- published: 12 Nov 2012
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- author: hennesandmauritz
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Alberta
Alberta /ælˈbɜrtə/ is a province of Canada. It had a population of 3,645,257 in 2011, making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces. Alberta and its neighbour, Saskatchewan, were established as provinces on September 1, 1905.
Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the US state of Montana to the south. Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces and territories to border only a single U.S. state and is also one of only two provinces that are landlocked.
Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta, is located near the geographic centre of the province and is the primary supply and service hub for Canada's oil sands and other northern resource industries. Approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of the capital is Calgary, Alberta's largest city and a major distribution and transportation hub. Calgary and Edmonton centre Alberta's two census metropolitan areas, both of which have populations exceeding 1 million.Census agglomerations in the province include Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Wood Buffalo (includes Fort McMurray), Grande Prairie, Lloydminster, Okotoks, Brooks, Camrose, Cold Lake, High River, Sylvan Lake, Wetaskiwin, Strathmore, Canmore, and Lacombe. Notable tourist destinations in the province include Canmore, Sylvan Lake, Drumheller, Banff, and Jasper.
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Austria
Austria (
i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] (
listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: 
Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Bahrain
Bahrain ( pronunciation) (Arabic: البحرين, al-Baḥrayn) (Persian: بحرين, Baḥrain), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabic: مملكة البحرين, Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn), is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,234,571, including 666,172 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.
Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island, at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. The peninsula of Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar Bahrain Causeway will link Bahrain and Qatar and become the world's longest marine causeway.
Known for its oil and pearls, Bahrain is also home to many large structures, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour, with a proposal in place to build the 1,022 m (3,353 ft) high Murjan Tower. The Qal'at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit.
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Belgium
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
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Birmingham
Birmingham (i/ˈbɜrmɪŋəm/ BUR-ming-əm, locally /ˈbɜrmɪŋɡəm/ BUR-ming-gəm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 (2010 estimate), and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census). Birmingham's metropolitan area is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000.
A medium-sized market town during the medieval period, Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide developments in science, technology and economic organisation, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly-skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation and provided a diverse and resilient economic base for industrial prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. Its resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of broad-based political radicalism, that under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy.
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Briggate, Leeds
Coordinates: 53°47′49″N 1°32′33″W / 53.7969°N 1.5424°W / 53.7969; -1.5424
Briggate is one of the pedestrianised principal shopping streets in central Leeds, England. Most of Leeds' department stores are on Briggate, including the Harvey Nichols branch. It is home to a number of major high street retailers as well as banks, restaurants and cafes. Recently there have been some residential developments above the shops. The street is known for the old alleyways that branch off it and are home to a number of public houses such as Whitelocks that have changed little over the years. Other pubs include The Ship, The Packhorse and The Angel Inn. Originally, the back entrances to these alleyways were called 'low ins', or 'loins', which is where the term Loiner (a resident of Leeds) is suspected to originate from. It refers to the people who would 'hang around in the loins'.
The northern non-pedestrianised part of Briggate between The Headrow and Merrion Street is known as New Briggate and is home to some small retailers, bars, pubs, nightclubs, takeaways and the Grand Theatre. There is also a non-pedestrianised stretch of Briggate on the south side between Boar Lane and Call Lane known as Lower Briggate. It was home to Dysons Chambers, the Jobcentre Plus office (before it closed), restaurants, small shops, bars, pubs and a small gay enclave. In 2007, Briggate was decorated in lights to celebrate its 800th birthday.
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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgariai/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.
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Canada
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km2 (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.
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Central, Hong Kong
Central (also Central District; Chinese: 中環) is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in Central and Western District, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula. The area was the heart of Victoria City, although that name is rarely used today.
As the central business district of Hong Kong, many multinational financial services corporations have their headquarters in the area. Consulates general and consulates of many countries are also located in this area, as is Government Hill, the site of the government headquarters. The area, with its proximity to Victoria Harbour, has served as the centre of trade and financial activities from the earliest days of the British colonial era in 1841, and continues to flourish and serve as the administrative centre after the transfer of sovereignty to China in 1997.
The area of Chong Wan (中環), officially named Central in English, was one of the districts (四環九約) in Victoria City. The English name Central became prevalent after the Island Line of the MTR metro system was built in early 1980s, and the connected stations of Pedder and Chater renamed as Central. On some older maps, it and the area to its west are named Kwan Tai Lo (羣帶路) below Victoria Peak. It formed a channel, Chung Mun (中門), with Tsim Sha Tsui, on the sea route along the coast of southern China. The eastern part of Central District has been known as Admiralty since the completion of Admiralty Station in the early 1980s.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Crabtree Valley Mall
Coordinates: 35°50′N 78°41′W / 35.84°N 78.68°W / 35.84; -78.68
Crabtree Valley Mall is a regional mall located in Raleigh, North Carolina. At 1,326,000 square feet (123,200 m2), it is the largest enclosed mall in the Triangle. Crabtree Valley contains over 220 stores and is anchored by Belk, Sears, and Macy's. Higher-end restaurants located in the mall include The Cheesecake Factory, P. F. Chang's China Bistro, Kanki, Brio, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and McCormick & Schmick's. It is the site of the first H&M store in North Carolina, which opened in Spring of 2010.
Crabtree Valley Mall opened in August 1972 at the intersection of US 70/NC 50 (Glenwood Avenue) and the I-440 Beltline. Original anchors were Hudson Belk, Sears, Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimer's. The mall also included G.C. Murphy, Treasury Drug and Piccadilly Cafeteria.
From the start, the mall pulled shoppers from all over central and eastern North Carolina. Many of them came to the 251,000-square-foot (23,300 m2) Hudson Belk, which is still the largest store in the complex and serves as a Belk flagship. The mall was remodeled in the mid 1980s and added many upscale specialty stores and a food court. It faced remarkably little competition in its market until the 1990s, when Cary Towne Center in nearby Cary doubled in size and spawned a companion mall, Crossroads Plaza.
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Croatia
Croatia (i/kroʊˈeɪʃə/ kroh-AY-shə; Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska listen (help·info)), is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The country's population is 4.29 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism.
In the early 7th century the Croats arrived in area of present-day Croatia. They organised the state into two dukedoms by the 9th century. Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs that declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. A Croatian state briefly existed during World War II as a fascist puppet state. After the war, Croatia became a founding member and a federal constituent of the Second Yugoslavia, a socialist state. In June 1991, Croatia declared independence, which came into effect on 8 October of the same year. The Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration.
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Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (i/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.
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Dallas
Dallas ( /ˈdæləs/) is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Divided between Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties, the city had a population of 1,197,816 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau.
The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (the DFW MSA) that according to the March 2010 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of 6,371,773. The metroplex economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2010 gross metropolitan product of $374 billion.
Dallas was founded in 1841 and was formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas and a major city in the American South, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea.
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Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark, pronounced [ˈkɔŋəʁiːəð ˈdanmɑɡ̊] ( listen)) is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. The kingdom is a unitary state with some power being devolved from Denmark proper to Greenland and the Faroe Islands; this polity is referred to as the Danish Realm. Denmark proper is the hegemonial area, where judicial, executive, and legislative power resides. The Faroe Islands are defined to be a community of people within the kingdom, and the Greenlandic people are defined as a separate people with the right to self-determination.
Denmark is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland and many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.
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Dubai
Dubai (/duːˈbaɪ/ doo-BY; Arabic: دبيّ Dubeii; IPA: [du'beii]) is an emirate within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A city within the emirate is also named Dubai. The emirate is located south east of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country's legislature. Dubai City is located on the emirate's northern coastline.
The earliest mention of Dubai is in 1095, and the earliest settlement known as Dubai town dates from 1799. Dubai was formally established in 1833 by Sheikh Maktoum bin Buti al Maktoum when he persuaded 800 members of the Bani Yas tribe, living in what is now part of Saudi Arabia, to follow him to the Dubai Creek by the Al Abu Falasa clan of Bani Yas. It remained under clan control when the United Kingdom assumed the protection of Dubai in 1892. Its geographical location made it an important trading hub and by the beginning of the 20th century, it was an important port.
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Egypt
Egypti/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
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Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The section of Fifth Avenue that crosses Midtown Manhattan, especially that between 49th Street and 60th Street, is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among the most expensive shopping streets in the world. The "most expensive street in the world" moniker changes depending on currency fluctuations and local economic conditions from year to year. For several years starting in the mid-1990s, the shopping district between 49th and 57th Streets was ranked as having the world's most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Fifth Avenue as being the most expensive street in the world. Some of the most coveted real estate on Fifth Avenue are the penthouses perched atop the buildings.
Fifth Avenue originates at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and runs northwards through the heart of Midtown, along the eastern side of Central Park, where it forms the boundary of the Upper East Side and through Harlem, where it terminates at the Harlem River at 142nd Street. Traffic crosses the river on the Madison Avenue Bridge. Fifth Avenue serves as the dividing line for house numbering in Manhattan. It separates, for example, East 59th Street from West 59th Street. From this zero point for street addresses, numbers increase in both directions as one moves away from Fifth Avenue, with 1 West 59th Street on the corner at Fifth Avenue, and 300 West 59th Street located three blocks to the west of it.
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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finlandi/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. 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 geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Germany
Germany (i/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
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Ginza
Ginza (銀座?) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi.
It is known as an upscale area of Tokyo with numerous department stores, boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses. Ginza is recognized as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world. Many upscale fashion clothing flagship stores are located here, being also recognized as having the highest concentration of western shops in Tokyo. Prominent are Chanel, Dior, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. Flagship electronic retail stores like the Sony showroom and the Apple Store are also here.
Ginza is named after the silver-coin mint established there in 1612 during the Edo period.
After the Tsukiji area burnt to the ground in 1872, the Meiji government designated the Ginza area as model of modernisation. The government planned the construction of fireproof brick buildings, and larger, better streets connecting the Shimbashi Station and the foreign concession in Tsukiji, as well as to important government buildings. Designs for the area were provided by the Irish-born architect Thomas Waters; the Bureau of Construction of the Ministry of Finance was in charge of construction. In the following year, a Western-style shopping promenade on the street from the Shinbashi bridge to the Kyōbashi bridge in the southwestern part of Chūō with two- and three-story Georgian brick buildings was completed.
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Greece
Greecei/ˈɡriːs/ (Greek: Ελλάδα, Ellada, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen) historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and [helːás] respectively), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Elliniki Dimokratia, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe.Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country (its urban area also including Piraeus). The population of the country is around 11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).
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Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.
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Hungary
Hungaryi/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).
