1.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
2.
Zeeland
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Zeeland is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and peninsulas and its area is about 2,930 square kilometres, of which almost 1,140 square kilometres is water, and it has a population of about 380,000. Large parts of Zeeland are below sea level, the last great flooding of the area was in 1953. Tourism is an important economic activity, in the summer, its beaches make it a popular destination for tourists, especially German tourists. In some areas, the population can be two to four times higher during the summer season. The coat of arms of Zeeland shows a lion half-emerged from water, the country of New Zealand is named after Zeeland - not Zealand in Denmark, as sometimes claimed. Nehalennia is a goddess of the ancient religion known around the province of Zeeland and her worship dates back at least to the 2nd century BC, and flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. She was possibly a goddess, either Celtic or pre-Germanic – sources differ on the culture that first worshipped her. During the Roman Era, her main function appeared to be the protection of travelers, most of what is known about her comes from the remains of over 160 carved stone offerings which have been dredged up from the Eastern Scheldt since 1970. Two more Nehalennia offering stones have also found in Cologne. Zeeland was an area between the counts of Holland and Flanders until 1299, when the last count of Holland died. Followed by the counts of Bavaria, Burgundy and Habsburg, after 1585 Zeeland followed, as one of the 7 independent provinces, the fate of the Northern part of The Netherlands. In 1432 it became part of the Low Countries possessions of Philip the Good of Burgundy, through marriage, the Seventeen Provinces became the property of the Habsburgs in 1477. In the Eighty Years War, Zeeland was on the side of the Union of Utrecht, the area now called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen was not part of Zeeland, but a part of the county of Flanders that was conquered by the United Provinces, hence called Staats-Vlaanderen. After the French occupation and the formation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, during World War II, Zeeland was occupied by Nazi Germany between June 1940 and November 1944. In 1944, Zeeland was devastated by the Battle of the Scheldt, the catastrophic North Sea flood of 1953, which killed over 1800 people in Zeeland, led to the construction of the protective Delta Works. The province of Zeeland is a river delta situated at the mouth of several major rivers, namely Scheldt, Rhine. Most of the province lies below sea level and was reclaimed from the sea by inhabitants over time, what used to be a muddy landscape, flooding at high tide and reappearing at low tide, became a series of small man-made hills that stayed dry at all times
3.
Middelburg
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Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. Situated on the peninsula of the Zeeland province, Midden-Zeeland. The city of Middelburg dates back possibly to the late 8th century or early 9th century, the first mention of Middelburg was as one of three fortified towns erected on Walcheren to guard against Viking raids. In 844 a monastery was built on the site, which remained an active Catholic foundation until the Reformation, foundations for Middelburgs stately and picturesque cathedral were first laid in the 10th century, additional construction continued through the Middle Ages. Middelburg was granted city rights in 1217, during the Middle Ages, it became an important trading centre in the commerce between England and the rising cities of Flanders. The town continued to gain in power and prestige during the 13th and 14th centuries, from 1559.05.12 to 1603, Middelburg was the episcopal see of a Catholic bishopric covering all Zeeland. In the Eighty Years War, Middelburg was captured from the Spanish forces during a long siege, the northern provinces of the original Low Countries won their independence from their former Spanish Habsburg rulers and formed The Netherlands, a Protestant state. Middelburg played an important role in the 17th century slave trade, samuel Ben Israel, son of Menasseh Ben Israel, is buried in Middelburg at the Sephardic burial site located at the Jodengang outside the citywall. Menasseh Ben Israel negotiated with Cromwell the opening of England, and their colonies, Middelburg also has an Ashkenazic burial site, which is located at the Walensingel inside the city wall. In 1994 the synagogue was restored, as it was destroyed during the Second World War. This synagogue was the one to be built in the Netherlands during the Golden Age. In the hall of the station there is a plaque of remembrance for the Jews of Zeeland who started their journey to the death camps from the Middelburg train station. About a third of the old city centre was devastated by bombs and fire in the phases of World War II, on May 17,1940. The town was captured and liberated by British troops during Operation Infatuate on 5 November 1944, after the War, as much of the destroyed part of the old town center was rebuilt and restored along pre-War lines as possible. The citys archives, however, had been incinerated during the German bombardment, modern Middelburg has preserved and regained much of its historic and picturesque character. There are lavish 17th and 18th century merchant houses and storehouses standing along canals, the old city moats are still there, as are two of the city gates, the Koepoort Gate and the varkenspoort Gate. Part of the 18th century moat and defence works, however, were demolished in the 19th century to make way for a canal that crosses Walcheren from Vlissingen to Veere. The medieval abbey is still in use today, as a museum, the painter Pieter Gaal, was born and, after traveling over Europe to paint, settled and died here
4.
