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+Coordinates: 47°N 29°E / 47°N 29°E / 47; 29
+
+Moldova is a country in Eastern Europe.[14][15][16] Its full name is the Republic of Moldova (Romanian: Republica Moldova, listen (help·info).) It used to be called Moldavia.
+
+The official language in Moldova is the Romanian language. The capital of Moldova is Chișinău.
+
+The Russian Empire took almost half of the Principality of Moldova in 1812 and called it Bessarabia.  Between 1918 - 1940 and 1941-1944 it was part of the Kingdom of Romania. It became independent from the Soviet Union after its dissolution.
+
+The average monthly salary/wages are still low, standing at only $243 USD.[17]  Moldova is an associated country for future membership in the European Union.[18]

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+Mongolia is a country between China and Russia, in Asia.
+
+Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
+
+Until recently, most of the people there were Buddhists. Many of them are nomads (people who always move from place to place and do not stay in one home), but this is changing. The largest city, and capital city is Ulaanbaatar. It is where about 38% of the population live. This has been spelled Ulan Bator/ Ulaan Battor and other ways in the past. The north and east parts of the country have many mountains. Part of the south part is the Gobi Desert. There are 2,791,272 people living in Mongolia. The country is the 18th biggest country in the world, with an area of 1,564,116 km2 (603,909 sq mi).
+
+Mongolia is mainly rural with the lowest population density of all independent countries in the world.[11][12][13][note 1]
+
+The area which is Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires. This was until the great 'Mongol Empire' was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the Yuan Dynasty collapsed, the Mongols became nomads again. After the 16th century, Mongolia were influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. By the end of the 17th century, most of Mongolia was part of an area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. When the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911, Mongolia declared independence. But they had to fight against the Chinese. They were helped by the Soviet Union. In 1921, the world accepted its independence. Shortly after the death of Bogd Khaan, the last monarch of Mongolia the monarchy was replaced by a communist government in 1924, and the country was renamed the Mongolian People's Republic. Up until the fall of the Soviet Union, Mongolia was a satellite state for the Soviets. The Mongolian Red Cross Society was set up in 1939. It has its headquarters in Ulaanbaator.
+Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia's interest in Mongolia has declined. China and South Korea are currently Mongolia's main trade and political partners.
+
+Mongolia is a parliamentary republic. People vote for their government. The President of Mongolia is elected to a four-year term, and cannot be elected President more than twice. The current President is Khaltmaagiin Battulga. He was first elected as President on July 7, 2017.
+
+Mongolia has a steppe climate. It has very cold winters and mild summers. Recently, winters have become very cold. This has killed many people and cattle. On June 2nd, 2008, 52 people and 200,000 head of cattle died in heavy blizzards in Mongolia.[14]
+
+On March 1–2, 2008, a heavy dust storm hit northeast China and parts of Mongolia. and ended over North Korea and South Korea on the March 4 .[15]
+
+Twenty one people died in a rural Mongolian blizzard on May 8, 2008.[16] Parts of the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia were also affected on the May 8, 2008.
+
+On June 2, 2009, it was said that 15 people and 10,000 head of cattle had died by this date in Mongolia.
+
+April 1–2, 2010 had temperatures plummet to -50 degrees in Mongolia’s Tuul valley, A nomad named Urna said she bought 400 bundles of grass to feed the animals in preparation for more bad weather. The Mongolian Red Cross has said that about 4,500,000 livestock died as a result of the bad weather this year [2010].[17][18] Tume, who lives in Ulan Bator, said that he had noticed that there were several really harsh winters in a row too. He blamed climate change, but experts said that overgrazing by cattle had also killed off most of the country’s grassland.[18]
+
+Mongolia known as the "Land of the Eternal Blue Sky" or "Country of Blue Sky" (Mongolian: Mönkh khökh tengeriin oron - Мөнх хөх тэнгэрийн орон) because it has over 250 sunny days a year.[19][20][21][22]
+
+Mongolia is the world's 19th-largest country (after Iran). It is significantly larger than the next-largest country, Peru. Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan but its westernmost point is only 38 kilometers (24 mi) away from Kazakhstan.
+
+The geography of Mongolia is varied, with the Gobi Desert to the south and with cold and mountainous regions to the north and west. Most of Mongolia consists of steppes, with forested areas comprising 11.2% of the total land area.[23]  The highest point in Mongolia is the Khüiten Peak in the Tavan bogd massif, at a height of 4,374 m (14,350 ft).
+
+Mongolia is divided into 21 provinces called aimags.  The aimags are divided into 329 districts called sums.[24]
+
+The official language of Mongolia is Mongolian, and is spoken by 95% of the population. A variety of dialects of Oirat and Buryatare are spoken across the country. Turkic languages, such as Kazakh and Tuvan, are also spoken in the western part of the country.
+
+Today, Mongolian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, although in the past it was written using the Mongolian script. The traditional alphabet is being slowly reintroduced through schools recently.[25]
+
+Russian is the most frequently spoken foreign language in Mongolia due to their diplomatic ties as former communist states. However English has been gradually replacing Russian as the second language in order to become part of the world economy. Korean has gained popularity as tens of thousands of Mongolians work and study in South Korea. Interest in Chinese has been growing because of the neighboring power.
+
+Mongolia is currently free of bird and swine flu, but 103 air travelers who were suspected victims, and the plane crew of 6, were quarantined for 7 days in Ulaan Bator(Ulaanbaatar) in May 2009.
+
+It may have come over the border from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia.

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+on the European continent  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
+
+San Marino is one of the smallest countries in the world. It is found in southern Europe and is fully surrounded by Italy (this is called an enclave, and only the Vatican City, Lesotho and San Marino are like this). Fewer than 30,000 people live there. Its total area is 61 km2.  Its capital is the City of San Marino.
+
+San Marino is the world's oldest republic that still exists. It was started on 3 September in A.D. 301 by a skilled builder called Saint Marinus. Its written constitution was adopted on October 8, 1600. The very small nation was recognized by Napoleon's France in 1797, and by the other European nations at the 1815 Congress of Vienna.
+
+Even though it is an independent country, it depends very much on Italy. Since the 19th century, when Italy was unified, San Marino has been fully surrounded by Italy.
+
+The biggest industry in San Marino is tourism. Selling postage stamps is an important source of income, too. San Marino is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is used in San Marino.
+
+People in San Marino speak the Italian language. Most people in San Marino believe in Roman Catholicism.
+
+San Marino is covered by the Apennine mountain range, and it has a rugged terrain. The highest point in the country is Monte Titano.  There are no bodies of water of any significant size. San Marino has no natural level ground. It is hilly terrain.
+
+San Marino is the third smallest country in Europe, Only Vatican City and Monaco are smaller.
+
+Two rivers flow through San Marino. There is no major water transport, and no major port or harbour.
+
+These are the 9 castelli (municipalities) of San Marino:
+
+The cuisine of San Marino is strongly similar to Italian, especially that of the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions. It has a number of its own unique dishes and products. Its best known is probably the Torta Tre Monti ("Cake of the Three Mountains" or "Cake of the Three Towers"), a wafer layered cake covered in chocolate.  It shows The Three Towers of San Marino. The country also has a small wine industry.
+

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+Haiti (French: Haïti; Haitian Creole: Ayiti), officially the Republic of Haiti (French: République d'Haïti; Haitian Creole: Repiblik d Ayiti) is a country on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The other country on the island is the Dominican Republic. Haiti has two official languages: French and Haitian Creole, or "Kreyol", which is a simple version of French mixed with African languages. Its capital city is Port-au-Prince.
+
+Haiti has a tropical climate. In French, the country is called "La Perle des Antilles" (The pearl of the Antilles), because of its natural beauty. There are many mountains in Haiti. The country used to be covered with forests. However, it no longer is, because of deforestation. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
+
+Haiti is divided into ten departements. The main religion is Roman Catholicism. However, many Haitians also practice Voodoo. This is a religion which came from African folk beliefs in Benin. Haiti has many holidays; the largest and most important is the Mardi Gras.
+
+Haiti has a total area of 27,750 km². Most of it is in the western third of the Hispaniola island. There are also smaller islands near the Haitian coast, like Gonâve, Île de la Tortue, Les Cayemites, Île-à-Vache and La Navase.
+
+Haiti has many mountains. There are only some coastal plains and few valleys. The largest valley is the Cul-de-Sac. Port-au-Prince is in the western end of this valley. The country's main river is the Artibonite, which is also the longest in Hispaniola. Haiti's biggest city is Port-au-Prince, with more than 3 million people in its metropolitan area. The second largest city is Cap-Haïtien.
+
+Haiti has a tropical climate. The rainy season lasts from April to June, and from October to November. Hurricanes are common during summer. In the past, hurricanes have caused a lot of damage and killed many people.
+
+The Taino people were a tribe of Arawak Amerindians.  They lived on the island of Hispaniola before Christopher Columbus found the island and started a European colony there. Columbus found the island of Hispaniola on his first trip to the Americas.[8]  Within twenty-five years after Columbus arrived, all of the Arawaks had been killed by Spanish conquistadors.
+
+In the early 17th century, the French set up a colony on Hispaniola. In 1697, Spain sold the western third of the island - Haiti - to the French. The French colony[9] was based on forestry and making sugar. It became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean. However, to do this, the colony brought many slaves over from Africa and destroyed much of the environment.
+
+By the late 18th century, there were nearly half a million slaves in Haiti. They revolted, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. After a hard and bloody struggle, they won their independence. In 1804, Haiti became the first independent black republic in the world.[10] Today there are many monuments in Haiti remembering the Haitian Revolution. One of the largest is La Citadelle Laferriere.
+
+On January 12, 2010, in the afternoon of a Tuesday, Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake. This was the worst earthquake to hit the country in the past 200 years.[11] The quake's epicenter was just outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.[12] The quake caused major damage to Port-au-Prince and nearby areas. Over 200,000 people were thought to have been killed, but it was hard to be sure because many people were buried in mass graves before they could be identified.[13]
+
+Haiti is made of ten regions known as departments (French: départments, singular départment). These departments are further divided into 41 arrondissements, and 133 communes. These are the second and third level units of administration.
+
+The 10 departments, with their capital cities in parentheses, are:
+
+.
+
+The Republic of Haiti is divided into 10 departments, but the central government has control over most political affairs. The president is head of state and is normally elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The president cannot serve consecutive terms. However, because of inconclusive election results in 2015, Haiti's current interim president was elected by the legislature. The prime minister is head of government and is appointed by the president and confirmed by the bicameral National Assembly. The National Assembly's upper house is the 30-seat Senate, and the lower house is the 118-seat Chamber of Deputies. Members of both houses are elected through a majoritarian system. Senators serve six-year terms and deputies serve four-year terms. There have been efforts toward constitutional reform to ensure that more women are represented in politics on the national level, but these reforms have not yet resulted in concrete changes.
+
+Official holidays (on the same day every year)
+
+Traditional and religious holidays (dates vary according to the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church)
+
+Haiti is the least developed country in the Americas. It is also one of the least developed and poorest countries in the world.
+
+There are indicators that can be used to compare social and economic situations between countries. Some indicators show that Haiti has fallen behind other poor developing countries since the 1980s. In 2006, Haiti ranked 146th of 177 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index (2006). About 90% of the Haitian people were living in poverty in 2003.[14] Haiti is the only country in the Americas on the United Nations list of Least Developed Countries and it is the poorest country in the Americas.  The was economy staying even or falling behind even before their big earthquake.
+
+About 66% of all Haitians work in agriculture. Most of them do small-scale subsistence farming[15] (meaning that they are able to grow just enough to survive). This does not bring in much money.
+
+Very few jobs were created in the last ten years. However, the informal economy is growing. Mangoes and coffee are two of Haiti's most important exports.[15] Haiti has consistently ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world on the Corruption Perceptions Index.
+
+About one third of the national government's budget is money given to them by other countries. The United States gives the most money. Canada gives the second largest amount of money. The European Union, Venezuela and Cuba also give and help Haiti's economy in different ways. Haiti has renewed its alliances with Venezuela and Cuba in 2006 and 2007.
+
+From 2001-2004, the United States stopped giving aid to Haiti completely. The aid was cut off after Haiti's 2000 election. The election's results were questioned, and President Aristide was accused of cheating to win the election. Aristide was overthrown in 2004. After that, the United States started giving aid to Haiti again. The United Nations led a peacekeeping operation called the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. (The Mission is called called MINUSTAH in Haiti; this is an acronym for the Mission's name in French). The Brazilian army led the peacekeeping operation.
+
+Even after President Aristide was overthrown, corruption continued to be very common in Haiti.[16][17]
+
+Haiti has a large amount of foreign debt (money owed to other countries and international institutions to repay loans). The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program planned to forgive about $525 million of Haiti's debt by mid-2009.[18]
+
+In 2009, the population of Haiti (the number of people living in the country) was about 10,090,190. Figures from the DNA Nationwide Studies Institute say that the racial makeup of the population is:
+
+Some East Asians also live in the country.

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+Ireland (Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] (listen)), also known as the Republic of Ireland is a European country on the island of Ireland. It is a member of the European Union. The country is sometimes called the Republic of Ireland in order to distinguish between the territory of the Irish state and island proper, but Ireland is its official name. It covers about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The other sixth is called Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom. The republic's capital is Dublin. Cork is the second largest city in the country and the third largest on the island of Ireland. The population of Ireland is 4.6 million. English is the main language spoken. The Irish language is widely taught in all schools, and it is still spoken as a first language in some areas of the country, known as the Gaeltacht. Irish is the first official language, followed by English.
+
+Several hundred years ago, the English took over the country and made it part of the United Kingdom in 1801. Ireland left the United Kingdom in 1922 and has been an independent country since then. It was a neutral country during World War II.
+
+The head of State, the President, is elected for seven years by the adult citizens. The same president can only be elected twice (14 years). Most of the president's tasks are representing and ceremonial ones. The president has little power over the government.
+
+Ireland is a democracy and people vote for their representatives.  The Taoiseach (equivalent to a prime minister) is selected by the parliament. The Taoiseach is usually the head of the biggest party.
+
+The Oireachtas (equivalent to the parliament) consists of the Dáil Éireann (the lower House) and the Seanad (the 'upper House').  The system is similar to that of France or the United States, except that the President is not an executive.
+
+The main political parties in Ireland are  Fine Gael 25%, Sinn Féin 22%, Fianna Fail 18%, the Labour Party 7% and others, ref RED C poll 29 th June 2014.
+
+ireann]] (the lower House) and the Seanad (the

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+Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan; officially called the Republic of Azerbaijan) is a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. It is next to Russia in the north, Georgia, Armenia, in the west, Iran in the south, and Caspian Sea on the east. Its capital city is Baku. Azerbaijan became independent from the Soviet Union when it ended in 1991.
+
+Azerbaijan also includes Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an enclave, which is next to Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest.
+
+Most of Azerbaijan's land is in Western Asia. It is called an Asian country by the United Nations.
+
+However, because it is close and its history is related to Europe, Azerbaijan is also a member of a number of European groups, including the Council of Europe since 2001.  Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries.  They have membership in 38 international organizations.[6] On May 9, 2006 Azerbaijan was elected to membership in the newly made Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly.[7]
+
+More than 90% of the people are ethnic Azerbaijanis. Minorities include Russians, Georgians and other minorities. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not say there is an official religion. But, Shia Islam, is by far the largest religion in the country, followed by Sunni Islam. There are also a small number of Christians (mainly Eastern Orthodox), Jews (mainly Ashkenazi), agnostics and atheists.
+
+The name of Azerbaijan comes from Atropates.[8][9] It was a Persian[10][11][12] satrap under the Achaemenid Empire.
+
+Ancient Azerbaijan was named "Caucasian Albania" and was relatively independent under Roman/Byzantine (Roman Azerbaijan) and Persian control.
+
+After the Arab conquest in the 7th century the country has been always under Muslim influence, when its people became Muslim, until the Russian Empire entered the Caucasus region.
+
+From 1920 to 1991, Azerbaijan was a Communist country as a member of the Soviet Union.
+
+Since the early 19th century many Russians settled in Azerbaijan, but after the end of the Soviet Union with the independence of Azerbaijan which is back in control, most Russians and other minorities have left the country and are continuing to leave the country.
+
+There are 106 species of mammals, 97 species of fish, 363 species of birds, 10 species of amphibians and 52 species of reptiles which have been recorded and classified in Azerbaijan.[13] The national animal of Azerbaijan is the Karabakh horse.  It is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse native to Azerbaijan. It is one of the oldest breeds, with ancestry dating to the ancient world. However today the horse is an endangered species.[14]
+
+Azerbaijan's flora is more than 4,500 species of higher plants. Due the unique climate in Azerbaijan, the flora is much richer in the number of species than the flora of the other countries of the South Caucasus.[15] About 67 percent of the species growing in the whole Caucasus can be in Azerbaijan.
+
+Many Azerbaijanis have some form of higher education, most notably in scientific and technical subjects.[16] According to Soviet data, 100 percent of males and females (ages nine to forty-nine) were literate (able to read) in 1970.[16] In 2009, the literacy rate in Azerbaijan was 99.5 percent.[17]
+
+The culture of Azerbaijan has come about as a result of many influences. Today, Western influences, including globalized consumer culture, are strong. National traditions are well kept in the country. Some of the main parts of the Azerbaijani culture are: music, literature, folk dances and art, cuisine, architecture, and movies.
+
+Music of Azerbaijan builds on folk traditions that goes back nearly a thousand years.[18] Among national musical instruments there are 14 string instruments, eight percussion instruments and six wind instruments.[19]
+
+Mugham, meykhana and Ashiq are some of the many musical traditions of Azerbaijan. Mugham is music with poetry and instrumental interludes. When performing Mugham, the singers have to bring their emotions into singing and music. Mugham singer Alim Qasimov is one of the five best singers of all time.[20] Meykhana is a song with no music.  It is usually done by several people.  They make up the words about a particular subject. Ashiq joins poetry, storytelling, dance and vocal and instrumental music. It is as a symbol of Azerbaijani culture.
+
+Azerbaijan was at the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2008. They hosted the contest in 2012, in Baku.[21][22]
+
+There are dozens of Azerbaijani folk dances. They are performed at formal festivals.  The dancers wear national clothes like the Chokha. Most dances have a very fast rhythm.
+
+Azerbaijani architecture typically joins East and West.[23] Many ancient treasures such as the Maiden Tower and Palace of the Shirvanshahs in the Walled City of Baku survive in modern Azerbaijan.  Plans have been shown for the building of the Azerbaijan Tower. It will reportedly replace the Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world.  The planned height is 1,050 metres (3,440 ft).[24]
+
+The movie industry in Azerbaijan dates back to 1898. In fact, Azerbaijan was among the first countries involved in making movies.[25] In 1991, after Azerbaijan gained its freedom from the Soviet Union, the first Baku International Film Festival East-West was held in Baku.
+
+The traditional food is famous for many vegetables and greens used seasonally in the dishes. Fresh herbs, including mint, cilantro (coriander), dill, basil, parsley, tarragon, leeks, chives, thyme, marjoram, green onion, and watercress, are very popular.  They are often served with main dishes on the table. National dishes show the variety of the landscape.  They are based on fish from the Caspian Sea, local meat (mainly mutton and beef), and the many seasonal vegetables and greens. Saffron-rice plov is the flagship food in Azerbaijan and black tea is the national beverage.[26]
+
+The earliest known person in Azerbaijani literature was Hasanoghlu or Pur Hasan Asfaraini.  He made a divan of Persian and Turkic ghazals.[27][28] Classical literature in Azerbaijani was formed in 14th century. Among the poets of this period were Gazi Burhanaddin and Haqiqi. The famed Book of Dede Korkut has two manuscripts copied in the 16th century.[29] It is a collection of 12 stories showing the oral tradition of Oghuz nomads.[30]
+
+In the span of the 17th century and 18th century, Fizuli's unique types as well Ashik poetry were taken up by  poets and writers such as Qovsi of Tabriz and Shah Abbas Sani.
+
+The first newspaper in Azerbaijani, Akinchi was published in 1875.
+
+Sport in Azerbaijan is very old.  Even now, both traditional and modern sports are still practiced. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally said to be Azerbaijan's national sport.  The most popular sports in Azerbaijan are football and chess. The national football team does not do well in international competitions.  On March 19, 2010, Azerbaijan won the bid to host the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.[31]
+
+Futsal is another popular sport in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan national futsal team got fourth place in 2010 UEFA Futsal Championship.
+
+Backgammon plays a major role in Azerbaijani culture.[32] This game is very popular in Azerbaijan and is widely played by the local public.[33]
+
+Out of 9,165,000 people (July 2011), nearly 52% were urban.  The remaining 48% were rural.[35] 51% of the people were female.[35]
+
+About 3 million Azerbaijanis, many of them guest workers, live in Russia.[36]
+
+The biggest reason for death in 2005 was from respiratory diseases.[37]
+
+Azerbaijan is divided into 10 economic regions; 66 rayons and 77 cities. 11 cities are under the direct authority of the republic.[38] Azerbaijan includes the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.[39] The President of Azerbaijan picks the governors of these units.  The government of Nakhchivan is elected and approved by the parliament of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
+
+Note: The cities under the direct authority of the republic in italics.
+
+The economy of Azerbaijan is based on industry, agriculture, and on services including tourism. The energy sector based on the large reserves of crude oil and natural gas, is the main source of economic growth in Azerbaijan today, though half of the Azerbaijani people earn their income directly or indirectly through services and a third earn their income through agriculture.[40] The energy boom has led to massive foreign direct investment and the growth rate of the Azerbaijani economy is one of the world's highest.[41]
+
+After gaining independence in 1991 with the end of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan made the long and difficult change from a command economy to a market economy. The government has largely completed privatization of agricultural lands and small, medium and large state-owned companies. Azerbaijan is continuing making economic reforms, and old economic ties and structures have been slowly replaced. With independence, Azerbaijan became a member of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Azerbaijan's currency is the Azerbaijani manat (AZN) which is divided into 100 qəpik. It became the national currency in 1992 and replaced the old Soviet ruble. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan was created in 1992. The Central Bank serves as Azerbaijan's central bank, and is responsible for printing and distributing the national currency, the Azerbaijani manat, and to control all commercial banks.[42]

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+The Dominican Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana) is a country on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola; the other country on the island is Haiti. Its capital, and largest city, is Santo Domingo. The national language is Spanish.
+
+The country was part of the Spanish empire until the late 18th century. In the 19th century France, Spain and Haiti controlled it at various times, and later it was independent. It was occupied by the United States from 1916 to 1924. The Dominican Republic is a presidential democratic republic. The country has a tropical climate but modified by elevation and the trade winds (winds that come from the northeast, from the Atlantic Ocean).
+
+The island of Hispaniola was discovered by Christopher Columbus on December 5th,  1492,[15] but the first time that he saw part of the present Dominican Republic was on January 4th, 1493 when he saw a headland that he named Monte Cristi ("Mountain of Christ").[16] That mountain is called now El Morro and is near the city of Monte Cristi.
+
+From Monte Cristi, Columbus went east along the north coast of the island and on 6 January, after visiting the Samaná Bay, he went back to Spain. In his second trip to America, he founded the first European city in the continent, La Isabela, near the present city of Puerto Plata.[17]
+
+Later, Bartholomew Columbus founded the city of Santo Domingo, the oldest permanent European city in the Americas. From here, many Spaniards went to conquer other islands (Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico). Because Cuba was closer to the continent, many people moved there from Hispaniola, and then to the continent. Because of that, the population of the island grew very slowly. By the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, Spain gave the western third of the island to France and kept the eastern part, and so the island had two different colonies: the French Saint-Domingue and the Spanish Santo Domingo. In 1795, France got the whole island but they could only control the eastern part because Haiti became independent very soon. In 1809, the French government gave back the old colony of "Santo Domingo" to Spain.
+
+On 1 December 1821, the Spanish lieutenant governor José Núñez de Cáceres declared the independence from Spain. The new country had the name Estado Independiente del Haití Español ("Independent State of Spanish Haiti"). But on 9 February 1822, the Haitian army occupied the country and stayed for 22 years. Juan Pablo Duarte founded a secret society, La Trinitaria, to fight for the Dominican independence. The Haitian occupation ended on 27 February 1844, when the inhabitants of the eastern part of the Hispaniola made a new country named República Dominicana ("Dominican Republic"). From 1861 to 1865, the country was again a Spanish colony. On 16 August 1863 began the Restoration War when the Dominicans fought to be free again. That war ended in 1865 when the Spanish left and the Dominican Republic was again an independent country.[18]
+
+The country was occupied by the United States from 1916 to 1924. In 1930, Rafael Trujillo became the president of the country through a coup d'état. Trujillo was a cruel dictator, killing thousands of people, among them many Haitians. Trujillo was killed in 1961. After the death of Trujillo, Juan Bosch was elected in 1962 and became, in 1963, the first elected president since 1930. But was Bosch was in power for only seven months. In 1965, there was a civil war between those that wanted Bosch back on power and those that were opposed to him. Then the country was invaded again by the United States.
+
+Since the end of the civil war, the presidents of the Dominican Republic have been:[18]
+
+The Dominican Republic is a presidential democratic republic.[19] The government is divided in three branches: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. The Executive branch is made up of the President, the Vice President and the Ministers who are called Secretaries of State. The President is chief of state and head of government and is elected every 4 years. He nominates the cabinet. The current president is Danilo Medina Sánchez.
+
+The Legislative branch makes the laws and is made up of the Congress, which is in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. The Congress is divided into two groups: the Senate, with 32 members (one for every province and one for the National District), and the Chamber of Deputies with 178 members.[20]
+
+The Judicial branch is made up of the courts of the country, including the Supreme Court of Justice.[21]
+
+The Dominican Republic is a constitutional democracy ruled by a president. The president is elected every 4 years. The current president is Danilo Medina Sánchez, of the PLD.
+
+There are 3 important political parties in the Dominican Republic:
+
+There are several mountain chains in the Dominican Republic. The four main chains, from North to South, are:
+
+Between those mountains, there are several important valleys, such as:
+
+There are other smaller valleys in the mountains: Constanza, Jarabacoa, Bonao, Villa Altagracia.[23]
+
+The four most important rivers of the Dominican Republic are Yaque del Norte, Yuna, Yaque del Sur and Ozama. There are many lakes; the largest is the Lake Enriquillo, in the Hoya de Enriquillo.
+
+The country has a tropical climate but modified by elevation and the trade winds (winds that come from the northeast, from the Atlantic Ocean). At sea level, the average temperature is 25 °C, with small changes from one season to another. In the highest mountains, the temperature in winter can be as low as 0 °C.[24]
+
+There are two wet seasons: April-June and September-November. The most dry period is from December to March. Rainfall varies greatly; eastern regions, like the Samaná Peninsula, get an average of over 2,000 mm in a year, but less than 500 mm fall in the southwest (Hoya de Enriquillo).[24]
+
+From June to November, hurricanes are frequent and can do much damage in the island.
+
+The Dominican Republic has a total population, estimated for July 2009, of 9,650,054 inhabitants, for a density of 236.30 inhabitants per km².
+
+About 64% of Dominicans live in cities and towns and 87% of people that are 15 years old or more can read and write.[25]
+
+The two largest cities are Santo Domingo (the capital city) with 1,817,754 inhabitants, and Santiago, in the Cibao Valley and with 908,250 inhabitants.[25]
+
+The ethnic composition of Dominicans is around 45% Mulatto, 40% Black, and 15% White
+
+The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces. The national capital Santo Domingo de Guzmán is in the Distrito National that is like a province and elects one Senator.
+
+The provinces are:
+
+The Dominican Republic has a mixed economy based mainly on agriculture, services (including tourism and finance), trade and money sent from the many Dominicans that live in other countries (United States, Europe). Agricultural production (mainly sugarcane, with smaller amounts of coffee, cacao, and tobacco) was the main economic activity but now is in third place after tourism and manufacturing in zonas francas ("free zones" where the industries do not pay taxes and all the production is sent to other countries).[20]
+
+Mining is also important, mainly ferronickel (nickel with iron) and gold.
+
+The Dominican Republic suffers from poverty, with 83.3% of the population living below the poverty line in 2012. The wealth distribution is uneven: the richest 10% gets nearly 40% of national income.[20]
+
+The culture of the Dominican Republic, like in other Caribbean countries, is a mix of Taíno, African and European (mainly Spanish) cultures.
+
+There are not many Taíno traditions in the modern Dominican culture; many places keep their Taíno names: Dajabón, Bánica, Haina, Yaque, Samaná, etc. Also many objects, plants and animals have a Taíno origin and their names have been included in other languages; for example: canoa (canoe, a small boat), hamaca (hammock, a simple bed), maíz (maize, corn), yuca (cassava, that comes from the Taíno word casabe, a kind of cassava bread eaten in the Caribbean), and batata (sweet potato).
+
+That mix of different traditions created a culture that is known as Creole (in Spanish: Criolla), common to all countries in the Caribbean, Louisiana and some parts of South America and Central America.
+
+In the Dominican Republic, only Spanish is spoken, however; there are 3 major languages that are also spoken such as Haitian Creole, Samana English, and the West African Yoruba language known as Lucumi spoken by few. There is a local dialect or patois which is spoken by all Dominicans - see Dominican Spanish Creole.[26]
+
+The official religion is Roman Catholicism but there is freedom of religion. Protestant groups are important, representing about 15% of the total population.[20] Each year major festivities called fiestas patronales are held. They are Catholic festivities in honor of the Patron saints of the towns and villages; it is a Spanish tradition to associate every town with a Catholic saint. The festivities includes church services, street parades, fire works, dance contests and other activities. Dominican Voodoo or Santeria is also practiced in large numbers as well as Dominican Palo, Dominican Kongo religion, and others.
+
+African culture has the strongest influence in Dominican culture, especially in language, religion, food, and music.
+
+Notes:

