1.
Walnut Street (Philadelphia)
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Walnut Street is located in downtown Philadelphia and extends from the citys Delaware River waterfront through Center City and West Philadelphia. Walnut Street has been characterized as the premier shopping district. In 2013 rents had risen to an average of $107 a foot, a growth of 34% over 2012, running parallel to Walnut Street, one or two blocks to the north, is Chestnut Street. Pennsylvania Route 3 westbound follows Walnut Street from 38th Street to its terminus at the Cobbs Creek Parkway. It is most known for Rittenhouse Square Park and its shopping district in the high-end neighborhood of the same name. This area of Walnut Street and a few blocks to the east features a variety of shops, eateries, bars, hotels, the Walnut Street Theatre, located at 825 Walnut Street, is the oldest continuously-operating theatre in the English-speaking world. James Hotel, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the Sun Oil Building, the 1616 Walnut Street Building, Rittenhouse Square, Estey Hall, the Walnut Street Bridge, completed in 1949, crosses the Schuylkill River. On the west side of the river, the crosses over the Schuylkill Expressway. Further west, Walnut Street bisects the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in the University City section of West Philadelphia, at 47th Street is the site of the old West Philadelphia High School. The Paul Robeson House sits at the corner of 50th and Walnut, the street goes westward through Walnut Hill, Dunlap and eventually Cobbs Creek where the street ends
2.
PATCO Speedline
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The PATCO Speedline is a rapid transit system operated by the Port Authority Transit Corporation, which runs between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden County, New Jersey. The Port Authority Transit Corporation and the Speedline are owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority, the line transports over 38,000 people daily. In 2012, ridership reached a high, with the system having carried 10,612,897 passengers. Speedline operation began on February 15,1969, with the first trip from Lindenwold, New Jersey, to Center City, the Speedline operates 24 hours a day, one of only six U. S. rapid transit systems to do so. The modern-day PATCO Speedline follows the route of several railroad lines. These railroads all terminated in Camden, where passengers could catch ferries across the Delaware River to Philadelphia, construction of the rail line did not actually begin until 1932, and the Bridge Line opened on June 7,1936. Relatively short, it only had four stations, 8th Street and Franklin Square in Philadelphia and City Hall and this section is owned by the City of Philadelphia and leased by PATCO. No sooner had the Bridge Line entered service than neighboring communities in Southern New Jersey began agitating for rapid transit extensions to serve them, Route A would run to Moorestown, Route B to Kirkwood, and Route C to Woodbury Heights. A later study by Louis T. Klauder & Associates recommended using the Bridge Line instead to reach Philadelphia and suggested building Route B first, DRPA service ended on December 29,1968 for final conversion of the line. An infill park-and-ride station, Woodcrest, was added in 1980, in 2005, PATCO officials began planning a new route in the corridor of the originally proposed Route C that would serve Gloucester County and end in Glassboro on the grounds of Rowan University. The proposed Glassboro–Camden Line would require riders to transfer to the Speedline at the Walter Rand Transportation Center for trips to Philadelphia, in 2008, the Delaware River Port Authority announced that it was commissioning a design plan for renovating, modernizing and reopening the Franklin Square station. As of March 2015, DRPA estimated that reopening the station would cost more than $18 million, as of December 5,2016, DRPA’s CEO, John Hanson, said a five-year, $28.2 million plan is now in place for the eventual reopening. The DRPA board recently approved moving ahead, design work will come first, beginning in 2017. Requests for quotations from engineering firms are due near the end of January, the heavy construction work may not happen until 2020, with the opening the following year. PATCO operates 121 67-foot cars which were acquired in two orders, labeled PATCO I and PATCO II. The original PATCO I cars were designed and manufactured by Budd of Philadelphia, cars numbered 101-125 are single units, and cars numbered 201-250 are in permanently coupled married pairs. The PATCO II cars were delivered in 1980 and consisted of married pairs numbered 251-296, the single units differ from the married pairs by having an extra single leaf door located behind each operators booth. This was installed before the collection system was finalized and there was a possibility of operators collecting fares on board during the late night hours
3.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
4.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
5.