Veere
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Veere is a municipality with a population of 22,000 and a city with a population of 1,500 in the southwestern Netherlands, on Walcheren island in the province of Zeeland. The name Veere means ferry, Wolfert Van Borsselen established a ferry there in 1281, Veere received city rights in 1355. The Admiraliteit van Veere was set up as a result of the Ordinance on the Admiralty of 8 January 1488 in an attempt to create a central administration in the Burgundian Netherlands. To this was subordinated the Vice-Admiralty of Flanders in Dunkirk, in 1560 under admiral Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, this admiralty relocated near Ghent and in 1561 the Habsburg naval forces were also moved to Veere. Veere functioned as the port for Scotland between 1541 and 1799. Flemish architects Antonis Keldermans and Evert Spoorwater designed the Grote Kerk, the fortifications, the Cisterne, during this period of prosperity, the cultural centre was located at Sandenburgh castle, the residence of the noble Van Borsele and Van Bourgondië families. Court painter Jan Gossaert van Mabuse worked here, the poet Adrianus Valerius lived and worked in the city from 1591. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Veere was a trading city, with about 750 houses inside the city walls then. At the start of the Second World War, there was a Royal Netherlands Navy seaplane base at Veere, on 12 May 1940 the base was bombed by He-111 bombers causing some casualties. On 14 May, the seaplanes were ordered to evacuate to France and then England, Veere was finally liberated on 7 November 1944 by Scottish troops of the British 52nd Infantry Division during Operation Infatuate, the Allied assault on Walcheren. As part of the preparations for the operation, the sea dykes were bombed resulting in the inundation of much of the area. Unlike many other towns on the island, Veere was virtually undamaged in the fighting, as a result of the damming of the Veerse Gat inlet in 1961, the fishing fleet of Veere moved to a new home port at Colijnsplaat on Noord-Beveland. As of 2013 the main business of the town is tourism, Veere municipality reached its current expanded shape in 1997, after the addition of several neighboring towns. During the course of two centuries seventeen historical municipalities have merged to become present-day Veere. Its original full name was Veere-de-Stad en Zanddijk-Binnen, the city of Veere stands on the Veerse Meer lagoon on the island of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. The area of the municipality of Veere is 13,496 hectares, with a coastline of 34 kilometres, the population centres in the municipality are, The area is visited by 4 million tourists annually. The main attractions are the beaches and marinas, the Storm Surge Barrier on the Oosterschelde is the most popular visitor attraction in Zeeland. Official website Veere in the picture, Beautiful photos of Veere, website about the historic city of Veere
5.