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+The Dominican Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana) is a country on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola; the other country on the island is Haiti. Its capital, and largest city, is Santo Domingo. The national language is Spanish.
+
+The country was part of the Spanish empire until the late 18th century. In the 19th century France, Spain and Haiti controlled it at various times, and later it was independent. It was occupied by the United States from 1916 to 1924. The Dominican Republic is a presidential democratic republic. The country has a tropical climate but modified by elevation and the trade winds (winds that come from the northeast, from the Atlantic Ocean).
+
+The island of Hispaniola was discovered by Christopher Columbus on December 5th,  1492,[15] but the first time that he saw part of the present Dominican Republic was on January 4th, 1493 when he saw a headland that he named Monte Cristi ("Mountain of Christ").[16] That mountain is called now El Morro and is near the city of Monte Cristi.
+
+From Monte Cristi, Columbus went east along the north coast of the island and on 6 January, after visiting the Samaná Bay, he went back to Spain. In his second trip to America, he founded the first European city in the continent, La Isabela, near the present city of Puerto Plata.[17]
+
+Later, Bartholomew Columbus founded the city of Santo Domingo, the oldest permanent European city in the Americas. From here, many Spaniards went to conquer other islands (Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico). Because Cuba was closer to the continent, many people moved there from Hispaniola, and then to the continent. Because of that, the population of the island grew very slowly. By the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, Spain gave the western third of the island to France and kept the eastern part, and so the island had two different colonies: the French Saint-Domingue and the Spanish Santo Domingo. In 1795, France got the whole island but they could only control the eastern part because Haiti became independent very soon. In 1809, the French government gave back the old colony of "Santo Domingo" to Spain.
+
+On 1 December 1821, the Spanish lieutenant governor José Núñez de Cáceres declared the independence from Spain. The new country had the name Estado Independiente del Haití Español ("Independent State of Spanish Haiti"). But on 9 February 1822, the Haitian army occupied the country and stayed for 22 years. Juan Pablo Duarte founded a secret society, La Trinitaria, to fight for the Dominican independence. The Haitian occupation ended on 27 February 1844, when the inhabitants of the eastern part of the Hispaniola made a new country named República Dominicana ("Dominican Republic"). From 1861 to 1865, the country was again a Spanish colony. On 16 August 1863 began the Restoration War when the Dominicans fought to be free again. That war ended in 1865 when the Spanish left and the Dominican Republic was again an independent country.[18]
+
+The country was occupied by the United States from 1916 to 1924. In 1930, Rafael Trujillo became the president of the country through a coup d'état. Trujillo was a cruel dictator, killing thousands of people, among them many Haitians. Trujillo was killed in 1961. After the death of Trujillo, Juan Bosch was elected in 1962 and became, in 1963, the first elected president since 1930. But was Bosch was in power for only seven months. In 1965, there was a civil war between those that wanted Bosch back on power and those that were opposed to him. Then the country was invaded again by the United States.
+
+Since the end of the civil war, the presidents of the Dominican Republic have been:[18]
+
+The Dominican Republic is a presidential democratic republic.[19] The government is divided in three branches: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. The Executive branch is made up of the President, the Vice President and the Ministers who are called Secretaries of State. The President is chief of state and head of government and is elected every 4 years. He nominates the cabinet. The current president is Danilo Medina Sánchez.
+
+The Legislative branch makes the laws and is made up of the Congress, which is in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. The Congress is divided into two groups: the Senate, with 32 members (one for every province and one for the National District), and the Chamber of Deputies with 178 members.[20]
+
+The Judicial branch is made up of the courts of the country, including the Supreme Court of Justice.[21]
+
+The Dominican Republic is a constitutional democracy ruled by a president. The president is elected every 4 years. The current president is Danilo Medina Sánchez, of the PLD.
+
+There are 3 important political parties in the Dominican Republic:
+
+There are several mountain chains in the Dominican Republic. The four main chains, from North to South, are:
+
+Between those mountains, there are several important valleys, such as:
+
+There are other smaller valleys in the mountains: Constanza, Jarabacoa, Bonao, Villa Altagracia.[23]
+
+The four most important rivers of the Dominican Republic are Yaque del Norte, Yuna, Yaque del Sur and Ozama. There are many lakes; the largest is the Lake Enriquillo, in the Hoya de Enriquillo.
+
+The country has a tropical climate but modified by elevation and the trade winds (winds that come from the northeast, from the Atlantic Ocean). At sea level, the average temperature is 25 °C, with small changes from one season to another. In the highest mountains, the temperature in winter can be as low as 0 °C.[24]
+
+There are two wet seasons: April-June and September-November. The most dry period is from December to March. Rainfall varies greatly; eastern regions, like the Samaná Peninsula, get an average of over 2,000 mm in a year, but less than 500 mm fall in the southwest (Hoya de Enriquillo).[24]
+
+From June to November, hurricanes are frequent and can do much damage in the island.
+
+The Dominican Republic has a total population, estimated for July 2009, of 9,650,054 inhabitants, for a density of 236.30 inhabitants per km².
+
+About 64% of Dominicans live in cities and towns and 87% of people that are 15 years old or more can read and write.[25]
+
+The two largest cities are Santo Domingo (the capital city) with 1,817,754 inhabitants, and Santiago, in the Cibao Valley and with 908,250 inhabitants.[25]
+
+The ethnic composition of Dominicans is around 45% Mulatto, 40% Black, and 15% White
+
+The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces. The national capital Santo Domingo de Guzmán is in the Distrito National that is like a province and elects one Senator.
+
+The provinces are:
+
+The Dominican Republic has a mixed economy based mainly on agriculture, services (including tourism and finance), trade and money sent from the many Dominicans that live in other countries (United States, Europe). Agricultural production (mainly sugarcane, with smaller amounts of coffee, cacao, and tobacco) was the main economic activity but now is in third place after tourism and manufacturing in zonas francas ("free zones" where the industries do not pay taxes and all the production is sent to other countries).[20]
+
+Mining is also important, mainly ferronickel (nickel with iron) and gold.
+
+The Dominican Republic suffers from poverty, with 83.3% of the population living below the poverty line in 2012. The wealth distribution is uneven: the richest 10% gets nearly 40% of national income.[20]
+
+The culture of the Dominican Republic, like in other Caribbean countries, is a mix of Taíno, African and European (mainly Spanish) cultures.
+
+There are not many Taíno traditions in the modern Dominican culture; many places keep their Taíno names: Dajabón, Bánica, Haina, Yaque, Samaná, etc. Also many objects, plants and animals have a Taíno origin and their names have been included in other languages; for example: canoa (canoe, a small boat), hamaca (hammock, a simple bed), maíz (maize, corn), yuca (cassava, that comes from the Taíno word casabe, a kind of cassava bread eaten in the Caribbean), and batata (sweet potato).
+
+That mix of different traditions created a culture that is known as Creole (in Spanish: Criolla), common to all countries in the Caribbean, Louisiana and some parts of South America and Central America.
+
+In the Dominican Republic, only Spanish is spoken, however; there are 3 major languages that are also spoken such as Haitian Creole, Samana English, and the West African Yoruba language known as Lucumi spoken by few. There is a local dialect or patois which is spoken by all Dominicans - see Dominican Spanish Creole.[26]
+
+The official religion is Roman Catholicism but there is freedom of religion. Protestant groups are important, representing about 15% of the total population.[20] Each year major festivities called fiestas patronales are held. They are Catholic festivities in honor of the Patron saints of the towns and villages; it is a Spanish tradition to associate every town with a Catholic saint. The festivities includes church services, street parades, fire works, dance contests and other activities. Dominican Voodoo or Santeria is also practiced in large numbers as well as Dominican Palo, Dominican Kongo religion, and others.
+
+African culture has the strongest influence in Dominican culture, especially in language, religion, food, and music.
+
+Notes:

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+– in Africa  (light blue & dark grey)– in the African Union  (light blue)
+
+The Republic of the Congo is a country in Africa. Its capital city is Brazzaville. The country was a former colony of France; it became independent on 15 August 1960.
+The north of the country has very large areas of rainforest, but in the south are many farms which grow cashcrops like bananas, peanuts.
+
+Congo is in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa.  It is along the Equator.  To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is also bordered by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a short Atlantic coast.
+
+The capital, Brazzaville, is on the Congo River, directly across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
+
+The Republic of the Congo is divided into 12 Departments. Departments are divided into communes and/or districts.
+
+The districts are:

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@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Panama  is a country in Central America. Its official name is the Republic of Panama, and it is most famous for the Panama Canal. Countries bordering Panama are Costa Rica in the Northwest and Colombia in the Southeast. Panama is between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Most of the people in Panama are Roman Catholic (about 80%).
+
+The Caribbean coastline has many good natural harbors. However, Cristóbal, at the Caribbean terminus of the canal, had the only important port facilities in the late 1980s. The many islands of the Archipiélago de Bocas del Toro, near the beaches of Costa Rica, made an extensive natural roadstead and shield for the port of Almirante. The over 350 San Blas Islands, near Colombia, are spread out for more than 160 km along the sheltered Caribbean coastline.
+
+The population of Panama is about 3,405,813 in May 2010. The ethnic makeup of Panama is:
+
+The information there **Other** is likely including Arabs, East Indians, and some Russian.
+
+For ships, Panama is a flag of convenience.
+
+In 2011 Panama had an unemployment rate of 2.7%.[4] Panama also had a food surplus in August 2008. Panama was ranked at number 60 on the Human Development Index in 2008.
+
+Panama's economy has experienced an economic boom in recent years. Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth was over 10.4% from 2006–2008. The Panamanian economy has been one of the fastest growing and best managed in Latin America. Latin Business Chronicle has predicted that Panama will be the fastest growing economy in Latin America in the five-year period of 2010–14.[5]
+
+Panama is impacted by the global financial crisis. It threatens to damage the social gains made in the past few years.
+
+The expansion project of the Panama Canal and the free trade agreement with the United States is expected to boost and extend the economy.
+
+Panama is divided into nine provinces. Also, there are five Comarcas (literally: "Shires") populated by a variety of indigenous groups.
+

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+The Republic of Yemen or Yemen is a nation in the Middle East. It is the old North Yemen and South Yemen, in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders Saudi Arabia and Oman on the north and the east. To the south is the Guardafui Channel and Gulf of Aden, and to the west is the Red Sea. Yemen owns the island of Socotra (217 miles) to the south off the coast of East Africa. A person or thing from Yemen is called Yemeni. Yemen's capital city is Sana'a.
+
+Yemen is the origin land of all Arabs in the Middle East. In ancient times, Yemen was an important center of trade and power. Many powerful kingdoms were in Yemen, including the Sabaeans. Yemen was important in the trade of spices as well. It was known to the ancient Romans as Arabia Felix ("Happy Arabia" in Latin). They called it Happy Arabia because the area was so beautiful and powerful.
+
+In the 700s, Yemenis were among the first to join the new religion Islam. Since then, Yemenis have been staunch Muslims who were in the forefront of all Islam conquests. Men whose ancestors came from Yemen ruled Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) for centuries. The Ottoman Empire took control of North Yemen, and the British Empire took South Yemen, in the early 20th century. The two parts were united in 1990 and later fought civil wars. The latest one started in 2015. Some famous people including former President Ali Abdullah Saleh were killed, and thousands died of hunger.
+
+Today, Yemen has over 20 million people. Most of them speak Arabic.
+
+Yemen is in Western Asia. It is on the southern half of the Arabian Peninsula. A number of Red Sea islands, including the Hanish Islands, Kamaran, and Perim, as well as Socotra in the Arabian Sea, belong to Yemen. Many of the islands are volcanic. For example, Jabal al-Tair had a volcanic eruption in 2007 and before that in 1883. The highest point in Yemen is Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb.
+
+Yemen is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the Arab World. There is a 35% unemployment rate, which means only 35 out of every 100 people in the labor force don't have a job.
+
+As a result of the 2011–2012 Yemeni uprising, the constitution of Yemen was rewritten. New elections were to be held in 2014. Some areas are controlled by armed militant groups. On 23 January 2015, the President, Prime Minister and Cabinet resigned. War continued, with Saudi Arabia and Iran supporting different sides.
+
+As of February 2004, Yemen is divided into twenty governorates and one municipality called "Amanat Al-Asemah".[4]
+
+The governorates are divided into 333 districts. The districts are divided into 2,210 sub-districts, and then into 38,284 villages (as of 2001).
+
+Yemen has about 24 million people according to June 2011 estimates. 46% of the people are under 15 years old. Yemenis are mainly of Arab origin.[7] Arabic is the official language.
+
+Religion in Yemen is mostly of two main Islamic religious groups; 53% of the Muslim population is Sunni[8] and 45% is Shiite according to the UNHCR.[8][9]
+
+According to 2009 estimates, life expectancy in Yemen is 63.27 years.[7]
+
+Football is the most popular sport in Yemen. The Yemen national football team competes in the FIFA and the AFC leagues. The country also hosts many football clubs that compete in the national or international leagues.
+
+Yemen's mountains have many opportunities for outdoor sports, such as rock climbing, hill climbing, skiing, and hiking. The coast of Yemen and Socotra island have opportunities for water sports, such as surfing, sailing, swimming, and scuba diving. Socotra island is one of the best surfing places in the world.
+
+Yemen's biggest sports event was hosting the 2010 Gulf Cup of Nations.

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@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+
+
+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)
+
+Germany (German: Deutschland), officially Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland[8]), is a country in Central Europe. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG (or the BRD, in German).
+
+To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 square miles). The large majority of Germany has warm summers and cold winters. In June 2013, Germany had a population of 80.6 million[9] people, the largest in Europe (excluding Russia).[10] After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world.[11]
+
+Before it was called Germany, it was called Germania. In the years A.D. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (inf. West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (inf. East Germany). During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. On 13 August 1961, East Germany started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin. West Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union.[12]
+
+Germany gained importance as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was the first Reich (this word means empire). It was started by Charlemagne who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, and it lasted until 1806, the time of the Napoleonic Wars.[13]
+
+The Second Reich was started with a treaty in 1871 in Versailles.[14] The biggest state in the new German Empire was Prussia. The rulers were called Kaisers or "German Emperors", but they did not call themselves "Emperors of Germany". There were many smaller states in the Empire, but not Austria. Germany stayed an empire for 50 years.
+
+In 1866 Prussia won the war against Austria and their allies. During this time Prussia founded the North German Confederation. The treaty of unification of Germany was made after Germany won the Franco-Prussian War with France in 1871. In World War I, Germany joined Austria-Hungary, and again declared war on France.[14] The war became slow in the west and became trench warfare. Many men were killed on both sides without winning or losing. In the Eastern Front the soldiers fought with the Russian Empire and won there after the Russians gave up. The war ended in 1918 because the Germans could not win in the west and gave up. Germany's emperor also had to give up his power.[14] France took Alsace from Germany and Poland got the Danzig corridor. After a revolution, the Second Reich ended, and the democratic Weimar Republic began.
+
+After the war, there were a lot of problems with money in Germany because of the Peace Treaty of Versailles, which made Germany pay for the costs of World War I and the worldwide Great Depression.[15]
+
+The Third Reich was Nazi Germany; it lasted 12 years, from 1933 to 1945.[16] It started after Adolf Hitler became the head of government. On 23 March 1933, the Reichstag (parliament) passed the Enabling Act, which let Hitler's government command the country without help from the Reichstag and the presidency. This gave him total control of the country and the government.[17] Hitler, in effect, became a dictator.
+
+Hitler wanted to unify all Germans in one state and did this by taking over places where Germans lived, such as Austria and Czechoslovakia; Hitler also wanted the land in Poland that Germany had owned before 1918, but Poland refused to give it to him. He then invaded Poland. This started World War II on 1 September 1939. In the beginning of the war, Germany was winning and even successfully invaded France. It managed to take over much of Europe. However, Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 and after the Battle of Kursk, the German Eastern Front began a slow retreat until war's end. On 8 May 1945, Germany gave up after Berlin was captured, Hitler had killed himself a week earlier. Because of the war, Germany lost a lot of German land east of the Oder-Neiße line, and for 45 years, Germany was split into West Germany and East Germany. Other events happened during the war in Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust, the mass genocide of Jews and other peoples, for which some Nazis were punished in the Nuremberg Trials.
+
+In 1989 there was a process of reforms in East Germany, which lead to the opening of the Berlin Wall and to the end of socialist rule in Germany. These events are known as the Wende or the Friedliche Revolution (Peaceful Revolution) in Germany. After that, East Germany joined West Germany in 1990.[18] The new Germany is a part of the European Union.[19]
+
+Germany is a constitutional federal democracy.[20] Its political rules come from the 'constitution' called Basic Law (Grundgesetz), written by West Germany in 1949. It has a parliamentary system, and the parliament elects the head of government, the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler). The current Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, is a woman who used to live in East Germany.[21]
+
+The people of Germany vote for the parliament, called the Bundestag (Federal Assembly), every four years.[22] Government members of the 16 States of Germany (Bundesländer) work in the Bundesrat (Federal Council). The Bundesrat can help make some laws.[23]
+
+The head of state is the Bundespräsident (Federal President). This person has no real powers but can order elections for the Bundestag. The current president is Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD).
+
+The judiciary branch (the part of German politics that deals with courts) has a Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court). It can stop any act by the law-makers or other leaders if they feel they go against Germany's constitution.
+
+The opposition parties are the Alliance '90/The Greens and Die Linke.
+
+Germany is one of the largest countries in Europe. It stretches from the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north to the high mountains of the Alps in the south. The highest point is the Zugspitze on the Austrian border, at 2,962 metres (9,718 ft).[23]
+
+Germany's northern part is very low and flat (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at −3.54 m or −11.6 ft). In the middle, there are low mountain ranges covered in large forests. Between these and the Alps, there is another plain created by glaciers during the ice ages.
+
+Germany also contains parts of Europe's longest rivers, such as the Rhine (which makes up a part of Germany's western border, while Oder River is on its eastern border), the Danube and the Elbe.[23]
+
+In Germany there are sixteen states (Bundesländer):
+
+In these states there are 301 Kreise (districts) and 114 independent cities, which do not belong to any district.
+
+Germany has one of the world's largest technologically powerful economies. Bringing West and East Germany together and making their economy work is still taking a long time and costing a lot of money.[25] Germany is the largest economy in Europe.[26] In September 2011, the inflation rate in Germany was 2.5%. The unemployment rate of Germany was 5.5% as of October 2011.[27]
+
+Germany is one of the G8 countries. The main industry area is the Ruhr area.[28]
+
+In Germany live mostly Germans and many ethnic minorities. There are at least seven million people from other countries living in Germany. Some have political asylum, some are guest workers (Gastarbeiter), and some are their families. Many people from poor or dangerous countries go to Germany for safety. Many others do not get permission to live in Germany.
+
+About 50,000 ethnic Danish people live in Schleswig-Holstein, in the north. About 60,000 Sorbs (a Slavic people) live in Germany too, in Saxony and Brandenburg. About 12,000 people in Germany speak Frisian; this language is the closest living language to English. In northern Germany, people outside towns speak Low Saxon.
+
+Many people have come to Germany from Turkey (about 1.9 million Turks and Kurds). Other small groups of people in Germany are Croats (0.2 million), Italians (0.6 million), Greeks (0.4 million), Russians, and Poles (0.3 million). There are also some ethnic Germans who lived in the old Soviet Union (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million), and Romania (0.3 million). These people have German passports, so they are not counted as foreigners. A lot of these people do not speak German at home.[23]
+
+Christianity is the biggest religion; Protestants are 38% of the people (mostly in the north) and Catholics are 34% of the people (mostly in the south).[23] There are also many Muslims, while the other people (26.3%) are either not religious, or belong to smaller religious groups.[23] In the eastern regions, the former territory of the GDR (known as the DDR in German), only one fifth of the population is religious.
+
+Germany has one of the world's highest levels of schooling, technology, and businesses. The number of young people who attend universities is now three times more than it was after the end of World War II, and the trade and technical schools of Germany are some of the best in the world. German income is, on average, $25,000 a year, making Germany a highly middle class society. A large social welfare system gives people money when they are ill, unemployed, or similarly disadvantaged. Millions of Germans travel outside of their country each year.
+
+In 2015 there were wrong reports in some African, Arabic, etc. media channels about what it's like to go to and live in Germany. False promises of money, easy living and easy jobs were made. Germany is a very densely populated country, and especially in cities the housing situation is difficult and rents are high. Already in 2014 there were 39,000 homeless people in Germany and 339,000 people without apartment.[29] Here is a link to a German video report[30] from a German news magazine. The video is about refugees, who have been living in a sports gym in Berlin for over a year with no privacy. In the video people discuss amongst others why there are problems to find living space in containers. The containers are similar to those in Zaatari refugee camp.
+
+Germany's constitution says that all people can believe in any religion they want to, and that no one is allowed to discriminate against somebody because of the person's religion.
+
+In ancient times Germany was largely pagan. Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany up to the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this. In 1517, Martin Luther said that the Catholic Church used religion to make money. Luther started Protestantism, which is as big as the Catholic religion in Germany today. Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German people were Protestant and one-thirds were Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany, there were a lot more Protestants than Catholics. Today, about two-thirds of German people (more than 55 million people) call themselves Christian, but most of them do not practice it. About half of them are Protestants and about half are Roman Catholics.[31] Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Germany.
+
+Before World War II, about one percent of the country's people were German Jews. Today, Germany has the fastest-growing group of Jewish people in the world. Many of them are in Berlin. Ten thousand Jews have moved to Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall; many came from countries that were in the Soviet Union. Schools teaching about the horrible things that happened when the Nazis were in power, as well as teaching against the ideas of the Nazis, has helped to make Germany very tolerant towards other people and cultures, and now many people move there from countries that may not be so tolerant.
+
+About three million Muslims live in Germany, 3.7% of the total population.[31][32] The country also has a large atheist and agnostic population, and there are also large about O.6 million Hinduism follower and some small group of Jain, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities. The 20th century has also seen a neopagan revival.
+
+Germany has a long history of poets, thinkers, artists, and so on. There are 240 supported theaters, hundreds of orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries in Germany. Millions of tourists visit these attractions every year. Some of the greatest classical musicians including Ludwig van Beethoven and possibly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were German. Some of the most revered scientists today like Albert Einstein are German.
+
+Germany has created a high level of gender equality, disability rights, and accepts homosexuality. Gay marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017.
+
+Germany is known for its food. The food varies from region to region. For example, in the southern regions, such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, they share their type of food with Switzerland and Austria. Everywhere in Germany, meat is eaten as a sausage. Even though wine use is increasing, the national alcoholic drink is beer. The number of Germans who drink beer is one of the highest in the world. German restaurants are also rated the second-best, with France rated first place.
+
+Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Germany. The national team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times, and appears in the finals a lot. The top football league in Germany is Bundesliga. Also, the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) is the largest in the world. Some of the world's best Footballers came from Germany. These would include Miroslav Klose, Oliver Kahn, Gerd Müller, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franz Beckenbauer, and so on. Plus, many tournaments have taken place in Germany. The most recent was the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Audi Cup takes place in Germany every year in Munich.
+
+Germany is also known for its motor sports. The country has made companies like the BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, etc. Successful German racing drivers include Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
+
+Successful tennis players have also come from Germany, including Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. More recently, Sabine Lisicki reached the Women's Singles final at Wimbledon in 2013.
+
+Lastly, Germany is one of the best countries in the Olympic Games. Germany is the third in the list of the most Olympic Games medals in history (mixed with West and East Germany medals). The country finished first place in the 2006 Winter Olympics, and second in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Germany got fifth place in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
+

ensimple/5046.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+
+
+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)
+
+Germany (German: Deutschland), officially Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland[8]), is a country in Central Europe. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG (or the BRD, in German).
+
+To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 square miles). The large majority of Germany has warm summers and cold winters. In June 2013, Germany had a population of 80.6 million[9] people, the largest in Europe (excluding Russia).[10] After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world.[11]
+
+Before it was called Germany, it was called Germania. In the years A.D. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (inf. West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (inf. East Germany). During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. On 13 August 1961, East Germany started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin. West Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union.[12]
+
+Germany gained importance as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was the first Reich (this word means empire). It was started by Charlemagne who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, and it lasted until 1806, the time of the Napoleonic Wars.[13]
+
+The Second Reich was started with a treaty in 1871 in Versailles.[14] The biggest state in the new German Empire was Prussia. The rulers were called Kaisers or "German Emperors", but they did not call themselves "Emperors of Germany". There were many smaller states in the Empire, but not Austria. Germany stayed an empire for 50 years.
+
+In 1866 Prussia won the war against Austria and their allies. During this time Prussia founded the North German Confederation. The treaty of unification of Germany was made after Germany won the Franco-Prussian War with France in 1871. In World War I, Germany joined Austria-Hungary, and again declared war on France.[14] The war became slow in the west and became trench warfare. Many men were killed on both sides without winning or losing. In the Eastern Front the soldiers fought with the Russian Empire and won there after the Russians gave up. The war ended in 1918 because the Germans could not win in the west and gave up. Germany's emperor also had to give up his power.[14] France took Alsace from Germany and Poland got the Danzig corridor. After a revolution, the Second Reich ended, and the democratic Weimar Republic began.
+
+After the war, there were a lot of problems with money in Germany because of the Peace Treaty of Versailles, which made Germany pay for the costs of World War I and the worldwide Great Depression.[15]
+
+The Third Reich was Nazi Germany; it lasted 12 years, from 1933 to 1945.[16] It started after Adolf Hitler became the head of government. On 23 March 1933, the Reichstag (parliament) passed the Enabling Act, which let Hitler's government command the country without help from the Reichstag and the presidency. This gave him total control of the country and the government.[17] Hitler, in effect, became a dictator.
+
+Hitler wanted to unify all Germans in one state and did this by taking over places where Germans lived, such as Austria and Czechoslovakia; Hitler also wanted the land in Poland that Germany had owned before 1918, but Poland refused to give it to him. He then invaded Poland. This started World War II on 1 September 1939. In the beginning of the war, Germany was winning and even successfully invaded France. It managed to take over much of Europe. However, Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 and after the Battle of Kursk, the German Eastern Front began a slow retreat until war's end. On 8 May 1945, Germany gave up after Berlin was captured, Hitler had killed himself a week earlier. Because of the war, Germany lost a lot of German land east of the Oder-Neiße line, and for 45 years, Germany was split into West Germany and East Germany. Other events happened during the war in Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust, the mass genocide of Jews and other peoples, for which some Nazis were punished in the Nuremberg Trials.
+
+In 1989 there was a process of reforms in East Germany, which lead to the opening of the Berlin Wall and to the end of socialist rule in Germany. These events are known as the Wende or the Friedliche Revolution (Peaceful Revolution) in Germany. After that, East Germany joined West Germany in 1990.[18] The new Germany is a part of the European Union.[19]
+
+Germany is a constitutional federal democracy.[20] Its political rules come from the 'constitution' called Basic Law (Grundgesetz), written by West Germany in 1949. It has a parliamentary system, and the parliament elects the head of government, the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler). The current Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, is a woman who used to live in East Germany.[21]
+
+The people of Germany vote for the parliament, called the Bundestag (Federal Assembly), every four years.[22] Government members of the 16 States of Germany (Bundesländer) work in the Bundesrat (Federal Council). The Bundesrat can help make some laws.[23]
+
+The head of state is the Bundespräsident (Federal President). This person has no real powers but can order elections for the Bundestag. The current president is Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD).
+
+The judiciary branch (the part of German politics that deals with courts) has a Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court). It can stop any act by the law-makers or other leaders if they feel they go against Germany's constitution.
+
+The opposition parties are the Alliance '90/The Greens and Die Linke.
+
+Germany is one of the largest countries in Europe. It stretches from the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north to the high mountains of the Alps in the south. The highest point is the Zugspitze on the Austrian border, at 2,962 metres (9,718 ft).[23]
+
+Germany's northern part is very low and flat (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at −3.54 m or −11.6 ft). In the middle, there are low mountain ranges covered in large forests. Between these and the Alps, there is another plain created by glaciers during the ice ages.
+
+Germany also contains parts of Europe's longest rivers, such as the Rhine (which makes up a part of Germany's western border, while Oder River is on its eastern border), the Danube and the Elbe.[23]
+
+In Germany there are sixteen states (Bundesländer):
+
+In these states there are 301 Kreise (districts) and 114 independent cities, which do not belong to any district.
+
+Germany has one of the world's largest technologically powerful economies. Bringing West and East Germany together and making their economy work is still taking a long time and costing a lot of money.[25] Germany is the largest economy in Europe.[26] In September 2011, the inflation rate in Germany was 2.5%. The unemployment rate of Germany was 5.5% as of October 2011.[27]
+
+Germany is one of the G8 countries. The main industry area is the Ruhr area.[28]
+
+In Germany live mostly Germans and many ethnic minorities. There are at least seven million people from other countries living in Germany. Some have political asylum, some are guest workers (Gastarbeiter), and some are their families. Many people from poor or dangerous countries go to Germany for safety. Many others do not get permission to live in Germany.
+
+About 50,000 ethnic Danish people live in Schleswig-Holstein, in the north. About 60,000 Sorbs (a Slavic people) live in Germany too, in Saxony and Brandenburg. About 12,000 people in Germany speak Frisian; this language is the closest living language to English. In northern Germany, people outside towns speak Low Saxon.
+
+Many people have come to Germany from Turkey (about 1.9 million Turks and Kurds). Other small groups of people in Germany are Croats (0.2 million), Italians (0.6 million), Greeks (0.4 million), Russians, and Poles (0.3 million). There are also some ethnic Germans who lived in the old Soviet Union (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million), and Romania (0.3 million). These people have German passports, so they are not counted as foreigners. A lot of these people do not speak German at home.[23]
+
+Christianity is the biggest religion; Protestants are 38% of the people (mostly in the north) and Catholics are 34% of the people (mostly in the south).[23] There are also many Muslims, while the other people (26.3%) are either not religious, or belong to smaller religious groups.[23] In the eastern regions, the former territory of the GDR (known as the DDR in German), only one fifth of the population is religious.
+
+Germany has one of the world's highest levels of schooling, technology, and businesses. The number of young people who attend universities is now three times more than it was after the end of World War II, and the trade and technical schools of Germany are some of the best in the world. German income is, on average, $25,000 a year, making Germany a highly middle class society. A large social welfare system gives people money when they are ill, unemployed, or similarly disadvantaged. Millions of Germans travel outside of their country each year.
+
+In 2015 there were wrong reports in some African, Arabic, etc. media channels about what it's like to go to and live in Germany. False promises of money, easy living and easy jobs were made. Germany is a very densely populated country, and especially in cities the housing situation is difficult and rents are high. Already in 2014 there were 39,000 homeless people in Germany and 339,000 people without apartment.[29] Here is a link to a German video report[30] from a German news magazine. The video is about refugees, who have been living in a sports gym in Berlin for over a year with no privacy. In the video people discuss amongst others why there are problems to find living space in containers. The containers are similar to those in Zaatari refugee camp.
+
+Germany's constitution says that all people can believe in any religion they want to, and that no one is allowed to discriminate against somebody because of the person's religion.
+
+In ancient times Germany was largely pagan. Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany up to the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this. In 1517, Martin Luther said that the Catholic Church used religion to make money. Luther started Protestantism, which is as big as the Catholic religion in Germany today. Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German people were Protestant and one-thirds were Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany, there were a lot more Protestants than Catholics. Today, about two-thirds of German people (more than 55 million people) call themselves Christian, but most of them do not practice it. About half of them are Protestants and about half are Roman Catholics.[31] Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Germany.
+
+Before World War II, about one percent of the country's people were German Jews. Today, Germany has the fastest-growing group of Jewish people in the world. Many of them are in Berlin. Ten thousand Jews have moved to Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall; many came from countries that were in the Soviet Union. Schools teaching about the horrible things that happened when the Nazis were in power, as well as teaching against the ideas of the Nazis, has helped to make Germany very tolerant towards other people and cultures, and now many people move there from countries that may not be so tolerant.
+
+About three million Muslims live in Germany, 3.7% of the total population.[31][32] The country also has a large atheist and agnostic population, and there are also large about O.6 million Hinduism follower and some small group of Jain, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities. The 20th century has also seen a neopagan revival.
+
+Germany has a long history of poets, thinkers, artists, and so on. There are 240 supported theaters, hundreds of orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries in Germany. Millions of tourists visit these attractions every year. Some of the greatest classical musicians including Ludwig van Beethoven and possibly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were German. Some of the most revered scientists today like Albert Einstein are German.
+
+Germany has created a high level of gender equality, disability rights, and accepts homosexuality. Gay marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017.
+
+Germany is known for its food. The food varies from region to region. For example, in the southern regions, such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, they share their type of food with Switzerland and Austria. Everywhere in Germany, meat is eaten as a sausage. Even though wine use is increasing, the national alcoholic drink is beer. The number of Germans who drink beer is one of the highest in the world. German restaurants are also rated the second-best, with France rated first place.
+
+Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Germany. The national team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times, and appears in the finals a lot. The top football league in Germany is Bundesliga. Also, the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) is the largest in the world. Some of the world's best Footballers came from Germany. These would include Miroslav Klose, Oliver Kahn, Gerd Müller, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franz Beckenbauer, and so on. Plus, many tournaments have taken place in Germany. The most recent was the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Audi Cup takes place in Germany every year in Munich.
+
+Germany is also known for its motor sports. The country has made companies like the BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, etc. Successful German racing drivers include Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
+
+Successful tennis players have also come from Germany, including Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. More recently, Sabine Lisicki reached the Women's Singles final at Wimbledon in 2013.
+
+Lastly, Germany is one of the best countries in the Olympic Games. Germany is the third in the list of the most Olympic Games medals in history (mixed with West and East Germany medals). The country finished first place in the 2006 Winter Olympics, and second in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Germany got fifth place in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
+