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Indonesia
Indonesia (i/ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/ IN-də-NEE-zhə or /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ IN-doh-NEE-zee-ə), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation: [rɛpʊblɪk ɪndɔnɛsɪa]), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers brought Christianity and fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Japan
Japan
i/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 
Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
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Kingdom of Sweden
Sweden (i/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.
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Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwaiti/kuːˈweɪt/ (Arabic: دولة الكويت, Dawlat al-Kuwayt) is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the Arabic أكوات ākwāt, the plural of كوت kūt, meaning a fortress built near water. The country covers an area of 17,820 square kilometers (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 3.5 million.
Historically, the region was the site of Characene, a major Parthian port for trade between Mesopotamia and India. The Bani Utbah tribe were the first permanent Arab settlers in the region, and laid the foundation of the modern emirate. By the 19th century, Kuwait came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, and after World War I, it emerged as an independent sheikhdom under the protection of the British Empire. Kuwait's large oil fields were discovered in the late 1930s.
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Kuwait City
Kuwait City (Arabic: مدينة الكويت, transliteration: Madīnat al-Kuwayt), is the capital of Kuwait. It has a population of 2.38 million in the metropolitan area. Located at the heart of the country on the shore of the Persian Gulf, and containing Kuwait's parliament (Majlis Al-Umma), most governmental offices, the headquarters of most Kuwaiti corporations and banks, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate.
Kuwait City’s trade and transportation needs are served by Kuwait International Airport, Mina Al-Shuwaik (Shuwaik Port) and Mina Al Ahmadi (Ahmadi Port) 50 kilometers to the south, on the Persian Gulf coast.
Kuwait City was first settled in the early 18th century by the Al-Sabāh clan, later the ruling family of Kuwait and a branch of the Al-Utūb tribe (that also included the Al-Khalīfah clan, the ruling family of Bahrain), and their leader, Sheikh Sabāh I. Its name may have derived from an earlier abandoned fort located there, called "Kūt" (كوت) – Arabic for a fortress by the sea.
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Latvia
Latviai/ˈlætviə/ (Latvian: Latvija), officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (border length 343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), to the east by the Russian Federation (276 km), to the southeast by Belarus (141 km), and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden. With 2,067,887 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi) it is one of the least populous and least densely populated countries of the European Union. The capital of Latvia is Riga. The official language is Latvian and the currency is called Lats (Ls). The country has a temperate seasonal climate.
The Latvians are a Baltic people, culturally related to the Lithuanians. Together with the Finno-Ugric Livs (or Livonians), the Latvians are the indigenous people of Latvia.Latvian is an Indo-European language and along with Lithuanian the only two surviving members of the Baltic branch. Indigenous minority languages are Latgalian and the nearly extinct Finno-Ugric Livonian language. In terms of geography, territory and population Latvia is the middle of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Latvia and Estonia share a long common history: historical Livonia, times of German (Teutonic Order), Polish-Lithuanian, Swedish, Russian, Nazi German and Soviet rule, 13th century Christianization and 16th century Protestant Reformation. Both countries are home to a large number of ethnic Russians (26.9% in Latvia and 25.5% in Estonia) of whom some are non-citizens. Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant, except for the region of Latgalia in the southeast which is historically predominantly Roman Catholic.
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Lebanon
Lebanon (i/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.
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Leeds
Coordinates: 53°47′59″N 1°32′57″W / 53.79972°N 1.54917°W / 53.79972; -1.54917 Leeds (i/ˈliːdz/) is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 (2011 est.), making it the 24th-most populous city in the European Union
Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area, which at the 2001 census had a population of 1.5 million, and the Leeds-Bradford Metropolitan Area, of which Leeds is the integral part, had a population of around 2.3 million, making it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom. In addition, the Leeds city region, an economic area with Leeds at its core, had a population of 2.9 million. Leeds is the UK's largest centre for business, legal, and financial services outside London, and its office market is the best in Europe for value. Leeds is considered a Gamma World City, alongside cities such as Phoenix, St. Petersburg and Valencia.
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Luxembourg
Luxembourg (i/ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-burg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg, Dutch: Groothertogdom Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland ("good country") in the south. Luxembourg has a population of over half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi). A representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is ruled by a grand duke. It is now the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the world's highest GDP (nominal) per capita according to the IMF. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish Road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.
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Malaysia
Malaysia (i/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or i/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.
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Manhattan
Manhattan (/mænˈhætən/) is the most densely populated and the oldest of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the U.S. state of New York. The borough and county consist of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, Wards Island, Governors Island, Liberty Island, part of Ellis Island,Mill Rock, and U Thant Island; as well as Marble Hill, a very small area on the mainland bordering the Bronx. The original city of New York began at the southern end of Manhattan, expanded northward, and then between 1874 and 1898, annexed land from surrounding counties.
The New York County is the most densely populated county in the United States, and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a 2010 population of 1,585,873 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.5 km2), or 69,464 residents per square mile (26,924/km²), more dense than any individual American city. It is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, with a 2005 per capita income above $100,000. Manhattan is the third-largest of New York's five boroughs in population, and its smallest borough in land area.
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Mexico
Mexico (i/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México, IPA: [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States of America; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.
In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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Netherlands
The Netherlands (i/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] (
listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").
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New Brunswick
New Brunswick (French: Nouveau-Brunswick; pronounced: [nuˈvo bʁɔnˈzwik]) is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual (English–French).Fredericton is the capital and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the province's largest Census Metropolitan Area. Through the 2011 nation wide census, Statistics Canada estimates the provincial population in 2011 to have been 751,171; a majority of the population is English-speaking, but there is also a large Francophone minority (33%), chiefly of Acadian origin.
The province's name comes from the English and French partial transcription of the city of Brunswick (Braunschweig in German) located in modern day Lower Saxony, northern Germany (and former duchy of the same name), the ancestral home of the Hanoverian George III of the United Kingdom.
New Brunswick is bounded by: on the north by Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula and Chaleur Bay; along the east coast by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Northumberland Strait; in the southeast corner the narrow Isthmus of Chignecto connects New Brunswick to the Nova Scotia peninsula; in the south by the Bay of Fundy coast, (which with a rise of 16 m (52 ft), has amongst the highest tides in the world); and in the west by the US state of Maine.
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North Carolina
North Carolina (i/ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 10th most populous of the 50 United States.
North Carolina is comprised of 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte. In the past five decades, North Carolina's economy has undergone a transition from heavy reliance upon tobacco and furniture making to a more diversified economy with engineering, biotechnology, and finance sectors.
North Carolina has a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet (2,037 m) at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the Eastern US. The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles (500 km) from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate.
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Norway
Norwayi/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.
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Oman
Oman (i/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان ʻUmān), officially called the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam enclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
For a period, Oman was a moderate regional power, formerly having a sultanate extending across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, and modern day Pakistan, and far south to Zanzibar on the coat of south-east Africa. Over time, as its power declined, the sultanate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Oman was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. The Omani royal family claim that Oman has been ruled by the Al Said dynasty since 1744, although without substantial proof. Oman has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.
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Ontario
Ontario /ɒnˈtɛərioʊ/ is one of the provinces of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province or territory and fourth largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.
Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay to the north, Quebec to the east, and to the south by the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan (portions to the west), New York (portions to the east), Ohio and Pennsylvania. All but a small part of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,677 mi) border with the United States follow inland waterways: from the west at Lake of the Woods, eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River drainage system. These are the Rainy River, the Pigeon River, Lake Superior, the St. Mary's River, Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and along the St. Lawrence River from Kingston, Ontario to the Quebec boundary just east of Cornwall, Ontario.
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Orchard Road
Orchard Road is a 2.2 kilometre-long street that is the retail and entertainment hub of Singapore. It is a major tourist attraction, in addition to being the most popular shopping enclave in the city-state. Often, the surrounding area is known simply as Orchard, partly owing to the fact that the MRT Station that serves the vicinity is named Orchard.
The Orchard Planning Area is one of 55 urban planning areas as specified by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and is a commercial district. It is part of the Central Region, and Singapore's central business district, the Central Area.
Orchard Road underwent a $40 million revamp in 2009, with the addition of new street lamps, planter boxes, urban green rooms, street tiling and flower totem poles, which have since been removed .
After a more than a century as a two-way thoroughfare, Orchard Road became a one-way street in 1974 . The ever lively street starts at the junction with Orange Grove Road which is the location of the Orchard Hotel. It then stretches southeast across the Scotts Road/Paterson Hill junction, Orchard MRT Station, Bideford Road, Somerset MRT Station, Central Expressway, Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station, and ends at the junction with Handy Road (just before Prinsep Street), where it becomes Bras Basah Road. It has an extensive underground infrastructure, including underground pedestrian walkways between the malls running underneath the street and also other streets in the vicinity. The numbers actually begin at Handy Road and end at Orange Grove Road.
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Oregon
Oregon (i/ˈɔrɨɡən/ ORR-ə-gən) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843. The Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859.
Oregon is the 9th most extensive and the 27th most populous of the 50 United States. Salem is the state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 29th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 583,776 (2010 US Census) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area. The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the state's most densely populated area and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities.
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Pioneer Place
Pioneer Place is an upscale, urban shopping mall in downtown Portland, Oregon. It consists of four blocks of retail, dining, parking, and an office tower named Pioneer Tower. The mall itself is spread out between four buildings, interconnected by skywalks or underground mall sections. The footprint of the entire complex consists of four full city blocks, bisected by SW Yamhill and Fourth, bounded north-south by SW Morrison and Taylor Streets and east-west by SW Third and Fifth Avenues.
The development was built in two phases, the names of which are reflected in the names of the two main mall buildings: Pioneer Place I/The "Atrium Shops"/Zone A and Pioneer Place II/The "Rotunda Shops"/Zone B, respectively. These sections, including the basement level, contain four floors. Cascades, the food court, is located underground below Pioneer Tower/Zone C.
Pioneer Place I sits between MAX Light Rail platforms, and faces the Fifth Avenue section of the Portland Transit Mall.
Saks Fifth Avenue closed its store at the mall in 2010.
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Poland
Polandi/ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska; Kashubian: Pòlskô Repùblika; Silesian: Polsko Republika), is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of 16 voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Economic Area, International Energy Agency, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International Atomic Energy Agency, G6, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Visegrád Group, Weimar Triangle and Schengen Agreement.
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Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the U.S. state of Oregon, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States. Portland is Oregon's most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region, after Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. Approximately 2,260,000 people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 23rd most populous in the United States.
Portland was incorporated in 1851 and is the county seat of Multnomah County. The city extends west into the Cedar Mill neighborhood in Washington County and south towards Lake Oswego in Clackamas County. With a commission-based government headed by a mayor and four other commissioners, the city and region are noted for strong land-use planning and investment in light rail, supported by Metro, a distinctive regional government. Because of its public transportation networks and efficient land use planning, Portland has been referred to as one of the most environmentally friendly, or "green", cities in the world.