Vlissingen
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Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries and it was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century Vlissingen was a harbour for ships of the Dutch East India Company. It is also known as the birthplace of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, Vlissingen is mainly noted for the yards on the Scheldt where most of the ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy are built. The Counts of Holland, Flanders, and Zeeland had the first harbours dug, over the centuries, Vlissingen developed into a hub for fishing, especially the herring fishery, commerce, privateering and the slave trade. Under the Treaty of Nonsuch, English garrisons were stationed here, during the heyday of the Dutch Golden Age, ships from Vlissingen set sail for the various outposts of the Dutch colonial empire and contributed to the world power of The Seven Provinces. The history of Vlissingen was also marked by invasion, oppression, floods have also been a constant threat. Vlissingen declined during the 18th century, the Napoleonic Wars were particularly disastrous. After 1870, the economy revived after the construction of new docks and the Walcheren canal, the arrival of the railway, the Second World War interrupted this growth. The city was damaged by shelling and inundation but was captured and liberated by British Commandos of 4th Special Service Brigade on 3 November 1944. The city was rebuilt after the war, in the 1960s, the seaport and industrial area of Vlissingen-Oost developed and flourished. Now this area is the driving force behind central Zeeland. 50,000 ships annually from all corners of the pass through the Schelde. Tourists are attracted to Vlissingen not just because of its history and maritime character, the derivation of the name Vlissingen is unclear, though most scholars relate the name to the word fles in one way or another. According to one story, when saint Willibrord landed in Vlissingen with a bottle in the 7th century, a miracle occurred, familiar to readers of hagiography, when the contents of the bottle did not diminish. When the bishop realised the beggars did not want to listen to his words, after that, he supposedly called the city Flessinghe. Another source states that the name had its origins in an old ferry-service house, the monk Jacob van Dreischor, who visited the city in 967, then apparently called the ferry-house het veer aan de Flesse. Because many cities in the region received the appendix -inge
6.
Island
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An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, an island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, an island may be described as such, despite the presence of an artificial land bridge. Example, Singapore and its causeway, or the various Dutch delta islands, there are two main types of islands in the sea, continental and oceanic. The word island derives from Middle English iland, from Old English igland, Old English ieg is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue, and related to Latin aqua. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology, continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earths mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere. This holds true for Australia, which sits on its own continental lithosphere, continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the continental shelf of a continent. A special type of island is the microcontinental island, which is created when a continent is rifted. Examples are Madagascar and Socotra off Africa, the Kerguelen Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, another subtype is an island or bar formed by deposition of tiny rocks where water current loses some of its carrying capacity. While some are transitory and may disappear if the volume or speed of the current changes, others are stable, oceanic islands are islands that do not sit on continental shelves. The vast majority are volcanic in origin, such as Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, the few oceanic islands that are not volcanic are tectonic in origin and arise where plate movements have lifted up the ocean floor above the surface. Examples are Saint Peter and Paul Rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, one type of volcanic oceanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring, examples are the Aleutian Islands, the Mariana Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The only examples in the Atlantic Ocean are some of the Lesser Antilles, another type of volcanic oceanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples, Iceland, which is the second largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen. A third type of oceanic island is formed over volcanic hotspots. A hotspot is more or less stationary relative to the tectonic plate above it
7.
Scheldt
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The Scheldt is a 350-kilometre long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old English sceald shallow, Modern English shoal, Low German schol, Frisian skol, the headwaters of the Scheldt are in Gouy, in the Aisne department of northern France. It flows north through Cambrai and Valenciennes, and enters Belgium near Tournai, in Ghent, where it receives the Lys, one of its main tributaries, the Scheldt turns east. Near Antwerp, the largest city on its banks, the Scheldt flows west into the Netherlands towards the North Sea, today the river therefore continues into the Westerschelde estuary only, passing Terneuzen to reach the North Sea between Breskens in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and Vlissingen on Walcheren. The Scheldt is an important waterway, and has been navigable from its mouth up to Cambrai. The port of Antwerp, the second largest in Europe, lies on its banks, several canals connect the Scheldt with the basins of the Rhine, Meuse and Seine, and with the industrial areas around Brussels, Liège, Lille, Dunkirk and Mons. In Roman times, it was important for the lanes to Roman Britain. Nehalennia was venerated at its mouth, the Franks took control over the region about the year 260 and at first interfered with the Roman supply routes as pirates. Later they became allies of the Romans, Antwerp was the most prominent harbour in Western Europe. After this city fell back under Spanish control in 1585, the Dutch Republic took control of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, a strip of land on the left bank, and closed the Scheldt for shipping. Access to the river was the subject of the brief Kettle War of 1784, once Belgium had claimed its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the treaty of the Scheldt determined that the river should remain accessible to ships heading for Belgian ports. Nevertheless, the Dutch government would demand a toll from passing vessels until 16 July 1863, in the Second World War, the Scheldt estuary once again became a contested area. Paget-Tyrell Memorandum of August 7,1916, Section 6
8.