ensimple/5047.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+
+
+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)
+
+Germany (German: Deutschland), officially Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland[8]), is a country in Central Europe. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG (or the BRD, in German).
+
+To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 square miles). The large majority of Germany has warm summers and cold winters. In June 2013, Germany had a population of 80.6 million[9] people, the largest in Europe (excluding Russia).[10] After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world.[11]
+
+Before it was called Germany, it was called Germania. In the years A.D. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (inf. West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (inf. East Germany). During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. On 13 August 1961, East Germany started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin. West Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union.[12]
+
+Germany gained importance as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was the first Reich (this word means empire). It was started by Charlemagne who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, and it lasted until 1806, the time of the Napoleonic Wars.[13]
+
+The Second Reich was started with a treaty in 1871 in Versailles.[14] The biggest state in the new German Empire was Prussia. The rulers were called Kaisers or "German Emperors", but they did not call themselves "Emperors of Germany". There were many smaller states in the Empire, but not Austria. Germany stayed an empire for 50 years.
+
+In 1866 Prussia won the war against Austria and their allies. During this time Prussia founded the North German Confederation. The treaty of unification of Germany was made after Germany won the Franco-Prussian War with France in 1871. In World War I, Germany joined Austria-Hungary, and again declared war on France.[14] The war became slow in the west and became trench warfare. Many men were killed on both sides without winning or losing. In the Eastern Front the soldiers fought with the Russian Empire and won there after the Russians gave up. The war ended in 1918 because the Germans could not win in the west and gave up. Germany's emperor also had to give up his power.[14] France took Alsace from Germany and Poland got the Danzig corridor. After a revolution, the Second Reich ended, and the democratic Weimar Republic began.
+
+After the war, there were a lot of problems with money in Germany because of the Peace Treaty of Versailles, which made Germany pay for the costs of World War I and the worldwide Great Depression.[15]
+
+The Third Reich was Nazi Germany; it lasted 12 years, from 1933 to 1945.[16] It started after Adolf Hitler became the head of government. On 23 March 1933, the Reichstag (parliament) passed the Enabling Act, which let Hitler's government command the country without help from the Reichstag and the presidency. This gave him total control of the country and the government.[17] Hitler, in effect, became a dictator.
+
+Hitler wanted to unify all Germans in one state and did this by taking over places where Germans lived, such as Austria and Czechoslovakia; Hitler also wanted the land in Poland that Germany had owned before 1918, but Poland refused to give it to him. He then invaded Poland. This started World War II on 1 September 1939. In the beginning of the war, Germany was winning and even successfully invaded France. It managed to take over much of Europe. However, Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 and after the Battle of Kursk, the German Eastern Front began a slow retreat until war's end. On 8 May 1945, Germany gave up after Berlin was captured, Hitler had killed himself a week earlier. Because of the war, Germany lost a lot of German land east of the Oder-Neiße line, and for 45 years, Germany was split into West Germany and East Germany. Other events happened during the war in Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust, the mass genocide of Jews and other peoples, for which some Nazis were punished in the Nuremberg Trials.
+
+In 1989 there was a process of reforms in East Germany, which lead to the opening of the Berlin Wall and to the end of socialist rule in Germany. These events are known as the Wende or the Friedliche Revolution (Peaceful Revolution) in Germany. After that, East Germany joined West Germany in 1990.[18] The new Germany is a part of the European Union.[19]
+
+Germany is a constitutional federal democracy.[20] Its political rules come from the 'constitution' called Basic Law (Grundgesetz), written by West Germany in 1949. It has a parliamentary system, and the parliament elects the head of government, the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler). The current Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, is a woman who used to live in East Germany.[21]
+
+The people of Germany vote for the parliament, called the Bundestag (Federal Assembly), every four years.[22] Government members of the 16 States of Germany (Bundesländer) work in the Bundesrat (Federal Council). The Bundesrat can help make some laws.[23]
+
+The head of state is the Bundespräsident (Federal President). This person has no real powers but can order elections for the Bundestag. The current president is Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD).
+
+The judiciary branch (the part of German politics that deals with courts) has a Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court). It can stop any act by the law-makers or other leaders if they feel they go against Germany's constitution.
+
+The opposition parties are the Alliance '90/The Greens and Die Linke.
+
+Germany is one of the largest countries in Europe. It stretches from the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north to the high mountains of the Alps in the south. The highest point is the Zugspitze on the Austrian border, at 2,962 metres (9,718 ft).[23]
+
+Germany's northern part is very low and flat (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at −3.54 m or −11.6 ft). In the middle, there are low mountain ranges covered in large forests. Between these and the Alps, there is another plain created by glaciers during the ice ages.
+
+Germany also contains parts of Europe's longest rivers, such as the Rhine (which makes up a part of Germany's western border, while Oder River is on its eastern border), the Danube and the Elbe.[23]
+
+In Germany there are sixteen states (Bundesländer):
+
+In these states there are 301 Kreise (districts) and 114 independent cities, which do not belong to any district.
+
+Germany has one of the world's largest technologically powerful economies. Bringing West and East Germany together and making their economy work is still taking a long time and costing a lot of money.[25] Germany is the largest economy in Europe.[26] In September 2011, the inflation rate in Germany was 2.5%. The unemployment rate of Germany was 5.5% as of October 2011.[27]
+
+Germany is one of the G8 countries. The main industry area is the Ruhr area.[28]
+
+In Germany live mostly Germans and many ethnic minorities. There are at least seven million people from other countries living in Germany. Some have political asylum, some are guest workers (Gastarbeiter), and some are their families. Many people from poor or dangerous countries go to Germany for safety. Many others do not get permission to live in Germany.
+
+About 50,000 ethnic Danish people live in Schleswig-Holstein, in the north. About 60,000 Sorbs (a Slavic people) live in Germany too, in Saxony and Brandenburg. About 12,000 people in Germany speak Frisian; this language is the closest living language to English. In northern Germany, people outside towns speak Low Saxon.
+
+Many people have come to Germany from Turkey (about 1.9 million Turks and Kurds). Other small groups of people in Germany are Croats (0.2 million), Italians (0.6 million), Greeks (0.4 million), Russians, and Poles (0.3 million). There are also some ethnic Germans who lived in the old Soviet Union (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million), and Romania (0.3 million). These people have German passports, so they are not counted as foreigners. A lot of these people do not speak German at home.[23]
+
+Christianity is the biggest religion; Protestants are 38% of the people (mostly in the north) and Catholics are 34% of the people (mostly in the south).[23] There are also many Muslims, while the other people (26.3%) are either not religious, or belong to smaller religious groups.[23] In the eastern regions, the former territory of the GDR (known as the DDR in German), only one fifth of the population is religious.
+
+Germany has one of the world's highest levels of schooling, technology, and businesses. The number of young people who attend universities is now three times more than it was after the end of World War II, and the trade and technical schools of Germany are some of the best in the world. German income is, on average, $25,000 a year, making Germany a highly middle class society. A large social welfare system gives people money when they are ill, unemployed, or similarly disadvantaged. Millions of Germans travel outside of their country each year.
+
+In 2015 there were wrong reports in some African, Arabic, etc. media channels about what it's like to go to and live in Germany. False promises of money, easy living and easy jobs were made. Germany is a very densely populated country, and especially in cities the housing situation is difficult and rents are high. Already in 2014 there were 39,000 homeless people in Germany and 339,000 people without apartment.[29] Here is a link to a German video report[30] from a German news magazine. The video is about refugees, who have been living in a sports gym in Berlin for over a year with no privacy. In the video people discuss amongst others why there are problems to find living space in containers. The containers are similar to those in Zaatari refugee camp.
+
+Germany's constitution says that all people can believe in any religion they want to, and that no one is allowed to discriminate against somebody because of the person's religion.
+
+In ancient times Germany was largely pagan. Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany up to the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this. In 1517, Martin Luther said that the Catholic Church used religion to make money. Luther started Protestantism, which is as big as the Catholic religion in Germany today. Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German people were Protestant and one-thirds were Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany, there were a lot more Protestants than Catholics. Today, about two-thirds of German people (more than 55 million people) call themselves Christian, but most of them do not practice it. About half of them are Protestants and about half are Roman Catholics.[31] Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Germany.
+
+Before World War II, about one percent of the country's people were German Jews. Today, Germany has the fastest-growing group of Jewish people in the world. Many of them are in Berlin. Ten thousand Jews have moved to Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall; many came from countries that were in the Soviet Union. Schools teaching about the horrible things that happened when the Nazis were in power, as well as teaching against the ideas of the Nazis, has helped to make Germany very tolerant towards other people and cultures, and now many people move there from countries that may not be so tolerant.
+
+About three million Muslims live in Germany, 3.7% of the total population.[31][32] The country also has a large atheist and agnostic population, and there are also large about O.6 million Hinduism follower and some small group of Jain, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities. The 20th century has also seen a neopagan revival.
+
+Germany has a long history of poets, thinkers, artists, and so on. There are 240 supported theaters, hundreds of orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries in Germany. Millions of tourists visit these attractions every year. Some of the greatest classical musicians including Ludwig van Beethoven and possibly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were German. Some of the most revered scientists today like Albert Einstein are German.
+
+Germany has created a high level of gender equality, disability rights, and accepts homosexuality. Gay marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017.
+
+Germany is known for its food. The food varies from region to region. For example, in the southern regions, such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, they share their type of food with Switzerland and Austria. Everywhere in Germany, meat is eaten as a sausage. Even though wine use is increasing, the national alcoholic drink is beer. The number of Germans who drink beer is one of the highest in the world. German restaurants are also rated the second-best, with France rated first place.
+
+Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Germany. The national team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times, and appears in the finals a lot. The top football league in Germany is Bundesliga. Also, the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) is the largest in the world. Some of the world's best Footballers came from Germany. These would include Miroslav Klose, Oliver Kahn, Gerd Müller, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franz Beckenbauer, and so on. Plus, many tournaments have taken place in Germany. The most recent was the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Audi Cup takes place in Germany every year in Munich.
+
+Germany is also known for its motor sports. The country has made companies like the BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, etc. Successful German racing drivers include Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
+
+Successful tennis players have also come from Germany, including Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. More recently, Sabine Lisicki reached the Women's Singles final at Wimbledon in 2013.
+
+Lastly, Germany is one of the best countries in the Olympic Games. Germany is the third in the list of the most Olympic Games medals in history (mixed with West and East Germany medals). The country finished first place in the 2006 Winter Olympics, and second in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Germany got fifth place in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
+

ensimple/5048.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+
+
+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)
+
+Germany (German: Deutschland), officially Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland[8]), is a country in Central Europe. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG (or the BRD, in German).
+
+To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 square miles). The large majority of Germany has warm summers and cold winters. In June 2013, Germany had a population of 80.6 million[9] people, the largest in Europe (excluding Russia).[10] After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world.[11]
+
+Before it was called Germany, it was called Germania. In the years A.D. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (inf. West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (inf. East Germany). During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. On 13 August 1961, East Germany started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin. West Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union.[12]
+
+Germany gained importance as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was the first Reich (this word means empire). It was started by Charlemagne who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, and it lasted until 1806, the time of the Napoleonic Wars.[13]
+
+The Second Reich was started with a treaty in 1871 in Versailles.[14] The biggest state in the new German Empire was Prussia. The rulers were called Kaisers or "German Emperors", but they did not call themselves "Emperors of Germany". There were many smaller states in the Empire, but not Austria. Germany stayed an empire for 50 years.
+
+In 1866 Prussia won the war against Austria and their allies. During this time Prussia founded the North German Confederation. The treaty of unification of Germany was made after Germany won the Franco-Prussian War with France in 1871. In World War I, Germany joined Austria-Hungary, and again declared war on France.[14] The war became slow in the west and became trench warfare. Many men were killed on both sides without winning or losing. In the Eastern Front the soldiers fought with the Russian Empire and won there after the Russians gave up. The war ended in 1918 because the Germans could not win in the west and gave up. Germany's emperor also had to give up his power.[14] France took Alsace from Germany and Poland got the Danzig corridor. After a revolution, the Second Reich ended, and the democratic Weimar Republic began.
+
+After the war, there were a lot of problems with money in Germany because of the Peace Treaty of Versailles, which made Germany pay for the costs of World War I and the worldwide Great Depression.[15]
+
+The Third Reich was Nazi Germany; it lasted 12 years, from 1933 to 1945.[16] It started after Adolf Hitler became the head of government. On 23 March 1933, the Reichstag (parliament) passed the Enabling Act, which let Hitler's government command the country without help from the Reichstag and the presidency. This gave him total control of the country and the government.[17] Hitler, in effect, became a dictator.
+
+Hitler wanted to unify all Germans in one state and did this by taking over places where Germans lived, such as Austria and Czechoslovakia; Hitler also wanted the land in Poland that Germany had owned before 1918, but Poland refused to give it to him. He then invaded Poland. This started World War II on 1 September 1939. In the beginning of the war, Germany was winning and even successfully invaded France. It managed to take over much of Europe. However, Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 and after the Battle of Kursk, the German Eastern Front began a slow retreat until war's end. On 8 May 1945, Germany gave up after Berlin was captured, Hitler had killed himself a week earlier. Because of the war, Germany lost a lot of German land east of the Oder-Neiße line, and for 45 years, Germany was split into West Germany and East Germany. Other events happened during the war in Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust, the mass genocide of Jews and other peoples, for which some Nazis were punished in the Nuremberg Trials.
+
+In 1989 there was a process of reforms in East Germany, which lead to the opening of the Berlin Wall and to the end of socialist rule in Germany. These events are known as the Wende or the Friedliche Revolution (Peaceful Revolution) in Germany. After that, East Germany joined West Germany in 1990.[18] The new Germany is a part of the European Union.[19]
+
+Germany is a constitutional federal democracy.[20] Its political rules come from the 'constitution' called Basic Law (Grundgesetz), written by West Germany in 1949. It has a parliamentary system, and the parliament elects the head of government, the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler). The current Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, is a woman who used to live in East Germany.[21]
+
+The people of Germany vote for the parliament, called the Bundestag (Federal Assembly), every four years.[22] Government members of the 16 States of Germany (Bundesländer) work in the Bundesrat (Federal Council). The Bundesrat can help make some laws.[23]
+
+The head of state is the Bundespräsident (Federal President). This person has no real powers but can order elections for the Bundestag. The current president is Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD).
+
+The judiciary branch (the part of German politics that deals with courts) has a Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court). It can stop any act by the law-makers or other leaders if they feel they go against Germany's constitution.
+
+The opposition parties are the Alliance '90/The Greens and Die Linke.
+
+Germany is one of the largest countries in Europe. It stretches from the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north to the high mountains of the Alps in the south. The highest point is the Zugspitze on the Austrian border, at 2,962 metres (9,718 ft).[23]
+
+Germany's northern part is very low and flat (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at −3.54 m or −11.6 ft). In the middle, there are low mountain ranges covered in large forests. Between these and the Alps, there is another plain created by glaciers during the ice ages.
+
+Germany also contains parts of Europe's longest rivers, such as the Rhine (which makes up a part of Germany's western border, while Oder River is on its eastern border), the Danube and the Elbe.[23]
+
+In Germany there are sixteen states (Bundesländer):
+
+In these states there are 301 Kreise (districts) and 114 independent cities, which do not belong to any district.
+
+Germany has one of the world's largest technologically powerful economies. Bringing West and East Germany together and making their economy work is still taking a long time and costing a lot of money.[25] Germany is the largest economy in Europe.[26] In September 2011, the inflation rate in Germany was 2.5%. The unemployment rate of Germany was 5.5% as of October 2011.[27]
+
+Germany is one of the G8 countries. The main industry area is the Ruhr area.[28]
+
+In Germany live mostly Germans and many ethnic minorities. There are at least seven million people from other countries living in Germany. Some have political asylum, some are guest workers (Gastarbeiter), and some are their families. Many people from poor or dangerous countries go to Germany for safety. Many others do not get permission to live in Germany.
+
+About 50,000 ethnic Danish people live in Schleswig-Holstein, in the north. About 60,000 Sorbs (a Slavic people) live in Germany too, in Saxony and Brandenburg. About 12,000 people in Germany speak Frisian; this language is the closest living language to English. In northern Germany, people outside towns speak Low Saxon.
+
+Many people have come to Germany from Turkey (about 1.9 million Turks and Kurds). Other small groups of people in Germany are Croats (0.2 million), Italians (0.6 million), Greeks (0.4 million), Russians, and Poles (0.3 million). There are also some ethnic Germans who lived in the old Soviet Union (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million), and Romania (0.3 million). These people have German passports, so they are not counted as foreigners. A lot of these people do not speak German at home.[23]
+
+Christianity is the biggest religion; Protestants are 38% of the people (mostly in the north) and Catholics are 34% of the people (mostly in the south).[23] There are also many Muslims, while the other people (26.3%) are either not religious, or belong to smaller religious groups.[23] In the eastern regions, the former territory of the GDR (known as the DDR in German), only one fifth of the population is religious.
+
+Germany has one of the world's highest levels of schooling, technology, and businesses. The number of young people who attend universities is now three times more than it was after the end of World War II, and the trade and technical schools of Germany are some of the best in the world. German income is, on average, $25,000 a year, making Germany a highly middle class society. A large social welfare system gives people money when they are ill, unemployed, or similarly disadvantaged. Millions of Germans travel outside of their country each year.
+
+In 2015 there were wrong reports in some African, Arabic, etc. media channels about what it's like to go to and live in Germany. False promises of money, easy living and easy jobs were made. Germany is a very densely populated country, and especially in cities the housing situation is difficult and rents are high. Already in 2014 there were 39,000 homeless people in Germany and 339,000 people without apartment.[29] Here is a link to a German video report[30] from a German news magazine. The video is about refugees, who have been living in a sports gym in Berlin for over a year with no privacy. In the video people discuss amongst others why there are problems to find living space in containers. The containers are similar to those in Zaatari refugee camp.
+
+Germany's constitution says that all people can believe in any religion they want to, and that no one is allowed to discriminate against somebody because of the person's religion.
+
+In ancient times Germany was largely pagan. Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany up to the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this. In 1517, Martin Luther said that the Catholic Church used religion to make money. Luther started Protestantism, which is as big as the Catholic religion in Germany today. Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German people were Protestant and one-thirds were Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany, there were a lot more Protestants than Catholics. Today, about two-thirds of German people (more than 55 million people) call themselves Christian, but most of them do not practice it. About half of them are Protestants and about half are Roman Catholics.[31] Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Germany.
+
+Before World War II, about one percent of the country's people were German Jews. Today, Germany has the fastest-growing group of Jewish people in the world. Many of them are in Berlin. Ten thousand Jews have moved to Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall; many came from countries that were in the Soviet Union. Schools teaching about the horrible things that happened when the Nazis were in power, as well as teaching against the ideas of the Nazis, has helped to make Germany very tolerant towards other people and cultures, and now many people move there from countries that may not be so tolerant.
+
+About three million Muslims live in Germany, 3.7% of the total population.[31][32] The country also has a large atheist and agnostic population, and there are also large about O.6 million Hinduism follower and some small group of Jain, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities. The 20th century has also seen a neopagan revival.
+
+Germany has a long history of poets, thinkers, artists, and so on. There are 240 supported theaters, hundreds of orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries in Germany. Millions of tourists visit these attractions every year. Some of the greatest classical musicians including Ludwig van Beethoven and possibly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were German. Some of the most revered scientists today like Albert Einstein are German.
+
+Germany has created a high level of gender equality, disability rights, and accepts homosexuality. Gay marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017.
+
+Germany is known for its food. The food varies from region to region. For example, in the southern regions, such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, they share their type of food with Switzerland and Austria. Everywhere in Germany, meat is eaten as a sausage. Even though wine use is increasing, the national alcoholic drink is beer. The number of Germans who drink beer is one of the highest in the world. German restaurants are also rated the second-best, with France rated first place.
+
+Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Germany. The national team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times, and appears in the finals a lot. The top football league in Germany is Bundesliga. Also, the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) is the largest in the world. Some of the world's best Footballers came from Germany. These would include Miroslav Klose, Oliver Kahn, Gerd Müller, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franz Beckenbauer, and so on. Plus, many tournaments have taken place in Germany. The most recent was the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Audi Cup takes place in Germany every year in Munich.
+
+Germany is also known for its motor sports. The country has made companies like the BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, etc. Successful German racing drivers include Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
+
+Successful tennis players have also come from Germany, including Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. More recently, Sabine Lisicki reached the Women's Singles final at Wimbledon in 2013.
+
+Lastly, Germany is one of the best countries in the Olympic Games. Germany is the third in the list of the most Olympic Games medals in history (mixed with West and East Germany medals). The country finished first place in the 2006 Winter Olympics, and second in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Germany got fifth place in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
+

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)
+
+
+
+France (/ˈfræns/ (help·info) or /ˈfrɑːns/; French pronunciation: ​[fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, French pronunciation: ​[ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents.[10] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as L’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the shape of its territory. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its main ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
+
+Metropolitan France is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. France's overseas departments and collectivities also share land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and the Netherlands Antilles (bordering Saint-Martin). France is linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.
+
+France is the largest country in the European Union and the second largest in Europe. It has been one of the world's foremost powers for many centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonized much of North America; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built one of the largest colonial empires of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Pacific islands. France is a developed country and possesses the fifth largest economy[11] in the world, according to nominal GDP figures. It is the most visited country in the world, receiving 82 million foreign tourists annually.[12] France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. It is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, NATO, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and owns the largest number of nuclear weapons with active warheads and nuclear power plants in the European Union.
+
+France's official language is French, also being official in 29 other countries. Some francophone countries include Haidi, Belgium, and Nigeria.
+
+France is located in Western Europe.[13] France shares its borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain.[14] France has two mountain ranges near its borders: the Alps in the east and the Pyrenees in the south.[14] There are many rivers in France, including the Seine and the Loire.[15] In the north and the west of France, there are low hills and river valleys.
+
+In France there are many different climates.[16] The Atlantic has a major effect on the weather in the north and west. This means the temperature is about the same most of the year. It is in the marine west coast climate region. In the east, winters are cold and the weather is good. Summers are hot and stormy. In the south, winters are cool and wet. Summers are hot and dry.[17] The north has a temperate climate similar to that of the United Kingdom and other Northern European countries.
+
+France has the second-largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world.[18] It covers 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,637 sq mi). Only the United States has a larger one .
+
+The name "France" comes from the Latin word Francia ', which means "land of the Franks" or "Frankland".[19]
+
+The borders of modern France are about the same as those of ancient Gaul. Celtic Gauls inhabited Ancient Gaul. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul for Rome in the 1st century BC.[20] Eventually, the Gauls adopted Roman speech (Latin, from which the French language evolved) and Roman culture. Christianity first appeared in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It became firmly established by the fourth and fifth centuries.
+
+In the 4th century AD, the Germanic tribes, principally the Franks invaded the Gauls. This is how the name Francie appeared. The modern name "France" comes from the name of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. The Franks were the first tribe of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire to convert to  Christianity rather than Arianism. The French called themselves "the most Christian Kingdom of France".[21]
+
+The Treaty of Verdun (843), divided Charlemagne's Empire into three parts.[22] The biggest area was Western Francia. It is similar to modern France.
+
+The Carolingian dynasty ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet became King of France. His descendants, the Direct Capetians, the House of Valois and the House of Bourbon, unified the country with many wars and dynastic inheritance. The monarchy was the most powerful during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV of France.[23] At that time, France had the largest population in Europe. The country had a big influence over European politics, economy, and culture. French became the common language of diplomacy in international affairs. Much of the Enlightenment happened in France.  French scientists made big scientific discoveries in the 18th century. France also conquered many overseas possessions in the Americas and Asia.[24]
+
+France had a monarchy until the French Revolution in 1789. The Great King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were executed in 1793.[25] Thousands of other French citizens were killed. Napoleon Bonaparte took control of the Republic in 1799. He later made himself Emperor of the First Empire (1804–1814). His armies conquered most of continental Europe.[26] The metric system was invented by French scientists during the French revolution.That time 3 estates were developed.
+
+After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, another  monarchy arose. Later Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte created the Second Empire in 1852. Louis-Napoléon was removed after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The Third Republic replaced his regime.[27]
+
+The large French colonial empire in the 19th century included parts of West Africa and Southeast Asia. The culture and politics of these regions were influenced by France. Many ex-colonies officially speak the French language.[28]
+
+The country actively took part in both the First and Second World Wars, with battles taking place on its soil. During the First World War, millions were killed in the trenches including over a million in the Battle of the Somme.[29] The conditions were extremely difficult for the soldiers on the front. The last surviving veteran was Pierre Picault who died on 20 November 2008 at the age of 109.[30]
+During the Second World War, Nazis occupied France. The Allies landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 and began the Battle of Normandy. German forces lost France in just a few months.
+
+The 13 regions and 96 departments of metropolitan France includes Corsica (Corse, lower right). The Paris area is expanded. France is divided into (administrative) regions. 22 of them are in Metropolitan France:
+
+Corsica has a different status than the other 12 metropolitan regions. It is called collectivité territoriale.
+
+France also has five overseas regions:
+
+These four overseas regions have the same status as the metropolitan ones. They are like the overseas American states of Alaska and Hawaii.
+
+Then France is divided into 101 departments. The departments are divided into 342 arrondissements. The arrondissements are re-divided into 4,032 cantons. The smallest subdivision is the commune (there are 36,699 communes). On January 1, 2008, INSEE counted 36,781 communes in France. 36,569 of them are in metropolitan France and 212 of them are in overseas France.[31][32]
+
+The government of France is  a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic.[33] The constitution declares the nation to be "an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic". It provides for a separation of powers.[34]
+
+The French armed forces are divided into four branches:
+
+France has about 359,000 military personnel.[35][36] France spends 2.6% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. This is the highest in the European Union. France and the UK spend 40% of the EU defence budget. About 10% of France's defence budget is for its nuclear weapons force.
+
+France is a member of the United Nations.[37] It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and has veto rights.[38] It is also a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It hosts the headquarters of the OECD, UNESCO and Interpol. In 1953, the United Nations asked France to choose a coat of arms to represent them internationally. The French emblem is now on their passports.
+
+France was a founding member of the European Union.[39] In the 1960s, France wanted to exclude the United Kingdom from the organisation. It wanted to build its own economic power in continental Europe.  France and Germany became closer after World War II.  This was to try to become the most influential country in the EU.  It limited the influence of the new Eastern European members. France is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).[40] However, under President de Gaulle, it left the joint military command. In the early 1990s, France received criticism for its underground nuclear tests in French Polynesia. France vigorously opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[41] France retains strong political and economic influence in its former African colonies. For instance it has supplied economic aid and troops for peace-keeping missions in the Ivory Coast and Chad.
+
+France is a member of the G8 group of leading industrialised countries. France has the eighth-largest economy in the world by Gross domestic product (GDP) (which takes into account how much it costs to live in different countries and inflation rates).[42] France and 11 other European Union members jointly launched the euro on 1 January 1999 and started using it in 2002.[43]
+
+France's economy has nearly 2.9 million registered companies.[44] The government has a considerable influence over railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunications firms (as it owns big companies like SNCF and EDF (French electricity)).[45] France has an important aerospace (design of aircraft and spacecraft) industry led by Airbus.[46] It can also launch rockets from French Guiana.[47]
+
+France has invested a lot in nuclear power. This made France the smallest producer of carbon dioxide among the seven most industrialised countries in the world.[48] As a result, 59 nuclear power plants generate  most of the electricity produced in the country (78% in 2006,[49] up from only 8% in 1973, 24% in 1980, and 75% in 1990).
+
+France is the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe.[50] France exports wheat, poultry, dairy products, beef, and pork. It is also famous for its wine industry. France received 10 billion euros in 2006 from the European Community as subsidies to its farmers.[51]
+
+At one time, the Factory Act of 1833 limited the workday for women and children to 11 hours a day.[52]
+
+On 1 January 2008, it was estimated that 63.8 million people live in France, including in the Overseas Regions of France.[53] 61,875,000 of these live in metropolitan France, the part of the country that is within Europe.[53]
+
+The major ethnic groups living in France today are descended from Celtic people and Roman people.[54] The significant minority groups living in France are:
+
+French is the official language of France. It belongs to the Romance language group, which includes Italian and Spanish. Many regional dialects are also used in France. Alsatian, a German dialect, is spoken in Alsace and in parts of Lorraine in eastern France. French was the language of diplomacy and culture in Europe between the 17th and 19th century and is still widely used.[55]
+
+Some people in France also speak Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, German, Flemish, and Occitan.
+
+France is a secular country and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion.[56] The population is about 51% Roman Catholic, and 31% of people are agnostics or atheists. 5% are Muslim, 3% say they are Protestant and 1% say they are Jewish. 10% are from other religions or do not have an opinion about religion.[57][58] There are also Zoroastrian, Unitarian Universalist, Jain and Wiccan communities. Religions founded in France include Raelism.
+
+According to a Poll in 2007:[59]
+
+French literature began in the Middle Ages.[60] French was divided into several dialects at the time. Some authors spelled words differently from one other.
+
+During the 17th century, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Molière, Blaise Pascal and René Descartes were the main authors.[61]
+
+In the 18th and 19th centuries, French literature and poetry reached its best. The 18th century saw writings of authors, essayists and moralists as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
+As for French children's literature in those times, Charles Perrault wrote stories such as "Little Red Riding Hood", "Beauty and the Beast", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Puss in Boots".[62]
+
+Many famous French novels were written in the 19th century by authors such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Jules Verne. They wrote popular novels like The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte-Cristo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables. Other 19th century fiction writers include Emile Zola, Guy de Maupassant, Théophile Gautier and Stendhal.[63]
+
+Famous novels were written during the 20th century by Marcel Proust, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Michel Houellebecq.
+
+The Tour de France cycling race in July is one of the best-known sporting events.[64] It is a three-week race of around 3,500 km that covers most of France and ends in the centre of Paris, on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées. Football is another popular sport in France. The French team won the FIFA World Cup in 1998 and 2018. They also won the UEFA European Football Championship in 1984 and 2000. France also hosts the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race. France also hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2007 and finished fourth.[65]
+France is closely associated with the Modern Olympic Games. At the end of the 19th century, the Baron Pierre de Coubertin suggested having the Olympic Games again. France hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1900 and 1924, in Paris. France will host the Summer Olympics in 2024, in Paris. France also hosted the Winter Games three times: in 1924 in Chamonix, in 1968 in Grenoble, and in 1992 in Albertville.
+
+French cuisine has influenced the style of cooking throughout Europe, and its chefs work in restaurants throughout the world.[66]
+
+The roots of modern haute cuisine lie in chefs like La Varenne (1615–1678) and the notable chef of Napoleon, Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833). These chefs developed a lighter style of food compared to the food of the Middle Ages. They used fewer spices, and more herbs and creamy ingredients.
+
+Typical ingredients like roux and fish stock, and techniques such as marinading, and dishes such as ragout, were invented. Carême was an expert pâtissier (pastry-maker), and this is still a mark of French cooking. He developed basic sauces, his 'mother sauces'; he had over a hundred sauces in his repertoire, based on the half-dozen mother sauces.
+
+French cuisine was introduced in the 20th century by Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935). He was a genius at organisation. He worked out how to run large restaurants, as in a big hotel or a palace; how the staff should be organised; how the menu was prepared. He had methods for everything. Escoffier's largest contribution was the publication of Le Guide Culinaire in 1903, which established the fundamentals of French cookery. Escoffier managed the restaurants and cuisine at the Savoy Hotel and Carlton Hotel in London, the Hôtel Ritz Paris, and some of the greatest cruise ships.
+
+Escoffier, however, left out much of the culinary character to be found in the regions of France.
+
+Gastro-tourism and the Guide Michelin helped to acquaint people with the rich bourgeois and peasant cuisine of the French countryside in the 20th century. Gascon cuisine has also had great influence over the cuisine in the southwest of France. Many dishes that were once regional have proliferated in variations across the country. Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine, playing different roles regionally and nationally.[67][68][69] In the north of France, people often prefer to use butter to cook. In the south, they prefer olive oil and garlic.[70] In France, each region has its own special dish; choucroute in Alsace, quiche in Lorraine, cassoulet in the Languedoc-Roussillon, and tapenade in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
+
+In November 2010, French gastronomy was added by UNESCO to its lists of the world's 'intangible cultural heritage'.[71][72]
+
+France is the number one tourist destination in the world. In 2007, 81.9 million foreign tourists visited France.[73] Spain comes second (58.5 million in 2006) and the United States come third (51.1 million in 2006).
+Some of the most famous attractions in Paris, are the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Another one is Mont Saint Michel, in Normandy.[74]
+
+A European Disneyland is located in a suburb east of Paris. The resort opened in 1992 and is also a popular tourist destination in Europe.