Neoclassical architecture
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Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century. In its purest form, it is a style derived from the architecture of classical antiquity, the Vitruvian principles. In form, Neoclassical architecture emphasizes the wall rather than chiaroscuro, Neoclassical architecture is still designed today, but may be labelled New Classical Architecture for contemporary buildings. In Central and Eastern Europe, the style is referred to as Classicism. Many early 19th-century neoclassical architects were influenced by the drawings and projects of Étienne-Louis Boullée, the many graphite drawings of Boullée and his students depict spare geometrical architecture that emulates the eternality of the universe. There are links between Boullées ideas and Edmund Burkes conception of the sublime, the baroque style had never truly been to the English taste. The most popular was the four-volume Vitruvius Britannicus by Colen Campbell, the book contained architectural prints of famous British buildings that had been inspired by the great architects from Vitruvius to Palladio. At first the book featured the work of Inigo Jones. Palladian architecture became well established in 18th-century Britain, at the forefront of the new school of design was the aristocratic architect earl, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, in 1729, he and William Kent, designed Chiswick House. This House was a reinterpretation of Palladios Villa Capra, but purified of 16th century elements and this severe lack of ornamentation was to be a feature of the Palladianism. In 1734 William Kent and Lord Burlington designed one of Englands finest examples of Palladian architecture with Holkham Hall in Norfolk, the main block of this house followed Palladios dictates quite closely, but Palladios low, often detached, wings of farm buildings were elevated in significance. This classicising vein was also detectable, to a degree, in the Late Baroque architecture in Paris. This shift was even visible in Rome at the redesigned façade for S, by the mid 18th century, the movement broadened to incorporate a greater range of Classical influences, including those from Ancient Greece. The shift to neoclassical architecture is conventionally dated to the 1750s, in France, the movement was propelled by a generation of French art students trained in Rome, and was influenced by the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann. The style was adopted by progressive circles in other countries such as Sweden. A second neoclassic wave, more severe, more studied and more consciously archaeological, is associated with the height of the Napoleonic Empire, in France, the first phase of neoclassicism was expressed in the Louis XVI style, and the second in the styles called Directoire or Empire. The Scottish architect Charles Cameron created palatial Italianate interiors for the German-born Catherine II the Great in St. Petersburg, indoors, neoclassicism made a discovery of the genuine classic interior, inspired by the rediscoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum. These had begun in the late 1740s, but only achieved an audience in the 1760s
6.
John Haviland
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John Haviland was an English-born architect who was a major figure in American Neo-Classical architecture, and one of the most notable architects working from Philadelphia in the 19th century. Born 15 December 1792, at Gundenham, near Taunton, Somerset, in 1815 he unsuccessfully pursued an appointment to the Russian Imperial Corps of Engineers. In Russia, however, he met George von Sonntag and John Quincy Adams and he arrived in Philadelphia in 1816, and soon established himself as one of the few professional architects in the city. John Haviland and Mary Wright von Sonntag were married by the Right Rev. William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania and they had a son, John von Sonntag de Havilland. By 1818 Haviland produced a book, The Builders Assistant, which appeared in three volumes several years. This publication was one of the earliest architectural pattern books written and published in North America, during this time, Haviland unwisely speculated in his own projects, including commercial arcades in Philadelphia and New York, as well as an amusement park. He was eventually forced into bankruptcy, tarnishing his reputation in Philadelphia. Haviland was an Honorary and Corresponding Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in 1827 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician. He died March 28,1852 in Philadelphia and was buried in the vault at St. Andrews Church in Philadelphia. Additions & alterations to Old City Hall, 5th & Chestnut Sts, first Presbyterian Church, SE corner 7th & Locust Sts. St. Andrews Episcopal Church,256 S. 8th St. Philadelphia, now Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. George. Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, NW corner Broad & Pine Sts, now Dorance Hamilton Hall, University of the Arts. Franklin Institute,15 S. 7th St. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Arcade, 615-19 Chestnut St. Philadelphia. The first American enclosed shopping gallery, Walnut Street Theater, 9th & Walnut Sts. Oldest continuously operated theater in the U. S, eastern State Penitentiary, Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd St. Philadelphia. Boston Row, NW corner 12th & Chestnut Sts, New Jersey State Penitentiary, near Trenton. Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, MO, essex County Court House and Jail, New Street, Newark, NJ. Now derelict and in need of saving, Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital, Harrisburg, PA
7.