Estuary
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An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
9.
Eastern Scheldt
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The Eastern Scheldt is a former estuary in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands, between Schouwen-Duiveland and Tholen on the north and Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland on the south. It is also the largest national park in the Netherlands, founded in 2002, during the Roman Era it was the major mouth of the Scheldt River. Later parts of that lost land were reclaimed, restricting part of the connection to the Scheldt River to a channel called the Kreekrak. In 1867 the Kreekrak was closed off with a railway embankment, from that moment on, the Oosterschelde lost its connection with the Scheldt, and is no longer functioning as an estuary. Between Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland there are two connections, the Oosterscheldedam on the west and the Zeeland Bridge on the east. After the North Sea flood of 1953, it was decided to close off the Oosterschelde by means of a dam, the Oosterscheldekering, between Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland, is the largest of 13 ambitious Delta Works designed to protect a large part of the Netherlands from flooding. A four-kilometre section has huge sluice gates, which are normally open, upon completion of the barrier in 1986, the flow of water decreased and the tidal height differential reduced from 3.40 metres to 3.25 metres. As a result, no new sand is being deposited on the sand bars—they are now slowly eroding, changing the character of the coast, since May 8,2002, the entire Oosterschelde was designated a national park. Its boundaries are the dikes of Schouwen-Duiveland, Tholen and Sint-Philipsland, Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland, having an area of 370 square kilometres, it is the largest national park in the Netherlands. Total shore length is 125 kilometres, the park consists primarily of the salt waters of the Oosterschelde, but also includes some mud flats, meadows and shoals. Because of the variety of sea life, including unique regional species. Other activities include sailing, fishing, cycling and bird watching, Delta Works Western Scheldt Oosterschelde National Park official website Satellite view, google maps
10.
Western Scheldt
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The Western Scheldt in the province of Zeeland in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are disconnected from the Scheldt and it is an important shipping route to the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. Therefore, unlike the other sea arms, it is not closed by a dam as part of the Delta Works, instead, the dykes around it have been heightened and reinforced. Many ships have sunk in the Western Scheldt, following an agreement between the Dutch and Belgian governments in 1995, many of these wrecks have been removed to improve shipping access to Antwerp. It was expected that the last 38 wrecks in the channel would be removed during 2003. The largest wreck was the 131-metre long Alan A. Dale which was removed during June 2003, the Western Scheldt was freed from German occupation in October and November 1944 by the First Canadian Army during The Battle of the Scheldt. In mid-March 2003, a 6.6 km tunnel under the Western Scheldt opened and it is the longest road traffic tunnel in the Netherlands. The toll is €5,00 for cars and €2,50 for motorcycles, prior to 2011, the charge for motorcycles was the same as for cars but it was reduced following protests. There is a toll station for both directions, located on the north bank. Pedestrians, cyclists, and moped riders are not allowed in the tunnel, with the opening of the road tunnel, the Breskens-Vlissingen ferry was restricted to pedestrians and cyclists only. It is operated by Westerschelde Ferry BV, a subsidiary of the province of Zeeland, upstream, the Kruiningen-Perkpolder ferry was discontinued without replacement. Eastern Scheldt Ferry Tunnel Ferry and Tunnel
11.