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+Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan; officially called the Republic of Azerbaijan) is a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. It is next to Russia in the north, Georgia, Armenia, in the west, Iran in the south, and Caspian Sea on the east. Its capital city is Baku. Azerbaijan became independent from the Soviet Union when it ended in 1991.
+
+Azerbaijan also includes Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an enclave, which is next to Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest.
+
+Most of Azerbaijan's land is in Western Asia. It is called an Asian country by the United Nations.
+
+However, because it is close and its history is related to Europe, Azerbaijan is also a member of a number of European groups, including the Council of Europe since 2001.  Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries.  They have membership in 38 international organizations.[6] On May 9, 2006 Azerbaijan was elected to membership in the newly made Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly.[7]
+
+More than 90% of the people are ethnic Azerbaijanis. Minorities include Russians, Georgians and other minorities. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not say there is an official religion. But, Shia Islam, is by far the largest religion in the country, followed by Sunni Islam. There are also a small number of Christians (mainly Eastern Orthodox), Jews (mainly Ashkenazi), agnostics and atheists.
+
+The name of Azerbaijan comes from Atropates.[8][9] It was a Persian[10][11][12] satrap under the Achaemenid Empire.
+
+Ancient Azerbaijan was named "Caucasian Albania" and was relatively independent under Roman/Byzantine (Roman Azerbaijan) and Persian control.
+
+After the Arab conquest in the 7th century the country has been always under Muslim influence, when its people became Muslim, until the Russian Empire entered the Caucasus region.
+
+From 1920 to 1991, Azerbaijan was a Communist country as a member of the Soviet Union.
+
+Since the early 19th century many Russians settled in Azerbaijan, but after the end of the Soviet Union with the independence of Azerbaijan which is back in control, most Russians and other minorities have left the country and are continuing to leave the country.
+
+There are 106 species of mammals, 97 species of fish, 363 species of birds, 10 species of amphibians and 52 species of reptiles which have been recorded and classified in Azerbaijan.[13] The national animal of Azerbaijan is the Karabakh horse.  It is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse native to Azerbaijan. It is one of the oldest breeds, with ancestry dating to the ancient world. However today the horse is an endangered species.[14]
+
+Azerbaijan's flora is more than 4,500 species of higher plants. Due the unique climate in Azerbaijan, the flora is much richer in the number of species than the flora of the other countries of the South Caucasus.[15] About 67 percent of the species growing in the whole Caucasus can be in Azerbaijan.
+
+Many Azerbaijanis have some form of higher education, most notably in scientific and technical subjects.[16] According to Soviet data, 100 percent of males and females (ages nine to forty-nine) were literate (able to read) in 1970.[16] In 2009, the literacy rate in Azerbaijan was 99.5 percent.[17]
+
+The culture of Azerbaijan has come about as a result of many influences. Today, Western influences, including globalized consumer culture, are strong. National traditions are well kept in the country. Some of the main parts of the Azerbaijani culture are: music, literature, folk dances and art, cuisine, architecture, and movies.
+
+Music of Azerbaijan builds on folk traditions that goes back nearly a thousand years.[18] Among national musical instruments there are 14 string instruments, eight percussion instruments and six wind instruments.[19]
+
+Mugham, meykhana and Ashiq are some of the many musical traditions of Azerbaijan. Mugham is music with poetry and instrumental interludes. When performing Mugham, the singers have to bring their emotions into singing and music. Mugham singer Alim Qasimov is one of the five best singers of all time.[20] Meykhana is a song with no music.  It is usually done by several people.  They make up the words about a particular subject. Ashiq joins poetry, storytelling, dance and vocal and instrumental music. It is as a symbol of Azerbaijani culture.
+
+Azerbaijan was at the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2008. They hosted the contest in 2012, in Baku.[21][22]
+
+There are dozens of Azerbaijani folk dances. They are performed at formal festivals.  The dancers wear national clothes like the Chokha. Most dances have a very fast rhythm.
+
+Azerbaijani architecture typically joins East and West.[23] Many ancient treasures such as the Maiden Tower and Palace of the Shirvanshahs in the Walled City of Baku survive in modern Azerbaijan.  Plans have been shown for the building of the Azerbaijan Tower. It will reportedly replace the Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world.  The planned height is 1,050 metres (3,440 ft).[24]
+
+The movie industry in Azerbaijan dates back to 1898. In fact, Azerbaijan was among the first countries involved in making movies.[25] In 1991, after Azerbaijan gained its freedom from the Soviet Union, the first Baku International Film Festival East-West was held in Baku.
+
+The traditional food is famous for many vegetables and greens used seasonally in the dishes. Fresh herbs, including mint, cilantro (coriander), dill, basil, parsley, tarragon, leeks, chives, thyme, marjoram, green onion, and watercress, are very popular.  They are often served with main dishes on the table. National dishes show the variety of the landscape.  They are based on fish from the Caspian Sea, local meat (mainly mutton and beef), and the many seasonal vegetables and greens. Saffron-rice plov is the flagship food in Azerbaijan and black tea is the national beverage.[26]
+
+The earliest known person in Azerbaijani literature was Hasanoghlu or Pur Hasan Asfaraini.  He made a divan of Persian and Turkic ghazals.[27][28] Classical literature in Azerbaijani was formed in 14th century. Among the poets of this period were Gazi Burhanaddin and Haqiqi. The famed Book of Dede Korkut has two manuscripts copied in the 16th century.[29] It is a collection of 12 stories showing the oral tradition of Oghuz nomads.[30]
+
+In the span of the 17th century and 18th century, Fizuli's unique types as well Ashik poetry were taken up by  poets and writers such as Qovsi of Tabriz and Shah Abbas Sani.
+
+The first newspaper in Azerbaijani, Akinchi was published in 1875.
+
+Sport in Azerbaijan is very old.  Even now, both traditional and modern sports are still practiced. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally said to be Azerbaijan's national sport.  The most popular sports in Azerbaijan are football and chess. The national football team does not do well in international competitions.  On March 19, 2010, Azerbaijan won the bid to host the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.[31]
+
+Futsal is another popular sport in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan national futsal team got fourth place in 2010 UEFA Futsal Championship.
+
+Backgammon plays a major role in Azerbaijani culture.[32] This game is very popular in Azerbaijan and is widely played by the local public.[33]
+
+Out of 9,165,000 people (July 2011), nearly 52% were urban.  The remaining 48% were rural.[35] 51% of the people were female.[35]
+
+About 3 million Azerbaijanis, many of them guest workers, live in Russia.[36]
+
+The biggest reason for death in 2005 was from respiratory diseases.[37]
+
+Azerbaijan is divided into 10 economic regions; 66 rayons and 77 cities. 11 cities are under the direct authority of the republic.[38] Azerbaijan includes the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.[39] The President of Azerbaijan picks the governors of these units.  The government of Nakhchivan is elected and approved by the parliament of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
+
+Note: The cities under the direct authority of the republic in italics.
+
+The economy of Azerbaijan is based on industry, agriculture, and on services including tourism. The energy sector based on the large reserves of crude oil and natural gas, is the main source of economic growth in Azerbaijan today, though half of the Azerbaijani people earn their income directly or indirectly through services and a third earn their income through agriculture.[40] The energy boom has led to massive foreign direct investment and the growth rate of the Azerbaijani economy is one of the world's highest.[41]
+
+After gaining independence in 1991 with the end of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan made the long and difficult change from a command economy to a market economy. The government has largely completed privatization of agricultural lands and small, medium and large state-owned companies. Azerbaijan is continuing making economic reforms, and old economic ties and structures have been slowly replaced. With independence, Azerbaijan became a member of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Azerbaijan's currency is the Azerbaijani manat (AZN) which is divided into 100 qəpik. It became the national currency in 1992 and replaced the old Soviet ruble. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan was created in 1992. The Central Bank serves as Azerbaijan's central bank, and is responsible for printing and distributing the national currency, the Azerbaijani manat, and to control all commercial banks.[42]

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)
+
+
+
+France (/ˈfræns/ (help·info) or /ˈfrɑːns/; French pronunciation: ​[fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, French pronunciation: ​[ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents.[10] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as L’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the shape of its territory. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its main ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
+
+Metropolitan France is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. France's overseas departments and collectivities also share land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and the Netherlands Antilles (bordering Saint-Martin). France is linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.
+
+France is the largest country in the European Union and the second largest in Europe. It has been one of the world's foremost powers for many centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonized much of North America; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built one of the largest colonial empires of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Pacific islands. France is a developed country and possesses the fifth largest economy[11] in the world, according to nominal GDP figures. It is the most visited country in the world, receiving 82 million foreign tourists annually.[12] France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. It is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, NATO, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and owns the largest number of nuclear weapons with active warheads and nuclear power plants in the European Union.
+
+France's official language is French, also being official in 29 other countries. Some francophone countries include Haidi, Belgium, and Nigeria.
+
+France is located in Western Europe.[13] France shares its borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain.[14] France has two mountain ranges near its borders: the Alps in the east and the Pyrenees in the south.[14] There are many rivers in France, including the Seine and the Loire.[15] In the north and the west of France, there are low hills and river valleys.
+
+In France there are many different climates.[16] The Atlantic has a major effect on the weather in the north and west. This means the temperature is about the same most of the year. It is in the marine west coast climate region. In the east, winters are cold and the weather is good. Summers are hot and stormy. In the south, winters are cool and wet. Summers are hot and dry.[17] The north has a temperate climate similar to that of the United Kingdom and other Northern European countries.
+
+France has the second-largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world.[18] It covers 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,637 sq mi). Only the United States has a larger one .
+
+The name "France" comes from the Latin word Francia ', which means "land of the Franks" or "Frankland".[19]
+
+The borders of modern France are about the same as those of ancient Gaul. Celtic Gauls inhabited Ancient Gaul. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul for Rome in the 1st century BC.[20] Eventually, the Gauls adopted Roman speech (Latin, from which the French language evolved) and Roman culture. Christianity first appeared in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It became firmly established by the fourth and fifth centuries.
+
+In the 4th century AD, the Germanic tribes, principally the Franks invaded the Gauls. This is how the name Francie appeared. The modern name "France" comes from the name of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. The Franks were the first tribe of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire to convert to  Christianity rather than Arianism. The French called themselves "the most Christian Kingdom of France".[21]
+
+The Treaty of Verdun (843), divided Charlemagne's Empire into three parts.[22] The biggest area was Western Francia. It is similar to modern France.
+
+The Carolingian dynasty ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet became King of France. His descendants, the Direct Capetians, the House of Valois and the House of Bourbon, unified the country with many wars and dynastic inheritance. The monarchy was the most powerful during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV of France.[23] At that time, France had the largest population in Europe. The country had a big influence over European politics, economy, and culture. French became the common language of diplomacy in international affairs. Much of the Enlightenment happened in France.  French scientists made big scientific discoveries in the 18th century. France also conquered many overseas possessions in the Americas and Asia.[24]
+
+France had a monarchy until the French Revolution in 1789. The Great King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were executed in 1793.[25] Thousands of other French citizens were killed. Napoleon Bonaparte took control of the Republic in 1799. He later made himself Emperor of the First Empire (1804–1814). His armies conquered most of continental Europe.[26] The metric system was invented by French scientists during the French revolution.That time 3 estates were developed.
+
+After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, another  monarchy arose. Later Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte created the Second Empire in 1852. Louis-Napoléon was removed after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The Third Republic replaced his regime.[27]
+
+The large French colonial empire in the 19th century included parts of West Africa and Southeast Asia. The culture and politics of these regions were influenced by France. Many ex-colonies officially speak the French language.[28]
+
+The country actively took part in both the First and Second World Wars, with battles taking place on its soil. During the First World War, millions were killed in the trenches including over a million in the Battle of the Somme.[29] The conditions were extremely difficult for the soldiers on the front. The last surviving veteran was Pierre Picault who died on 20 November 2008 at the age of 109.[30]
+During the Second World War, Nazis occupied France. The Allies landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 and began the Battle of Normandy. German forces lost France in just a few months.
+
+The 13 regions and 96 departments of metropolitan France includes Corsica (Corse, lower right). The Paris area is expanded. France is divided into (administrative) regions. 22 of them are in Metropolitan France:
+
+Corsica has a different status than the other 12 metropolitan regions. It is called collectivité territoriale.
+
+France also has five overseas regions:
+
+These four overseas regions have the same status as the metropolitan ones. They are like the overseas American states of Alaska and Hawaii.
+
+Then France is divided into 101 departments. The departments are divided into 342 arrondissements. The arrondissements are re-divided into 4,032 cantons. The smallest subdivision is the commune (there are 36,699 communes). On January 1, 2008, INSEE counted 36,781 communes in France. 36,569 of them are in metropolitan France and 212 of them are in overseas France.[31][32]
+
+The government of France is  a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic.[33] The constitution declares the nation to be "an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic". It provides for a separation of powers.[34]
+
+The French armed forces are divided into four branches:
+
+France has about 359,000 military personnel.[35][36] France spends 2.6% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. This is the highest in the European Union. France and the UK spend 40% of the EU defence budget. About 10% of France's defence budget is for its nuclear weapons force.
+
+France is a member of the United Nations.[37] It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and has veto rights.[38] It is also a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It hosts the headquarters of the OECD, UNESCO and Interpol. In 1953, the United Nations asked France to choose a coat of arms to represent them internationally. The French emblem is now on their passports.
+
+France was a founding member of the European Union.[39] In the 1960s, France wanted to exclude the United Kingdom from the organisation. It wanted to build its own economic power in continental Europe.  France and Germany became closer after World War II.  This was to try to become the most influential country in the EU.  It limited the influence of the new Eastern European members. France is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).[40] However, under President de Gaulle, it left the joint military command. In the early 1990s, France received criticism for its underground nuclear tests in French Polynesia. France vigorously opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[41] France retains strong political and economic influence in its former African colonies. For instance it has supplied economic aid and troops for peace-keeping missions in the Ivory Coast and Chad.
+
+France is a member of the G8 group of leading industrialised countries. France has the eighth-largest economy in the world by Gross domestic product (GDP) (which takes into account how much it costs to live in different countries and inflation rates).[42] France and 11 other European Union members jointly launched the euro on 1 January 1999 and started using it in 2002.[43]
+
+France's economy has nearly 2.9 million registered companies.[44] The government has a considerable influence over railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunications firms (as it owns big companies like SNCF and EDF (French electricity)).[45] France has an important aerospace (design of aircraft and spacecraft) industry led by Airbus.[46] It can also launch rockets from French Guiana.[47]
+
+France has invested a lot in nuclear power. This made France the smallest producer of carbon dioxide among the seven most industrialised countries in the world.[48] As a result, 59 nuclear power plants generate  most of the electricity produced in the country (78% in 2006,[49] up from only 8% in 1973, 24% in 1980, and 75% in 1990).
+
+France is the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe.[50] France exports wheat, poultry, dairy products, beef, and pork. It is also famous for its wine industry. France received 10 billion euros in 2006 from the European Community as subsidies to its farmers.[51]
+
+At one time, the Factory Act of 1833 limited the workday for women and children to 11 hours a day.[52]
+
+On 1 January 2008, it was estimated that 63.8 million people live in France, including in the Overseas Regions of France.[53] 61,875,000 of these live in metropolitan France, the part of the country that is within Europe.[53]
+
+The major ethnic groups living in France today are descended from Celtic people and Roman people.[54] The significant minority groups living in France are:
+
+French is the official language of France. It belongs to the Romance language group, which includes Italian and Spanish. Many regional dialects are also used in France. Alsatian, a German dialect, is spoken in Alsace and in parts of Lorraine in eastern France. French was the language of diplomacy and culture in Europe between the 17th and 19th century and is still widely used.[55]
+
+Some people in France also speak Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, German, Flemish, and Occitan.
+
+France is a secular country and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion.[56] The population is about 51% Roman Catholic, and 31% of people are agnostics or atheists. 5% are Muslim, 3% say they are Protestant and 1% say they are Jewish. 10% are from other religions or do not have an opinion about religion.[57][58] There are also Zoroastrian, Unitarian Universalist, Jain and Wiccan communities. Religions founded in France include Raelism.
+
+According to a Poll in 2007:[59]
+
+French literature began in the Middle Ages.[60] French was divided into several dialects at the time. Some authors spelled words differently from one other.
+
+During the 17th century, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Molière, Blaise Pascal and René Descartes were the main authors.[61]
+
+In the 18th and 19th centuries, French literature and poetry reached its best. The 18th century saw writings of authors, essayists and moralists as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
+As for French children's literature in those times, Charles Perrault wrote stories such as "Little Red Riding Hood", "Beauty and the Beast", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Puss in Boots".[62]
+
+Many famous French novels were written in the 19th century by authors such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Jules Verne. They wrote popular novels like The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte-Cristo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables. Other 19th century fiction writers include Emile Zola, Guy de Maupassant, Théophile Gautier and Stendhal.[63]
+
+Famous novels were written during the 20th century by Marcel Proust, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Michel Houellebecq.
+
+The Tour de France cycling race in July is one of the best-known sporting events.[64] It is a three-week race of around 3,500 km that covers most of France and ends in the centre of Paris, on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées. Football is another popular sport in France. The French team won the FIFA World Cup in 1998 and 2018. They also won the UEFA European Football Championship in 1984 and 2000. France also hosts the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race. France also hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2007 and finished fourth.[65]
+France is closely associated with the Modern Olympic Games. At the end of the 19th century, the Baron Pierre de Coubertin suggested having the Olympic Games again. France hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1900 and 1924, in Paris. France will host the Summer Olympics in 2024, in Paris. France also hosted the Winter Games three times: in 1924 in Chamonix, in 1968 in Grenoble, and in 1992 in Albertville.
+
+French cuisine has influenced the style of cooking throughout Europe, and its chefs work in restaurants throughout the world.[66]
+
+The roots of modern haute cuisine lie in chefs like La Varenne (1615–1678) and the notable chef of Napoleon, Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833). These chefs developed a lighter style of food compared to the food of the Middle Ages. They used fewer spices, and more herbs and creamy ingredients.
+
+Typical ingredients like roux and fish stock, and techniques such as marinading, and dishes such as ragout, were invented. Carême was an expert pâtissier (pastry-maker), and this is still a mark of French cooking. He developed basic sauces, his 'mother sauces'; he had over a hundred sauces in his repertoire, based on the half-dozen mother sauces.
+
+French cuisine was introduced in the 20th century by Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935). He was a genius at organisation. He worked out how to run large restaurants, as in a big hotel or a palace; how the staff should be organised; how the menu was prepared. He had methods for everything. Escoffier's largest contribution was the publication of Le Guide Culinaire in 1903, which established the fundamentals of French cookery. Escoffier managed the restaurants and cuisine at the Savoy Hotel and Carlton Hotel in London, the Hôtel Ritz Paris, and some of the greatest cruise ships.
+
+Escoffier, however, left out much of the culinary character to be found in the regions of France.
+
+Gastro-tourism and the Guide Michelin helped to acquaint people with the rich bourgeois and peasant cuisine of the French countryside in the 20th century. Gascon cuisine has also had great influence over the cuisine in the southwest of France. Many dishes that were once regional have proliferated in variations across the country. Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine, playing different roles regionally and nationally.[67][68][69] In the north of France, people often prefer to use butter to cook. In the south, they prefer olive oil and garlic.[70] In France, each region has its own special dish; choucroute in Alsace, quiche in Lorraine, cassoulet in the Languedoc-Roussillon, and tapenade in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
+
+In November 2010, French gastronomy was added by UNESCO to its lists of the world's 'intangible cultural heritage'.[71][72]
+
+France is the number one tourist destination in the world. In 2007, 81.9 million foreign tourists visited France.[73] Spain comes second (58.5 million in 2006) and the United States come third (51.1 million in 2006).
+Some of the most famous attractions in Paris, are the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Another one is Mont Saint Michel, in Normandy.[74]
+
+A European Disneyland is located in a suburb east of Paris. The resort opened in 1992 and is also a popular tourist destination in Europe.

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+Honduras is a country in Central America. Its capital is Tegucigalpa. Most people of Honduras speak the Spanish language. 7,483,763 people live in Honduras and it is 112,492 square kilometres (43,433 sq mi) in size. It is next to El Salvador. To one side is the Caribbean Sea and to the other in the Pacific Ocean.
+
+The ethnic makeup of Honduras is 90% mestizo, 7% amerindian, 2% black, and 1% white.[5]
+
+Honduras has the world's highest murder rate.
+
+Honduras is divided into 18 departments. The capital city is Tegucigalpa in the Central District.
+

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+A republic is a king-less form of government that has no monarchy and no hereditary aristocracy.[1] It originates from Rome, in 509 B.C. when the Romans overthrew the Roman kingdom.  Once free, the Romans established a republic, a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf.
+
+The national sovereignty lies in the authority of the government and not in an emperor or monarch. The word republic comes from the Latin language words res publica, which means a "public thing". For example, the United States is a republic and India is a republic, but North Korea and Cuba are also called republics. However, Britain and Canada are not republics, since they have a monarch (Queen Elizabeth II in both cases).
+
+Countries with a king or other monarch and free elections is called a constitutional monarchy and are not called republics. A constitutional monarchy resembles a republic because the constitution has been amended to remove power from the monarch and install institutions conforming to a philosophy of republicanism. This includes the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, the Netherlands, Thailand, Scandinavian and various other countries. What makes a republic different, is that laws are made and enforced without royal authority.
+
+The Head of State in a republic is generally a person who has been chosen by the citizens, either by direct election or by a group of elected representatives to act as the top representative of the people.  In most republics, the Head of State is called the president. In some countries, the president is elected and has a lot of political power. In others, the president does not hold much direct power, but is important in the legal system for other reasons.
+
+Sometimes a state is called a "republic" when its head is not called "king" but something else. For example, the Roman Empire had an "Emperor" and the Dutch Republic had a "Stadholder" but they worked as hereditary monarchs.
+
+Licchavi in India was the first republic in the 6th and 5th century BCE. The earliest republics that were much imitated later were Greek cities in the eastern Mediterranean area. The biggest difference from other city-states at that time was that people chose their leaders by voting. The votes were counted, and the person with the most votes won.

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+Iran officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: ايران‎), historically known as Persia, is a country in Western Asia.[8][9][10] It is part of the Middle East region. It shares borders  with Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.
+
+Tehran is the capital and biggest city. Iran is the eighteenth largest country in the world. It has more than 80 million people. Iran has been a member of the United Nations since 1945. It is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).[11] It is an Islamic republic.
+
+In Iran, Persians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Mazandaranis, Gilaks, Lurs and Bakhtiaris make up the nations minority ethnic groups.
+
+In the past, Iran was called "Persia" by people outside of the country. The people that lived there called the country "Iran". The official name was Persia, a region in Iran. The name Persia was used when dealing with other countries and in government papers.
+
+In 1935, Reza Shāh Pahlavi was Shah of Iran. He officially asked foreigners to call the country "Iran". This was done to show that Iran belongs to all the non-Persian Iranians as well as to Persian Iranians. The name Iran means land of the Aryans. It is used in the ancient book of the Zoroastrians, the Avesta. In the 19th and early 20th century, the name Aryan was used by Europeans to mean all Indo-Europeans.  The "Aryan Race" was a term that Hitler used to describe his "Superior" or "perfect" race, but it first meant Iranians.[12] "Aryan" means "noble" in Iranian languages.
+
+Around 500 BC, the area that is now Iran was the center of the Achaemenid Empire. The Greek city states fought against the Persian armies led by Darius the Great and Xerxes. Then Alexander the Great took the country by fighting the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. He ruled until he died,then the Greek Seleucids ruled until they were defeated by the Parthian Empire which later fought the Roman Empire.
+
+After the Parthians, the Sassanian dynasty (224-651) took over. Other people took Persia by fi\ghting, like the Arabs (7th century), Turks (10th century) and Mongols (13th century).  However, Iran has always had a different culture and continued to survive.
+
+The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked in Iran to create 1953 riots which led to the removal of Prime Minister Mosaddegh. The United States and Great Britain then made the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the most powerful person in Iran, again. The Shah left Iran in 1979 in the face of a revolt. The Iranian government was changed to an Islamic Republic by Islamic Revolution.  Soon afterwards, the Iranian Students Movement (Tahkim Vahdat), with the backing of the new government, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They held most of the diplomats hostage for 444 days.
+
+Relations between the two countries have not been good since. For example, the United States claims that Iran supports terrorist groups against Israel. Iran does not see Israel as a country. Iran, along with most Arab countries, believes that Israel does not have the right to exist. However, Iran has collaborated with the West at times. These deals have been about energy or about fighting terrorism.
+
+Iran fought the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s.  Many foreign countries supported Iraq.
+
+Now, the West is trying to prevent Iran from using nuclear technology, even though Iran is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported many times that there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. However, it also says that it can not say for sure that Iran is not doing so in secret.
+
+A December 2007 CIA report on nuclear activity in Iran said that Iran's secret program to get nuclear weapons technology was stopped in 2003. It said that Iran will probably not be able to build a nuclear weapon soon.
+
+Iran has the natural resource of oil. It is a member of OPEC. Oil is one of its main exports. Rice, handicrafts, carpets and crocus are important local products. Iran is the world's largest exporter and producer of caviar.[13] Iran is also one of the world's biggest exporters of pistachio nuts.
+
+Iran has factories that produce industrial products. Iran is also involved in the field of biomedical sciences.
+
+Rial is the money used in Iran.
+
+About 90% of Iranian people are Muslim. The state religion is Shia Islam.  It has been the state religion since the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century.[14] This is the religion of about 75% of Iranians.[15] They belong to the Twelver branch. About 9% of Iranians Muslim belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. The 9% of Iranians who are not Muslim are Bahá'ís, Mandeans, Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews.[15] It is thought that there are between 300,000 and 350,000 Persian (Iranian) Jews.

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+– in Africa  (light blue & dark grey)– in the African Union  (light blue)
+
+Madagascar is a large island nation in the Indian Ocean. It is off of the east coast of Africa. Twenty-two million people live there; its capital is Antananarivo. It is the world's fourth largest island.[10]
+
+The official languages are Malagasy and French.
+
+Geologists think that about two million years ago, Madagascar was a part of a big landmass that included what is now the continent of Africa, but it broke off. Madagascar would later break off of the Indian subcontinent.[11]
+
+Madagascar is home to many species that were not known about until around 1679 when Dutch explorers went there. They do not even exist elsewhere in Africa. They only exist in Madagascar. In fact, most of the mammals living in Madagascar do not live anywhere else in the world.[12] However, many of the species in Madagascar are in danger because many of the forests have been cut down.[13] A big reason that forests have been cut down is so that land can be used to grow crops such as coffee, which is one of the most important crops that is grown in Madagascar.
+
+Agriculture is a big part of the economy in Madagascar, including the growing of coffee and vanilla. Madagascar sells more vanilla than any other country in the world.[14] Madagascar also makes money from tourism.[15]
+
+In 2004 Madagascar was divided into 22 regions.  It used to be divided into 6 provinces.[16]
+
+People have probably lived in Madagascar for at least 2000 years.[18]
+
+France took over the city of Antananarivo in 1895, and added Madagascar as a colony two years later.[19] Madagascar became independent from France, which meant it became its own country, on 26 June, 1960. On March 17, 2009, President Marc Ravalomanana quit because of pressure from the military. Andry Raejolina became the next president.[20]

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+Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this name.

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+Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this name.