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Portugal
Portugali/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.
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Qatar
Qatar (i/ˈkɑːtɑr/ or i/kəˈtɑr/;Arabic: قطر [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), also known as the country or State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain.
Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. In 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became Emir when he seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a peaceful coup d'état. The most important positions in Qatar are held by the members of the Al Thani family, or close confidants of the al-Thani family. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.
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Quebec
Coordinates: 53°45′N 071°59′W / 53.75°N 71.983°W / 53.75; -71.983 (Quebec)
Quebec /kwəˈbɛk/ or /kəˈbɛk/ (French: Québec [kebɛk] ( listen)) is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.
Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay and Hudson Bay, to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. It is bordered on the south by the US states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.
Quebec is Canada's second most populous province, after Ontario. Most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. English-speaking communities and English-language institutions are concentrated in the west of the island of Montreal but are also significantly present in the Outaouais, Eastern Townships, and Gaspé regions. The Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited primarily by Aboriginal peoples.
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Republic of Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.
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Riga
Riga (Latvian: Rīga, pronounced [riːɡa] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 657,424 inhabitants ( 2011) Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltic Sea region.[citation needed] The city lies on the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the river Daugava. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies between 1 and 10 metres (3.3 and 33 ft) above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.
Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. The city will be the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. The city hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). Riga is served by Riga International Airport, the largest airport in the Baltic states.
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Russia
Russiai/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Salmiya
Salmiya (Arabic السالمية; transliterated al-Sālmiah) is a district of the Hawalli Governorate in the State of Kuwait.
Salmiya is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southeast of Kuwait City and is one of the largest areas in Kuwait consisting of both commercial and residential areas. As of January 2007, Salmiya contains a population of 223,646 and is arguably Kuwait's flagship district being a major cultural and commercial hub. It is well connected to the rest of the country having a multitude of significant highways and roads passing through it en-route to the capital, Kuwait City.
Salmiya is administratively divided into 12 blocks. The blocks located closer to the interior of the district tend to be mostly residential, while those located beside the Persian Gulf coastline have a great deal of commercial and up-scale residential real estate. The interior residential areas boast a huge population of foreigners consisting mainly of those from the Indian sub-continent and other Arabs who are not native to the Persian Gulf area.[citation needed]
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Scania AB
Coordinates: 59°10′14″N 17°38′26″E / 59.17056°N 17.64056°E / 59.17056; 17.64056
Scania Aktiebolag (publ), commonly referred to as Scania AB or just Scania, is a major Swedish automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles - specifically heavy trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for motive power of heavy vehicles, marine, and general industrial applications.
Founded in 1891 in Södertälje, Sweden, the company's head office is still in the city. Today, Scania has ten production facilities in Sweden, France, Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, and Russia. In addition, there are assembly plants in ten countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Scania's sales and service organisation and finance companies are worldwide. In 2008, the company employed approximately 35,000 people around the world.
Scania's logo shows a Griffin, from the coat of arms of the Swedish region of Scania (Swedish: Skåne).
Scania AB (Scania is Latin for the province of Skåne) came from a merger between the two companies; Vabis and Scania.
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Seoul
Seoul (Korean pronunciation: [sʌ.ul] ( listen), English /soʊl/), officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world. The Seoul National Capital Area is the world's second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million inhabitants, which includes the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. Almost a quarter of South Koreans live in Seoul, half of South Koreans live in the metropolitan area, along with over 275,000 international residents.
Located in the Han River, Seoul has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years, with its foundation dating back to 18 B.C. when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. It continued as the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.
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Sheffield
Sheffieldi/ˈʃɛfiːld/ is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of Sheffield is 555,500 (2010 est.) and it is one of the eight largest regional English cities that make up the English Core Cities Group.
During the 19th century, Sheffield gained an international reputation for steel production. Many innovations were developed locally, including crucible and stainless steel, fuelling an almost tenfold increase in the population during the Industrial Revolution. Sheffield received its municipal charter in 1843, becoming the City of Sheffield in 1893. International competition in iron and steel caused a decline in traditional local industries during the 1970s and 1980s, coinciding with the collapse of coal mining in the area.
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Shibuya, Tokyo
Shibuya (渋谷区, Shibuya-ku?) is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km².
The name "Shibuya" is also used to refer to the shopping district which surrounds Shibuya Station, one of Tokyo's busiest railway stations. This area is known as one of the fashion centers of Japan, particularly for young people, and as a major nightlife area.
Following the opening of the Yamanote Line in 1885, Shibuya began to emerge as a railway terminal for southwestern Tokyo and eventually as a major commercial and entertainment center. It was incorporated as a village in Minami-Toshima County (Toyotama County from 1896) in 1889, as a town in 1909, as a ward of Tokyo City in 1932, and as a ward of Tokyo Metropolis in 1943. The present-day special ward was established on March 15, 1947.
One of the most well-known stories concerning Shibuya is the story of Hachikō, a dog who waited on his late master at Shibuya Station every day from 1923 to 1935, eventually becoming a national celebrity for his loyalty. A statue of Hachikō was built adjacent to the station, and the surrounding Hachikō Square is now the most popular meeting point in the area.
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Singapore
Singapore (i/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.
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Slovakia
The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakiai/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ or /sləˈvækiə/; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD and WTO among others. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.
The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra (as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
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Slovenia
Slovenia (i/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
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South Korea
South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Split, Croatia
Split (Croatian pronunciation: [splît]) is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centred around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its bay and port. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and the second-largest city of Croatia. Spread over a central peninsula and its surroundings, Split's greater area includes the surrounding seaside towns as well. An intraregional transport hub, the city is a link to numerous Adriatic islands and the Apennine peninsula, as well as a popular tourist destination.
Split is also one of the oldest cities in the area. While it is traditionally considered just over 1,700 years old counting from the construction of Diocletian's Palace in AD 305, archaeological research relating to the original founding of the city as the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Aσπάλαθος) in the 6th century BC, establishes the urban tradition of the area as being several centuries older.
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Stockholm
Stockholm (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstɔkːˈhɔlm, ˈstɔkːˈɔlm, ˈstɔkːɔlm]( listen to the second one)) is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 864,324 in the municipality (2010), 1.4 million in the urban area (2010), and around 2.1 million in the 6,519 km2 (2,517.00 sq mi) metropolitan area (2010). As of 2010, the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Sweden's population.
Founded no later than c. 1250, possibly as early as 1187, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden's cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the south-central east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-. In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks. It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North.
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Sweden
Sweden (i/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.
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Switzerland
Switzerland (German: die Schweiz[ˈʃvaɪts]; French: Suisse [sɥis(ə)]; Italian: Svizzera [ˈzvit͡sːɛra]; Romansh: Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ] or [ˈʒviːtsʁːɐ]), in its full name the Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of armed neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area.
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Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv, officially Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew: תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ; Arabic: تل أبيب), is the second most populous city in Israel. It has a population of 404,400 within city limits, on a land area of 52 km2 (20 sq mi). The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in central-west Israel. In 2010, it was the largest and most populous city in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area of 3,325,700 residents, known as Gush Dan. The city is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, headed by Ron Huldai. Residents of Tel Aviv are referred to as Tel Avivim.
Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 by the Jewish Community of Jaffa (Hebrew: יָפוֹ Yafo; Arabic: يافا Yāfā), on the outskirts of the ancient port city. The growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa, which had a majority Arab population at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings.
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Tesco
Coordinates: 51°42′18.89″N 0°1′36.37″W / 51.7052472°N 0.0267694°W / 51.7052472; -0.0267694
Tesco plc (LSE: TSCO) is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues (after Wal-Mart and Carrefour) and the second-largest measured by profits (after Wal-Mart). It has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery market leader in the UK (where it has a market share of around 30%), Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland and Thailand.
The company was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen as a group of market stalls. The Tesco name first appeared in 1924, after Cohen purchased a shipment of tea from T. E. Stockwell and combined those initials with the first two letters of his surname, and the first Tesco store opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, Middlesex. His business expanded rapidly, and by 1939 he had over 100 Tesco stores across the country. Originally a UK-focused grocery retailer, since the early 1990s Tesco has increasingly diversified geographically and into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing, electronics, furniture, petrol and software; financial services; telecoms and internet services; DVD rental; and music downloads.
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Thailand
Thailand ( /ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/;Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] ( listen)), formerly known as Siam (Thai: สยาม; RTGS: Sayam), is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emiratesi/juːˌnaɪtɨd ˌærəb ˈɛmɪrɨts/ (Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al Imārāt al ‘Arabīyah al Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to principalities), each governed by a hereditary emir, with a single national president. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The capital is Abu Dhabi, which is also the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.
Prior to independence in 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the local sheikhs, hereditary rulers of the territories, and the United Kingdom. The term Pirate Coast was also used by some to refer to the emirates from the 18th to the early 20th century, owing to the preponderance of pirates operating from Emirati ports.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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Västerås
Västerås [vɛstərˈoːs] (English exonym: West Aros) is a city in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province Västmanland, some 100 km west of Stockholm. The city has a population of 110,877 inhabitants in 2010, out of the municipal total of 137,207 (2010).
Västerås is the seat of Västerås Municipality, the capital of Västmanland County and an episcopal see.
Västerås is one of the oldest cities in Sweden and Northern Europe. The name originates from Västra Aros, which refers to the river mouth of Svartån. The area has been populated since the Nordic Viking Age, before 1000 AD. In the beginning of the 11th century it was the second largest city in Sweden, and by the 12th century had become the seat of the bishop.
Anundshög is located just outside the City of Västerås. Anundshög is Sweden's largest burial mound. "Hög" is derived from the Old Norse word haugr meaning mound or barrow. It was built about 500 AD and is over 74 yards wide and is almost 10 yards high.
In the ensuing centuries a cathedral and a monastery were built. The first City Arms date from the end of the 13th century.
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Zadar
Zadar (see historical names) is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar is a historical center of Dalmatia as well as the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zadar.
In antiquity, Iadera and Iader, the much older roots of the settlement's names were hidden, the names being most probably related to a hydrographical term. It was coined by an ancient Mediterranean people and their Pre-Indo-European language. They transmitted it to later settlers, the Liburnians. The name of the Liburnian settlement was first mentioned by a Greek inscription from Pharos (Stari grad) on the island of Hvar in 384 BC, where the citizens of Zadar were noted as Ίαδασινοί (Iadasinoi). According to the Greek source Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax the city was Ίδασσα (Idassa), probably a vulgar Greek form of the original Liburnian name.