Rhombus
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In Euclidean geometry, a rhombus is a simple quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length, every rhombus is a parallelogram and a kite. A rhombus with right angles is a square, the word rhombus comes from Greek ῥόμβος, meaning something that spins, which derives from the verb ῥέμβω, meaning to turn round and round. The word was used both by Euclid and Archimedes, who used the term solid rhombus for two right circular cones sharing a common base, the surface we refer to as rhombus today is a cross section of this solid rhombus through the apex of each of the two cones. This is a case of the superellipse, with exponent 1. Every rhombus has two diagonals connecting pairs of vertices, and two pairs of parallel sides. Using congruent triangles, one can prove that the rhombus is symmetric across each of these diagonals and it follows that any rhombus has the following properties, Opposite angles of a rhombus have equal measure. The two diagonals of a rhombus are perpendicular, that is, a rhombus is an orthodiagonal quadrilateral, the first property implies that every rhombus is a parallelogram. Thus denoting the common side as a and the diagonals as p and q, not every parallelogram is a rhombus, though any parallelogram with perpendicular diagonals is a rhombus. In general, any quadrilateral with perpendicular diagonals, one of which is a line of symmetry, is a kite, every rhombus is a kite, and any quadrilateral that is both a kite and parallelogram is a rhombus. A rhombus is a tangential quadrilateral and that is, it has an inscribed circle that is tangent to all four sides. As for all parallelograms, the area K of a rhombus is the product of its base, the base is simply any side length a, K = a ⋅ h. The inradius, denoted by r, can be expressed in terms of the p and q as. The dual polygon of a rhombus is a rectangle, A rhombus has all sides equal, a rhombus has opposite angles equal, while a rectangle has opposite sides equal. A rhombus has a circle, while a rectangle has a circumcircle. A rhombus has an axis of symmetry through each pair of opposite vertex angles, the diagonals of a rhombus intersect at equal angles, while the diagonals of a rectangle are equal in length. The figure formed by joining the midpoints of the sides of a rhombus is a rectangle, a rhombohedron is a three-dimensional figure like a cube, except that its six faces are rhombi instead of squares. The rhombic dodecahedron is a polyhedron with 12 congruent rhombi as its faces
12.
Harbor
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A harbor or harbour, or haven, is a body of water where ships, boats and barges seek shelter from stormy weather, or are stored for future use. Ports are often located in harbors, harbors can be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys, or they can be constructed by dredging, in contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by prominences of land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, Australia and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka, artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast, the largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai. The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons, a natural harbor is a landform where a part of a body of water is protected and deep enough to furnish anchorage. Natural harbors have long been of great strategic naval and economic importance, having a protected harbor reduces or eliminates the need for breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbor. For harbors near the North and South Poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, the worlds southmost harbor, located at Antarcticas Winter Quarters Bay, is potentially ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions. Although the worlds busiest port is a hotly contested title, in 2006 the worlds busiest harbor by cargo tonnage was the Port of Shanghai
13.
Oosterscheldekering
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The construction of the Delta Works was in response to the widespread damage and loss of life due to the North Sea Flood of 1953. These doors are open, but can be closed under adverse weather conditions. In this way, the marine life behind the dam is preserved and fishing can continue. On 4 October 1986, Queen Beatrix officially opened the dam for use by saying the well-known words, De stormvloedkering is gesloten. At the artificial island Neeltje-Jans, at one end of the barrier, the Oosterscheldekering was the most difficult to build and most expensive part of the Delta works. Work on the dam more than a decade. Construction started in April 1976 and was completed in June 1986, the road over the dam was ready for use in November 1987. To facilitate the building, an artificial island Neeltje-Jans was created in the middle of the estuary, when the construction was finished, the island was rebuilt to be used as education centre for visitors and as a base for maintenance works. The dam is based on 65 concrete pillars with 62 steel doors, the parts were constructed in a dry dock. The area was flooded and a fleet of special construction ships lifted the pillars. Each pillar is between 35 and 38.75 metres high and weighs 18000 tonnes, the dam is designed to last more than 200 years. The Oosterscheldekering is sometimes referred to as the eighth Wonder of the World and it has been declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Four ships were designed and built for this project, Mytilus. Cardium, a ship to transport and lay a special foil carpet on the seabed for the pillars to rest on, Ostrea, a ship capable of lifting a concrete pillar from the dry dock and placing it accurately on a special foil on the seabed. The ship is 85 metres long and has a portal of 50 metres high, the ship can only lift 10000 tonnes, but as a large part of the pillar is underwater, it is not necessary for the ship to be able to lift the full 18000 tonnes. This ship is considered the flagship of the fleet, mainly because of its larger size. Macoma, a ship that works closely with the Ostrea, cleaning the foil assisting in placing the pillars accurately in their final position, the ships are named after various types of shellfish. The dam is manually operated but if human control fails, a security system acts as a backup
14.