William Strickland (architect)
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William Strickland, was a noted architect in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Nashville, Tennessee. A student of Benjamin Latrobe and mentor to Thomas Ustick Walter, Strickland was one of the founders of the Greek Revival movement in the United States, William Strickland was born in Navesink, New Jersey. In his youth, he was a painter, illustrator for periodicals, theatrical scene painter, engraver. His Greek Revival designs drew inspiration from the plates of The Antiquities of Athens. Strickland and Latrobe competed to design the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, Strickland, who was still copying classical prototypes at this point, won with an ambitious design modeled on the iconic Parthenon of Athens. Proud of the building, Strickland had it included in the background of his 1829 portrait by Philadelphia society painter John Neagle, Stricklands evolving talent and confidence is seen in the later Merchants Exchange. Also in Philadelphia, the Merchant Exchange is built on classical example — for example and it was to be located on a triangular plot at the intersection of two major thoroughfares between the waterfront and the business district. The elegant, curved east façade faces the waterfront, and reflects the carriage and this elevation is unique — Greek Revival, but modern — while a more staid and formal elevation can be found on the west side, facing Third Street. One of Stricklands last Philadelphia designs and among his smallest, the building is now occupied by National Mechanics Bar and Restaurant. Strickland also executed works in styles, including very early American work in the Gothic Revival style, including his Masonic Hall and his Saint Stephens Church. He also made use of Egyptian, Saracenic and Italianate styles, Strickland was also a civil engineer and one of the first to advocate the use of steam locomotives on railways. In 1835, the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad hired him to survey a route from Wilmington, Delaware, later that year, he was named chief engineer of the Delaware and Maryland Railroad. Strickland designed and built the Delaware Breakwater, the first breakwater in the Western Hemisphere, several architects and engineers of note began or developed their careers in Stricklands employ, including Thomas Ustick Walter and John Trautwine. Strickland died in Nashville and is buried within the walls of his final, and arguably greatest work, holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church, Philadelphia, also known as the former St. Johns Episcopal Church. Second Bank of the United States, Philadelphia, Second Chestnut Street Theatre -1822 -1856 Musical Fund Hall, The Musical Fund Society, Philadelphia -1824. Wyck House -1824 Triumphal Arches for Lafayettes visit -1824 Second Congregation Mikveh Israel Synagogue, United States Naval Asylum, Philadelphia - 1826–33. Restoration of the tower of Independence Hall, Philadelphia -1828, first Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, -1828 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia -1829 Arch St. Theater -1829 Second Philadelphia Mint, Philadelphia - 1829–33. Blockley Almshouse -1835 Merchants Exchange, Philadelphia 1832–34, sussex County Courthouse, Georgetown, Delaware Grace Church, Keswick, Virginia
8.
Theater (structure)
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A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed, or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance, a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces, the facility is traditionally organized to provide support areas for performers, the technical crew and the audience members. There are as many types of theaters as there are types of performance, theaters may be built specifically for a certain types of productions, they may serve for more general performance needs or they may be adapted or converted for use as a theater. They may range from open-air amphitheaters to ornate, cathedral-like structures to simple, some theaters may have a fixed acting area, while some theaters, such as black box theaters, may not, allowing the director and designers to construct an acting area suitable for the production. The most important of these areas is the acting space generally known as the stage, in some theaters, specifically proscenium theaters, arena theaters and amphitheaters, this area is permanent part of the structure. In a blackbox theater the area is undefined so that each theater may adapt specifically to a production. In addition to these spaces, there may be offstage spaces as well. These include wings on either side of a stage where props, sets. A Prompters box may be found backstage, in an amphitheater, an area behind the stage may be designated for such uses while a blackbox theater may have spaces outside of the actual theater designated for such uses. Often a theater will incorporate other spaces intended for the performers, a booth facing the stage may be incorporated into the house where lighting and sound personnel may view the show and run their respective instruments. Other rooms in the building may be used for dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, spaces for constructing sets, props and costumes, as well as storage. There are usually two main entrances, one at the front, used by the audience, that leads into the back of the audience, the second is called the stage door, and it is accessible from backstage. This is the means by which the cast and crew enter and exit the theater and this term can also be used to refer to going to a lot of shows or living in a big theater city, such as New York or Chicago. All theaters provide a space for an audience, the audience is usually separated from the performers by the proscenium arch. In proscenium theaters and amphitheaters, the arch, like the stage, is a permanent feature of the structure. This area is known as the auditorium or the house, the word parterre is sometimes used to refer to a particular subset of this area. In North American usage this is usually the rear seating block beneath the gallery whereas in Britain it can mean either the area in front near the orchestra pit, the term can also refer to the side stalls in some usages. Derived from the gardening term parterre, the usage refers to the pattern of both the seats of an auditorium and of the planted beds seen in garden construction
9.
