invasion.
Following the Moorish conquest, Europeans began a gradual process of retaking the region known as the Reconquista, which by the late 15th century culminated in the emergence of Spain as a unified country under the Catholic Monarchs. Until Aragon had been an independent kingdom, which had expanded toward the eastern Mediterranean, incorporating Sicily and Naples, had competed with Genoa and Venice. In the early modern period, Spain became the world's first global empire and the most powerful country in the world, leaving a large cultural and linguistic legacy that includes more than 570 million Hispanophones, making Spanish the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. During the Golden Age there were many advancements in the arts, with world-famous painters such as Diego Velázquez; the most famous Spanish literary work, Don Quixote, was published during the Golden Age. Spain hosts the world's third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a parliamentary monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state.
It is a major developed country and a high income country, with the world's fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP and sixteenth largest by purchasing power parity. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Eurozone, the Council of Europe, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Schengen Area, the World Trade Organization and many other international organisations. While not an official member, Spain has a "Permanent Invitation" to the G20 summits, participating in every summit, which makes Spain a de facto member of the group; the origins of the Roman name Hispania, from which the modern name España was derived, are uncertain due to inadequate evidence, although it is documented that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians referred to the region as Spania, therefore the most accepted etymology is a Semitic-Phoenician one.
Down the centuries there have been a number of accounts and hypotheses: The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word Hispania evolved from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world". Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the term span is the Phoenician word spy, meaning "to forge metals". Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean "the land where metals are forged", it may be a derivation of the Phoenician I-Shpania, meaning "island of rabbits", "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean. The word in question means "Hyrax" due to Phoenicians confusing the two animals. Hispania may derive from the poetic use of the term Hesperia, reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia
Taipei
Taipei known as Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of Taiwan. Sitting at the northern tip of the island, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about 25 km southwest of the northern port city Keelung. Most of the city is located in an ancient lakebed; the basin is bounded by the narrow valleys of the Keelung and Xindian rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border. The city proper is home to an estimated population of 2,704,810, forming the core part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, which includes the nearby cities of New Taipei and Keelung with a population of 7,047,559, the 40th most-populous urban area in the world—roughly one-third of Taiwanese citizens live in the metro district; the name "Taipei" can refer either to the city proper. Taipei is the political, economic and cultural center of Taiwan and one of the major hubs in East Asia. Considered to be a global city and rated as an Alpha City by GaWC, Taipei is part of a major high-tech industrial area.
Railways, high-speed rail, highways and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The city is served by two airports -- Taiwan Taoyuan. Taipei is home to various world-famous architectural or cultural landmarks, which include Taipei 101, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Dalongdong Baoan Temple, Hsing Tian Kong, Lungshan Temple of Manka, National Palace Museum, Presidential Office Building, Taipei Guest House and several night markets dispersed throughout the city. Natural features such as Maokong and hot springs are well known to international visitors. In English-language news reports the name Taipei serves as a synecdoche referring to Taiwan's national government. Due to the ambiguous political status of Taiwan internationally, the term Chinese Taipei is sometimes pressed into service as a synonym for the entire country, as when Taiwan's governmental representatives participate in international organizations or Taiwan's athletes participate in international sporting events; the spelling Taipei derives from the Wade–Giles romanization T'ai-pei.
The name could be romanized as Táiběi according to Hanyu Pinyin and Tongyong Pinyin. Prior to the significant influx of Han Chinese immigrants, the region of Taipei Basin was inhabited by the Ketagalan plains aborigines; the number of Han immigrants increased in the early 18th century under Qing Dynasty rule after the government began permitting development in the area. In 1875, the northern part of the island was incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture; the Qing dynasty of China made Taipeh-fu the temporary capital of the island in 1887 when it was declared a province. Taipeh was formally made the provincial capital in 1894. Japan acquired Taiwan in 1895 under the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the First Sino-Japanese War. Taiwan became a colony of Imperial Japan with Taihoku as its capital; the city was administered under Taihoku Prefecture. Taiwan's Japanese rulers embarked on an extensive program of advanced urban planning that featured extensive railroad links. A number of Taipei landmarks and cultural institutions date from this period.