Zuid-Beveland
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Zuid-Beveland is part of the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands north of the Westerschelde and south of the Oosterschelde. It is an island, now peninsula, crossed by the Canal through Zuid-Beveland on the west. It consists of four municipalities, Borsele Goes Kapelle Reimerswaal Goes is Zuid-Bevelands principal urban center, Zuid-Beveland is a former island which was joined to the mainland by a railway embankment in 1903 and to Noord-Beveland by the Delta Works. A shipping canal connecting the Belgian port of Antwerp with the Rhine River traverses Zuid-Beveland and this was the period during which most of Zeeland appears to have been submerged. The area was and for several centuries would remain almost unpeopled, during the eleventh century the area began to be drained, as little by little polders and channels were developed to protect the fields between them. Once drained, salt levels began to reduce and the soil very fertile. In the thirteenth century villages and towns began to appear, people lived chiefly from farming and fishing. The commercial centre of Zuid-Beveland was Goes, but Reimerswaal to the east, as a result of the St. Felix Days floods in November 1530, much of the island disappeared under water. Towns and villages were lost to what became known as the land of Zuid-Beveland. The island was badly impacted forty years later in November 1570 by the “All Saints’ Day floods. Between 1568 and 1648, during the course of what by its end had become the War of Dutch Independence. During most of this period the economy of the Netherlands slowed or contracted, however, the region benefitted from advances in transportation, connected in 1868 to Roosendaal by railroad with the inauguration of the Zeeland Line. In 1850 work began on the Zuid-Beveland Canal which linked the Western Scheldt, the construction in 1871 of the Sloedam, topped off with a roadway and a railway track, across the old Sloe Channel, connected Zuid-Beveland with Walcheren. On 16 May 1940, heavy fighting occurred near Kapelle between German and French motorized troops, who came to the rescue of the Dutch, the next day 65 French soldiers were buried by the local people. After World War II every French soldier, who was killed in the Netherlands during the war, was brought to Kapelle, on 16 May 1950, the military cemetery on the edge of town was officially opened. 217 French soldiers,20 Moroccan soldiers in French service and 1 Belgian soldier were buried here, the area was liberated by British and Canadians during the Battle of the Scheldt in November 1944. In the night of 31 January and the morning of 1 February 1953 a heavy flood occurred in the southwest of the Netherlands, because of the relative high altitude, the most part of Zuid-Beveland was relatively safe. In particular the eastern part of the peninsula suffered from floods, to prevent future floods, the Delta Works were started in 1950
15.