During Antiquity the name was often recorded in sources in Latin in two forms: Iader in the inscriptions and in the writings of classic writers, Iadera predominantly among the late Antiquity writers, while usual ethnonyms were Iadestines and Iadertines. The accent was on the first syllable in both Iader and Iadera forms, which influenced the early-Medieval Dalmatian language forms Jadra, Jadera and Jadertina, where the accent kept its original place.
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Zagreb
Zagreb (Croatian pronunciation: [zǎːɡrɛb]) is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m (400 ft) above sea level. In the last official census of 2011, the population of the settlement of Zagreb was 686,568, while the total population of its administrative area was 792,875. The wider Zagreb metropolitan area includes the City of Zagreb and the separate Zagreb County with a population of 317,642, bringing the total metropolitan area population up to 1,110,517. It is the only metropolitan area in Croatia with a population of over one million.
Its favourable geographic position in the southwestern part of the Pannonian Basin, which extends to the Alpine, Dinaric, Adriatic and Pannonic regions, provides an excellent connection for traffic between Central Europe and the Adriatic Sea. The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition underlie its leading economic position in Croatia. Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and almost all government ministries.
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Abbey Lee
Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987 in Melbourne, Australia) also known as Abbey Lee, is an Australian fashion model. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, V magazine dubbed Kershaw a supermodel.
As a child, Kershaw says she was "always in the hospital." When she was four she suffered from meningitis and had to have two spinal taps. She also had a tumor on the knee, and several broken bones from climbing trees. She grew up in Kensington and attended St Michael's Catholic Primary school in North Melbourne in which she stated that she "grew up with 42 nationalities" explaining in an interview that her primary school of 150 children was very multicultural. She then attended the Academy of Mary Immaculate in Fitzroy.[citation needed] She later went on to win the Australian 2004 Girlfriend Model Search. After high school, in 2005, she moved from Melbourne to Sydney to begin modeling. She lived 100 meters from the beach and it was while at the beach where she got scouted by Chic Management's Kathy Ward, the model scout that also discovered Miranda Kerr and Samantha Harris. She signed with Chic Management within weeks.
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Coco Rocha
Coco Rocha (born Mikhaila Rocha on September 10, 1988) is a Canadian fashion model.
Rocha was born in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in Richmond, British Columbia where she attended McRoberts Secondary School. Her family is in the airline industry. Her mother, Juanita, is a flight attendant and her father, Trevor Haines, is a ticket manager. She has one step sister named Lynsey. She is of Irish, Russian, and Welsh descent.
Rocha is one of the few models who has spoken out against the prevalence of eating disorders in the modelling industry. In an open letter to the New York Times, Coco spoke out on her blog about the pressure the fashion industry puts on young models "How can any person justify an aesthetic that reduces a woman or child to an emaciated skeleton? Is it art? Surely fashion’s aesthetic should enhance and beautify the human form, not destroy it." [1] In an email to the Associated Press, she gives an insight into the fashion world, saying: "I'll never forget the piece of advice I got from people in the industry when they saw my new body ... They said, 'You need to lose more weight. The look this year is anorexia. We don't want you to be anorexic but that's what we want you to look like.
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Daria Werbowy
Daria Werbowy (Ukrainian: Дарія Вербова, Dariya Verbova; born November 19, 1983) is a Ukrainian Canadian model. She is perhaps best known as a spokesperson for the French beauty brand Lancôme.
Although born in Kraków, Poland, Werbowy holds both Canadian and Ukrainian citizenship. When she was three years old, Werbowy's Ukrainian parents moved to Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has a brother named Orest and sister Oksana. At age fourteen, Werbowy was 5'11", willowy and sporting braces. She attended St. Sofia Ukrainian Catholic Elementary School and Cawthra Park Secondary School as a visual arts student.
Werbowy has been romantically linked to Josh Hartnett.
She is an avid sailor and spent three months in 2008 sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In 2011, she embarked on a two-month expedition from Guatemala, travelling around Central America to Costa Rica.
Werbowy had never seriously considered modeling, but found herself launched into the business after meeting a schoolmate's mother who headed Toronto's Susan J. Model & Talent Management. At age 14, Werbowy won a national modelling contest.
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Hana Soukupová
Hana Soukupová (born December 18, 1985) is a Czech model. She has participated in the Victoria's Secret fashion shows and modeled for the Victoria Secret Catalog.
Soukupová was born on December 18, 1985 in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Because of her height, she began playing basketball for a local team.
Soukupová began to work as a model in Prague in 1998. She signed her first major modeling contract at 15 years of age as the face of Carolina Herrera’s Chic perfume.
In September 2004, Soukupová was selected as one of only nine models appeared on the cover of American Vogue in an issue that compared supermodels today to supermodels of the 80s and 90s heyday. Others included Daria Werbowy, Gemma Ward, Gisele Bündchen, and Karolína Kurková. Vanity Fair touted her as the next Eastern European model that will most likely make it big. Additionally, she has been featured on over 80 magazine covers[citation needed] including numerous international editions of Vogue and on the covers of Harper's Bazaar, W, Elle, and Allure. Soukupová's work can be seen in over 4,000 pages of editorial fashion stories and advertising campaigns.[citation needed] Soukupová has worked closely with renowned photographers Steven Meisel, Nick Knight, Mikael Jansson, Craig McDean, Mario Sorrenti, Steven Klein, Mario Testino, David LaChapelle, Inez Van Lamsweerde, Patrick Demarchelier.
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Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.
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Jimmy Choo
Jimmy Choo, OBE, born Choo Yeang Keat, (Chinese: 周仰杰; pinyin: Zhōu Yǎngjié) is a Malaysian fashion designer based in London, United Kingdom. He is best known for founding Jimmy Choo Ltd that became known for its handmade women's shoes.
Choo was born in Penang, Malaysia, into a family of shoemakers, who are of Chinese Hakka descent. His family name is Chow but was misspelled on his birth certificate as Choo. He made his first shoe when he was 11 years old. He is perhaps the most notable of students of Cordwainers Technical College in Hackney, England, from which he graduated in 1983. (The college is now part of the London College of Fashion at University of the Arts London.) Choo has divulged that he worked part time at restaurants and as a cleaner at a shoe factory to help fund his college education.
Jimmy Choo traced his beginnings back to his workshop in Hackney, North London, which he opened in 1986 by renting an old hospital building. His craftsmanship and designs were soon noticed and he came to the verge of international notability when his creations were featured in a record eight pages in a 1988 issue of Vogue. Patronage from Diana, Princess of Wales, from 1990 further boosted his image.
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Karl-Johan Persson
Karl-Johan Erling Göran Persson is the CEO and president of the fashion company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), which was founded by his grandfather Erling Persson. Persson's family enjoyed royal connections. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden attended Karl-Johan's wedding in 2002.
Persson attended the European Business School in London from 1996, majoring in Business and Economics. He graduated in 2002. In 2001, Persson purchased an events management business, which established itself as the leading events management company in Scandinavia. The business was successfully sold in 2007 to MCI. In 2005, he joined H&M in an operational role, steadily working his way up to Head of Expansion and Head of Business Development in 2007, before being appointed CEO in 2009 to succeed Rolf Eriksen.
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Kirsty Hume
Kirsty Hume (born September 4, 1976) is a Scottish model who came to prominence in the fashion world in the 1990s. A columnist likened her appearance to a Botticelli angel.
Hume modeled for Dior, Givenchy, Chanel, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Gianfranco Ferré, Claude Montana, Alexander McQueen, Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace, Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta and Donna Karan, among other leading designers and brands. She also frequently appeared on the covers of Harper's Bazaar, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, as well as Vogue, W and other publications.
In 1996 Hume was the feature model for Chanel ads. She has modelled for Victoria's Secret. For the March 1996 Gucci presentation of fall and winter fashion collections in Milan, Italy, Hume wore a dress made of white jersey (clothing) with a plunging neckline.
Following a 1997 Paris, France showing of Karl Lagerfeld designs for Chanel, Hume was queried by a Russian TV reporter. He asked her what was the most exciting part of her job. She answered, Um, the money. She appeared in a bias-cut chiffon gown designed by Donatella Versace at the January 1998 Milan fashion show.
wn.com/Kirsty_Hume -
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE ( /ˈkaɪliː mɨˈnoʊɡ/; born 28 May 1968) — often known simply as Kylie — is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, showgirl, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing her career as a recording artist in 1987. Her first single, "Locomotion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart and became the highest selling single of the decade. This led to a contract with songwriters and producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Her debut album, Kylie (1988), and the single "I Should Be So Lucky", each reached number one in the United Kingdom, and over the next two years, her first 13 singles reached the British top ten. Her debut film, The Delinquents (1989) was a box-office hit in Australia and the UK, and received generally positive reviews.
Initially presented as a "girl next door", Minogue attempted to convey a more mature style in her music and public image. Her singles were well received, but after four albums her record sales were declining, and she left Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1992 to establish herself as an independent performer. Her next single, "Confide in Me", reached number one in Australia and was a hit in several European countries in 1994, and a duet with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", brought Minogue a greater degree of artistic credibility. Drawing inspiration from a range of musical styles and artists, Minogue took creative control over the songwriting for her next album, Impossible Princess (1997). It failed to attract strong reviews or sales in the UK, but was successful in Australia.
wn.com/Kylie_Minogue -
Mathias Lauridsen
Mathias Lauridsen (born January 13, 1984) is a Danish model from Copenhagen, Denmark and has been featured in numerous ad campaigns including Jil Sander, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton and Hermès.
He was discovered in 2003 and is currently signed with Ford Models in Paris, New York Model Management and Scoop in Copenhagen. He is considered to be one of the best male models, and has landed many lucrative contracts, for example the Gucci Pour Homme II fragrance. His runway credentials include opening shows for Hermès, Belstaff, Jill Stuart and closing for both Valentino and John Galliano.[citation needed]
He has appeared in editorials for L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Paris, Numéro Homme, GQ and Details. The photographers he has worked with include Karl Lagerfeld and Richard Avedon. Avedon photographed Lauridsen for a Hermes ad editorial in 2004 that proved to be one of the photographers last works.[citation needed]
He was ranked number 1 on models.com Top 50 Male Models list for more than two years. Recently he was replaced by Baptiste Giabiconi. Lauridsen was the youngest model to appear on the list. He is also ranked #2 in the list of the most successful male models in the world, published by Forbes.
wn.com/Mathias_Lauridsen -
Matthew Williamson
Matthew Williamson is an English fashion designer. He counts celebrities such as Björk, M.I.A., Cat Deeley, Will Buckhurst, Sienna Miller, Kelis, Jade Jagger and Plum Sykes amongst his friends.