Jimmy Carter
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James Earl Jimmy Carter Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Carter Center, Carter was a Democrat who was raised in rural Georgia. He was a farmer who served two terms as a Georgia State Senator from 1963 to 1967, and one as the Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. He was elected President in 1976, defeating incumbent President Gerald Ford in a close election. On his second day in office, Carter pardoned all evaders of the Vietnam War drafts, during Carters term as President, two new cabinet-level departments, the Department of Energy and the Department of Education, were established. He established an energy policy that included conservation, price control. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. On the economic front he confronted persistent stagflation, a combination of inflation, high unemployment. The end of his tenure was marked by the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. In response to the Soviet move he ended détente, escalated the Cold War, Carter won the 1980 primary with 51. 13% of the vote but lost the general election in an electoral landslide to Republican nominee Ronald Reagan, who won 44 of 50 states. His presidency has drawn medium-low responses from historians, with many considering him to have accomplished more with his post-presidency work and he set up the Carter Center in 1982 as his base for advancing human rights. He has also traveled extensively to conduct negotiations, observe elections. Additionally, Carter is a key figure in the Habitat for Humanity project, since surpassing Herbert Hoover in September 2012, he has been the longest-retired president in American history. He is also the first president to mark the 40th anniversary of his election and inauguration, in reference to current political views, he has criticized some of Israels actions and policies in regards to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and has advocated for a two-state solution. James Earl Carter, Jr. was born on October 1,1924, at the Wise Sanitarium in Plains and he is a descendant of English immigrant Thomas Carter, who settled in Virginia in 1635. Numerous generations of Carters lived as farmers in Georgia. Carter is also a descendant of Thomas Cornell, an ancestor of Cornell Universitys founder and of Richard Nixon, Plains was a boomtown of 600 people at the time of Carters birth. His father, James Earl Carter, Sr. was a local businessman who ran a general store and had begun to invest in farmland
10.
Gerald Ford
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Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was an American politician who served as the 38th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977, following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Prior to this he served eight months as the 40th Vice President of the United States, before his appointment to the vice presidency, Ford served 25 years as U. S. Representative from Michigans 5th congressional district, the nine of them as the House Minority Leader. As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War, with the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U. S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation, one of his most controversial acts was to grant a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. During Fords presidency, foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, in the Republican presidential primary campaign of 1976, Ford defeated former California Governor Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination. Arthur not to be elected in his own right, following his years as President, Ford remained active in the Republican Party. After experiencing health problems, he died at home on December 26,2006, Ford lived longer than any other U. S. president –93 years and 165 days – while his 895-day presidency was the shortest of all presidents who did not die in office. Gerald Rudolph Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14,1913, at 3202 Woolworth Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. His mother was Dorothy Ayer Gardner and his father was Leslie Lynch King Sr. a wool trader, Dorothy separated from King just sixteen days after her sons birth. She took her son with her to the Oak Park, Illinois, home of her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, from there, she moved to the home of her parents, Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dorothy and King divorced in December 1913, she gained custody of her son. Fords paternal grandfather Charles Henry King paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930, Ford later said his biological father had a history of hitting his mother. James M. Ford later told confidantes that his father had first hit his mother on their honeymoon for smiling at another man. After two and a half years with her parents, on February 1,1916, Dorothy married Gerald Rudolff Ford and they then called her son Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. The future president was never adopted, and did not legally change his name until December 3,1935. He was raised in Grand Rapids with his three half-brothers from his mothers marriage, Thomas Gardner Tom Ford, Richard Addison Dick Ford. Ford also had three half-siblings from the marriage of Leslie King, Sr. his biological father, Marjorie King, Leslie Henry King
11.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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