Following the surrender of Japan to the United States of America of 1945, effective control of Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China. After losing mainland China to the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, the ruling Kuomintang relocated the ROC government to Taiwan and declared Taipei the provisional capital of the ROC in December 1949. Taiwan's Kuomintang rulers regarded the city as the capital of Taiwan Province and their control as mandated by General Order No. 1. In 1990 Taipei provided the backdrop for the Wild Lily student rallies that moved Taiwanese society from one-party rule to multi-party democracy by 1996; the city has since served as the seat of Taiwan's democratically elected national government. The region known as the Taipei Basin was home to Ketagalan tribes before the eighteenth century. Han Chinese from Southern Fujian Province of Qing dynasty China began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709. In the late 19th century, the Taipei area, where the major Han Chinese settlements in northern Taiwan and one of the designated overseas trade ports, were located, gained economic importance due to the booming overseas trade that of tea export.
In 1875, the northern part of Taiwan was separated from Taiwan Prefecture and incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture as a new administrative entity of the Qing dynasty. Having been established adjoining the flourishing townships of Bangka and Twatutia, the new prefectural capital was known as Chengnei, "the inner city", government buildings were erected there. From 1875 until the beginning of Japanese rule in 1895, Taipei was part of Tamsui County of Taipeh Prefecture and the prefectural capital. In 1885, work commenced to govern the island as a province, Taipeh was temporarily made the provincial capital; the city became the capital in 1894. All that remains from the historical period is the north gate; the west gate and city walls were demolished by the Japanese while the south gate, little south gate, east gate were extensively modified by the Kuomintang and have lost much of their original character. As settlement for losing the First Sino-Japanese War, China ceded the island of Taiwan to the Empire of Japan in 1895 as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
After the Japanese take-over, called Taihoku in Japanese
Taiwan
Taiwan the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbouring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the northeast, the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is the most populous state and largest economy, not a member of the United Nations; the island of Taiwan was inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years before the 17th century, when Dutch colonialists opened the island to mass Han immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed in 1683 by the Qing dynasty of China, ceded to Japan in 1895. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Republic of China, which had overthrown and succeeded the Qing in 1911, took control of Taiwan; the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the loss of the mainland to the Communists and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC government continued to claim to be the legitimate representative of China, since 1950 its effective jurisdiction has been limited to Taiwan and several small islands.
In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of industrialisation. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship to a multi-party democracy with a semi-presidential system; as a founding member, the ROC represented China in the UN until it was replaced by the PRC in 1971. The PRC has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognises the ROC; as of 2019, Taiwan maintains official ties with 16 out of 193 UN member states. Most international organisations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor. Most major powers maintain unofficial ties with Taiwan through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates. In Taiwan, the major political division is between parties favouring eventual Chinese unification and promoting a Chinese identity contrasted with those aspiring to independence and promoting a Taiwanese identity, though both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal.
Taiwan is a high-income advanced economy, with a skilled and educated workforce. It has the 22nd-largest economy in the world, its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy, it is urbanised, is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with most of the population concentrated on the western coast. The state is ranked in terms of civil and political liberties, health care and human development. Various names for the island of Taiwan remain in use today, each derived from explorers or rulers during a particular historical period; the name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted an uncharted island and noted it on their maps as Ilha Formosa. The name Formosa "replaced all others in European literature" and remained in common use among English speakers into the 20th century. In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company established a commercial post at Fort Zeelandia on a coastal sandbar called "Tayouan", after their ethnonym for a nearby Taiwanese aboriginal tribe Taivoan people, written by the Dutch and Portuguese variously as Taiouwang, Teijoan, etc.