He was born in 1971 in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England, and studied in Manchester until he was 17. He then moved to London to attend school at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, graduating in 1994.
Graduating from Central St Martin's in June 1994 with a BA in Fashion Design and Printed Textiles, his first job following graduation was a freelance design project with Marni. Williamson was then employed by British fashion companies Monsoon and Accessorize.
The luxury fashion house, Matthew Williamson, was founded in February 1997 by Williamson (designer) and Joseph Velosa (CEO). In September 1997, Williamson showed his infamous debut collection, 'Electric Angels', during London Fashion Week.[citation needed] Bias-cut dresses and separates in exotic shades of tangerine, fuchsia and magenta were worn by models Kate Moss, Helena Christensen and Jade Jagger. This peculiar collection of bright, intricately detailed pieces defined and set the pace for the highly recognisable Matthew Williamson signature aesthetic.[citation needed]
wn.com/Matthew_Williamson -
Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli (Italian pronunciation: [roˈbɛrto kaˈvalːi]) (born 15 November 1940) is an Italian fashion designer from Florence. He is known for detailed exotic prints and for creating the sand-blasted look for jeans which are now a standard style for the majority of jean makers.
Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Tuscany. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery. Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute, concentrating in textile print. While still a student, he made a series of flower prints on knit that caught the attention of major Italian hosiery factories.
In the early 1970s, he invented and patented a revolutionary printing procedure on leather, and he started creating patchworks of different materials. He debuted these techniques in Paris, immediately getting commissions from the likes of Hermès and Pierre Cardin. At age 30, he presented his first namesake collection at the Salon for Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. He brought it to the catwalks of the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and later on those of Milano Collezioni jeans made of printed denim, intarsia leathers, brocade and wild prints. He then opened his first boutique in 1972 in Saint-Tropez.
wn.com/Roberto_Cavalli -
Ryan Thomas
Ryan James Thomas (born 10 June 1984 in Manchester) and is an English actor who is currently starring as the character, Jason Grimshaw on ITV's Coronation Street.
Ryan has been nominated for various "Sexiest Male"-type awards. He also won the award for Rear of the Year in 2008.
Ryan attended Wentworth High School in Eccles, Salford. He has two brothers who are twins. One of whom is Adam Thomas, who played Donte Charles in BBC drama, Waterloo Road and is now playing Adam Barton in the ITV soap Emmerdale. His daughter Scarlett Jacqueline Thomas was born on 26 October 2008 to his then girlfriend Tina O'Brien.
wn.com/Ryan_Thomas -
Sasha Pivovarova
Sasha Pivovarova (Russian: Aлeкcaндрa "Саша" Игoрeвнa Пивоварова; born January 21, 1985) is a Russian model. She is perhaps best known for her consecutive 6-season run with Prada.
As an art history student at the Russian University for the Humanities, Pivovarova never dreamed of becoming a model until friend and photographer Igor Vishnyakov took photos of her in 2005 and gave them to international modeling agency IMG, thus beginning her career. After signing with IMG, her first runway show was for Prada, who then signed her to a three-year exclusive advertising contract.
In the May 2007 issue of American Vogue she was featured on the cover with Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Jessica Stam, Agyness Deyn, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda, Chanel Iman, and Lily Donaldson as the "World’s Next Top Models." In her interview, she talked about her love for art and reading. At the time, she was reading War and Peace. She has also been featured on the covers of the Russian, British, and Australian editions of Vogue. As a favorite of renowned photographer Steven Meisel, she has appeared on the cover of Vogue Italia 5 times. Pivovarova appeared in the 2008 Pirelli Calendar. Spain's Marie Claire awards ‘Prix de la Moda’ awarded Pivovarova as "Prix International Best Model" on November 20, 2008. In December 2009, she became the face for Giorgio Armani and Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott photograph Pivovarova for Longchamp, alongside Kate Moss.
wn.com/Sasha_Pivovarova -
Sean O'Pry
Sean O'Pry (born July 5, 1989) is an American male model from Kennesaw, Georgia.
In 2006, 17-year-old O'Pry was scouted from his prom photos on MySpace by Nolé Marin; fashion-icon, model-maker, TV personality and past judge from America's Next Top Model. Bert Hamilton, a photographer from Sean's home state of Georgia, took the picture featured on this article before his career took off.
Since then, O'Pry has been featured in numerous advertising campaigns and editorials for Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferré, H&M, Marc Jacobs, Emporio Armani, Lacoste, Dsquared2, American Eagle, Bottega Veneta, DKNY, Fendi, GQ, Dazed & Confused, V, Details, Barneys, Uniqlo, Bloomingdale's, Belstaff, D2, Arena, Diesel, Gap, JOOP! and Numéro Homme. He is currently the face of Bottega Veneta and Zara.
His runway credentials include opening Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Salvatore Ferragamo, and closing Moschino, Trussardi and Zegna. Other designers he has walked for include Roberto Cavalli, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, and Hermès.
wn.com/Sean_O'Pry -
Shalom Harlow
Shalom Harlow (born December 5, 1973) is a Canadian model and actress.
Harlow was born in Oshawa, Ontario, the daughter of Sandi Herbert and David Harlow. Though her mother named her Shalom (שלום), meaning "peace" in Hebrew, her family is not Jewish. She was discovered at The Cure concert in Toronto and started modeling straight out of high school.[citation needed] She has since appeared on numerous magazine covers, editorials, and top runway shows, and appeared in movies and co-hosted MTV's House of Style with fellow supermodel Amber Valletta. She was the long-time favorite model for many designers who found that her look translated well between commercial and couture. She is the first ever winner of Vogue/VH1's Model of the Year Award. Harlow is the spokesperson for Chanel's Coco fragrance. She has two younger brothers, Chris and Nathan.
In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $2 million in the past 12 months, Forbes named her thirteenth in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.
wn.com/Shalom_Harlow -
Sonia Rykiel
Sonia Rykiel née Flis (French pronunciation: [sɔn.ja ʁi.kjɛl]; born 25 May 1930 in Paris) is a French fashion designer.
Ethnically a Russian-Romanian Jew, Sonia Rykiel was born in Neuilly, a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, the eldest of five daughters of a Russian mother and a Romanian father. At the age of 17, she was employed to dress the window displays in a Parisian textile store. In 1953 Sonia married Sam Rykiel, owner of a boutique selling elegant clothing. In 1962, she couldn't find any soft sweaters to wear when she was pregnant, so she used a supplier to her husband from Venice to design her own.
Sonia Rykiel thereafter created her first maternity dresses and a tiny sweater, called the Poor Boy Sweater, which she started selling from her husband's label "Laura". The Poor Boy Sweater made the cover of ELLE fashion magazine, and brought Rykiel fame; because of it, she was crowned "Queen of Knits" by the Americans in 1967.
Since then, she has continued to experiment to expand her offerings. She later became the first designer to put seams on the outside of a garment, and to print words on her sweaters. In particular, she favours long clinging sweaters or small cropped pullovers, large rolled-back cuffs and long shawls. Her color palette usually features beige, grey, dark blue and charcoal.
wn.com/Sonia_Rykiel -
Stella McCartney
Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is the daughter of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney and the late photographer and animal rights activist, Linda McCartney.
Stella McCartney was born in Lambeth, London, England on 13 September 1971, the second child of Beatles bassist Paul McCartney and photographer Linda Eastman. She is named after her maternal great-grandmothers (both of Linda McCartney's grandmothers were named Stella). As a young girl, McCartney travelled the globe with her parents and their pop music group Wings, along with her siblings: older half-sister Heather (who was legally adopted by Paul McCartney), older sister Mary, and younger brother James. According to her father, the name of Wings was inspired by Stella's difficult birth. As his daughter was being born by emergency caesarean section, Paul sat outside the operating room and prayed that she be born "on the wings of an angel." Wings toured from shortly after her birth in 1971 until 1980.
wn.com/Stella_McCartney -
Tyler Riggs
Tyler Stephen Riggs (born February 25, 1986) is an American fashion model and actor. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Riggs' career in modeling began by accident when posing for a class project for his friend, a photography student. The friend's teacher suggested that Riggs pursue an actual career in modeling, and in 2007, Riggs signed with Red Model Management and moved to New York. Since then, Riggs has been featured as an "exciting new face" and "model of the week" by Models.com. He was ranked at number seven on Forbes.com's June 2009 list of the most successful male models. He has also been featured as a style inspiration on the New York Times style blog The Moment. Riggs debuted at Gaetano Navarra in Milan during Milan Fashion Week F/W 2008-2009 and opened his first show - Neil Barrett. Since then he has walked the runway for the most important brands and designers like Alessandro Dell'Acqua, Alexander McQueen, Costume National, DKNY, Givenchy, Gucci, Hermès, Kenzo, Louis Vuitton, Marni, Moschino and Thierry Mugler. He appeared on the cover of Sportswear International, GQ Style Russia, Contributing Editor and inside magazines such as Wonderland, V, VMAN, Another Man, Details, i-D, Numero Homme, L'Officiel Hommes, GQ and 10+ Magazine, as well as in print ad campaigns for Louis Vuitton, D&G, Topman, Ray-Ban, Diesel, Sisley, Bershka, Raoul[disambiguation needed
], William Rast for Target and Converse by John Varvatos.
wn.com/Tyler_Riggs -
Viktor & Rolf
Viktor & Rolf is an Amsterdam-based fashion house. The company was founded in 1993 by designers Viktor Horsting (born 1969, Geldrop) and Rolf Snoeren (born 1969, Dongen).
Viktor Horsting (1969) & Rolf Snoeren (1969) met while studying fashion at the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design in The Netherlands. They began working together upon graduation, relocating to Paris in 1993 to launch their careers. Their first collection 'Hyères' (1993) based on distortion, reconstruction and layering won three prizes at the Salon Europeen des Jeunes Stylistes at the Festival International de Mode et de Photographie. The subsequent presentation of four collections in experimental art spaces led them in 1998 to show their first Haute Couture collection (Spring/Summer 1998).