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+^  A 2009 constitutional amendment implicitly referred to Kim Jong-il as the "Supreme Leader",[7][8] as well as the "Chairman of the National Defence Commission". In 2011 Kim Jong-Un was named as the new "Supreme Leader of the party, state and army"[9]
+
+North Korea (officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)), is a country in the northern part of the Korean peninsula. North Korea is next to China, Russia, and South Korea. The capital city of North Korea is Pyŏngyang, which is also the largest city.
+
+The country was founded in 1948 after it had been freed from Japanese occupation, and a socialist state backed by the Soviet Union was established. The Republic of Korea is the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, and was occupied by the United States, and the U.S. set up a democracy in the south.  At first there was a war between the armies of the North and South in what is called the Korean War, but while the fighting stopped in 1953, the war never officially ended. Afterwards, North Korea was friendly with China and Russia but never was formally allied with either and became more isolated over time. While the South had an unstable government after independence, the North went through steady development and was more well off than South until the 1980s when the South became more democratic. Soon afterwards, the North's main trading partners collapsed leaving it stranded and isolated. Throughout the 1990s, North Korea suffered from famines and natural disasters. Afterwards, things stabilized but continued to lag behind the South.
+
+The country is organized along socialist lines, as all workplaces are public property and function along a universal plan. This is because the founders of North Korea were inspired by the ideas of communism. But as time went on, North Korea became more conservative and nationalist, and had less in common with other countries aiming for communism. To justify these differences, the country's leader Kim Il-sung said that the government was following his own ideology of "Juche", which means "self-reliance". Later on, the country's leaders began to remove "communism" from North Korean laws and philosophy. After Kim Il-sung died during the disasters of the 1990s, his son Kim Jong-il took his place and was promoted by the government as the leader who led North Korea out of the disasters. Kim Jong-il enacted a new policy of "Songun", or "military-first", which turned the country into a military state. When he died in 2011, his youngest son Kim Jong-un took his place and continues to lead the country today.
+
+Historians think that the Korean people have lived in the area for thousands of years. Before 1910, Korea was one country. It had a king and people were mostly farmers. The country was peaceful and was not communist. In 1910, that changed. Japan and Russia went to war. Since Japan and Russia were both very close to Korea, Japan took Korea for themselves as part of Japan. Japan then had control.
+
+Between 1910 and the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was part of Japan. In 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan and the United States bombed it (Nagasaki and Hiroshima); severely weakening its empire and forcing it to surrender. Japan's weak status allowed the Soviets to enter Korea fairly freely and occupy the northern half whilst the United States took the southern half. Each then created governments supporting their own ideologies, Marxist–Leninist Single Party State (North) and Democratic Capitalist State (South).[source?]
+
+In 1950, North Korea sent soldiers to South Korea. North Korea wanted to bring together North and South Korea to form a single Korean country, and Korean families that had been split by the division of North and South to be together again. The North Korean leaders wanted South Korea to be communist, like North Korea and the Soviet Union were.
+
+The United Nations sent soldiers to Korea. These soldiers came from many countries. These countries did not like Communism (to learn more, see the article about the Cold War). If South Korea became Communist, then maybe other countries would too. General Douglas MacArthur led the soldiers.
+
+North Korea had taken over much of South Korea by force. With the help of the other countries, South Korea took back their land, and even much of North Korea, up to the Yalu River, which forms the border between North Korea and China. China, which was also communist, helped the North Koreans to get the land back that the South Korean soldiers had taken.
+
+After three years, in 1953, North Korea and South Korea both decided that no one would win the war and both countries signed an armistice, which is an agreement that made both countries stop fighting. North Korea and South Korea were divided by a demilitarized zone, or DMZ, which is a special place that surrounds the border between North and South Korea where both countries can not place lots of soldiers, so that fighting does not start again.
+
+Even though the Demilitarized Zone is meant to stop problems between the two countries, sometimes soldiers on both sides of the border fire their guns at each other. A special town in the zone, Panmunjom, is called the Joint Security Area, or JSA, and sometimes the leaders of both countries meet there to talk about possibly coming back together.
+
+North Korea is one of the few countries in the world that has made nuclear missiles, which can kill many people if they are exploded. North Korea will not say how many nukes it has, but other countries think that the North Korean government probably has built ten missiles so far out of a deadly element called plutonium.
+
+In October 2006, North Korea said that it tested one of its nuclear bombs. Although the North Korean government said that the test was not dangerous, many other countries and the United Nations were nonetheless enraged.
+
+Three years later in 2009, North Korea did another test, which broke a United Nations law called Resolution 1718, which said North Korea could not keep building and testing nuclear bombs.
+
+In 2010, a South Korean warship sank, killing over 40 soldiers. An international investigation concluded that North Korea had sunk a South Korean warship with a torpedo. North Korea strongly said that it did not have anything to do with the sinking. When the United States and South Korea planned to set up defenses in case North Korea tried to attack again, North Korea's National Defense Commission threatened on to start a war with its nuclear weapons.
+
+In April 2012, North Korea launched a rocket called Bright Star 3. The reasons for the launch were science and the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il-Sung.
+
+The government said the rocket carried a weather satellite so the government could find out what the weather would be. However, other countries said that the weather satellite was a story made up by the government so the real purpose of the rocket would not the known—which most countries thought was to test a nuclear missile that could be launched at the United States or South Korea. South Korean leaders said it would shoot the rocket down when it came over South Korea.
+
+Because of this rocket, other countries stopped helping North Korea, even though the government invited other countries to see the rocket launch to make it seem like the North Koreans had nothing to hide from other countries. The rocket was eventually launched, but it did not work and crashed just a minute and thirty seconds after it was launched. In December 2012, the government tried to launch the rocket again. It worked this time and went into orbit circling the Earth, though the United States said that it was very unstable and might fall back to Earth. Experts in Europe noticed the satellite's reflection was fluctuating (getting brighter then dimmer); indicating that the satellite is tumbling in its orbit.
+
+In February 2013, North Korea tested a nuclear bomb for the 3rd time, causing much outrage from other countries. The government also released many videos that depicted possible missile targets in the United States. North Korea however does not posses missiles that could reach US mainland but some say Hawaii is a possibility. It is highly unlikely that North Korea would ever fire against the US, Japan or South Korea. Many missiles depicted in DPRK parades are fakes used to exaggerate North Korea's military strength.[source?] Most of its inventory dates from the Soviet years.
+
+People often think that North Korea is a communist country. It is actually a socialist-military dictatorship. In its most recent constitutional change, the word 'communism' was removed. Large pictures of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were removed from Kim Il-Sung square in 2012. The government has a similar structure to the former Soviet Union (USSR), once a close ally, but it is very different from the USSR. Leaders of the USSR were elected by a group of government officials. In North Korea, the new leader is the current leader's male heir. For this reason, North Korea is often referred to as a hereditary dictatorship.
+
+North Korea's official state ideology is Juche. That is a form of socialism developed by the country's founder, Kim Il-Sung. Juche means self-reliance. It teaches that to achieve true socialism and become self-sufficient, the state must become fully isolated from the rest of society.
+
+The first head of state and Chairman of the Workers Party of North Korea was Kim Tu-bong.[11]
+
+In the late 1950s, the second head of state and party chairman was Kim Il-Sung.
+
+In July 1994, Kim died. His son, Kim Jŏng-Il, took over.  He became the third head of state and party chairman.
+
+In December 2011, Kim died. His son, Kim Jŏng-Un became the head of the government.
+
+Songun is a North Korean idea. It means "army first." The job of every North Korean person is to feed the Army. Kim Jŏng-Un is the "Chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea". That is one of many jobs he has. He is like a king, and can do what he wants. The average North Korean citizen makes around $900 a year. Kim Jŏng-Un makes around $800,000 a year.[source?] He lives in a palace. He has lots of soldiers who go wherever he goes to protect him.
+
+North Korea is technically a multi-party state since other parties do exist besides the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). However, the KWP also controls the other parties so it can stay in power. The constitution claims that North Korea's citizens have freedom of speech, religion and press. In real life, these citizens do not have these rights. People can be jailed if they criticise the party, government, or leaders. North Koreans are encouraged to report family members to the police if they think they are doing something illegal. In return they get more privileges. If someone is caught doing a crime, their whole family will be sent along with them to a labour camp. Most die there, but a few escape.
+
+North Korean people have very little freedom of speech. They get their news from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The KCNA makes sure all the country's television, radio, and newspaper news makes the government look good. This is called propaganda. The government blocks access to the Internet. Only a few trusted military officials and party members can access the world Internet. It has been reported that almost all North Koreans do not know that men have landed on the moon. The government runs an intranet service that is available on all North Korean computers. It is nothing like the real Internet but is filled with propaganda that makes the government, party, and leaders look good. The government also tries to keep ideas from other countries out of North Korea.
+
+Capital punishment is a common type of punishment in North Korea. Stealing, murder, rape, drug smuggling, attempted murder, spying, trying to challenge the laws of North Korea, looking at media unapproved by North Korea, and religions that are against believing in Kim Jong-un and his family can result in the death penalty.
+
+In parts of the country, there is not enough food. Currently, other countries give food to some people in North Korea. This is called foreign aid. The aid sometimes stops coming if North Korea is thought to be testing nuclear bombs. Very recently, North Korea's food aid stopped after the government launched a satellite in April 2012. Other countries said North Korea had broken their side of an agreement. The North Korean government said that it was the United States that had broken the agreement.
+
+It is hard for people from other countries to visit North Korea. Visitors must be guided by two army members called "minders". The minders try and make sure the people do not find out about anything that might make the government look bad.
+
+Historically, both South Korea and North Korea have the same set of values. In 1945, the peninsula was divided. Since then, the government of both North and South Korea were different. This has led to different developments in both North and South Korea.
+Human Rights Watch says that free religious activities do not exist in North Korea. The culture in Korea has been influenced by that of China. Despite this, Korea has developed a cultural identity that is different from that of Mainland China.[12]
+
+Literature and arts in North Korea are state-controlled. Specialized committees of the KWP are responsible for this.[13] Film is also a significant artistic medium in North Korea and Kim Jong Il's manifesto The Cinema and Directing (1987) is the basis for the nation's filmmakers.[14]
+
+Korean culture came under attack during the Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. Japan enforced a cultural assimilation policy. During the Japanese rule, Koreans were encouraged to learn and speak Japanese, adopt the Japanese family name system and Shinto religion, and were forbidden to write or speak the Korean language in schools, businesses, or public places.[15] In addition, the Japanese altered or destroyed various Korean monuments including Gyeongbok Palace and documents which portrayed the Japanese in a negative light were revised.
+
+Both Koreas share a Buddhist and Confucian heritage and a recent history of Christian and Cheondoism ("religion of the Heavenly Way") movements. The North Korean constitution states that freedom of religion is permitted.[16] According to the Western standards of religion, the majority of the North Korean population could be characterized as non-religious.[source?] However, the cultural influence of such traditional religions as Buddhism and Confucianism still have an effect on North Korean spiritual life.[17][18][19]
+
+It seems that Buddhists are accepted more than other religious groups. Christians are said to be severely persecuted by the authorities. Buddhists are given limited funding by the government to promote the religion, because Buddhism played an integral role in traditional Korean culture.[20] In May 2014, an American tourist was arrested at Pyongyang Sunan Airport after it was discovered he left a Bible in a nightclub on the DPRK's east coast. He was convicted of attempting to overthrow the government but was eventually released several months later. At the time of his imprisonment, there were two other American citizens held by North Korea awaiting transfer to political prison camps. Both have since been released.
+
+The land of North Korea is divided into nine areas called provinces and two cities.
+
+The nine provinces are:
+
+The main cities are:

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+Portugal is a country in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and part of the Mediterranean.  It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east.  It has been a member of the European Union since 1986.  It was under a dictatorship between 1926 and 1974.  It has since prospered but was hit hard by the 2007-2008 recession.
+
+It has a football team and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 meaning it hosts the event for the first time ever in 2018.
+
+It once had an empire and was a powerful maritime nation from 1500s–1800s, the 10th-largest empire with a maximum land area of 10.4 million km² which included Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and even Macau in China (until 2002).
+
+Three groups of islands in the Atlantic Ocean are also part of Portugal: the Azores (Açores), Madeira and the Savage Isles (Ilhas Selvagens). The Savage Isles are a small group of uninhabited islands, administered by Madeira.
+Portugal claims that Olivença is also part of its territory, but it is controlled by Spain.
+
+It's a popular holiday destination but, is sometimes overlooked in favour of larger countries like France, Spain and Italy. The Algarve region in the south and capital Lisbon are the most popular.
+
+Portugal became its own kingdom in 1139 but was not officially recognized until 1143.  Portugal has had links with England since the 1100s via a treaty.  The border with Spain has been almost the same since the 13th century.  Fishing and trade with other countries are important here.
+
+Portugal was important in world exploration for two reasons. Henry the Navigator, a prince from Portugal, was very interested in exploration. Inventions in navigation led to a bigger knowledge of geography.
+
+This world exploration began the Portuguese Empire. Portugal was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries. It tried to colonize Canada in the 16th century. However, it lost a lot of money soon after this. Portugal and Spain were in the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640. The city of Lisbon was destroyed in an earthquake in 1755. The country was occupied during the Napoleonic Wars. It lost its largest colony, Brazil, in 1822.
+
+In 1910, Portugal became a Republic, and in 1926, a military group took control of the country from the Portuguese 1st Republic. This began a time of rule by fascist governments. During World War II they were neutral but friendly to Britain. In 1974 a peaceful left-wing army coup, called the Carnation Revolution, happened. The coup changed how the country was run.
+
+The next year, Portugal allowed its colonies in Africa to be on their own: Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.
+
+East Timor in Asia declared itself independent from Portugal on 28 November 1975, and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later.
+
+Portugal went into the European Union in 1986. Another Asian colony, Macau, became part of China
+
+The main language of Portugal is Portuguese.
+
+Some famous Portuguese people are D. Afonso Henriques, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan, Luís de Camões, Fernando Pessoa, Amália Rodrigues, Álvaro Siza Vieira, Eduardo Souto de Moura.
+
+Luís de Camões wrote the national poem of Portugal. It is called Os Lusíadas and was written in 1572.[7]

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+The Czech Republic (Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka]  ( listen)) is a country in Central Europe. As of 2 May 2016 the official short name of the country is Czechia (Czech: Česko). The capital and the biggest city is Prague. The currency is the Czech Crown (koruna česká - CZK). €1 is about 25 CZK. The president of Czechia is Miloš Zeman. Czechia's population is about 10.5 million.
+
+The local language is the Czech language, a Slavic language related to languages like Slovak and Polish.
+
+Czechia has no sea; its neighbour countries are Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland.
+
+Its history dates from the 9th century AD, for a long time it was one of the most powerful countries in Central Europe. Later on it was the biggest, most populated and richest country of the First Reich, where many Emperors started their career. Under the conditions of the Treaty of Vienna 1515 parts of Czechia, then in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, came under Habsburg rule after the death of Louis the Jagiellon in 1526. They stayed a part of the Habsburg dynasty rule until 1918.
+
+The area of the today's Czechia was a part of Czechoslovakia (current area of Czechia and Slovak republic) from 1918 to 1992. Czechoslovakia became independent in 1918 from Austro-Hungarian Empire. The first Czechoslovakian president was Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. In February 1948 the Communist party took over the country and for the next 41 years Czechoslovakia was a Socialist state with a rule of one (Communist) party. In 1968 there was a reformation movement (Prague Spring) within the Communist party, but reforms were stopped by the invasion of Warsaw pact armies. In November 1989 Czechoslovakia returned to democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution".  Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries (Czechia and Slovakia) in 1993.
+Czechia has been a member of the European Union since May 1 2004, and a member of NATO since March 12, 1999.
+
+The highest point in the country is Sněžka at 1,602 m (5,256 ft).
+
+There are four national parks in Czechia. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park. The others are Šumava National Park, Podyjí National Park, Bohemian Switzerland.
+
+In 1949 the communist government created 13 centralized regions instead of historical countries. In 1960 the regions changed leaving only 8 regions. In 2000 14 regions were formed with their own regional self-government.
+
+Czechia has one of the least religious populations in the world. According to the 2011 census, 34.2% of the population stated they had no religion, 10.3% were Roman Catholic, 0.8% were Protestant (0.5% Czech Brethren and 0.4% Hussite), and 9.4% followed other forms of religion both denominational or not (of which 863 people answered they are Pagan). 45.2% of the population did not answer the question about religion.

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+Nitrogen is a nonmetal chemical element. The atmosphere contains more than 78 percent of nitrogen. It has the chemical symbol N and atomic number 7. Its stable inside typically contains 14 nucleons (7 protons and 7 neutrons). It has 5 electrons in its outer shell.
+
+Nitrogen is a colorless odorless gas at normal temperature. It is normally attached to another nitrogen atom, making a nitrogen molecule (N2). This bond is very strong. That is why many explosives contain nitrogen. The bond is broken when the explosive is made. When it explodes the bond forms, releasing a lot of energy.
+
+It turns into a liquid at -195.8°C and turns into a solid at -210°C. If it is compressed, it can be turned into a liquid without making it cold.
+
+It usually does not combine with other atoms because its strong bond prevents it from reacting. Lithium is one of the few chemical elements that react with nitrogen without being heated. Magnesium can burn in nitrogen. Nitrogen also makes blue electric sparks. The blue color is caused by the atoms being excited. When they get normal again, they release light. When nitrogen is excited, it reacts with many things that it does not normally react with.
+
+Many chemical compounds that are important for industrial purposes contain nitrogen ions. These include ammonia, nitric acid, nitrates and cyanides. Nitrogen comes in several oxidation states; -3, -2, -1/3, +1, +3, +4, and +5. Each of those oxidation states has its set of compounds.
+
+Compounds in the -3 oxidation state are weak reducing agents. These include ammonia, ammonium, amide and nitrides. Amino acids and proteins contain nitrogen in this oxidation state. Hydrazine, a compound in the -2 oxidation state, is a strong reducing agent. Azides contain nitrogen in the -1/3 oxidation state. They are extremely powerful reducing agents, and most are very toxic.
+
+Nitrous oxide contains nitrogen in the +1 oxidation state. It is used as an anesthetic. Compounds containing nitrogen in the +2 oxidation state, such as nitric oxide, are reducing agents. +3 oxidation state compounds are strong oxidizing agents and weak reducing agents. Nitrites are the most common +3 compounds. Compounds in the +4 oxidation state are strong oxidizing agents. They include nitrogen dioxide and dinitrogen tetroxide.
+
+Compounds containing nitrogen in the +5 oxidation state are strong oxidizing agents. They are one of the more common groups of nitrogen compounds. They include nitric acid and dinitrogen pentoxide. They also include nitrates, which are used in explosives such as dynamite, nitroglycerin and trinitrotoluene.
+
+Air is made up of about 78% nitrogen and about 20.95% oxygen, < 1% argon, and traces of other gasses such as carbon dioxide, and water vapor, among others. It is also in a few nitrates in the ground. Ammonium minerals are rare. Nitrogen is in proteins.
+
+Pure liquid nitrogen can be made by cooling air. The nitrogen turns into a liquid at a different temperature than the oxygen. It can also be made by heating certain chemical compounds, such as sodium azide.
+
+Nitrogen is an element is used to prevent things from reacting with the oxygen in the air. It can be used to fill crisp bags and incandescent bulbs. It is also used to fill some tires. It can be used to make electric components like transistors. Liquid nitrogen can be used to freeze things.
+
+Nitrogen compounds have many uses, such as anesthetics (nitrous oxide), explosives (dynamite), cleaners (ammonia), and meat (protein), and planes (fuel).
+
+Nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious gas or fixed gas. They discovered that part of air did not burn. It was found that animals died in it. It was known as "azote". Many nitrogen compounds also contain the "azide" or "azine" letters, such as hydrazine.
+
+In 1910, Lord Rayleigh found out that when a spark was passed through nitrogen, it made a reactive form of nitrogen. This nitrogen reacted with many metals and compounds.

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+The Czech Republic (Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka]  ( listen)) is a country in Central Europe. As of 2 May 2016 the official short name of the country is Czechia (Czech: Česko). The capital and the biggest city is Prague. The currency is the Czech Crown (koruna česká - CZK). €1 is about 25 CZK. The president of Czechia is Miloš Zeman. Czechia's population is about 10.5 million.
+
+The local language is the Czech language, a Slavic language related to languages like Slovak and Polish.
+
+Czechia has no sea; its neighbour countries are Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland.
+
+Its history dates from the 9th century AD, for a long time it was one of the most powerful countries in Central Europe. Later on it was the biggest, most populated and richest country of the First Reich, where many Emperors started their career. Under the conditions of the Treaty of Vienna 1515 parts of Czechia, then in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, came under Habsburg rule after the death of Louis the Jagiellon in 1526. They stayed a part of the Habsburg dynasty rule until 1918.
+
+The area of the today's Czechia was a part of Czechoslovakia (current area of Czechia and Slovak republic) from 1918 to 1992. Czechoslovakia became independent in 1918 from Austro-Hungarian Empire. The first Czechoslovakian president was Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. In February 1948 the Communist party took over the country and for the next 41 years Czechoslovakia was a Socialist state with a rule of one (Communist) party. In 1968 there was a reformation movement (Prague Spring) within the Communist party, but reforms were stopped by the invasion of Warsaw pact armies. In November 1989 Czechoslovakia returned to democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution".  Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries (Czechia and Slovakia) in 1993.
+Czechia has been a member of the European Union since May 1 2004, and a member of NATO since March 12, 1999.
+
+The highest point in the country is Sněžka at 1,602 m (5,256 ft).
+
+There are four national parks in Czechia. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park. The others are Šumava National Park, Podyjí National Park, Bohemian Switzerland.
+
+In 1949 the communist government created 13 centralized regions instead of historical countries. In 1960 the regions changed leaving only 8 regions. In 2000 14 regions were formed with their own regional self-government.
+
+Czechia has one of the least religious populations in the world. According to the 2011 census, 34.2% of the population stated they had no religion, 10.3% were Roman Catholic, 0.8% were Protestant (0.5% Czech Brethren and 0.4% Hussite), and 9.4% followed other forms of religion both denominational or not (of which 863 people answered they are Pagan). 45.2% of the population did not answer the question about religion.

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+– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+The Czech Republic (Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka]  ( listen)) is a country in Central Europe. As of 2 May 2016 the official short name of the country is Czechia (Czech: Česko). The capital and the biggest city is Prague. The currency is the Czech Crown (koruna česká - CZK). €1 is about 25 CZK. The president of Czechia is Miloš Zeman. Czechia's population is about 10.5 million.
+
+The local language is the Czech language, a Slavic language related to languages like Slovak and Polish.
+
+Czechia has no sea; its neighbour countries are Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland.
+
+Its history dates from the 9th century AD, for a long time it was one of the most powerful countries in Central Europe. Later on it was the biggest, most populated and richest country of the First Reich, where many Emperors started their career. Under the conditions of the Treaty of Vienna 1515 parts of Czechia, then in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, came under Habsburg rule after the death of Louis the Jagiellon in 1526. They stayed a part of the Habsburg dynasty rule until 1918.
+
+The area of the today's Czechia was a part of Czechoslovakia (current area of Czechia and Slovak republic) from 1918 to 1992. Czechoslovakia became independent in 1918 from Austro-Hungarian Empire. The first Czechoslovakian president was Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. In February 1948 the Communist party took over the country and for the next 41 years Czechoslovakia was a Socialist state with a rule of one (Communist) party. In 1968 there was a reformation movement (Prague Spring) within the Communist party, but reforms were stopped by the invasion of Warsaw pact armies. In November 1989 Czechoslovakia returned to democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution".  Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries (Czechia and Slovakia) in 1993.
+Czechia has been a member of the European Union since May 1 2004, and a member of NATO since March 12, 1999.
+
+The highest point in the country is Sněžka at 1,602 m (5,256 ft).
+
+There are four national parks in Czechia. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park. The others are Šumava National Park, Podyjí National Park, Bohemian Switzerland.
+
+In 1949 the communist government created 13 centralized regions instead of historical countries. In 1960 the regions changed leaving only 8 regions. In 2000 14 regions were formed with their own regional self-government.
+
+Czechia has one of the least religious populations in the world. According to the 2011 census, 34.2% of the population stated they had no religion, 10.3% were Roman Catholic, 0.8% were Protestant (0.5% Czech Brethren and 0.4% Hussite), and 9.4% followed other forms of religion both denominational or not (of which 863 people answered they are Pagan). 45.2% of the population did not answer the question about religion.

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+
+
+The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a species of shark.  They are world's largest living predatory fish. Mature sharks may grow up to 6.4 m (21 ft) in length and 3,324 kg (7,328 lb) in weight.[1][2][3][4] There also have been a few reports of great white sharks measuring over 8 m (26 ft).[5]  This shark reaches its sexual maturity around 15 years of age. The lifespan of great white shark may be as long as 70 years or more.[6] Great white sharks can accelerate to speeds over 56 km/h (35 mph).[7]
+
+Great white sharks have about 300 teeth, arranged in many rows.[8] The first two rows of the teeth are used for grabbing and cutting the animals they eat, while the other teeth in the last rows replace the front teeth when they are broken, worn down, or when they fall out. The teeth have the shape of a triangle with jags on the edges. Great white sharks are carnivores. Great white sharks are apex predators. They eat fish, seals, sea lions, seagulls, penguins, squid, octopuses, dolphins, small whales, crabs, shrimps, stingrays, sea turtles and other sharks.
+
+The great white shark has no natural predators other than the killer whale.[9] Some orcas have discovered they can paralyse the shark by flipping it upside-down. Then they hold the shark still with their mouth, and that suffocates it (sharks get oxygen by moving through the water).[10]
+
+The bestselling novel Jaws by Peter Benchley and the film by Steven Spielberg show the great white shark as a "ferocious human eater". In real life, humans are not the preferred food of the great white shark.[11] However, of all shark species, the great white shark has the second largest number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans.[12]
+
+The great white shark is a shark. The great white shark is a shark and a type of cartilaginous fish belonging to a biological class known as Chondrichthyes.  These fish are jawed vertebrates with paired fins, paired nares, scales, a heart with its chambers in series, and a skeleton made of cartilage not bone.[13]  These sharks are also known as Lamniformes, which is an order of sharks commonly referred to as Mackerel Sharks.  This species of shark possess two dorsal fins, an anal fin, five gill slits and a mouth extended behind the eyes.[14]
+
+The great white shark is one of nature’s most deadly carnivores, and is distinguishable by their jaws and many sharp teeth.  The difference is the ability for both the shark’s jaws to move when ambushing their prey.  They will first bite with the lower jaw to sink its teeth in, then close the upper jaw and begin thrashing their heads repeatedly to tear off chunks of flesh [6].  They may contain as many as 3, 000 teeth at one time, sitting in five rows with the largest set in the front.  In the event a tooth is lost, another comes forward from a stash of backup teeth embedded in the shark’s jaws.[15]
+
+In addition to the teeth and jaws of great white sharks, their senses have greatly adapted to sharpen their skills as hunters.  Their sense of smell is most accurate and great whites can detect a single drop of blood in ten billion drops of water.  They possess an “ear stone” which helps the animal position itself in the water depending on the direction it is swimming.[16]  Sharks also utilize excellent vision with retinas divided into two areas for daylight and nighttime swimming, and protect them by rolling them backwards into the skull before biting.  One of their most interesting senses relates to their touch and electro-reception.  A series of pores in the shark’s nose allow them to detect electromagnetic fields and sense animal vibrations in the water, as well as accurately navigate through the open ocean.[16]
+
+The great white becomes an adult about nine years after its birth. The growth of the great white shark is about 25-30 centimetres per year and they grow to an average size of 4.5 meters. The largest can be as much as 6.4 meters in length. Their liver, a delicacy to killer whales, can weigh up to about 24 percent of its own body weight.[17]
+
+Great white sharks live in the sea. They live near the coast, in all warm waters. They occasionally make dives into the deep water of open oceans. They can be in water as shallow as three feet deep. The deepest scientists have seen a shark dive is about 1200 meters (4000 feet).  That is down into the bathypelagic zone, where there is no sunlight.[18]
+
+They may swim near:
+
+Research has shown that the sharks of northern California are genetically different to other shark populations. DNA evidence shows the population separated from other great whites about 200,000 years ago (during the Pleistocene Era). By tagging the sharks they also learned that they are generally alone, but follow the same route through the ocean, and stay in the same places. From January to July they live near Hawaii, and then move to Californian waters between August and December.[19]
+
+Sharks have been on Earth much longer than humans, which is one reason why humans are not part of their diet.[20] Most scientists think sharks do not like the way humans taste.[21]
+
+Some people think that humans are not good food for great white sharks, because the human body has a lot more bone and less muscle and fat than the shark likes.[22] Some scientists think sharks attack humans because they have mistaken the human for a seal or sea lion.  Seals and sea lions have blubber, which the shark likes.  Other scientists think sharks' senses are good enough to tell that the human is not a seal.  They think sharks do not know what the human is and bite it to learn more.[22]
+
+Usually, the shark bites the human once and then swims away for a while.  Sometimes the shark will bite off a leg or arm, but usually the bite is just a bite.  Sometimes there is no tissue loss at all (nothing bitten off).[22] Deaths in such cases are generally caused by loss of blood from the first wound. In cases where attacks have occurred and the victim has been unable to escape quickly, partial or whole consumption has occurred; lone divers are especially at risk of this.  Scientists are not sure why this is but they have some ideas.
+
+Sharks are very curious but they do not have whiskers or hands or tentacles like other animals.  To learn more about an object, a shark has to either bump into it or bite it.  Sharks' teeth and mouths are very sensitive.[22]  When sharks see a new object, for example, a surfboard, they bite it to know what kind of object it might be.[23]
+
+It is also possible that human behavior and shark behavior just don't match.  In the 1980s, John McCasker proposed the Bite and Spit hypothesis.  McCasker said that a shark will attack dangerous prey like an elephant seal by biting it once and then letting go.  The shark then swims away to wait for the prey to bleed to death before going back to eat its body.  But when a shark bites a human once, the human's friends come and help them out of the water.  Maybe the shark would finish eating the human, but it does not get the chance.  But sharks usually attack seal-sized (or human-sized) prey in one strong bite from underneath, so people are not sure if McCasker's idea is right.[22]
+
+Facts Status Description Range Habitat Biology Threats Conservation Find out more Glossary References View all
+
+Wildlife Journal Junior. (2020).Chondrichthyes - Rays, Sharks, Skates, Chimaeras. Explore the Natural World. Available from: https://nhpbs.org/wild/chondrichthyes.asp.