North Brabant
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Noord Brabant, also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the west, the northern border follows the Meuse river westward to its mouth in the Hollands Diep strait, part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. The Duchy of Brabant was a state of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183 or 1190. Until the 17th century, the area that now makes up the province of North Brabant was mostly part of the Duchy of Brabant, of which the southern part is now in Belgium. In the 14th and 15th century, the experienced a golden age, especially the cities of Brussel, Mechelen, Leuven, Antwerpen, Breda, Bergen op Zoom. After the Union of Utrecht was signed in 1579, Brabant became a battlefield between the Protestant Dutch Republic and Catholic Spain, which occupied the southern Netherlands, attempts to introduce Protestantism into the region were largely unsuccessful, North Brabant remained strongly Roman Catholic. For over a century, North Brabant served mainly as a buffer zone. In 1796, when confederate Dutch Republic became the unitary Batavian Republic and this status ended with the reorganisation by the French, and the area was divided over several departments. This boundary between the Netherlands and Belgium is special in that it does not form a contiguous line, a few of these irregularities were corrected, Huijbergen became totally Dutch, but some remain, notably Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau. The period from 1900 until the late 1960s is called Het Rijke Roomse Leven, in those days every village in North Brabant had a convent from which the nuns operated. Politically, the province was dominated by Catholic parties, the Roomsch-Katholieke Staatspartij and its successor, the Katholieke Volkspartij. The influence of Het Rijke Roomse Leven remains in the form of education where some schools are still Roman Catholic, a cultural divide is still found between the Catholic south and the Protestant north, but with a total of 1. In the province of North Brabant Catholics are no longer a majority of the population as of 2010, only 1–2% of the total population of Catholic area attend mass, and these churchgoers consist mostly of people over 65 years old. With a population density of 501/km², North-Brabant is above average urbanized, the urbanization is at the center of the province at largest, where the kite is located, the rest of the province has a more rural character. The province has preserved some of its scenic nature well, also, south of Eindhoven named De Kempen is a beautiful area with farmlands and forests. In Heeze, also south of Eindhoven, are the areas the Groote Heide. The Strabrechtse Heide holds also the largest fen of the Netherlands, like most of the Netherlands, North Brabant is mostly flat but nearly every part of North Brabant is above sea level, therefore, there are not as many canals as in the lower parts of The Netherlands. Although most of the lives in urban areas, the province is scattered with villages around which most of the land is cultivated
16.
Roman Britain
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Roman Britain was the area of the island of Great Britain that was governed by the Roman Empire, from AD43 to 410. Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by other Celtic tribes during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesars enemies. He received tribute, installed a king over the Trinovantes. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34,27, in AD40, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel, only to have them gather seashells. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain, the Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the Province of Britain. By the year 47, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way, control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudicas uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward. Around 197, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces, Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior, during the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century, for much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410, the kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that. Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, after the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor, over the centuries Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire, such as Italy, Spain, Syria and Algeria. Britain was known to the Classical world, the Greeks, Phoenicians and Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC, the Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or tin islands, and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 5th century BC, however, it was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed at all. The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The second invasion involved a larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul. Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind but he established clients, Augustus planned invasions in 34,27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustuss reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in annual revenue than any conquest could
17.
Nehalennia
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Worship of Nehalennia dates back at least to the 2nd century BC, and veneration of the goddess flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. A similar number were discovered in 1971-72 in the town of Colijnsplaat, while Nehalennia is by far the most common spelling, Nehalenia and Nehalaennia both appear a few times. Gysseling characterizes these two forms as Latinisations of the more archaic Nehalennia, several sporadic spellings that are attested once each were rejected by Bogaers as non-standard or misread due to the poor state of some of the inscriptions. Nehalennia is almost always depicted with marine symbols and a large and she must have been a Celtic or Germanic deity, who was attributed power over trading, shipping and possible horticulture and fertility. She is depicted as a young woman and she wears a typical short cloak over her shoulders and chest. This garment is unique to her and therefore might have belonged to the costumes usual at that period in this region, often she is accompanied by a dog and she has as attributes a basket of apples or loaves and ship parts. This dog is on thirteen of the twenty-one altars recorded by Ada Hondius-Crone, the loaves that Nehalennia is depicted with on her altars have been identified as duivekater, oblong sacrificial loaves in the shape of a shin bone. In 2005, a replica of the temple was built in Colijnsplaat, the design of temple and its sculpture is based on the archaeological study of the type of sanctuaries in the Roman provinces of Gaul and Germania. At the reconstruction, authentic materials and techniques were used as much as possible, at the time, this region on the sea coast was an important link for the trade between the Rhine area and Britain. It is known that the tribe of the Morini, who lived on the North Sea coast, visitors came to worship from as far away as Besançon, France and Trier, Germany. Nehalennia had two sanctuaries or shrines, embellished with numerous altars, one at Domburg on the island of Walcheren, in August 2005, a replica of the Nehalennia temple near the lost town of Ganuenta was opened in Colijnsplaat. Matres Iðunn Norse goddess of apples who has parallels to Nehalennia Mythology of the Low Countries Germanic paganism Zeeland Asteroid 2462, or 6578 P-L, official site of the Nehalennia temple replica
18.