Viktor & Rolf returned to ready-to-wear in 2000, with 'Stars and Stripes' (Autumn/Winter 2000-01). The menswear line 'Monsieur' was added in 2003 (Autumn/Winter), modelled entirely by Viktor & Rolf in a mirrored performance. The Viktor & Rolf range has since grown to include shoes, accessories and eyewear.
wn.com/Viktor_&_Rolf -
Vincent Gallo
Vincent Gallo is an American film director and actor. Though he has had minor roles in mainstream films such as Goodfellas, he is most associated with independent movies, including Buffalo '66, which he wrote, directed, did the music for and starred in; The Brown Bunny, which he also wrote, directed, produced, starred in and photographed; Arizona Dream; The Funeral; and Palookaville. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Gallo was a painter in the New York City art scene showing with famed art dealer Annina Nosei, performed in a rap duo and was part of the first hip hop television broadcast Graffiti Rock, and played in an industrial band called Bohack which released an album title It Took Several Wives. In the early 2000s, he released several solo recordings on WARP records. Gallo is known for his outspoken views and generally sarcastic nature, once stating: "I stopped painting in 1990 at the peak of my success just to deny people my beautiful paintings; and I did it out of spite."
Gallo was awarded the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at the 67th Venice International Film Festival for his performance as a wordless escaping Muslim prisoner in Jerzy Skolimowski's Essential Killing. His own feature film Promises Written In Water, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in, also screened In Competition at the festival. In spring 2012 Gallo took part in the three month exposition of Whitney Biennial.
wn.com/Vincent_Gallo -
Vincent LaCrocq
Vincent Lacrocq is a French male model, who has headlined the Kenneth Cole campaign by Nathaniel Goldberg, as well as the Missoni, Byblos and Zegna campaigns. Currently in the Louis Vuitton, Bally and Paul&Joe campaigns; he continues his regular turns in Numero, Arena, ID and Vogue Hommes.
Vincent's modelling debut started in Autumn/Winter 2004. He is close friends with fellow male models Sean O'Pry, Will Chalker and Danny Beauchamp.
2.http://nymag.com/fashion/models/vlacroq/vincentlacrocq/
wn.com/Vincent_LaCrocq
RELEASE
ALBUMS
- Intro
- Disease
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- No
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- Reefers
- Reply
- Old
- Infection (remix)
- Do It Yourself (remix)
- Trench (remix)
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- Burned Out
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- Destination Unknown (feat. Dany F.)
- Love
- Kickin' Away (In Memorial Of Chris W.)
- Being Relaxed
- Room Nr. 9
RELEASE
ALBUMS
- The Evening Shadows
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- You Dinosaur Thing
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Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; - The Silent Manifesto
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:00
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Silent Manifesto in Paris, France celebrating the launch of Maison Martin Margiela with H&M.; The collection will be in selected stores and online on November 15. For more inspiration and details please visit www.hm.com
http://wn.com/Maison_Martin_Margiela_with_H&M;_The_Silent_Manifesto
First Store Opening in Mexico City - H&M; Mexico 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:57
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
Welcome to H&M;'s first store opening in Latin America! The first H&M; store in Mexico has opened in the capital, Mexico City on November 1st, 2012.
http://wn.com/First_Store_Opening_in_Mexico_City_H&M;_Mexico_2012
Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; Pre-shopping Event in Istanbul, Turkey
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:34
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
To celebrate the Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; collection, H&M; Turkiye organized an in-store pre-shopping event the day before the collection launch in İstinye Park store. Selected VIP guests, Vogue Turkiye's invitees, others from media industry and the fashion bloggers attended and experienced the chance of pre-shopping the collection.
http://wn.com/Maison_Martin_Margiela_with_H&M;_Pre-shopping_Event_in_Istanbul,_Turkey
Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; - Look Book
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:08
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
View the looks of Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; collection from the dance performance by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Rosas. The collection will be available in selected stores and online November 15. For more inspiration and details please visit www.hm.com
http://wn.com/Maison_Martin_Margiela_with_H&M;_Look_Book
Anna Dello Russo and H&M; Fashion Shower Accessories Collection
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:35
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
Anna Dello Russo x H&M; Accessories Collection video titled "Fashion Shower" directed by Alex Turvey. H&M; is proud to announce a special collaboration with fashion icon and legendary fashion director Anna Dello Russo. An idol of the blogosphere, whose flamboyant outfits are endlessly documented by style photographers and broadcasted globally on the web, Anna Dello Russo has once again demonstrated her unique sense of style by creating a special collection of accessories exclusively for H&M.; Unabashedly glamorous, precious and playful, the range is an expression of Dello Russo's taste for ornamentation. The collection will be available starting October 4th -- the peak of the global Fashion Week tour -- in approximately 140 stores worldwide and online. Dello Russo's line will feature jewelry, sunglasses, shoes and bags, all designed so H&M; customers can acquire unique style at an affordable price. "I am excited by this collaboration: this is the first time H&M; has involved a fashion director in a special project. This is the sign of an important evolution in fashion, and I am both thrilled and humbled to be the one chosen to lead it. I wanted to create precious accessories that are impossible to find. As a stylist, I know accessorization is essential; it is the personal touch in any outfit. With these pieces, everybody can have fun, and turn an ordinary day into a fantastic fashion day", says Anna Dello Russo. "It's been extremely exciting to involve Anna Dello Russo in this ...
http://wn.com/Anna_Dello_Russo_and_H&M;_Fashion_Shower_Accessories_Collection
Divided Grey launch event in Berlin - H&M; Germany 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:25
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
More than 1000 international guests celebrated the launch of the new Divided Grey collection at Kesselhaus in Berlin on November 1. Alice Dellal worked the turntables and Miss Kittin, Foxes, Saint Lou Lou, La Fille were just some of the bands performing at the event. The Divided Grey collection is available in stores and online at www.hm.com
http://wn.com/Divided_Grey_launch_event_in_Berlin_H&M;_Germany_2012
Haul! H&M;, Forever 21, Sephora & Mooore!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:30
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
HAPPY TO BE BACK!
http://wn.com/Haul!_H&M;,_Forever_21,_Sephora_Mooore!
H&M; Men's Fall 2012 Lookbook | FashionTV FMEN
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:25
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly www.FashionTV.com WORLD - For Fall 2012 H&M; has taken color blocking to a whole new level. Literal blocks lined the showroom, where the colorful new men's collection was displayed. Bright reds, deep greens, soft purples, burgundies, and endless shades of brown and grey...
http://wn.com/H&M;_Men's_Fall_2012_Lookbook_|_FashionTV_FMEN
Lanvin for H&M; - The Show (Promo 2011)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:25
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
H&M; full 2011 collections comes to stores on Nov 4th. Check it out at www.hm.com
http://wn.com/Lanvin_for_H&M;_The_Show_Promo_2011
New Houston H&M; + Macy's Haul (dresses and accessories)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:00
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
New accessories and dresses from one of the new Houston H&M; stores! Also, have you ever seen a dress that made you think "Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper"?? Yeah, me either... but I guess thats why I'm so into this one ;) Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe. xo...
http://wn.com/New_Houston_H&M;_+_Macy's_Haul_dresses_and_accessories
3D projection mapping in the city centre of Amsterdam for H&M;
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:37
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
On 22, 23 & 24 November 2010, H&M; brought their flagship store in Amsterdam to live with a 3D projection mapping on the historic building. For over 3 minutes, guests and a gathered crowd enjoyed a surreal fairytale of light and magical effects. A red ribbon, wrapped around the building, untangles and transformed the building into a colorful dollhouse where nothing is what it seems. Agency: Muse Amsterdam (www.muse.nl) Production: MrBeam, Mickey Did It, BeamSystems.
http://wn.com/3D_projection_mapping_in_the_city_centre_of_Amsterdam_for_H&M;
H&M; Kids Fashion Flash Mob
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:26
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
55 stylish kids surprise the public at Union Square in San Francisco with a hip hop dance battle that showcases the latest H&M; Kids fashion. www.hm.com http
http://wn.com/H&M;_Kids_Fashion_Flash_Mob
H&M; on Sustainable Fashion
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:56
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
H&M; offers sustainability and fashion, not one or the other. Watch Ann-Sofie Johansson, Head of Design at H&M; and Helena Helmersson, Head of Sustainability at H&M; talk more about fashion and sustainability.
http://wn.com/H&M;_on_Sustainable_Fashion
On set with Lana Del Rey - H&M; Life
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:51
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
H&M; goes behind the scenes with songstress Lana Del Rey at the video shoot for Blue Velvet, her exclusive cover for H&M;, premiering on September 20. Lana Del Rey is the face of H&M; Fall Fashion collection for autumn 2012. Visit www.hm.com/fall-collection to see the full collection. Get inspired at www.hm.com
http://wn.com/On_set_with_Lana_Del_Rey_H&M;_Life
H&M; + Victoria Secret Fall Shopping Haul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:27
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
THUMBS UP FOR BREAST CANCER AWARENESS Get my earrings here: clnk.me Where you can find your Breast Cancer Bracelet: bit.ly Organization proceeds are going to is - Bright Pink: brightpink.org My bun video: www.youtube.com Heres my first JM video, i look so different!!: www.youtube.com For BUSINESS ONLY inquires please contact me via email sccastaneda@gmail.com My public Mailing address: SCCASTANEDA POBOX 1103 Glendora Ca 91740 .......................................... Everything and Anything me: My blog - www.sccastaneda.com Twitter - http INSTAGRAM - sccastaneda Facebook -www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/H&M;_+_Victoria_Secret_Fall_Shopping_Haul
Anna Dello Russo at H&M; - Fashion Shower
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:46
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
Anna Dello Russo teaches you everything you need to know about fashion in her new music video! The Anna Dello Russo at H&M; collection will be available in selected stores and online on 4th of October. Facts about the song: Producer/DJ: Emiliano Pepe Facts about the film: Director: Alex Turvey
http://wn.com/Anna_Dello_Russo_at_H&M;_Fashion_Shower
Maison Martin Margiela store event - H&M; #MMMPortaldelAngel22, Barcelona, Spain 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:29
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
On November 9 2012, at Portal del Ángel 22 H&M; store in Barcelona a very special performance happened celebrating the Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; collection. El 9 de noviembre de 2012 en la tienda H&M; de Portal del Ángel 22 de Barcelona tuvo lugar una actuación muy especial para celebrar #MargielawithHM. Dancers: Laura Vilar and Vicente Palomo. Music: Chris Zabriskie - Unfoldment, Revealment, Evolution, Exposition, Integration, Arson. Video Producer: Eskenaziencursiva
http://wn.com/Maison_Martin_Margiela_store_event_H&M;_MMMPortaldelAngel22,_Barcelona,_Spain_2012
♡ Haul! Forever21, H&M;, Nordstom!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:12
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
THUMBS UP IF YOU LIKE PLEASE!=) expand for product & music info! Check out the Puma video I was in!: www.puma.com Me & Dan's Vlog Channel: www.youtube.com Advice Channel: www.youtube.com Other Places To Find Me! ♡ TWITTER- twitter.com ♡ FACEBOOK- www.facebook.com ♡ INSTAGRAM- @Nikkiphillippi ♡ BLOG- nikkiphillippi.com ♡Pinterest- pinterest.com MUSIC BY:
http://wn.com/♡_Haul!_Forever21,_H&M;,_Nordstom!