ensimple/5063.html.txt

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+
+
+Carcharhiniformes
+Heterodontiformes
+Hexanchiformes
+Lamniformes
+Orectolobiformes
+Pristiophoriformes
+Squaliformes
+Squatiniformes
+
+Sharks are a superorder of fish, the Selachimorpha. They, like other Chondrichthyes, have skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone. Cartilage is tough, rubbery material which is less rigid than bone. Cartilaginous fish also include skates and rays.
+
+There are more than 350 different kinds of sharks, such as the great white and whale sharks. Fossils show that sharks have been around for 420 million years, since the early Silurian.[1] The great white shark is one of the biggest sharks.
+
+Most sharks are predators, meaning they hunt and eat fish, marine mammals, and other sea creatures. However, the largest shark eats krill, like whales. This is the whale shark, the largest fish in the world. It is widely believed that sharks are "silent-killers" but in a recent study it has been proven that sharks emit a low/soft but evident growl from their throats resonating through their scales. Some common kinds of shark include the hammerhead shark, the great white shark, the tiger shark, and the mako shark. Most sharks are cold-blooded but some, like the great white shark and the mako shark are partially warm-blooded.
+
+Sharks come in many different shapes and sizes, but most are long and thin (also called streamlined), with really strong jaws.
+
+Their teeth are constantly replaced throughout their lives. Sharks eat so violently they often break a few teeth, so new teeth grow continuously in a groove just inside the mouth and move forward from inside the mouth on "conveyor belts" formed by the skin which they are attached to. In its lifetime, a shark can lose and regrow as many as 30,000 teeth.
+
+Even with all those teeth, though, sharks can not chew. So they bite their prey and jerk it around so they can pull off a chunk to swallow. The chunks of food that a shark swallows end up in its stomach, where they are digested. This is pretty slow, however, so a meal might take several days to digest. This is why a shark does not eat every day.
+
+Sharks have different-shaped teeth, depending on what they eat. For instance, some sharks have sharp, pointy teeth, while bottom dwelling sharks have cone-shaped teeth for crushing shells. Because there are so many different kinds of sharks, and because each kind has its own kind of special teeth, many people enjoy collecting shark teeth. Shark teeth collectors can guess how large a shark was by measuring the shark tooth. First, they measure the length of the tooth in inches. Every inch of tooth equals 10ft of shark length: so if a shark tooth is 2 inches long, the tooth came from a shark that was 20 ft long! Even more terrifying is that some of the Megalodon teeth are 6 inches long so that suggests a shark 60 feet long.
+
+Sharks have skin covered in millions of tiny teeth-like scales that point to the tail. If you rub along a shark towards the tail, it would feel smooth, but if you rub the other way, it would be rough. Sharks' teeth can be 20 times as big as human teeth and they can grow back if they are lost.
+
+The fins of sharks are used for stabilizing, steering, lift and swimming. Each fin is used in a different manner.
+
+There are one or two fins present along the dorsal midline called the first and second dorsal fin.  These fins help the shark from constantly rolling around. These two fins may, or may not have spines.  When spines are present, they are used for defensive purposes, and may also have skin glands with them that produce an irritating substance.
+
+The pectoral fins are located behind the head and extend outwards. These fins are used for steering during swimming and help to provide the shark with lift.
+
+The pelvic fins are located behind the pectoral fins, near the cloaca, and are also stabilizers.
+
+Not all sharks have anal fins, but if they do have them, they are found between the pelvic and caudal fins.
+
+The tail region itself consists of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin. The caudal peduncle sometimes has notches known as "precaudal pits", which are found just ahead of the caudal fin. The peduncle may also be horizontally flattened into lateral keels. The caudal fin has both, an upper lobe, and a lower lobe, that can be of different sizes and the shape depends of which species the shark is. The primary use of the caudal fin is to provide a "push" while the shark swims. The upper lobe of the caudal fin produces the most amount of the push, and usually forces the shark downwards. The pectoral fins and the shape of the body (like an airfoil) work together to counter this force. The strong, non-lunate caudal fin in most benthic shark species allows the shark to swim close to the seabed (such as the Nurse shark). However, the fastest swimming sharks (such as the Mako sharks) tend to have lunate-shaped (crescent-shaped) caudal fins. [2]
+
+Sharks have keen olfactory sense organs in the short duct between the front and back nasal openings. They can detect blood from miles away: as little as one part per million of blood in sea water may be enough.[3]
+
+Sharks have the ability to determine the direction of a given scent based on the timing of scent detection in each nostril.[4] This is similar to the method mammals use to determine direction of sound.
+
+They are more attracted to the chemicals found in the intestines of many species, and as a result often linger near or in sewage outfalls. Some species, such as nurse sharks, have external barbels that greatly increase their ability to sense prey.
+
+Shark eyes are similar to the eyes of other vertebrates, including similar lenses, corneas and retinas. Their eyesight is well adapted to the marine environment. They can contract and dilate their pupils, like humans, something no teleost fish can do. A tissue behind the retina reflects light back, thereby increasing sight in darker waters.
+
+Sharks have tiny holes all over the shark's snout, especially between the eye and the tip of the snout. In them are nerve receptors which are called the ampullae of Lorenzini. [5]p23 They can sense electricity in the water. Animal in the water give off electricity: every time an animal's heart beats or it moves, tiny currents of electricity are made. These tiny electric currents make signals that travel through water and get sensed. Sharks may use this sense when they catch their prey, even more than they use their sight.
+
+Although it is hard to test sharks' hearing, they may have a sharp sense of hearing and can possibly hear prey many miles away.[6] A small opening on each side of their heads (not the spiracle) leads directly into the inner ear through a thin channel.
+
+The lateral line detects changes in water pressure. It is open to the environment by a line of pores. This and the sound-detecting organs are grouped together as the 'acoustico-lateralis system', because they have a common origin. In bony fish and tetrapods the external opening into the inner ear has been lost.
+
+This system is found in other fish as well. It detects motion or vibrations in water. The shark can sense frequencies in the range of 25 to 50 Hz.[7]
+
+Just a few million years ago, a giant shark called Megalodon swam in the seas. It was 18 meters long, twice as long as the closely-related great white shark, and it ate whales. Megalodon died out 1.6 million years ago.
+
+Much of what we understand about prehistoric sharks comes from the study of their fossils. While sharks have skeletons made of soft cartilage that can fall apart before fossilizing, their teeth are harder and easily fossilized. Prehistoric sharks, like their modern descendants, would grow and shed many thousands of teeth over their lifetime. For this reason shark teeth are one of the most common fossils.
+
+About 70% of all known shark species give birth to live young, with the gestation period lasting from 6 to 22 months.[8]
+
+Pups are born with a full set of teeth, and are capable of taking care of themselves. Once born, they quickly swim away from their mothers, who sometimes feed on the pups. Litters vary from one or two pups (great white shark) to one hundred pups (blue shark and whale shark). [9]
+
+Some sharks are oviparous, laying their eggs in the water. Shark eggs (sometimes called "mermaid's purses") are covered by a tough, leathery membrane.[9]
+
+Most sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs hatch inside the female's body, with the babies developing within the mother, but there is no placenta to nourish the pups. Instead the young feed on the egg's yolk. The pups eat any unfertilized eggs and sometimes each other. Very few pups in a litter survive until birth due to this form of sibling cannibalism. Great white sharks, mako sharks, nurse sharks, tiger sharks, and sand tiger sharks reproduce this way.[9]
+
+Some sharks are viviparous, meaning that the females give live birth: the eggs hatch inside the female's body, and the babies are fed by a placenta. The placenta helps transfer nutrients and oxygen from the mother's bloodstream and transfers waste products from the baby to the mother for elimination. Examples of viviparous sharks include the bull sharks, the whitetip reef sharks, the lemon sharks, the blue sharks, the silvertip sharks, and the hammerhead sharks. Although long thought to be oviparous, whale sharks are viviparous, and pregnant females have been found containing hundreds of pups. [9]
+
+New sharks are still being found. Dave Ebert found ten new species in a Taiwan market alone. Over the past three decades he has named 24 new species. They include sharks, rays, sawfish and ghost sharks – these cartilaginous fish are all related.[10]
+
+Some sharks are not endangered, but some are hunted for food (like shark fin soup) or sport fishing.[11]  In 2013 five species of shark, along with two species of manta ray, received international protection as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.[12]
+
+It is thought that 100 million sharks are killed by commercial and recreational fishing.[13][14] Sharks are a common seafood in many places, including Japan and Australia. In the Australian state of Victoria, shark is the most commonly used fish in fish and chips, in which fillets are battered and deep-fried or crumbed and grilled. In fish and chip shops, shark is called "flake". In India, small sharks or baby sharks (called sora in Tamil language, Telugu language) are sold in local markets. Since the flesh is not developed, cooking the flesh breaks it into powder, which is then fried in oil and spices (called sora puttu/sora poratu). The soft bones can be easily chewed. They are considered a delicacy in coastal Tamil Nadu.
+

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@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+
+
+The megalodon was the largest shark of all time. Its scientific name is Carcharocles megalodon. It lived from the late Oligocene to early Pleistocene epochs, 15 to 2.6 million years ago (mya).
+
+This giant of a shark was thought to be a huge version of the current great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. Megalodon had teeth, which are among the largest ever found, over 7 inches (18 cm) long. Nicolaus Steno was the first to recognize the teeth as those of a giant shark. Paleontologists calculate that the shark was up to 52–56 feet (16–17 m) long, and weighed up to 48-49 metric tons.[1]
+
+The skeleton of a Megalodon was made of cartilage, but it had calcium to strengthen it. Megalodon teeth, however were bone and can be found in all oceans. Other remains found are vertebrae.
+
+Fossil records of C. megalodon indicate that it  occurred in subtropical to temperate latitudes.[2] Before the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, the seas were relatively warmer.[3] This would have made it possible for the species to live in all the oceans of the world.
+
+C. megalodon lived in many marine environments (i.e. continental shelf waters,[4] coastal upwelling,[4] swampy coastal lagoons,[4] sandy littorals,[4] and offshore deep water environments),[5] and moved from place to place.[4] Adult C. megalodon were not abundant in shallow water environments,[4] and mostly lurked offshore. C. megalodon may have moved between coastal and oceanic waters, at different stages in its life.
+
+Megalodon hunted large and medium-sized whales, attacking the bony areas, such as chest, fins, or tail. This would stop the whale, or it could kill quickly with a fatal bite to the chest region. The Megalodon bite is considered one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom’s history.
+
+Its great size,[6] high-speed swimming capability,[7] and powerful jaws coupled with formidable killing apparatus,[2][6] made it an apex predator eating a range of fauna.
+
+Fossil evidence is that C. megalodon preyed on cetaceans (i.e., dolphins,[2] small whales,[4][8] and Odobenocetops,[9] and large whales,[10] (including sperm whales,[5][11] bowhead whales,[12] and rorquals[10][13] pinnipeds,[14] porpoises,[5] sirenians,[4][15] and giant sea turtles.[4]
+
+Marine mammals were regular prey targets for C. megalodon. Many whale bones have been found with clear signs of large bite marks (deep gashes) made by teeth that match those of C. megalodon,[2][8] and various excavations have revealed C. megalodon teeth lying close to the chewed remains of whales,[2] and sometimes in direct association with them. Fossil evidence of interactions between C. megalodon and pinnipeds also exist. In one interesting observation, a 127 millimetres (5.0 in) C.  megalodon tooth was found lying very close to a bitten earbone of a sea lion.[14]
+
+It was thought that the Carcharocles megalodon was a larger version of the Carcharodon carcarias. Megalodon had a much larger tail than the Carcharodon carcarias. However, the Carcharodon carcarias teeth was thinner than the Carcharocoles megalodon. It is confirmed that Carcharocoles megalodon is in a family called the Otodontidae. This means that the Carcharocoles megalodon and the Carcharodon caracarias were not related and Carcharodon megalodon was more in common with the Otodontidae than Lamnidae.
+
+You might think that Carcharocles megalodon had a weaker bite than the Tyrannosaurus rex. However, scientists calculated Carcharocles megalodon has a bite force to be up to 24,000 to 40,000 pounds of pressure and T. rex's bite is 11,100 pounds meaning that Carcharocles megalodon has the strongest bite.

ensimple/5065.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+
+
+Carcharhiniformes
+Heterodontiformes
+Hexanchiformes
+Lamniformes
+Orectolobiformes
+Pristiophoriformes
+Squaliformes
+Squatiniformes
+
+Sharks are a superorder of fish, the Selachimorpha. They, like other Chondrichthyes, have skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone. Cartilage is tough, rubbery material which is less rigid than bone. Cartilaginous fish also include skates and rays.
+
+There are more than 350 different kinds of sharks, such as the great white and whale sharks. Fossils show that sharks have been around for 420 million years, since the early Silurian.[1] The great white shark is one of the biggest sharks.
+
+Most sharks are predators, meaning they hunt and eat fish, marine mammals, and other sea creatures. However, the largest shark eats krill, like whales. This is the whale shark, the largest fish in the world. It is widely believed that sharks are "silent-killers" but in a recent study it has been proven that sharks emit a low/soft but evident growl from their throats resonating through their scales. Some common kinds of shark include the hammerhead shark, the great white shark, the tiger shark, and the mako shark. Most sharks are cold-blooded but some, like the great white shark and the mako shark are partially warm-blooded.
+
+Sharks come in many different shapes and sizes, but most are long and thin (also called streamlined), with really strong jaws.
+
+Their teeth are constantly replaced throughout their lives. Sharks eat so violently they often break a few teeth, so new teeth grow continuously in a groove just inside the mouth and move forward from inside the mouth on "conveyor belts" formed by the skin which they are attached to. In its lifetime, a shark can lose and regrow as many as 30,000 teeth.
+
+Even with all those teeth, though, sharks can not chew. So they bite their prey and jerk it around so they can pull off a chunk to swallow. The chunks of food that a shark swallows end up in its stomach, where they are digested. This is pretty slow, however, so a meal might take several days to digest. This is why a shark does not eat every day.
+
+Sharks have different-shaped teeth, depending on what they eat. For instance, some sharks have sharp, pointy teeth, while bottom dwelling sharks have cone-shaped teeth for crushing shells. Because there are so many different kinds of sharks, and because each kind has its own kind of special teeth, many people enjoy collecting shark teeth. Shark teeth collectors can guess how large a shark was by measuring the shark tooth. First, they measure the length of the tooth in inches. Every inch of tooth equals 10ft of shark length: so if a shark tooth is 2 inches long, the tooth came from a shark that was 20 ft long! Even more terrifying is that some of the Megalodon teeth are 6 inches long so that suggests a shark 60 feet long.
+
+Sharks have skin covered in millions of tiny teeth-like scales that point to the tail. If you rub along a shark towards the tail, it would feel smooth, but if you rub the other way, it would be rough. Sharks' teeth can be 20 times as big as human teeth and they can grow back if they are lost.
+
+The fins of sharks are used for stabilizing, steering, lift and swimming. Each fin is used in a different manner.
+
+There are one or two fins present along the dorsal midline called the first and second dorsal fin.  These fins help the shark from constantly rolling around. These two fins may, or may not have spines.  When spines are present, they are used for defensive purposes, and may also have skin glands with them that produce an irritating substance.
+
+The pectoral fins are located behind the head and extend outwards. These fins are used for steering during swimming and help to provide the shark with lift.
+
+The pelvic fins are located behind the pectoral fins, near the cloaca, and are also stabilizers.
+
+Not all sharks have anal fins, but if they do have them, they are found between the pelvic and caudal fins.
+
+The tail region itself consists of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin. The caudal peduncle sometimes has notches known as "precaudal pits", which are found just ahead of the caudal fin. The peduncle may also be horizontally flattened into lateral keels. The caudal fin has both, an upper lobe, and a lower lobe, that can be of different sizes and the shape depends of which species the shark is. The primary use of the caudal fin is to provide a "push" while the shark swims. The upper lobe of the caudal fin produces the most amount of the push, and usually forces the shark downwards. The pectoral fins and the shape of the body (like an airfoil) work together to counter this force. The strong, non-lunate caudal fin in most benthic shark species allows the shark to swim close to the seabed (such as the Nurse shark). However, the fastest swimming sharks (such as the Mako sharks) tend to have lunate-shaped (crescent-shaped) caudal fins. [2]
+
+Sharks have keen olfactory sense organs in the short duct between the front and back nasal openings. They can detect blood from miles away: as little as one part per million of blood in sea water may be enough.[3]
+
+Sharks have the ability to determine the direction of a given scent based on the timing of scent detection in each nostril.[4] This is similar to the method mammals use to determine direction of sound.
+
+They are more attracted to the chemicals found in the intestines of many species, and as a result often linger near or in sewage outfalls. Some species, such as nurse sharks, have external barbels that greatly increase their ability to sense prey.
+
+Shark eyes are similar to the eyes of other vertebrates, including similar lenses, corneas and retinas. Their eyesight is well adapted to the marine environment. They can contract and dilate their pupils, like humans, something no teleost fish can do. A tissue behind the retina reflects light back, thereby increasing sight in darker waters.
+
+Sharks have tiny holes all over the shark's snout, especially between the eye and the tip of the snout. In them are nerve receptors which are called the ampullae of Lorenzini. [5]p23 They can sense electricity in the water. Animal in the water give off electricity: every time an animal's heart beats or it moves, tiny currents of electricity are made. These tiny electric currents make signals that travel through water and get sensed. Sharks may use this sense when they catch their prey, even more than they use their sight.
+
+Although it is hard to test sharks' hearing, they may have a sharp sense of hearing and can possibly hear prey many miles away.[6] A small opening on each side of their heads (not the spiracle) leads directly into the inner ear through a thin channel.
+
+The lateral line detects changes in water pressure. It is open to the environment by a line of pores. This and the sound-detecting organs are grouped together as the 'acoustico-lateralis system', because they have a common origin. In bony fish and tetrapods the external opening into the inner ear has been lost.
+
+This system is found in other fish as well. It detects motion or vibrations in water. The shark can sense frequencies in the range of 25 to 50 Hz.[7]
+
+Just a few million years ago, a giant shark called Megalodon swam in the seas. It was 18 meters long, twice as long as the closely-related great white shark, and it ate whales. Megalodon died out 1.6 million years ago.
+
+Much of what we understand about prehistoric sharks comes from the study of their fossils. While sharks have skeletons made of soft cartilage that can fall apart before fossilizing, their teeth are harder and easily fossilized. Prehistoric sharks, like their modern descendants, would grow and shed many thousands of teeth over their lifetime. For this reason shark teeth are one of the most common fossils.
+
+About 70% of all known shark species give birth to live young, with the gestation period lasting from 6 to 22 months.[8]
+
+Pups are born with a full set of teeth, and are capable of taking care of themselves. Once born, they quickly swim away from their mothers, who sometimes feed on the pups. Litters vary from one or two pups (great white shark) to one hundred pups (blue shark and whale shark). [9]
+
+Some sharks are oviparous, laying their eggs in the water. Shark eggs (sometimes called "mermaid's purses") are covered by a tough, leathery membrane.[9]
+
+Most sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs hatch inside the female's body, with the babies developing within the mother, but there is no placenta to nourish the pups. Instead the young feed on the egg's yolk. The pups eat any unfertilized eggs and sometimes each other. Very few pups in a litter survive until birth due to this form of sibling cannibalism. Great white sharks, mako sharks, nurse sharks, tiger sharks, and sand tiger sharks reproduce this way.[9]
+
+Some sharks are viviparous, meaning that the females give live birth: the eggs hatch inside the female's body, and the babies are fed by a placenta. The placenta helps transfer nutrients and oxygen from the mother's bloodstream and transfers waste products from the baby to the mother for elimination. Examples of viviparous sharks include the bull sharks, the whitetip reef sharks, the lemon sharks, the blue sharks, the silvertip sharks, and the hammerhead sharks. Although long thought to be oviparous, whale sharks are viviparous, and pregnant females have been found containing hundreds of pups. [9]
+
+New sharks are still being found. Dave Ebert found ten new species in a Taiwan market alone. Over the past three decades he has named 24 new species. They include sharks, rays, sawfish and ghost sharks – these cartilaginous fish are all related.[10]
+
+Some sharks are not endangered, but some are hunted for food (like shark fin soup) or sport fishing.[11]  In 2013 five species of shark, along with two species of manta ray, received international protection as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.[12]
+
+It is thought that 100 million sharks are killed by commercial and recreational fishing.[13][14] Sharks are a common seafood in many places, including Japan and Australia. In the Australian state of Victoria, shark is the most commonly used fish in fish and chips, in which fillets are battered and deep-fried or crumbed and grilled. In fish and chip shops, shark is called "flake". In India, small sharks or baby sharks (called sora in Tamil language, Telugu language) are sold in local markets. Since the flesh is not developed, cooking the flesh breaks it into powder, which is then fried in oil and spices (called sora puttu/sora poratu). The soft bones can be easily chewed. They are considered a delicacy in coastal Tamil Nadu.
+

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+A food chain shows the feeding relationship between different organisms in a particular environment and/or habitat. Plants are at the bottom of a food chain because they are producers that make their food from a process called photosynthesis . Organisms that can make their own food are called producers. Consumers are animals that eat the products of producers or other animals. The animal that eats the producer is called the primary consumer and it gains the most amount of energy. The animal that eats the primary consumer is called a secondary consumer which in the primary consumer's energy which is transferred becomes lower due to the primary consumer consuming some energy. The animal that eats the secondary consumer is called a tertiary consumer and so on to fourth, fifth, etc. The direction of arrows between the organisms shows who eats what and what gets eaten by what.[1]
+
+A food chain also represents a series of events and consumption in which food and energy are consumed from one organism in an ecosystem to another. Food chains show how energy is passed from the sun to producers, from producers to consumers, and from consumers to decomposes such as fungi. They also show how animals depend on other organisms for food.[2]
+
+In any ecosystem, many food chains overlap. Different food chains may include some of the same organisms. Several consumers may eat the same kind of plant or animal for food. When this happens, the food chain forms a food web. A food web shows how food chains are related within an ecosystem and how the cycles balanced between an equilibrium

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+Renewable energy comes from renewable resources.[1] It is different from fossil fuels as it does not produce as many greenhouse gases and other pollutants as fossil fuel combustion.
+
+People have used traditional wind power, hydropower, biofuel, and solar energy for many centuries, all around the world. The mass production of electricity using renewable energy sources is now becoming more common.
+
+From the end of 2004, worldwide renewable energy capacity grew at rates of 10–60% annually for many technologies. For wind power and many other renewable technologies, growth sped up in 2009 relative to the previous four years. More wind power was added during 2009 than any other renewable technology. However, grid-connected PV increased the fastest of all renewables technologies, with a 60% annual average growth rate.
+
+Projections vary, but scientists have advanced a plan to power 100% of the world's energy with wind, hydroelectric, and solar power by the year 2030.[5]
+
+Wind power capacity has expanded quickly to 336 GW in June 2014, and wind energy production was about 4% of total worldwide electricity usage, and growing fast.[6]  Wind power is widely used in European countries, and more recently in the United States and Asia.[7][8] Wind power accounts for approximately 19% of electricity generation in Denmark, 11% in Spain and Portugal, and 9% in the Republic of Ireland.[9] These are some of the largest wind farms in the world, as of January 2010:
+
+A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used for production of electricity. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines distributed over an extended area, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other purposes. A wind farm may also be located offshore.
+
+Solar photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into electricity and many solar photovoltaic power stations have been built, mainly in Europe.[22] As of December 2010, the largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the world are the Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant (Canada, 97 MW), Montalto di Castro Photovoltaic Power Station (Italy, 84.2 MW), Finsterwalde Solar Park (Germany, 80.7 MW), Rovigo Photovoltaic Power Plant (Italy, 70 MW), Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park (Spain, 60 MW), the Strasskirchen Solar Park (Germany, 54 MW), and the Lieberose Photovoltaic Park (Germany, 53 MW).[22] Larger power stations are under construction, some proposed will have a capacity of 150 MW or more.[23]
+
+Many of these plants are integrated with agriculture and some use innovative tracking systems that follow the sun's daily path across the sky to generate more electricity than conventional fixed-mounted systems. There are no fuel costs or emissions during operation of the power stations.
+
+Large solar thermal power stations include the 354 megawatt (MW) Solar Energy Generating Systems power installation in the USA, Solnova Solar Power Station (Spain, 150 MW), Andasol solar power station (Spain, 100 MW), Nevada Solar One (USA, 64 MW), PS20 solar power tower (Spain, 20 MW), and the PS10 solar power tower (Spain, 11 MW). The 370 MW Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, located in California's Mojave Desert, is the world’s largest solar thermal power plant project currently under construction.[25]
+
+The solar thermal power industry is growing fast with 1.2 GW under construction as of April 2009 and another 13.9 GW announced globally through 2014.  Spain is the epicenter of solar thermal power development with 22 projects for 1,037 MW under construction, all of which are projected to come online by the end of 2010.[26] In the United States, 5,600 MW of solar thermal power projects have been announced.[27] In developing countries, three World Bank projects for integrated solar thermal/combined-cycle gas-turbine power plants in Egypt, Mexico, and Morocco have been approved.[28]
+
+Variable renewable energy is a renewable energy source that is non-dispatchable due to its fluctuating nature, like wind power and solar power, as opposed to a controllable renewable energy source such as hydroelectricity, or biomass, or a relatively constant source such as geothermal power or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity. Critics of wind and solar power warn of their variable output, but many studies have shown that the grid can cope, and it is doing so in Denmark and Spain.[29]
+
+The International Energy Agency says that there has been too much focus on issue of the variability.[30] Its significance depends on a range of factors which include the market penetration of the renewables concerned, the balance of plant, and the wider connectivity of the system, as well as demand side flexibility. Variability will rarely be a barrier to increased renewable energy deployment. But at high levels of market penetration it requires careful analysis and management.[30]
+
+Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country's automotive fuel. As a result, Brazil, which years ago had to import a large share of the petroleum needed for domestic consumption, recently reached complete self-sufficiency in oil.[31]
+
+Most cars on the road today in the U.S. can run on blends of up to 10% ethanol, and motor vehicle manufacturers already produce vehicles designed to run on much higher ethanol blends. Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and General Motors Corporation are among the automobile companies that sell “flexible-fuel” cars, trucks, and minivans that can use gasoline and ethanol blends ranging from pure gasoline up to 85% ethanol (E85). By mid-2006, there were approximately six million E85-compatible vehicles on U.S. roads.[32]

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+A restaurant (sometimes known as a diner) is a place where cooked food is sold to the public, and where people sit down to eat it. It is also a place where people go to enjoy the time and to eat a meal.
+
+Some restaurants are a chain, meaning that there are restaurants which have the same name and serve the same food. McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut are examples of chain restaurants that are all over the world. These restaurants serve fast food, that is, inexpensive food, prepared and served quickly. At some, you do not have to even get out of the car to eat. You can pay and get your order from a window. These places are called drive-throughs.
+
+There are also chain restaurants that serve slightly more expensive food. They are called fast casual restaurants. Applebee's and Perkins are examples of this type of chain restaurant.
+
+Haute cuisine or 'fine dining' is found in a guide, such as the Michelin Guide, the most famous restaurant guide in the world. Their 3-star rosettes are given only to restaurants with the highest standards of cooking and service. Interestingly, the Guide gives more 3-stars to Tokyo and Kyoto than to Paris, London and New York together.[1][2] Traditionally, the restaurants of top hotels such as the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo or the Hôtel Ritz Paris were the main places recognized for fine dining. Today, most Michelin Guide restaurants are separate establishments.
+
+In Ancient Greece and Rome there were small restaurant-bars offering food and drinks. They were called thermopolia (singular thermopolium). Many dwellings did not have kitchens, and eating out was an important part of socializing.
+
+In Pompeii, 158 thermopolia with service counters have been found. They were along the main road of the town and round the public spaces.[3]

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+Gladiators (Latin: gladiatōrēs, "swordsmen" or "one who uses a sword," from gladius, "sword") were professional fighters in ancient Rome, who fought against each other, wild animals  and sentenced criminals, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of the public. These fights took place in arenas in many cities from the Roman Republic period through the Roman Empire.
+
+The word comes from gladius, the Latin word for a short sword used by legionaries and some gladiators.
+
+Gladiators often are slaves and people from other countries that fought ancient Rome and lost and got captured. Some are normal people from the Roman Republic and wants to be a gladiator and give up their freedom.
+
+There were different types of gladiators in the world, such as Thracians, Mirmillones, Retiarii, and the Secutores.The gladiators were the footballers of their time.You would have been very famous and rich.
+
+The Emperor would have the final say about who would live and who would die. He would put his thumbs down to die or thumbs up to live.
+
+Gladiators fought to the death. Gladiators would have different types of weapons. Some might have a sword whereas others would use axes.
+