This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar and nearby area. The modern word "Taiwan" is derived from this usage, seen in various forms in Chinese historical records; the area occupied by modern-day Tainan represented the first permanent settlement by both European colonists and Chinese immigrants. The settlement grew to be the island's most important trading centre and served as its capital until 1887. Use of the current Chinese name became official as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture. Through its rapid development the entire Formosan mainland became known as "Taiwan". In his Daoyi Zhilüe, Wang Dayuan used "Liuqiu" as a name for the island of Taiwan, or the part of it closest to Penghu. Elsewhere, the name was used for the Ryukyu Islands in general or Okinawa, the largest of them; the name appears in the Book of Sui and other early works, but scholars cannot agree on whether these references are to the Ryukyus, Taiwan or Luzon. The official name of the state is the "Republic of China".
Shortly after the ROC's establishment in 1912, while it was still located on the Chinese mainland, the government used the short form "China" to refer to itself, which derives from zhōng and guó, a term which developed under the Zhou dynasty in reference to its royal demesne, the name was applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and to China's Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state during the Qing era. During the 1950s and 1960s, after the government had withdrawn to Taiwan upon losing the Chinese Civil War, it was referred to as "Nationalist China" to differentiate it from "Communist China", it was a member of the United Nations representing "China" until 1971, when it lost its seat to the People's Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as "Taiwan", after the island that comprises 99% of the territory under its control. In some contexts ROC government publications, the name is written as "
Chicago
Chicago the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in Illinois, as well as the third most populous city in the United States. With an estimated population of 2,716,450, it is the most populous city in the Midwest. Chicago is the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area referred to as Chicagoland, the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the United States; the metropolitan area, at nearly 10 million people, is the third-largest in the United States, the fourth largest in North America and the third largest metropolitan area in the world by land area. Located on the shores of freshwater Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed and grew in the mid-nineteenth century. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, the city made a concerted effort to rebuild; the construction boom accelerated population growth throughout the following decades, by 1900 Chicago was the fifth largest city in the world.
Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and zoning standards, including new construction styles, the development of the City Beautiful Movement, the steel-framed skyscraper. Chicago is an international hub for finance, commerce, technology, telecommunications, transportation, it is the site of the creation of the first standardized futures contracts at the Chicago Board of Trade, which today is the largest and most diverse derivatives market gobally, generating 20% of all volume in commodities and financial futures. O'Hare International Airport is the one of the busiest airports in the world, the region has the largest number of U. S. highways and greatest amount of railroad freight. In 2012, Chicago was listed as an alpha global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, it ranked seventh in the entire world in the 2017 Global Cities Index; the Chicago area has one of the highest gross domestic products in the world, generating $680 billion in 2017. In addition, the city has one of the world's most diversified and balanced economies, not being dependent on any one industry, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce.
Chicago's 58 million domestic and international visitors in 2018, made it the second most visited city in the nation, behind New York City's approximate 65 million visitors. The city ranked first place in the 2018 Time Out City Life Index, a global quality of life survey of 15,000 people in 32 cities. Landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Grant Park, the Museum of Science and Industry, Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicago's culture includes the visual arts, film, comedy and music jazz, soul, hip-hop and electronic dance music including house music. Of the area's many colleges and universities, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago are classified as "highest research" doctoral universities. Chicago has professional sports teams in each of the major professional leagues, including two Major League Baseball teams; the name "Chicago" is derived from a French rendering of the indigenous Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa for a wild relative of the onion, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum and known more as ramps.
The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as "Checagou" was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir. Henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild "garlic" grew abundantly in the area. According to his diary of late September 1687:...when we arrived at the said place called "Chicagou" which, according to what we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The city has had several nicknames throughout its history such as the Windy City, Chi-Town, Second City, the City of the Big Shoulders, which refers to the city's numerous skyscrapers and high-rises. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, who had taken the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples; the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable arrived in the 1780s, he is known as the "Founder of Chicago".
In 1795, following the Northwest Indian War, an area, to be part of Chicago was turned over to the United States for a military post by native tribes in accordance with the Treaty of Greenville. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn and rebuilt; the Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis; the Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833. On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. Receiver of Public Monies; the City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837, for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. As the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States.
Chicago's first railway and Chicago Union Railroad, the Illi