The enchanted life of Elin Kling - H&M; Life
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:28
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
She's stylish and intriguing. We follow in the footsteps of the fashion blogger extraordinaire who once did a capsule fashion collection for H&M.; Get inspired at www.hm.com
http://wn.com/The_enchanted_life_of_Elin_Kling_H&M;_Life
H&M; Racist
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:43
- Updated: 11 Oct 2012
Frannie Richards.
http://wn.com/H&M;_Racist
Maison Martin Margiela with H&M;
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:01
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
The collaboration with H&M; presents a re-edition of iconic Maison Martin Margiela garments and accessories for men and women. Each piece is specifically labeled with a unique tag indicating the season from which its originated, spanning 23 years since the Maison's funding. The most representative pieces of Maison Martin Margiela are reproduced in updated shapes and materials and offered to the broad public as an exclusive synopsis of their history. The Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; collection will be available in selected stores and online at www.hm.com/maisonmartinmargiela November 15th.
http://wn.com/Maison_Martin_Margiela_with_H&M;
Behind the Scenes of the Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; Fashion Campaign
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:01
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Follow us to the streets of Paris to get a behind the scenes look at Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; campaign film. Meet Sam Taylor-Johnson, the photographer behind the campaign, as well as the unique cast and crew that came together to fuse art and fashion. The Maison Martin Margiela with H&M; collection is available in select H&M; stores beginning November 15th, 2012.
http://wn.com/Behind_the_Scenes_of_the_Maison_Martin_Margiela_with_H&M;_Fashion_Campaign
Macy's, Forever 21, H&M;, and Zara haul!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:01
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
Official Facebook Page: www.facebook.com Adele's Grammy Tutorial (makeup worn in this video) www.youtube.com For business inquiries only please e-mail me @ dulce.tejeda@yahoo.com My Fashion Blog: www.dulcecandy.com My Twitter: twitter.com Get the Mr. Bunny brushes used here! www.sigmabeauty.com LookBook: lookbook.nu My Vlog Channel: youtube.com
http://wn.com/Macy's,_Forever_21,_H&M;,_and_Zara_haul!
photo: AP / Sebastian D'souza
21 Nov 2012
MUMBAI, India - India executed the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai early Wednesday, India's home ministry said. Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, was one of 10 gunmen who rampaged through the streets of India's financial capital in November 2008, killing 166 people. Kasab was hung at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at a jail in...(size: 4.5Kb)
photo: AP / Melanie Gouby
21 Nov 2012
Hundreds of government soldiers and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrendered to rebels at a stadium in Goma, Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri has reported from the scene. The M23 rebel group, believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the strategic, provincial capital of Goma in eastern Congo on Tuesday, home to more than 1 million...(size: 18.7Kb)
photo: AP
23 Nov 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. I was fortunate to have been raised near an American Indian archaeological spot located on the Great Plains. In elementary school, a fellow classmate would periodically bring and show grinding stones, arrow- and spearheads, stone farming implements, and pictures of what the excavated site may have...(size: 7.1Kb)
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22 Nov 2012
A new battle is underway in Pakistan with its powerful military front-and-centre, but the fight is not against armed insurgents or ideological extremists - this opponent is a muscle-flexing Supreme Court. For the first time in decades, the military's iron grip over the South Asian country has been challenged, and it remains to be seen if it will...(size: 23.7Kb)
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Irish Times
24 Nov 2012
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The New York Times
24 Nov 2012
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24 Nov 2012
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For the former railroad, see Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. For the ornithological checklist, see Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. For the Canadian publishing firm, see Hartley & Marks Publishers.
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| Type | Publicly traded Aktiebolag (OMX: HM B) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retailing |
| Founded | Västerås, Sweden (1947 as "Hennes") |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Stefan Persson (Chairman), Karl-Johan Persson (President and CEO) |
| Products | Clothing, accessories |
| Revenue | SEK 126.97 billion (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | SEK 24.66 billion (2010)[1] |
| Profit | SEK 18.68 billion (2010)[1] |
| Employees | 59,440 (FTE, 2010 average)[1] |
| Website | www.hm.com |
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (operating as H&M) is a Swedish global retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children.
It has over 2,300 stores in 43 countries and as of 2011 employed around 94,000 people.[2] It is ranked the second largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of ZARA), and leads over third largest global clothing retailer, United States based GAP Inc.
The design team in the company’s Sweden office controls the steps of production from merchandise planning to establishing specifications, and production is outsourced to approximately 800 factories in Europe and Asia. These facilities are used for horizontal division of labor rather than being integrated.[3]
Contents |
The company worldwide[link]
Number of stores as of 30 November 2011[4]
|
Africa:[5] |
Europe:[7]
|
North America:[8]
|
Oceania: |
South America: |
Asia[link]
The company opened its first Asian store (also the company's first franchise) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2006. It followed with a store in the Salmiya district of Kuwait City, Kuwait.
The first Israeli store was opened in Tel Aviv in 2010, followed by five more stores across the country. More stores are expected to open, mainly in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area.[9]
It expanded into East Asia in March 2007, with its first store opening in Central Hong Kong on 10 March 2007. Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue opened that store where she also exclusively launched her range of swimwear, "H&M loves Kylie".
The first location in Shanghai, China, was opened in 2007.[citation needed]
The first Japanese store was opened in Ginza on 13 September 2008, while a second store was opened in Harajuku in November 2008. Another store was opened in the Shibuya shopping district on 19 September 2009.[10]
On 25 February 2009, the company announced that it had signed an agreement to open its first store in South Korea, located in the Myeongdong district of Seoul, and that it was scheduled to open during Spring 2010.[11]
The company will open the first store in Singapore in Autumn 2011, to be located on Orchard Road.[12]
Europe[link]
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Its first non-Swedish store was opened in Norway in 1964,[13] and from then onwards, the company embarked upon a major expansion program opening many further stores in Europe, including Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The first H&M store to open outside of Scandinavia was in the United Kingdom, in 1976[14]. And this year H&M is planning to go back north - the opening of two new stores in Riga is announced[15].
In the 1990s, its first stores opened in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Spain. In Portugal the first store opened in 2003, in Chiado, Lisboa. The company has continued to expand its business and the company has an extensive network throughout much of Europe. Germany is the company's largest market (with 377 stores as of 2011), followed by the United Kingdom (with 192 stores as of 2011) and then Sweden (with 168 stores as of 2011).[14]
In Europe, online shopping is available in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria and the UK.
Croatia[link]
Croatia is the second European country that isn't in The European Union where H&M opened their store. On 7 and 14 April 2011, first two stores were opened in Croatia in the exclusive Cvjetni shopping center in Zagreb and in the Arena Centar, near the Zagreb Arena. On 25 August 2011 store was opened in City Center One, Split, on 8 September 2011 store was opened in Zadar and on 15 September 2011 store was opened in City Center One, Zagreb. On 20 October 2011 store was opened in Westgate Shopping City.
Russia[link]
On 13 March 2009, the company opened its first location in Russia, in the Metropolis mall in Moscow, near the Moscow Metro Voykovskaya station. On 20 March 2009, it opened a second Russian location in the MEGA Family Shopping Centre in Khimki. On 22 October 2009, a third location opened in the MEGA Family Shopping Centre in Belaya Dacha. On 18 October 2009, a store was opened in Rostokino at the Golden Babylon shopping centre, Europe's largest[citation needed] shopping centre.
North America[link]
Canada[link]
The company opened its first Canadian store in March 2004. There are currently[when?] fifty-six stores in Canada, including Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.
United States[link]
As of August 2010, the company had nearly two hundred individual stores in the United States.[citation needed]
It had opened its first U.S. store in New York City, on Fifth Avenue (at 51st Street) in March 2000; as of January 2011, nine additional stores in city's Manhattan borough alone.[citation needed]
On 18 March 2010, the company opened its first store in North Carolina at the Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh.[citation needed]
In October 2010, plans were announced for it to open its first Texas location in Dallas.[16] The Dallas store opened 19 August 2011 at the North Park Mall off of 75 in North Dallas. http://www.wfaa.com/news/consumer/H--M-store--128026228.html
The company opened in The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on 5 November 2010.[citation needed]
On 11 November 2010, it opened its first Oregon location at the Pioneer Place in Portland.[citation needed]
In 2011, H&M opened a flagship store in Denver, Colorado and also announced that it would open other locations in the Carolinas in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[17]
Online Shopping
On 27 January 2011, H&M announced through its official Twitter account that there will be online shopping available to USA customers at the turn of 2011/2012.[citation needed]
Oceania[link]
Australia[link]
Although the company as of June 2012 has no stores in Australia, in April 2007, Kylie Minogue teamed up with the company to introduce a swimwear line called, "H&M loves Kylie", featuring a theme of Australia. "When we think of Australia and glamour, we think Kylie, who is such a stylish person," the company's design head Margareta van den Bosch said in a statement.[18]
Marketing[link]
In 2008, the company used the song "Hang On" by British singer-songwriter Lettie as background music to its UK website. Their fashions have been featured in an interactive fashion art film by Imagine Fashion called Decadent Control. It premiered in March 2011 and stars Roberto Cavalli, Kirsty Hume, Eva Herzigová and Brad Kroenig.
Guest-designer collaborations[link]
In November 2004, selected company stores offered an exclusive collection by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The press reported large crowds and that the initial inventories in the larger cities were sold out within an hour,[19] although the clothes were still available in less-fashion-sensitive areas until the company redistributed them to meet with demand.[20]
In November 2005, the company launched a collection by Stella McCartney and, in November 2006, by avant-garde Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf.
In March 2007, it launched another collaboration designed by the pop star Madonna.[21] In June 2007 the company worked with game developers Maxis to create a stuff pack for the latter's The Sims 2 computer game, H&M Fashion Stuff.[22]
In November 2007, the company launched a collection by Italian designer Roberto Cavalli. It was reported that the clothing sold out very quickly. Also in 2007, another design with Kylie Minogue was launched in Shanghai, China.[18] In the fall of 2008 the Japanese company Comme des Garçons was selected as guest designer.
For spring and summer 2009, the British designer Matthew Williamson created two exclusive ranges for the company – the first being a collection of women's clothes released in selected stores. The second collection saw Williamson branch into menswear for the first time, only in selected stores. The second collection also featured swimwear for men and women and was available in every company store worldwide.[23]
On 14 November 2009, the company released a limited-edition diffusion collection by Jimmy Choo featuring shoes and handbags, ranging from £30 to £170 including a range of men's shoes. The collection also included clothing designed by Choo for the first time, many garments made from suede and leather, and was available in 200 stores worldwide, including London's Oxford Circus store.[24] Sonia Rykiel also collaborated with the company, by designing a ladies knitwear and lingerie range that was released in selected company stores on 5 December 2009.