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+The Aztecs were Native American people who lived in Mesoamerica. They ruled the Aztec Empire from the 14th century to the 16th century.[1]
+
+The name "Aztec" comes from the phrase "people from Aztlan". Legends say that Aztlan was the first place the Aztecs ever lived.  "Aztlan" means "place of the herons" in the Nahuatl language.[2]p. 8
+
+Often the term "Aztec" refers just to the people of Tenochtitlan. This was a city on an island in Lake Texcoco. These people called themselves the Mexica which is why the country is called Mexico, or the Nahua which is why their language is called Nahuatl.[3]
+
+Before the Aztec Empire conquered them, the indigenous (native) people  lived in many separate city-states.  These were small cities with farmland around them.  Each state had its own ruler.  Around 1100 AD, these city-states started to fight each other for power and control of the area's resources.[4]
+
+Historians think the Aztecs came to central Mesoamerica around 1200.[5]  They came from what is now northwest Mexico.  According to historian Lisa Marty:
+
+By 1325, the Aztecs had built Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco.  Tenochtitlan became a city-state that gradually became more and more powerful.[6]
+
+By about 1400, three city-states had grown into small empires.  In 1428, these two empires fought the Tepanec War for control of the area.  The Texcoco empire made an alliance with some other powerful city-states, including Tenochtitlan, and won the war.  These allies were supposed to share power equally as they started to gain control of more land.  However, by 1430, Tenochtitlan became the most powerful member of the alliance.  It became the capital city of the Aztec Empire, and its ruler became the 'high king' of the Empire.[7]
+
+Aztec drawing of the Mexica leaving Aztlan
+
+Map of Mesoamerica
+
+Map of city-states in the 16th century
+
+The Aztec Empire existed between about 1438 AD and 1521 AD.[5]  When the Empire was largest, it spread across most of Mesoamerica and controlled about 11,000,000 people.[8]
+
+Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the Aztec Empire. Tenochtitlan was one of the greatest cities of the world in that time.  By the early 1500s, at least 200,000 people lived in the city.  This made Tenochtitlan the largest city in the Americas before Christopher Columbus arrived.[9]
+
+Mexico City now covers the whole area where Tenochtitlan used to be.[10]
+
+The Aztecs believed in many gods. Two of the most important gods they worshipped were Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and the sun, and Tlaloc, the rain god.[11] Another important god was Quetzalcoatl (feathered snake), the god of learning and civilization.[12]
+
+The Aztecs did many things to keep the gods happy. These things included human sacrifices.[13]  They believed this helped keep the world from ending.[11]  The Aztecs believed that the gods had created them, and that human sacrifice was the most powerful way of giving back the gift of life. The Aztecs also believed that the gods were in an almost never-ending struggle. The hearts and blood from the sacrifice fed the good gods to give them strength to fight the evil gods. The human sacrifices often took place on the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs' great pyramid temple.[11][14]
+
+Huitzilopochtli, as depicted in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis
+
+Quetzalcoatl in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis
+
+Tezcatlipoca in the Codex Borgia
+
+Spanish drawing of a human sacrifice
+
+The Aztecs ate plants and vegetables that could grow easily in Mesoamerica. The main foods in the Aztec diet were maize, beans, and squash. They often used tomatoes and chili as spices.[15]  Aztec markets sold fruit, vegetables, spices, flowers, dogs, birds, and cocoa beans. They also created chocolate. However, they did not have sugar, so their chocolate was a strong liquid with chili in it.[16] They also made an alcoholic drink called chocolatl.[17]   These foods later spread around the world.[16]
+
+In Aztec society, there were different social classes with different social statuses.  The most important people were the rulers.[8]  The Aztecs' first king was Acamapichtli.[18]  Their last king was Cuauhtemoc.  He surrendered control of the Aztec Empire to Hernan Cortes during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.[19]
+
+Next were nobles.  These were the Empire's powerful members of the government; great warriors; judges; and priests.[8]  These people enjoyed a high social status.[20]
+
+The next social class was the commoners (common people).  These were the Empire's everyday workers.  Most of them farmed, ran stores, or traded.  Other workers included artisans, regular soldiers, and fishers.  Commoners were allowed to own land as a group or a family.  However, a single person was not allowed to own land.[20]
+
+The lowest social classes in Aztec society were serfs and then slaves.  Slaves had no rights at all.  They were bought and sold at Aztec markets.[9]  The Aztecs also sacrificed some prisoners of war to their gods.[21]  However, if they had the money, they could buy their own freedom and become commoners.[20]
+
+For most of the Aztec Empire's existence, it was very difficult to move between social classes.  Usually, if a person was born in a social class, they would stay in that class for the rest of their life.[8]
+
+Aztecs had harsh punishments for crimes that seem simple to us now. For example, a person could get the death penalty for adultery; cutting down a living tree; moving the boundary of a field to make their land bigger and someone else's smaller; major theft; treason; disorderly conduct (causing trouble in public), drunkenness; and promiscuity. Under Aztec sumptuary law, a commoner could also get the death penalty for wearing cotton.[2][20]p. 88
+
+Aztec 'high lords', who were in the top social class
+
+Merchants, members of "the commoners," carry things they want to sell a long way away
+
+The Aztecs studied astrology and used the movements of the planets and the stars to create different calendars.[22]  They had an accurate calendar which consisted of 365 days, based on the movements of the sun. They also had a religious calendar which was made up of 260 days.[23]
+
+The Aztecs also studied and taught many complex subjects, including geometry, mathematics, debate, law, music, poetry, architecture, and agriculture.[24]
+
+The most popular Aztec sport was Tlachtili. They played this game using rubber balls and vertical hoops on opposite walls in the middle of the court. The game's goal was to shoot the ball into the hoop using their knees. The first team to score won the game.[25]
+
+Between 1519 and 1521, the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés, allied with Tlaxcala and other enemies of the Aztecs.  The conquistadors defeated the Aztecs, took their empire, and made it into a Spanish colony. Some Aztecs did not want to fight against the soldiers of Cortés, because they thought they were gods.[26]
+
+Today many Mexicans have Aztec and other Native American forefathers. People still use Aztec symbols in Mexico. On the Mexican flag, there is a picture of an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. This was an Aztec symbol.[27] Even the name Mexico is an Aztec word.[28]

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+Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction movie directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Bob Gale. It is the second movie for the Back to the Future trilogy.[1] It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson.
+
+At the end of the Back to the Future, 1985 Doc uses the time machine to travel thirty years in 2015. At the beginning, Doc comes back from the future to 1985 to take 17 year old Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer to 2015 to prevent a disaster with his son Marty Junior.  The problem with Marty Jr. is solved, but 17 year old Marty creates another problem that changes events in 1955.  They discover this when they go back to 1985.  The change in 1955 has turned 1985 into a bad world. Doc and Marty return to 1955 to undo the damage. At the end of the movie, the vehicle is struck by lighting and Doc is sent to 1885.
+
+Quotations related to Back to the Future Part II at Wikiquote

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+Back to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science fiction Western movie directed by Robert Zemeckis. It is the third and final movie for the Back to the Future trilogy. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson.
+
+A lightning bolt sends 1985 Doc and the time machine from 1955 back to 1885. Marty finds the time machine where Doc hid it. He soon finds out that the Doc is shot by Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen and goes back to 1885 to save Doc.
+
+Quotations related to Back to the Future Part III at Wikiquote

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+German reunification (German: Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) is a term of history. Unification means making two or more parts as one. The German reunification is the unification of the two parts of Germany.
+
+After the Second World War, Germany had been divided into two countries. One was the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), also called "West Germany". The other part was the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was also called "East Germany". The German reunification was on 3 October 1990, when the East German states became a part of the Federal Republic of Germany.
+
+After World War II, The winners made four Allied Occupation Zones in Germanys.  In 1949 the French, British and American zones were joined into the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as "West Germany", while the Soviet zone was made into a separate state known as the German Democratic Republic, or "East Germany".
+
+During the Cold War, West Germany was a democratic country (Politicians were elected in free elections), was allied with the United States of America and had a capitalist economic system (Businesses were owned by citizens).  East Germany was a communist country, a one-party state.  The communist party ruled all the time, elections were only for show, and all businesses were owned by the state.  Like other states in the Soviet bloc, it was controlled by the Soviet Union.
+
+After West Germany's economy began to grow faster and faster in the 1950s, while East Germany's economy was not doing so well, many people moved from East to West Germany. To stop this emigration, the border between East and West Germany was closed in 1961 by East German forces. This border was part of the Iron Curtain. Between 1961 and 1989, leaving East Germany was very hard and extremely dangerous.  Officially leaving East Germany took years to be approved, and people who applied were often spied on by East German police.  Many people who tried to flee over the border were shot and killed there.
+
+In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started to open the Soviet Union to the west. Many of the communist countries followed his example. East Germany tried to ignore this trend, but during 1989, public protest grew inside the country. After some efforts to keep the country stable, the border was finally opened on 9 November 1989. Conversion of East Germany into a democratic country started almost immediately.  During the following 11 months, the terms of unification were negotiated between East and West Germany, France, Great Britain, The United States of America and The Soviet Union, and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany also called the Two Plus Four Treaty, signed by the two German states and the four wartime allies, opened the way towards reunification.
+
+Two options for reunification were written in the West German constitution (the Grundgesetz):
+
+The second option was chosen, and on 3 October 1990, at 00:01 the five new federal states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and reunified Berlin officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany. The German Democratic Republic ceased to exist at this moment.

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+German reunification (German: Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) is a term of history. Unification means making two or more parts as one. The German reunification is the unification of the two parts of Germany.
+
+After the Second World War, Germany had been divided into two countries. One was the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), also called "West Germany". The other part was the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was also called "East Germany". The German reunification was on 3 October 1990, when the East German states became a part of the Federal Republic of Germany.
+
+After World War II, The winners made four Allied Occupation Zones in Germanys.  In 1949 the French, British and American zones were joined into the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as "West Germany", while the Soviet zone was made into a separate state known as the German Democratic Republic, or "East Germany".
+
+During the Cold War, West Germany was a democratic country (Politicians were elected in free elections), was allied with the United States of America and had a capitalist economic system (Businesses were owned by citizens).  East Germany was a communist country, a one-party state.  The communist party ruled all the time, elections were only for show, and all businesses were owned by the state.  Like other states in the Soviet bloc, it was controlled by the Soviet Union.
+
+After West Germany's economy began to grow faster and faster in the 1950s, while East Germany's economy was not doing so well, many people moved from East to West Germany. To stop this emigration, the border between East and West Germany was closed in 1961 by East German forces. This border was part of the Iron Curtain. Between 1961 and 1989, leaving East Germany was very hard and extremely dangerous.  Officially leaving East Germany took years to be approved, and people who applied were often spied on by East German police.  Many people who tried to flee over the border were shot and killed there.
+
+In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started to open the Soviet Union to the west. Many of the communist countries followed his example. East Germany tried to ignore this trend, but during 1989, public protest grew inside the country. After some efforts to keep the country stable, the border was finally opened on 9 November 1989. Conversion of East Germany into a democratic country started almost immediately.  During the following 11 months, the terms of unification were negotiated between East and West Germany, France, Great Britain, The United States of America and The Soviet Union, and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany also called the Two Plus Four Treaty, signed by the two German states and the four wartime allies, opened the way towards reunification.
+
+Two options for reunification were written in the West German constitution (the Grundgesetz):
+
+The second option was chosen, and on 3 October 1990, at 00:01 the five new federal states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and reunified Berlin officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany. The German Democratic Republic ceased to exist at this moment.

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+Réunion (French: La Réunion) is an island of France. It is also a region of France and an overseas department of France, meaning France owns the island nation. It is in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Mauritius. Its capital is Saint-Denis. The highest point in La Reunion is La piton des neiges. The island is also famous for its black beaches, even though people think that there are white beaches. The island is 63 kilometres (39 mi) long; 45 kilometres (28 mi) wide; and covers 2,512 square kilometres (970 sq mi). It is similar to the island Hawaii as both are above hotspots in the Earth's crust.
+
+The Piton de la Fournaise, a shield volcano on the eastern end of Réunion Island, rises more than 2,631 metres (8,632 ft) above sea level and is sometimes called a sister to Hawaiian volcanoes because of the similarity of climate and volcanic nature. It has erupted more than 100 times since 1640 and is under constant monitoring. It most recently erupted on 2 January 2010. Before that, the most noticeable was during April 2007, when the lava flow was estimated at 3,000,000 cubic metres (3,900,000 cu yd) per day.  The Piton de la Fournaise is created by a hotspot volcano, which also created the Piton des Neiges and the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues.
+
+The Piton des Neiges volcano, the highest point on the island at 3,070 metres (10,070 ft) above sea level, is northwest of the Piton de la Fournaise. Collapsed calderas and canyons are southwest of the mountain. Like Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii, the Piton des Neiges is an extinct volcano. Despite its name, snow (French: neige) practically never falls on the summit.

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+Réunion (French: La Réunion) is an island of France. It is also a region of France and an overseas department of France, meaning France owns the island nation. It is in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Mauritius. Its capital is Saint-Denis. The highest point in La Reunion is La piton des neiges. The island is also famous for its black beaches, even though people think that there are white beaches. The island is 63 kilometres (39 mi) long; 45 kilometres (28 mi) wide; and covers 2,512 square kilometres (970 sq mi). It is similar to the island Hawaii as both are above hotspots in the Earth's crust.
+
+The Piton de la Fournaise, a shield volcano on the eastern end of Réunion Island, rises more than 2,631 metres (8,632 ft) above sea level and is sometimes called a sister to Hawaiian volcanoes because of the similarity of climate and volcanic nature. It has erupted more than 100 times since 1640 and is under constant monitoring. It most recently erupted on 2 January 2010. Before that, the most noticeable was during April 2007, when the lava flow was estimated at 3,000,000 cubic metres (3,900,000 cu yd) per day.  The Piton de la Fournaise is created by a hotspot volcano, which also created the Piton des Neiges and the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues.
+
+The Piton des Neiges volcano, the highest point on the island at 3,070 metres (10,070 ft) above sea level, is northwest of the Piton de la Fournaise. Collapsed calderas and canyons are southwest of the mountain. Like Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii, the Piton des Neiges is an extinct volcano. Despite its name, snow (French: neige) practically never falls on the summit.

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+Dreams are what a person sees and hears in their mind when they are sleeping. They are often similar to real life in some ways, but can also be very strange. Dreams can seem so real while they happen that the person might think that they are awake when actually they are asleep.
+
+Sometimes a person realizes during a dream that they are dreaming, but keeps having the dream. This is called a lucid dream. This happens very little for most people, but for some people it happens often. During lucid dreaming the person will feel like they are controlling the dream, and will usually dream that they are doing fun things that they can't do in the real world.
+
+Most people remember their dreams in some way or another, even if it is only a small part, but children are very likely to remember most of their dream clearly. It is often easier for people to remember dreams if they write down what happened in the dream just after they wake up. Because of this, many people have dream diaries where they describe each dream they have.
+
+Nightmares are dreams which scare or shock people. Nightmares are usually based around that person's everyday fears, like spiders or dark places, but even a dream that's not about those things can feel unpleasant. Nightmares are caused by many different things: being uncomfortable or in pain while sleeping, sickness, stress, or even eating right before sleeping.
+
+There are many different theories about why people dream and what their dreams mean. Every person has different dreams. Some psychologists believe that dreams reflect what is happening in the unconscious mind (the part of the mind that works by itself). Others think that people, places, and objects in dreams are symbols for other things in the dreamer's real life. Throughout history people have tried to make sense of dreams to learn things from them, and have often used them for divination or fortune-telling. Today there are still many books and websites devoted to making sense of dreams.
+
+Generally speaking, ancient civilisations thought dreams were messages from the gods (see the works of Homer) or alternatively some kind of prophecy.[1] However, they knew that often dreams misled the dreamer, and invented various explanations for this. Aristotle started off with ideas like this, but later became more skeptical, and denied the divine origin of dreams.[2]
+
+In his Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud connected them to his ideas on psychotherapy.[3] Dreams, in Freud's view, are forms of "wish fulfillment". They are attempts by the unconscious to resolve a conflict of some sort. Because the information in the unconscious is in an unruly and often disturbing form, a "censor" in the preconscious will not allow it to pass unaltered into the conscious. Freud describes three main types of dreams: 1. Direct prophecies received in the dream; 2. The foretelling of a future event; 3. The symbolic dream, which requires interpretation.
+
+Some authors, such as Hans Eysenck, have argued that the dreams Freud cites do not really support his theories. Eysenck argues that Freud's examples actually disprove his dream theory.[4]
+
+Since Freud, the emphasis has been on the biology of dreaming.[5][6][7]
+
+The discovery of REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep has been important. Researchers have done many studies on this. Subjects have been woken up in both stages and asked what they were thinking about.[8] It is clear that the reports from non-REM stages were different from REM stages. In particular, dreams occur mostly when the brain is in the REM state.[9][10] There is also some relationship between dreaming and daydreams. Both seem to occur in a cycle of 90–110 minutes.[11]
+
+Apparently, "there is no evidence that a more useful understanding of personality can be gained from them than can be divined from the realities of waking behaviour".[11]
+
+If sleep is prevented, people suffer and get worse at every kind of waking activity. From this it is clear that one important function of sleep is to maintain normal brain activity during awake time. Somehow, during sleep the brain gets restored to its normal functioning. Sleep is, so far as is known, universal amongst vertebrates. That also argues for its great importance. However, it is not known whether dreaming supports this repair function of sleep, or whether it is something which just happens.[12][13]

ensimple/5077.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+
+
+The French Revolution was a revolution in France from 1789 to 1799. The result of the French Revolution was the end of the monarchy. King Louis XVI was executed in 1793. The revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte took power in November 1799. In 1804, he became Emperor.
+
+Before 1789, France was ruled by the nobles and the Catholic Church. The ideas of the Enlightenment were beginning to make the ordinary people want more power. They could see that the American Revolution had created a country in which the people had power, instead of a king. The government before the revolution was called the "Ancient (old) Regime".
+
+Many problems in France led up to the Revolution:
+
+Before the Revolution, France was divided into three Estates. The First Estate was the Clergy (the church). It made up 1% of the population. The Second Estate was the Nobles, which also made up 1% of the population. The other nearly 98% of the population was in the Third Estate. Representatives of the people from all three estates together made up the Estates-General.
+
+In May 1789, the Estates-General was called by King Louis in order to deal with the money problems of the country. They met at the royal Palace of Versailles. However, the members of the Third Estate were angry. They had made lists of problems they wanted to fix called the Cahiers de Doléance
+
+The members of the Third Estate (The commoners) were angry that they were being taxed the most when they were the poorest group of people. They, and the Director-General of Finances, Jacques Necker, thought the Church and the Nobility ought to be taxed more.
+
+They also wanted votes in the Estates-General to be more fair. Even though the Third Estate had many more members than the other two Estates, each Estate only had one vote in the Estates-General. The Third Estate thought this could be improved by giving members of the Estates-General a vote each. However, when they talked to the other Estates, they could not agree.
+
+Since the First and Second Estates would not listen, The Third Estate decided to break away and start their own assembly where every member would get a vote. On 10 June 1789, they started the National Assembly. The king tried to stop them by closing the Salle des États meeting room, but they met in an indoor tennis court instead. On June 20, they took the Tennis Court Oath, where they promised to work until they had created a new constitution for France.
+
+In July 1789, after the National Assembly was formed, the nobility and the king was angry with Jacques Necker, the Director-General of Finances, and they fired him. Many Parisians thought that the King was going to shut down the National Assembly. Soon, Paris was filled with riots and looting.
+
+On 14 July 1789, the people decided to attack the Bastille prison. The Bastille contained weapons, as well as being a symbol of the power of the nobility and the rule of the king. By the afternoon, the people had broken into the Bastille and released the seven prisoners being held there.
+
+The Members of the Third Estate took over Paris. The president of the National Assembly at the time of the Tennis Court Oath, Jean-Sylvain Bailly, became mayor of the city. Jacques Necker was given back his job as Director-General of Finances. Soon, the King visited Paris and wore the red, white and blue (tricolor) ribbons (cockade) that the revolutionaries were wearing. By the end of July, the revolution had spread all over France.
+
+The National Assembly began to make lots of changes. On 4 August, the National Assembly ended the special taxes the Church was collecting, and put a stop to the rights of the Nobility over their people, ending feudalism. On 26 August, the National Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was written by the nobleman Marquis de Lafayette.
+
+The National Assembly began to decide how it would be under the new constitution. Many members, especially the nobles, wanted a senate or a second upper house. However, more people voted to keep having just one assembly. The King was given a suspensive veto over laws, which meant he would only have the power to delay laws being made, not stop them. In October 1789, after being attacked at the Palace of Versailles by a mob of 7,000 women, the King was convinced by Lafayette to move from Paris to the palace in Tuileries.
+
+The Assembly began to divide into different political parties. One was made up of those against the revolution, led by the nobleman Jacques Antoine Marie de Cazales and the churchman Jean-Sifrien Maury. This party sat on the right side. A second party was the Royalist democrats (monarchists) which wanted to create a system like the constitutional monarchy of Britain, where the king would still be a part of the government. Jacques Necker was in this party. The third party was the National Party which was centre or centre-left. This included Honoré Mirabeau and Lafayette.
+
+Under the new government, the Roman Catholic Church would have much less power than they had before. In 1790, all special taxes and powers of the Church were cancelled. All the Church’s property was taken over by the state. On 12 July 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy made all clergy employees of the state and made them take an oath to the new constitution. Many clergy, as well as the Pope, Pius VI, did not like these changes. Revolutionaries killed hundreds for refusing the oath.
+
+On 14 July 1790, a year since the storming of the Bastille, thousands of people gathered in the Champs de Mars to celebrate. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand led the crowd in a religious mass. The crowd, including the King and the royal family, took an oath of loyalty to “the nation, the law, and the king.” However, many nobles were unhappy with the revolution and were leaving the country. They were called émigrés (emigrants).
+
+Although the members of the Estates-General had only been elected for a year, the members of the Assembly had all taken the Tennis Court Oath. They had promised to keep working until they had a constitution and no constitution had been made. It was decided that the members would keep working until they had a constitution.
+
+The Assembly continued to work on a constitution and make changes. Nobles could no longer pass their titles to their children. Only the king was allowed to do this. For the first time, trials with juries were held. All trade barriers inside France were ended along with unions, guilds, and workers' groups. Strikes were banned.
+
+Many people with radical ideas began to form political clubs. The most famous of these was the Jacobin Club, which had left-wing ideas. A right-wing club was the Club Monarchique. In 1791, a law was suggested to prevent noble émigrés from leaving the country. Mirabeau had been against this law, but he died on 2 April, and by the end of the year, the law was passed.
+
+Louis XVI did not like the revolution, but did not want to get help from other countries or run away from France like the émigrés. General Bouille held the same views and wanted to help the king leave Paris. He said that he would give the King and his family help and support in his camp at Montmédy. The escape was planned for June 20, 1791.
+
+Dressed as servants, the royal family left Paris. However, their escape was not well planned, and they were arrested at Varennes on the evening of June 21. The royal family was brought back to Paris. The Assembly imprisoned Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette, and suspended the king from his duty.
+
+Although the king had tried to escape, most members of the Assembly still wanted to include the king in their government rather than to have a Republic with no king at all. They agreed to make the king a figurehead, with very little power. The king would have to take an oath to the state. If he did not, or if he created an army to attack France, he would no longer be king.
+
+Some people, including Jacques Pierre Brissot, did not like this. They thought the king should be completely removed from the throne and the constitution. Brissot made a petition and a huge crowd came to the Champs de Mars to sign it. Republican leaders Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins came and gave speeches.
+
+The National Guard, led by Lafayette, was called in to control the crowd. The mob threw stones at the soldiers who first fired their guns over the heads of the crowd. When the crowd kept throwing stones, Lafayette ordered them to fire at the people. Up to 50 people were killed. After this, the government closed many of the political clubs and newspapers. Many radical left-wing leaders, including Danton and Desmoulins, ran away to England or hid in France.
+
+Finally the constitution was completed. Louis XVI was put back on the throne and came to take his oath to it. He wrote, “I engage to maintain it at home, to defend it from all attacks from abroad, and to cause its execution by all the means it places at my disposal.” The National Assembly decided that it would stop governing France on 29 September 1791. After that date, the Legislative Assembly would take over.
+
+The new Legislative Assembly met for the first time in October 1791. Under the Constitution of 1791, France was a Constitutional Monarchy. The King shared his rule with the Legislative Assembly, but had the power to stop (veto) laws he did not like. He also had the power to choose ministers.
+
+The Legislative Assembly had about 745 members. 260 of them were “Feuillants”, or Constitutional Monarchists. 136 were Girondins and Jacobins, left-wing liberal republicans who did not want a king. The other 345 members were independent, but they voted most often with the left wing.
+
+The Legislative Assembly did not agree very well. The King used his veto to stop laws that would sentence émigrés to death. Because so many of the members of the Assembly were left-wing, they did not like this.
+
+The people were turning against King Louis XVI. On 10 August 1792, the members of a revolutionary group called the Paris Commune attacked the Tuileries, where the King and Queen were living. The King and Queen were taken prisoner. The Legislative Assembly held an emergency meeting. Even though only a third of the members were there and most of them were Jacobins, they suspended the King from duty.
+
+The kings and emperors of many foreign countries were worried by the French Revolution. They did not want revolutions in their own countries. On 27 August 1791, Leopold II of the Holy Roman Empire/Austria, Frederick William II of Prussia, and Louis XVI’s brother-in-law, Charles-Philippe wrote the Declaration of Pillnitz. The Declaration asked for Louis XVI to be set free and the National Assembly to be ended. They promised that they would invade France if their requests were ignored. The Declaration was taken very seriously among the revolutionaries.
+
+With the Legislative Assembly in place, the problems did not go away. The Girondins wanted war because they wanted to take the revolution to other countries. The King and many of his supporters, the Feuillants, wanted war because they thought it would make the King more popular. Many French were worried that the émigrés would cause trouble in foreign countries against France.
+
+On 20 April 1792, the Assembly voted to declare war on Austria (Holy Roman Empire). They planned to invade the Austrian Netherlands, but the revolution had made the army weak. Many soldiers deserted. Soon, Prussia joined on the Austrian side. They both planned to invade. Together, on 25 July, they wrote the Brunswick Manifesto, promising that if the royal family was not hurt, no civilians would be hurt in the invasion. The French believed that this meant the king, Louis XVI, was working with the foreign kings. Prussia invaded France on 1 August, 1792. This first stage of the French Revolutionary Wars continued until 1797.
+
+In September, things got worse. The Legislative Assembly had almost no power. No single group was controlling Paris or France. The country was being invaded by the Prussian Army. The revolutionaries were very angry and violent. They began to go into prisons and kill people they thought were traitors to France. They hated the priests of the Roman Catholic Church the most, but they also killed many nobles and ordinary people. By 7 September, 1,400 people were dead.
+
+The Legislative Assembly had lost all its power. France needed a new government. On 20 September 1792, the National Convention was formed. The Convention had both Girondins and radical Jacobins.
+
+The Brunswick Manifesto had made many people suspicious of the king. They thought he was plotting with the Prussian and Austrian rulers to invade France. In January 1793, the National Convention voted and found Louis XVI guilty of “conspiracy against the public liberty and the general safety.” On the twenty-first of January, the King was executed using the guillotine. Marie Antoinette, the Queen, was also executed on the sixteenth of October.
+
+People in the area of Vendée did not like the revolutionary government. They did not like the rules about the church in the Civil Constitution of the Church (1790) and new taxes put in place in 1793. They also disliked being forced to join the French army. In March, they rose up against the government in a revolt. The war lasted until 1796. Hundreds of thousands of people from Vendée (Vendeans) were killed by the Revolutionary French army.
+
+Now that the king was dead, the National Convention made a new republican constitution that began on 24 June. It was the first one that did not include the king and gave every man in France a vote. However, it never came into power because of the trouble between the Jacobins and Girondins. The war with Austria and Prussia was causing the state to have money problems. Bread was very expensive and many people wanted things to change. In June 1793, the Jacobins began to take power. They wanted to arrest many Girondin members of the National Convention. In July, they became angrier when Charlotte Corday, a Girondin, killed Jean-Paul Marat, a Jacobin.
+
+By July, the coup was complete. The Jacobins had taken power. They put in new, radical laws including a new Republican Calendar with new months and new ten-day weeks. They made the army bigger and changed the officers to people who were better soldiers. Over the next few years, this helped the Republican army push back the attacking Austrians, Prussians, British, and Spanish.
+
+In July 1793, a Jacobin called Maximilien de Robespierre and eight other leading Jacobins set up the Committee of Public Safety. It was the most powerful group in France. This group and Robespierre were responsible for the Reign of Terror. Robespierre believed that if people were afraid, the revolution would go better. The Reign of Terror lasted from the spring of 1793 to the spring of 1794.
+
+It was not only the nobility who died in the Reign of Terror. Anyone who broke the Jacobins' laws, or was even suspected of breaking their laws or working against them, could be arrested and sent to the guillotine, most without a trial. Even powerful people who had been involved in the Jacobin coup were executed. Prisoners were taken from the prisons to “Madame Guillotine” (a nickname for the guillotine) in an open wooden cart called the tumbrel.
+
+According to records, 16,594 people were executed with the guillotine. It is possible that up to 40,000 people died in prison or were killed during the Reign of Terror.
+
+By July 1794, people began to turn against Maximilien de Robespierre. He and his Revolutionary Tribunal had killed 1,300 people in six weeks. On 27 July, the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety turned against him. Robespierre tried to get help from the Convention’s right-wing members, but he failed.
+
+A day later, Robespierre and many of his supporters in the Paris Commune were sentenced to death by guillotine without any kind of trial. This reaction against Robespierre is called the Thermidorian Reaction.
+
+Now that the terror was over, the National Convention started to make a new Constitution, called the Constitution of the Year III. On 27 September 1794, the constitution came into effect.
+
+The new constitution had created the Directoire (Directory), which was the first government of France to be bicameral (split into two houses). The lower house, the parliament, had 500 members. It was called the Conseil de Cinq-Cent (Council of Five Hundred). The upper house, the senate, had 250 members and was called the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Elders). There were five directors chosen every year by the Conseil des Anciens from a list made up by the Conseil de Cinq-Cent. This group was in charge and was called the Directory.
+
+Although the constitution of 1793 had given all men in France a vote, in this constitution only people with a certain amount of property could vote.
+The Directory was much more conservative than the governments in France since 1789. The people were tired of radical changes and the unstable governments. Things were much more stable under the Directory than they had been before.
+
+However, the Directors were disliked by the people - especially the Jacobins, who wanted a republic, and the royalists, who wanted a new King. France’s money problems did not go away. The Directors ignored elections that did not go the way they wanted. They ignored the constitution in order to do things to control the people. They used the ongoing war and the army to keep their power.
+
+
+
+The 18 Brumaire marks the end of the Republican part of the French Revolution when Napeleon Bonaparte took the reign.
+