Walhaz
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*Walhaz is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word, meaning foreigner, stranger, Roman, Romance-speaker, or Celtic-speaker. The term was used by the ancient Germanic peoples to describe inhabitants of the former Western Roman Empire, the form of these words imply that they are descended from a Proto-Germanic form *walhiska-. It is attested in the Roman Iron Age from an inscription on one of the Tjurkö bracteates, *Walhaz is almost certainly derived from the name of the tribe which was known to the Romans as Volcae and to the Greeks as Οὐόλκαι / Ouólkai. This tribe occupied territory neighbouring that of the Germanic people and seem to have referred to by the proto-Germanic name *Walhaz. It is assumed that this term referred to the Celtic Volcae. Subsequently, this term *Walhōz was applied rather indiscriminately to the neighbours of the Germanic people, as evidenced in geographic names such as Walchgau. These southern neighbours, however, were already completely Romanised. Thus, Germanic speakers generalised this name first to all Celts, for instance, the historical German name for Trentino, the part of Tyrol with a Romance speaking majority, is Welschtirol, and the historical German name for Verona is Welschbern. Today, welsch is not in usage in German except in Switzerland and this term is used there not only in a historical context, but also as a somewhat pejorative word to describe Swiss speakers of Italian and French. In Central and Eastern Europe, the word for Latin peoples was borrowed from the Goths into Proto-Slavic some time before the 7th century, the first source using the word was the writings of Byzantine historian George Kedrenos in the mid-11th century. From the Slavs the term passed to other peoples, such as the Hungarians, Turks, over time, the term Vlach also acquired different meanings. The Polish words Włoch, Italian, and Włochy, Italy, and the Slovenian lah, in Hungarian, Oláh, referring to Romanians, Vlachok referring to Romanians/Vlachs, generally, Olasz, referring to Italians. In Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian, Vlah – to Romanians or other Romanian/Vlach subgroup, also in Vlašić, the mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina named after the Vlach shepherds that inhabited it. In Slovene, Laški, archaic name referring to Italians, it is also the name of several settlements in Slovenia, like Laško near Celje, Laško is also the old Slovene name for the area around Monfalcone and Ronchi in Italy, on the border with Slovenia. These names are linked to the presence of larger nuclei of Romance-speaking populations at the time where the Slavs settled the area in the 6th century, in English usage the words Gaul and Gaulish are used synonymously with Latin Gallia, Gallus and Gallicus. However the similarity of the names is coincidental, the English words are borrowed from French Gaule and Gaulois. Germanic w is regularly rendered with French gu / g, Gaule or Gaulle can hardly be derived from Latin Gallia, since g would become j before a, so the regular outcome of Latin Gallia would have been *Jaille in French. This also applies to the French name for Wales, which is le pays de Galles, in Welschnofen lived until the eighteenth century a Ladin community, while in Deutschnofen lived a German community
19.
Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
listen)) is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two sides facing the North Sea consist of dunes; the rest of its coastline is made up of dykes. Middelburg lies at its centre; this city is the provincial capital and Vlissingen 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) to the south is the main harbour. The third municipality is Veere.