For Fall 2010, the company collaborated with French fashion house Lanvin[25] for its 2010 guest designer.
For Spring/Summer 2011, the company collaborated with fashion blogger Elin Kling, which was available at selected stores only.
In June 2011, H&M announced a collaboration plan with Versace, that was released on November 19. Versace is also planning a Spring collaboration with H&M that will only be available in countries with online sales.[26]
In November 2011, H&M announced a collaboration plan with Marni, to be launched in March 2012. The campaign will be directed by award-winning director Sofia Coppola.[27].
On October 4th 2012, Japanese Vogue editor Anna Dello Russo will launch an accessories collection at H&M as Paris Fashion Week draws to an end. The collection will be stocked in 140 H&M stores worldwide and also be sold through the H&M website[28]
Brand[link]
The branding consultancy Interbrand ranked the company as the twenty-first most-valuable global brand in 2009 and 2010,[29] making it the highest-ranked retailer in the survey. Its worth is estimated at $12–16 billion.[30][31]
The full company name Hennes & Mauritz was rebranded to H&M to simplify worldwide perception of the brand.[when?]
The company owns the two-letter domain hm.com. The domain was registered in the early 1990s, but data on the first registration is lost. In 1998 Hennes & Mauritz was able to buy the domain hm.com from a company called A1 in a non-published domain transaction.[32]
Home furnishing[link]
In a press release, the company announced that it would begin selling home furnishings.[33] As of 2009, it was distributed exclusively by the company's internet catalog, so it is only available in countries where H&M is sold online, such as Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK.
Controversies[link]
On 6 January 2010, it was reported that unsold clothing and other items in one New York City store are cut up before being discarded, presumably to prevent resale or use.[34]
In August 2011, nearly 300 workers passed out in one week at a Cambodian factory supplying H&M. Fumes from chemicals, poor ventilation, malnutrition and even "mass hysteria" have all been blamed for making workers ill. The minimum wage in Cambodia is the equivalent of just $66 (£42) a month, a level that human rights groups say is almost half that required to meet basic needs.[35]
On January 24th, 2012, H&M was reported to have stolen an artist's work, using it on multiple items without compensating the artist.[36]
See also[link]
References[link]
- ^ a b c d "Annual Results 2010". Hennes & Mauritz. http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/13/7F/61/wkr0005.pdf. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
- ^ "Facts about H&M". HM.com.
- ^ Kensuke Kojima (2011). Uniqlo Syndrome. Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha. ISBN 4-492-76191-8 Tenkai Japan. ASIN: B004PYDPOK.
- ^ "The world of H&M - Our sales markets". HM.com. http://about.hm.com/content/hm/AboutSection/en/About/Facts-About-HM/About-HM/Sales-Markets.html.
- ^ a b "Middle East and Northern Africa". HM.com. http://about.hm.com/content/hm/AboutSection/en/About/Facts-About-HM/About-HM/Sales-Markets/Middle-East-Northern-Africa.html.
- ^ "Asia". HM.com. http://about.hm.com/content/hm/AboutSection/en/About/Facts-About-HM/About-HM/Sales-Markets/Asia.html.
- ^ "Europe". HM.com. http://about.hm.com/content/hm/AboutSection/en/About/Facts-About-HM/About-HM/Sales-Markets/Europe.html.
- ^ "North America". HM.com. http://about.hm.com/content/hm/AboutSection/en/About/Facts-About-HM/About-HM/Sales-Markets/North-America.html.
- ^ Staff writer (12 March 2010). "First H&M Store In Israel Opens". The Financial. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ^ Another store in Shin Misato, Saitama Prefecture was also opened in the Lala Port Shopping Mall."Carter Associates".
- ^ Press release (25 February 2009). "H&M Opens the First Store in South Korea". H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (via Cision Wire). Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ^ Singapore becomes new H&M-market, H&M, 22 November 2010
- ^ Staff writer (undated). "The World of H&M – Norway". H&M. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ^ a b "The World of H&M" hm.com
- ^ "H&M plans to open two new stores in Riga"
- ^ Halkias, Maria (27 October 2010). "H&M Opening First Texas Store at Dallas' NorthPark Center". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
- ^ Staff Reports (24 June 2011). "Fashion retailer H&M coming to Hanes Mall". Greensboro News & Record. http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/06/24/article/fashion_retailer_hm_coming_to_hanes_mall. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- ^ a b "Australian Singer Kylie Minogue Chosen for H&M Beachwear Campaign – EnjoyFashion".
- ^ "Designplagg Tog Slut På en Timme" (in Swedish language).
- ^ "H&M för Snobbigt för Lagerfeld" (in Swedish language).
- ^ "H&M – Press", 30 November 2010
- ^ "The Sims(tm) 2 H&M Fashion Stuff". http://thesims2.ea.com/about/sp5_index.php. Retrieved 25 December 2007.
- ^ H&M – Fashion. Hm.com (25 November 2008). Retrieved 31 December 2010.
- ^ "Jimmy Choo – Press Release". Cision Wire. http://www.cisionwire.com/h---m-hennes---mauritz-ab/jimmy-choo-brings-glamour-to-h-m-this-autumn. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
- ^ "Lanvin for H&M – Press Release". 30 November 2010. http://www.hm.com/us/press/pressreleases/fashion__prfashion.nhtml.
- ^ "H&M – Press Release". Cision Wire. http://www.cisionwire.com/h---m-hennes---mauritz-ab/r/versace-to-design-iconic-collection-for-h-m-this-autumn,c9137227. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/bluecarreon/2011/11/29/marni-for-hm-collaboration-for-spring-2012/ Marni For H&M Collaboration For Spring 2012, 29 November 2011.
- ^ "Anna Dello Russo to design an accessories range for H&M". 03 May 2012. http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/olivia-bergin/TMG9242698/Anna-Dello-Russo-to-design-an-accessories-range-for-HandM.html.
- ^ 2010 Ranking. Interbrand
- ^ Interbrand, Best Global Brand List.
- ^ "BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009".
- ^ VB.com "Internet Hall of Fame – History of the HM.com Internet Address".
- ^ "H&M Home Fashions". H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB. 28 November 2008. http://www.hm.com/us/press/pressreleases/fashion/fashionpressrelease.ahtml?pressreleaseid=741&nodeid=334. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
- ^ (Registration required) Dwyer, Jim (6 January 2010). "A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06about.html?ref=nyregion. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
- ^ "Cambodian workers hold 'people's tribunal' to look at factory conditions". The Guardian. 2 February 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/02/cambodian-workers-peoples-tribunal-factory. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ "Update: H&M is Still Awesome". regretsy.com. 3 February 2012. http://www.regretsy.com/2012/02/03/update-h-m-is-still-awesome/. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
External links[link]
- hm.com, the company's official website
- Hennes en Mauritz news and facts FashionUnited
- COS by H&M
- Collection of past and present H&M advertising at Adbrands.net
- Yahoo! – H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB Company Profile
- social reports
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Martin Margiela (born April 9, 1957 in Genk, Belgium) is a Belgian fashion designer. He studied at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts along with the legendary avantgarde fashion collective the Antwerp Six. Many[who?] still consider him to be the "7th" member of the collective.
Contents |
Life and work[link]
After graduation in 1980 he worked as a freelance designer for five years. Between 1985 and 1987 he worked for Jean Paul Gaultier, before showing his first collection under his own label in 1989. Between 1997 to 2003 he became, despite his non-traditional design, the creative director of the Hermès women's line.
During the 1980s, the Japanese avantgardists, with Rei Kawakubo—creator of the label Comme des Garçons—had turned the fashion scene upside-down with their eccentric and ground-breaking designs. Martin Margiela and the Antwerp Six would carry on the work, revolting against the luxurious fashion world with garments of oversized proportions such as long arms, and with linings, seams and hems on the outside. The concept of deconstruction, also embraced by the aforementioned Rei Kawakubo, is important for the understanding of Martin Margiela's fashion statement. Margiela famously redesigns by hand objects such as old wigs, canvases and silk scarves into couture garments.
Throughout his career, Martin Margiela has maintained an extremely low profile. He has never had his picture taken and remains backstage after his shows. All media contact is dealt with via fax. Maison Martin Margiela’s ultradiscreet trademark consists of a piece of cloth with the numbers 0-23 (see table below). The badge is attached to the inside with its four little white pick stitches, exposed to the outside on unlined garments. For the 20'th anniversary the anonymous tag was replaced by a classic logotype.
Margiela's brand was acquired by the Diesel brand in 2002 and industry insiders quoted in the article suggested that Martin Margiela may desire to leave due to creative differences, or simply, "... a desire to enjoy his life outside the insistent glare of the fashion world."
An article in New York Times dated October 1, 2008, gave many in the fashion world their first glimpse of Margiela's face, as well as breaking the news that he allegedly offered to hand the reins of his company over to Raf Simons, who appears to have declined the offer. Haider Ackermann was later offered the position as creative director, but similarly turned it down.
In October, 2009, Margiela majority stakeholder Renzo Rosso finally made public: "Martin has not been there for a long time. He is here but not here. We have a new fresh design team on board. We are focusing on young, realistic energy for the future; this is really Margiela for the year 2015."
A press release announced in December, that Margiela "has left the business. No replacement creative director will be appointed. Maison Martin Margiela will continue trading but the company declined to comment on the reasons for Margiela’s exit."[1]
References[link]
- ^ Oxberry, Eve, "Martin Margiela exits Margiela", DRAPERS / drapersonline.com, 9 December 2009
Further reading[link]
- Menkes, Suzy (6 September 1994). "Martin Margiela". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/06/style/06iht-fmargiela.html. Retrieved 6 December 2009. [dead link]
- Wilson, Eric (1 October 2008). "Fashion’s Invisible Man". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/fashion/shows/02MARGIELA.html?fta=y&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
- Walker, Harriet (6 December 2009). "Out of sight, not out of mind: Celebrating two decades of Martin Margiela magic". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/out-of-sight-not-out-of-mind-celebrating-two-decades-of-martin-margiela-magic-1832810.html. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
External links[link]
- Martin Margiela designer profile at Fashion Model Directory
- A MAGAZINE curated by Maison Martin Margiela
- A BLOG curated by Maison Martin Margiela
- Biography from ArtandCulture.com
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Margiela, Martin |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Belgian fashion designer |
| Date of birth | 9 April 1957 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