ensimple/5078.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+
+
+The French Revolution was a revolution in France from 1789 to 1799. The result of the French Revolution was the end of the monarchy. King Louis XVI was executed in 1793. The revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte took power in November 1799. In 1804, he became Emperor.
+
+Before 1789, France was ruled by the nobles and the Catholic Church. The ideas of the Enlightenment were beginning to make the ordinary people want more power. They could see that the American Revolution had created a country in which the people had power, instead of a king. The government before the revolution was called the "Ancient (old) Regime".
+
+Many problems in France led up to the Revolution:
+
+Before the Revolution, France was divided into three Estates. The First Estate was the Clergy (the church). It made up 1% of the population. The Second Estate was the Nobles, which also made up 1% of the population. The other nearly 98% of the population was in the Third Estate. Representatives of the people from all three estates together made up the Estates-General.
+
+In May 1789, the Estates-General was called by King Louis in order to deal with the money problems of the country. They met at the royal Palace of Versailles. However, the members of the Third Estate were angry. They had made lists of problems they wanted to fix called the Cahiers de Doléance
+
+The members of the Third Estate (The commoners) were angry that they were being taxed the most when they were the poorest group of people. They, and the Director-General of Finances, Jacques Necker, thought the Church and the Nobility ought to be taxed more.
+
+They also wanted votes in the Estates-General to be more fair. Even though the Third Estate had many more members than the other two Estates, each Estate only had one vote in the Estates-General. The Third Estate thought this could be improved by giving members of the Estates-General a vote each. However, when they talked to the other Estates, they could not agree.
+
+Since the First and Second Estates would not listen, The Third Estate decided to break away and start their own assembly where every member would get a vote. On 10 June 1789, they started the National Assembly. The king tried to stop them by closing the Salle des États meeting room, but they met in an indoor tennis court instead. On June 20, they took the Tennis Court Oath, where they promised to work until they had created a new constitution for France.
+
+In July 1789, after the National Assembly was formed, the nobility and the king was angry with Jacques Necker, the Director-General of Finances, and they fired him. Many Parisians thought that the King was going to shut down the National Assembly. Soon, Paris was filled with riots and looting.
+
+On 14 July 1789, the people decided to attack the Bastille prison. The Bastille contained weapons, as well as being a symbol of the power of the nobility and the rule of the king. By the afternoon, the people had broken into the Bastille and released the seven prisoners being held there.
+
+The Members of the Third Estate took over Paris. The president of the National Assembly at the time of the Tennis Court Oath, Jean-Sylvain Bailly, became mayor of the city. Jacques Necker was given back his job as Director-General of Finances. Soon, the King visited Paris and wore the red, white and blue (tricolor) ribbons (cockade) that the revolutionaries were wearing. By the end of July, the revolution had spread all over France.
+
+The National Assembly began to make lots of changes. On 4 August, the National Assembly ended the special taxes the Church was collecting, and put a stop to the rights of the Nobility over their people, ending feudalism. On 26 August, the National Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was written by the nobleman Marquis de Lafayette.
+
+The National Assembly began to decide how it would be under the new constitution. Many members, especially the nobles, wanted a senate or a second upper house. However, more people voted to keep having just one assembly. The King was given a suspensive veto over laws, which meant he would only have the power to delay laws being made, not stop them. In October 1789, after being attacked at the Palace of Versailles by a mob of 7,000 women, the King was convinced by Lafayette to move from Paris to the palace in Tuileries.
+
+The Assembly began to divide into different political parties. One was made up of those against the revolution, led by the nobleman Jacques Antoine Marie de Cazales and the churchman Jean-Sifrien Maury. This party sat on the right side. A second party was the Royalist democrats (monarchists) which wanted to create a system like the constitutional monarchy of Britain, where the king would still be a part of the government. Jacques Necker was in this party. The third party was the National Party which was centre or centre-left. This included Honoré Mirabeau and Lafayette.
+
+Under the new government, the Roman Catholic Church would have much less power than they had before. In 1790, all special taxes and powers of the Church were cancelled. All the Church’s property was taken over by the state. On 12 July 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy made all clergy employees of the state and made them take an oath to the new constitution. Many clergy, as well as the Pope, Pius VI, did not like these changes. Revolutionaries killed hundreds for refusing the oath.
+
+On 14 July 1790, a year since the storming of the Bastille, thousands of people gathered in the Champs de Mars to celebrate. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand led the crowd in a religious mass. The crowd, including the King and the royal family, took an oath of loyalty to “the nation, the law, and the king.” However, many nobles were unhappy with the revolution and were leaving the country. They were called émigrés (emigrants).
+
+Although the members of the Estates-General had only been elected for a year, the members of the Assembly had all taken the Tennis Court Oath. They had promised to keep working until they had a constitution and no constitution had been made. It was decided that the members would keep working until they had a constitution.
+
+The Assembly continued to work on a constitution and make changes. Nobles could no longer pass their titles to their children. Only the king was allowed to do this. For the first time, trials with juries were held. All trade barriers inside France were ended along with unions, guilds, and workers' groups. Strikes were banned.
+
+Many people with radical ideas began to form political clubs. The most famous of these was the Jacobin Club, which had left-wing ideas. A right-wing club was the Club Monarchique. In 1791, a law was suggested to prevent noble émigrés from leaving the country. Mirabeau had been against this law, but he died on 2 April, and by the end of the year, the law was passed.
+
+Louis XVI did not like the revolution, but did not want to get help from other countries or run away from France like the émigrés. General Bouille held the same views and wanted to help the king leave Paris. He said that he would give the King and his family help and support in his camp at Montmédy. The escape was planned for June 20, 1791.
+
+Dressed as servants, the royal family left Paris. However, their escape was not well planned, and they were arrested at Varennes on the evening of June 21. The royal family was brought back to Paris. The Assembly imprisoned Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette, and suspended the king from his duty.
+
+Although the king had tried to escape, most members of the Assembly still wanted to include the king in their government rather than to have a Republic with no king at all. They agreed to make the king a figurehead, with very little power. The king would have to take an oath to the state. If he did not, or if he created an army to attack France, he would no longer be king.
+
+Some people, including Jacques Pierre Brissot, did not like this. They thought the king should be completely removed from the throne and the constitution. Brissot made a petition and a huge crowd came to the Champs de Mars to sign it. Republican leaders Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins came and gave speeches.
+
+The National Guard, led by Lafayette, was called in to control the crowd. The mob threw stones at the soldiers who first fired their guns over the heads of the crowd. When the crowd kept throwing stones, Lafayette ordered them to fire at the people. Up to 50 people were killed. After this, the government closed many of the political clubs and newspapers. Many radical left-wing leaders, including Danton and Desmoulins, ran away to England or hid in France.
+
+Finally the constitution was completed. Louis XVI was put back on the throne and came to take his oath to it. He wrote, “I engage to maintain it at home, to defend it from all attacks from abroad, and to cause its execution by all the means it places at my disposal.” The National Assembly decided that it would stop governing France on 29 September 1791. After that date, the Legislative Assembly would take over.
+
+The new Legislative Assembly met for the first time in October 1791. Under the Constitution of 1791, France was a Constitutional Monarchy. The King shared his rule with the Legislative Assembly, but had the power to stop (veto) laws he did not like. He also had the power to choose ministers.
+
+The Legislative Assembly had about 745 members. 260 of them were “Feuillants”, or Constitutional Monarchists. 136 were Girondins and Jacobins, left-wing liberal republicans who did not want a king. The other 345 members were independent, but they voted most often with the left wing.
+
+The Legislative Assembly did not agree very well. The King used his veto to stop laws that would sentence émigrés to death. Because so many of the members of the Assembly were left-wing, they did not like this.
+
+The people were turning against King Louis XVI. On 10 August 1792, the members of a revolutionary group called the Paris Commune attacked the Tuileries, where the King and Queen were living. The King and Queen were taken prisoner. The Legislative Assembly held an emergency meeting. Even though only a third of the members were there and most of them were Jacobins, they suspended the King from duty.
+
+The kings and emperors of many foreign countries were worried by the French Revolution. They did not want revolutions in their own countries. On 27 August 1791, Leopold II of the Holy Roman Empire/Austria, Frederick William II of Prussia, and Louis XVI’s brother-in-law, Charles-Philippe wrote the Declaration of Pillnitz. The Declaration asked for Louis XVI to be set free and the National Assembly to be ended. They promised that they would invade France if their requests were ignored. The Declaration was taken very seriously among the revolutionaries.
+
+With the Legislative Assembly in place, the problems did not go away. The Girondins wanted war because they wanted to take the revolution to other countries. The King and many of his supporters, the Feuillants, wanted war because they thought it would make the King more popular. Many French were worried that the émigrés would cause trouble in foreign countries against France.
+
+On 20 April 1792, the Assembly voted to declare war on Austria (Holy Roman Empire). They planned to invade the Austrian Netherlands, but the revolution had made the army weak. Many soldiers deserted. Soon, Prussia joined on the Austrian side. They both planned to invade. Together, on 25 July, they wrote the Brunswick Manifesto, promising that if the royal family was not hurt, no civilians would be hurt in the invasion. The French believed that this meant the king, Louis XVI, was working with the foreign kings. Prussia invaded France on 1 August, 1792. This first stage of the French Revolutionary Wars continued until 1797.
+
+In September, things got worse. The Legislative Assembly had almost no power. No single group was controlling Paris or France. The country was being invaded by the Prussian Army. The revolutionaries were very angry and violent. They began to go into prisons and kill people they thought were traitors to France. They hated the priests of the Roman Catholic Church the most, but they also killed many nobles and ordinary people. By 7 September, 1,400 people were dead.
+
+The Legislative Assembly had lost all its power. France needed a new government. On 20 September 1792, the National Convention was formed. The Convention had both Girondins and radical Jacobins.
+
+The Brunswick Manifesto had made many people suspicious of the king. They thought he was plotting with the Prussian and Austrian rulers to invade France. In January 1793, the National Convention voted and found Louis XVI guilty of “conspiracy against the public liberty and the general safety.” On the twenty-first of January, the King was executed using the guillotine. Marie Antoinette, the Queen, was also executed on the sixteenth of October.
+
+People in the area of Vendée did not like the revolutionary government. They did not like the rules about the church in the Civil Constitution of the Church (1790) and new taxes put in place in 1793. They also disliked being forced to join the French army. In March, they rose up against the government in a revolt. The war lasted until 1796. Hundreds of thousands of people from Vendée (Vendeans) were killed by the Revolutionary French army.
+
+Now that the king was dead, the National Convention made a new republican constitution that began on 24 June. It was the first one that did not include the king and gave every man in France a vote. However, it never came into power because of the trouble between the Jacobins and Girondins. The war with Austria and Prussia was causing the state to have money problems. Bread was very expensive and many people wanted things to change. In June 1793, the Jacobins began to take power. They wanted to arrest many Girondin members of the National Convention. In July, they became angrier when Charlotte Corday, a Girondin, killed Jean-Paul Marat, a Jacobin.
+
+By July, the coup was complete. The Jacobins had taken power. They put in new, radical laws including a new Republican Calendar with new months and new ten-day weeks. They made the army bigger and changed the officers to people who were better soldiers. Over the next few years, this helped the Republican army push back the attacking Austrians, Prussians, British, and Spanish.
+
+In July 1793, a Jacobin called Maximilien de Robespierre and eight other leading Jacobins set up the Committee of Public Safety. It was the most powerful group in France. This group and Robespierre were responsible for the Reign of Terror. Robespierre believed that if people were afraid, the revolution would go better. The Reign of Terror lasted from the spring of 1793 to the spring of 1794.
+
+It was not only the nobility who died in the Reign of Terror. Anyone who broke the Jacobins' laws, or was even suspected of breaking their laws or working against them, could be arrested and sent to the guillotine, most without a trial. Even powerful people who had been involved in the Jacobin coup were executed. Prisoners were taken from the prisons to “Madame Guillotine” (a nickname for the guillotine) in an open wooden cart called the tumbrel.
+
+According to records, 16,594 people were executed with the guillotine. It is possible that up to 40,000 people died in prison or were killed during the Reign of Terror.
+
+By July 1794, people began to turn against Maximilien de Robespierre. He and his Revolutionary Tribunal had killed 1,300 people in six weeks. On 27 July, the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety turned against him. Robespierre tried to get help from the Convention’s right-wing members, but he failed.
+
+A day later, Robespierre and many of his supporters in the Paris Commune were sentenced to death by guillotine without any kind of trial. This reaction against Robespierre is called the Thermidorian Reaction.
+
+Now that the terror was over, the National Convention started to make a new Constitution, called the Constitution of the Year III. On 27 September 1794, the constitution came into effect.
+
+The new constitution had created the Directoire (Directory), which was the first government of France to be bicameral (split into two houses). The lower house, the parliament, had 500 members. It was called the Conseil de Cinq-Cent (Council of Five Hundred). The upper house, the senate, had 250 members and was called the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Elders). There were five directors chosen every year by the Conseil des Anciens from a list made up by the Conseil de Cinq-Cent. This group was in charge and was called the Directory.
+
+Although the constitution of 1793 had given all men in France a vote, in this constitution only people with a certain amount of property could vote.
+The Directory was much more conservative than the governments in France since 1789. The people were tired of radical changes and the unstable governments. Things were much more stable under the Directory than they had been before.
+
+However, the Directors were disliked by the people - especially the Jacobins, who wanted a republic, and the royalists, who wanted a new King. France’s money problems did not go away. The Directors ignored elections that did not go the way they wanted. They ignored the constitution in order to do things to control the people. They used the ongoing war and the army to keep their power.
+
+
+
+The 18 Brumaire marks the end of the Republican part of the French Revolution when Napeleon Bonaparte took the reign.
+

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+
+
+The French Revolution was a revolution in France from 1789 to 1799. The result of the French Revolution was the end of the monarchy. King Louis XVI was executed in 1793. The revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte took power in November 1799. In 1804, he became Emperor.
+
+Before 1789, France was ruled by the nobles and the Catholic Church. The ideas of the Enlightenment were beginning to make the ordinary people want more power. They could see that the American Revolution had created a country in which the people had power, instead of a king. The government before the revolution was called the "Ancient (old) Regime".
+
+Many problems in France led up to the Revolution:
+
+Before the Revolution, France was divided into three Estates. The First Estate was the Clergy (the church). It made up 1% of the population. The Second Estate was the Nobles, which also made up 1% of the population. The other nearly 98% of the population was in the Third Estate. Representatives of the people from all three estates together made up the Estates-General.
+
+In May 1789, the Estates-General was called by King Louis in order to deal with the money problems of the country. They met at the royal Palace of Versailles. However, the members of the Third Estate were angry. They had made lists of problems they wanted to fix called the Cahiers de Doléance
+
+The members of the Third Estate (The commoners) were angry that they were being taxed the most when they were the poorest group of people. They, and the Director-General of Finances, Jacques Necker, thought the Church and the Nobility ought to be taxed more.
+
+They also wanted votes in the Estates-General to be more fair. Even though the Third Estate had many more members than the other two Estates, each Estate only had one vote in the Estates-General. The Third Estate thought this could be improved by giving members of the Estates-General a vote each. However, when they talked to the other Estates, they could not agree.
+
+Since the First and Second Estates would not listen, The Third Estate decided to break away and start their own assembly where every member would get a vote. On 10 June 1789, they started the National Assembly. The king tried to stop them by closing the Salle des États meeting room, but they met in an indoor tennis court instead. On June 20, they took the Tennis Court Oath, where they promised to work until they had created a new constitution for France.
+
+In July 1789, after the National Assembly was formed, the nobility and the king was angry with Jacques Necker, the Director-General of Finances, and they fired him. Many Parisians thought that the King was going to shut down the National Assembly. Soon, Paris was filled with riots and looting.
+
+On 14 July 1789, the people decided to attack the Bastille prison. The Bastille contained weapons, as well as being a symbol of the power of the nobility and the rule of the king. By the afternoon, the people had broken into the Bastille and released the seven prisoners being held there.
+
+The Members of the Third Estate took over Paris. The president of the National Assembly at the time of the Tennis Court Oath, Jean-Sylvain Bailly, became mayor of the city. Jacques Necker was given back his job as Director-General of Finances. Soon, the King visited Paris and wore the red, white and blue (tricolor) ribbons (cockade) that the revolutionaries were wearing. By the end of July, the revolution had spread all over France.
+
+The National Assembly began to make lots of changes. On 4 August, the National Assembly ended the special taxes the Church was collecting, and put a stop to the rights of the Nobility over their people, ending feudalism. On 26 August, the National Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was written by the nobleman Marquis de Lafayette.
+
+The National Assembly began to decide how it would be under the new constitution. Many members, especially the nobles, wanted a senate or a second upper house. However, more people voted to keep having just one assembly. The King was given a suspensive veto over laws, which meant he would only have the power to delay laws being made, not stop them. In October 1789, after being attacked at the Palace of Versailles by a mob of 7,000 women, the King was convinced by Lafayette to move from Paris to the palace in Tuileries.
+
+The Assembly began to divide into different political parties. One was made up of those against the revolution, led by the nobleman Jacques Antoine Marie de Cazales and the churchman Jean-Sifrien Maury. This party sat on the right side. A second party was the Royalist democrats (monarchists) which wanted to create a system like the constitutional monarchy of Britain, where the king would still be a part of the government. Jacques Necker was in this party. The third party was the National Party which was centre or centre-left. This included Honoré Mirabeau and Lafayette.
+
+Under the new government, the Roman Catholic Church would have much less power than they had before. In 1790, all special taxes and powers of the Church were cancelled. All the Church’s property was taken over by the state. On 12 July 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy made all clergy employees of the state and made them take an oath to the new constitution. Many clergy, as well as the Pope, Pius VI, did not like these changes. Revolutionaries killed hundreds for refusing the oath.
+
+On 14 July 1790, a year since the storming of the Bastille, thousands of people gathered in the Champs de Mars to celebrate. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand led the crowd in a religious mass. The crowd, including the King and the royal family, took an oath of loyalty to “the nation, the law, and the king.” However, many nobles were unhappy with the revolution and were leaving the country. They were called émigrés (emigrants).
+
+Although the members of the Estates-General had only been elected for a year, the members of the Assembly had all taken the Tennis Court Oath. They had promised to keep working until they had a constitution and no constitution had been made. It was decided that the members would keep working until they had a constitution.
+
+The Assembly continued to work on a constitution and make changes. Nobles could no longer pass their titles to their children. Only the king was allowed to do this. For the first time, trials with juries were held. All trade barriers inside France were ended along with unions, guilds, and workers' groups. Strikes were banned.
+
+Many people with radical ideas began to form political clubs. The most famous of these was the Jacobin Club, which had left-wing ideas. A right-wing club was the Club Monarchique. In 1791, a law was suggested to prevent noble émigrés from leaving the country. Mirabeau had been against this law, but he died on 2 April, and by the end of the year, the law was passed.
+
+Louis XVI did not like the revolution, but did not want to get help from other countries or run away from France like the émigrés. General Bouille held the same views and wanted to help the king leave Paris. He said that he would give the King and his family help and support in his camp at Montmédy. The escape was planned for June 20, 1791.
+
+Dressed as servants, the royal family left Paris. However, their escape was not well planned, and they were arrested at Varennes on the evening of June 21. The royal family was brought back to Paris. The Assembly imprisoned Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette, and suspended the king from his duty.
+
+Although the king had tried to escape, most members of the Assembly still wanted to include the king in their government rather than to have a Republic with no king at all. They agreed to make the king a figurehead, with very little power. The king would have to take an oath to the state. If he did not, or if he created an army to attack France, he would no longer be king.
+
+Some people, including Jacques Pierre Brissot, did not like this. They thought the king should be completely removed from the throne and the constitution. Brissot made a petition and a huge crowd came to the Champs de Mars to sign it. Republican leaders Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins came and gave speeches.
+
+The National Guard, led by Lafayette, was called in to control the crowd. The mob threw stones at the soldiers who first fired their guns over the heads of the crowd. When the crowd kept throwing stones, Lafayette ordered them to fire at the people. Up to 50 people were killed. After this, the government closed many of the political clubs and newspapers. Many radical left-wing leaders, including Danton and Desmoulins, ran away to England or hid in France.
+
+Finally the constitution was completed. Louis XVI was put back on the throne and came to take his oath to it. He wrote, “I engage to maintain it at home, to defend it from all attacks from abroad, and to cause its execution by all the means it places at my disposal.” The National Assembly decided that it would stop governing France on 29 September 1791. After that date, the Legislative Assembly would take over.
+
+The new Legislative Assembly met for the first time in October 1791. Under the Constitution of 1791, France was a Constitutional Monarchy. The King shared his rule with the Legislative Assembly, but had the power to stop (veto) laws he did not like. He also had the power to choose ministers.
+
+The Legislative Assembly had about 745 members. 260 of them were “Feuillants”, or Constitutional Monarchists. 136 were Girondins and Jacobins, left-wing liberal republicans who did not want a king. The other 345 members were independent, but they voted most often with the left wing.
+
+The Legislative Assembly did not agree very well. The King used his veto to stop laws that would sentence émigrés to death. Because so many of the members of the Assembly were left-wing, they did not like this.
+
+The people were turning against King Louis XVI. On 10 August 1792, the members of a revolutionary group called the Paris Commune attacked the Tuileries, where the King and Queen were living. The King and Queen were taken prisoner. The Legislative Assembly held an emergency meeting. Even though only a third of the members were there and most of them were Jacobins, they suspended the King from duty.
+
+The kings and emperors of many foreign countries were worried by the French Revolution. They did not want revolutions in their own countries. On 27 August 1791, Leopold II of the Holy Roman Empire/Austria, Frederick William II of Prussia, and Louis XVI’s brother-in-law, Charles-Philippe wrote the Declaration of Pillnitz. The Declaration asked for Louis XVI to be set free and the National Assembly to be ended. They promised that they would invade France if their requests were ignored. The Declaration was taken very seriously among the revolutionaries.
+
+With the Legislative Assembly in place, the problems did not go away. The Girondins wanted war because they wanted to take the revolution to other countries. The King and many of his supporters, the Feuillants, wanted war because they thought it would make the King more popular. Many French were worried that the émigrés would cause trouble in foreign countries against France.
+
+On 20 April 1792, the Assembly voted to declare war on Austria (Holy Roman Empire). They planned to invade the Austrian Netherlands, but the revolution had made the army weak. Many soldiers deserted. Soon, Prussia joined on the Austrian side. They both planned to invade. Together, on 25 July, they wrote the Brunswick Manifesto, promising that if the royal family was not hurt, no civilians would be hurt in the invasion. The French believed that this meant the king, Louis XVI, was working with the foreign kings. Prussia invaded France on 1 August, 1792. This first stage of the French Revolutionary Wars continued until 1797.
+
+In September, things got worse. The Legislative Assembly had almost no power. No single group was controlling Paris or France. The country was being invaded by the Prussian Army. The revolutionaries were very angry and violent. They began to go into prisons and kill people they thought were traitors to France. They hated the priests of the Roman Catholic Church the most, but they also killed many nobles and ordinary people. By 7 September, 1,400 people were dead.
+
+The Legislative Assembly had lost all its power. France needed a new government. On 20 September 1792, the National Convention was formed. The Convention had both Girondins and radical Jacobins.
+
+The Brunswick Manifesto had made many people suspicious of the king. They thought he was plotting with the Prussian and Austrian rulers to invade France. In January 1793, the National Convention voted and found Louis XVI guilty of “conspiracy against the public liberty and the general safety.” On the twenty-first of January, the King was executed using the guillotine. Marie Antoinette, the Queen, was also executed on the sixteenth of October.
+
+People in the area of Vendée did not like the revolutionary government. They did not like the rules about the church in the Civil Constitution of the Church (1790) and new taxes put in place in 1793. They also disliked being forced to join the French army. In March, they rose up against the government in a revolt. The war lasted until 1796. Hundreds of thousands of people from Vendée (Vendeans) were killed by the Revolutionary French army.
+
+Now that the king was dead, the National Convention made a new republican constitution that began on 24 June. It was the first one that did not include the king and gave every man in France a vote. However, it never came into power because of the trouble between the Jacobins and Girondins. The war with Austria and Prussia was causing the state to have money problems. Bread was very expensive and many people wanted things to change. In June 1793, the Jacobins began to take power. They wanted to arrest many Girondin members of the National Convention. In July, they became angrier when Charlotte Corday, a Girondin, killed Jean-Paul Marat, a Jacobin.
+
+By July, the coup was complete. The Jacobins had taken power. They put in new, radical laws including a new Republican Calendar with new months and new ten-day weeks. They made the army bigger and changed the officers to people who were better soldiers. Over the next few years, this helped the Republican army push back the attacking Austrians, Prussians, British, and Spanish.
+
+In July 1793, a Jacobin called Maximilien de Robespierre and eight other leading Jacobins set up the Committee of Public Safety. It was the most powerful group in France. This group and Robespierre were responsible for the Reign of Terror. Robespierre believed that if people were afraid, the revolution would go better. The Reign of Terror lasted from the spring of 1793 to the spring of 1794.
+
+It was not only the nobility who died in the Reign of Terror. Anyone who broke the Jacobins' laws, or was even suspected of breaking their laws or working against them, could be arrested and sent to the guillotine, most without a trial. Even powerful people who had been involved in the Jacobin coup were executed. Prisoners were taken from the prisons to “Madame Guillotine” (a nickname for the guillotine) in an open wooden cart called the tumbrel.
+
+According to records, 16,594 people were executed with the guillotine. It is possible that up to 40,000 people died in prison or were killed during the Reign of Terror.
+
+By July 1794, people began to turn against Maximilien de Robespierre. He and his Revolutionary Tribunal had killed 1,300 people in six weeks. On 27 July, the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety turned against him. Robespierre tried to get help from the Convention’s right-wing members, but he failed.
+
+A day later, Robespierre and many of his supporters in the Paris Commune were sentenced to death by guillotine without any kind of trial. This reaction against Robespierre is called the Thermidorian Reaction.
+
+Now that the terror was over, the National Convention started to make a new Constitution, called the Constitution of the Year III. On 27 September 1794, the constitution came into effect.
+
+The new constitution had created the Directoire (Directory), which was the first government of France to be bicameral (split into two houses). The lower house, the parliament, had 500 members. It was called the Conseil de Cinq-Cent (Council of Five Hundred). The upper house, the senate, had 250 members and was called the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Elders). There were five directors chosen every year by the Conseil des Anciens from a list made up by the Conseil de Cinq-Cent. This group was in charge and was called the Directory.
+
+Although the constitution of 1793 had given all men in France a vote, in this constitution only people with a certain amount of property could vote.
+The Directory was much more conservative than the governments in France since 1789. The people were tired of radical changes and the unstable governments. Things were much more stable under the Directory than they had been before.
+
+However, the Directors were disliked by the people - especially the Jacobins, who wanted a republic, and the royalists, who wanted a new King. France’s money problems did not go away. The Directors ignored elections that did not go the way they wanted. They ignored the constitution in order to do things to control the people. They used the ongoing war and the army to keep their power.
+
+
+
+The 18 Brumaire marks the end of the Republican part of the French Revolution when Napeleon Bonaparte took the reign.
+

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+The Aztecs were Native American people who lived in Mesoamerica. They ruled the Aztec Empire from the 14th century to the 16th century.[1]
+
+The name "Aztec" comes from the phrase "people from Aztlan". Legends say that Aztlan was the first place the Aztecs ever lived.  "Aztlan" means "place of the herons" in the Nahuatl language.[2]p. 8
+
+Often the term "Aztec" refers just to the people of Tenochtitlan. This was a city on an island in Lake Texcoco. These people called themselves the Mexica which is why the country is called Mexico, or the Nahua which is why their language is called Nahuatl.[3]
+
+Before the Aztec Empire conquered them, the indigenous (native) people  lived in many separate city-states.  These were small cities with farmland around them.  Each state had its own ruler.  Around 1100 AD, these city-states started to fight each other for power and control of the area's resources.[4]
+
+Historians think the Aztecs came to central Mesoamerica around 1200.[5]  They came from what is now northwest Mexico.  According to historian Lisa Marty:
+
+By 1325, the Aztecs had built Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco.  Tenochtitlan became a city-state that gradually became more and more powerful.[6]
+
+By about 1400, three city-states had grown into small empires.  In 1428, these two empires fought the Tepanec War for control of the area.  The Texcoco empire made an alliance with some other powerful city-states, including Tenochtitlan, and won the war.  These allies were supposed to share power equally as they started to gain control of more land.  However, by 1430, Tenochtitlan became the most powerful member of the alliance.  It became the capital city of the Aztec Empire, and its ruler became the 'high king' of the Empire.[7]
+
+Aztec drawing of the Mexica leaving Aztlan
+
+Map of Mesoamerica
+
+Map of city-states in the 16th century
+
+The Aztec Empire existed between about 1438 AD and 1521 AD.[5]  When the Empire was largest, it spread across most of Mesoamerica and controlled about 11,000,000 people.[8]
+
+Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the Aztec Empire. Tenochtitlan was one of the greatest cities of the world in that time.  By the early 1500s, at least 200,000 people lived in the city.  This made Tenochtitlan the largest city in the Americas before Christopher Columbus arrived.[9]
+
+Mexico City now covers the whole area where Tenochtitlan used to be.[10]
+
+The Aztecs believed in many gods. Two of the most important gods they worshipped were Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and the sun, and Tlaloc, the rain god.[11] Another important god was Quetzalcoatl (feathered snake), the god of learning and civilization.[12]
+
+The Aztecs did many things to keep the gods happy. These things included human sacrifices.[13]  They believed this helped keep the world from ending.[11]  The Aztecs believed that the gods had created them, and that human sacrifice was the most powerful way of giving back the gift of life. The Aztecs also believed that the gods were in an almost never-ending struggle. The hearts and blood from the sacrifice fed the good gods to give them strength to fight the evil gods. The human sacrifices often took place on the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs' great pyramid temple.[11][14]
+
+Huitzilopochtli, as depicted in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis
+
+Quetzalcoatl in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis
+
+Tezcatlipoca in the Codex Borgia
+
+Spanish drawing of a human sacrifice
+
+The Aztecs ate plants and vegetables that could grow easily in Mesoamerica. The main foods in the Aztec diet were maize, beans, and squash. They often used tomatoes and chili as spices.[15]  Aztec markets sold fruit, vegetables, spices, flowers, dogs, birds, and cocoa beans. They also created chocolate. However, they did not have sugar, so their chocolate was a strong liquid with chili in it.[16] They also made an alcoholic drink called chocolatl.[17]   These foods later spread around the world.[16]
+
+In Aztec society, there were different social classes with different social statuses.  The most important people were the rulers.[8]  The Aztecs' first king was Acamapichtli.[18]  Their last king was Cuauhtemoc.  He surrendered control of the Aztec Empire to Hernan Cortes during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.[19]
+
+Next were nobles.  These were the Empire's powerful members of the government; great warriors; judges; and priests.[8]  These people enjoyed a high social status.[20]
+
+The next social class was the commoners (common people).  These were the Empire's everyday workers.  Most of them farmed, ran stores, or traded.  Other workers included artisans, regular soldiers, and fishers.  Commoners were allowed to own land as a group or a family.  However, a single person was not allowed to own land.[20]
+
+The lowest social classes in Aztec society were serfs and then slaves.  Slaves had no rights at all.  They were bought and sold at Aztec markets.[9]  The Aztecs also sacrificed some prisoners of war to their gods.[21]  However, if they had the money, they could buy their own freedom and become commoners.[20]
+
+For most of the Aztec Empire's existence, it was very difficult to move between social classes.  Usually, if a person was born in a social class, they would stay in that class for the rest of their life.[8]
+
+Aztecs had harsh punishments for crimes that seem simple to us now. For example, a person could get the death penalty for adultery; cutting down a living tree; moving the boundary of a field to make their land bigger and someone else's smaller; major theft; treason; disorderly conduct (causing trouble in public), drunkenness; and promiscuity. Under Aztec sumptuary law, a commoner could also get the death penalty for wearing cotton.[2][20]p. 88
+
+Aztec 'high lords', who were in the top social class
+
+Merchants, members of "the commoners," carry things they want to sell a long way away
+
+The Aztecs studied astrology and used the movements of the planets and the stars to create different calendars.[22]  They had an accurate calendar which consisted of 365 days, based on the movements of the sun. They also had a religious calendar which was made up of 260 days.[23]
+
+The Aztecs also studied and taught many complex subjects, including geometry, mathematics, debate, law, music, poetry, architecture, and agriculture.[24]
+
+The most popular Aztec sport was Tlachtili. They played this game using rubber balls and vertical hoops on opposite walls in the middle of the court. The game's goal was to shoot the ball into the hoop using their knees. The first team to score won the game.[25]
+
+Between 1519 and 1521, the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés, allied with Tlaxcala and other enemies of the Aztecs.  The conquistadors defeated the Aztecs, took their empire, and made it into a Spanish colony. Some Aztecs did not want to fight against the soldiers of Cortés, because they thought they were gods.[26]
+
+Today many Mexicans have Aztec and other Native American forefathers. People still use Aztec symbols in Mexico. On the Mexican flag, there is a picture of an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. This was an Aztec symbol.[27] Even the name Mexico is an Aztec word.[28]