- published: 13 Jul 2007
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Aarhus
Aarhus (Danish pronunciation: [ˈɒːhuːˀs] (
listen)) is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark. Aarhus is the seat of the council of Aarhus municipality with 315,193 inhabitants and 252,213 (1 January 2012) in the inner urban area. According to Aarhus municipality, the "Greater Aarhus" area has a population of about 1.2 million people. The city claims the unofficial title "Capital of Jutland".
Aarhus is the main and biggest city in the East Jutland metropolitan area (Danish: Byregion Østjylland), which is a co-operation in eastern Jutland with 17 municipalities. With more than 1.2 million people living in the East Jutland metropolitan area it represents approximately 23% of the population of Denmark. Aarhus has the second-largest urban area in Denmark after Copenhagen.
The city was mentioned for the first time by Adam of Bremen who stated that "Reginbrand, bishop of the church of Aarhus (Harusa)" participated in a church meeting in the city of Ingelheim in Germany.
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Adana
Adana (pronounced [aˈda.na]) is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea, in south-central Anatolia. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province and has a population of 1.6 million, making it the fifth most populous city in Turkey. Adana-Mersin metropolitan area, with a population of 3 million, stretches over 100 km from east to west and 25 km from north to south; encompassing the cities of Mersin, Tarsus, Adana, and Ceyhan.
Adana lies in the heart of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region that covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye, and Hatay. Home to approximately six million people, the region is mostly a large stretch of flat, fertile land regarded as one of the most agriculturally productive areas of the world.
According to numerous sources, the name Adana is derived from the Hittite URUAdaniya of Kizzuwatna, while others assert that it is related to the legendary character Danaus, or to the Danaoi, a mythological Greek tribe who came from Egypt[citation needed] and established themselves in the Greek city Argos.The earlier Egyptian texts for a country Danaja are inscriptions from Thutmosis II (1437 BC) and Amenophis III (1390-1352 BC). After the collapse of the Mycenean civilization (1200 BC) some refugeees from the Aegean area went to the coast of Cilicia. The inhabitants Dananayim or Danuna are identified as one group of the sea-peoples who attacked Egypt on 1191 BC during the reign of Ramesses III. Denyen are identified as inhabitants of the city Adana. It is also possible that the name is connected with the PIE da-nu (river) Da-na-vo (people living by the river), Scythian nomad people, water demons in Rigveda (Danavas).
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Alexander Column
The Alexander Column (Russian: Алекса́ндровская коло́нна, Aleksandrovskaya kolonna) also known as Alexandrian Column (Russian: Александри́йская коло́нна, Aleksandriyskaya kolonna), is the focal point of Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The monument was erected after the Russian victory in the war with Napoleon's France. The column is named for Emperor Alexander I of Russia, who reigned from 1801–25.
The Alexander Column was designed by the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand, built between 1830 and 1834 with Swiss-born architect Antonio Adamini, and unveiled on 30 August 1834. The monument — the tallest of its kind in the world — is 47.5 m (155 ft 8 in) tall and is topped with a statue of an angel holding a cross. The statue of the angel was designed by the Russian sculptor Boris Orlovsky. The face of the angel bears great similarity to the face of Emperor Alexander I.
The column is a single piece of red granite, 25.45 m (83 ft 6 in) long and about 3.5 m (11 ft 5 in) in diameter. The granite monolith was obtained from Virolahti, Finland and in 1832 transported by sea to Saint Petersburg, on a barge specially designed for this purpose, where it underwent further working. Without the aid of modern cranes and engineering machines, the column, weighing 600 tonnes (661 tons), was erected by 3,000 men under the guidance of William Handyside in less than 2 hours. It is set so neatly that no attachment to the base is needed.
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Alexander Palace
Coordinates: 59°43′16″N 30°23′33″E / 59.721°N 30.3926°E / 59.721; 30.3926
The Alexander Palace (Russian: Александровский дворец) is a former imperial residence at Tsarskoye Selo, on a plateau around 30 minutes by train from St Petersburg. It is known as the favourite residence of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, and his family and their initial place of imprisonment after the revolution that overthrew the Romanov dynasty in early 1917. The Alexander Palace is situated in the Alexander Park, not far from the larger Catherine Palace. Today it is undergoing renovation as a museum housing relics of the former imperial dynasty.
The Alexander Palace was constructed in the Imperial retreat of Tsarskoe Selo.
It was commissioned by Catherine the Great for her favorite grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, the future emperor Alexander I of Russia on the occasion of his marriage to Grand Duchess Elizaveeta Alexeevna, born Princess Luise Marie Augusta of Baden.
The Neoclassical edifice was planned by Giacomo Quarenghi and built between 1792 and 1796. It was agreed that the architect had excelled himself in creating a masterpiece. In 1821, a quarter of a century later, the architect's son wrote:
wn.com/Alexander_Palace -
Alexander Park
Coordinates: 59°57′50″N 30°17′24″E / 59.964°N 30.290°E / 59.964; 30.290
Alexander Park or Alexandrovsky Park (Russian: Алекса́ндровский парк) is a park in Petrogradskaya Storona of Saint Petersburg, Russia, one from the firsts public parks in St. Petersburg.
wn.com/Alexander_Park -
Alexandrov (town)
Alexandrov or Aleksandrov (Russian: Алекса́ндров) is a town in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, 120 kilometers (75 mi) north-east of Moscow. Population: 61,544 (2010 Census preliminary results); 64,824 (2002 Census); 68,220 (1989 Census).
Alexandrov Sloboda (the former name of the settlement) served as the capital of Russia for three months (December 1564 to February 1565) under Tsar Ivan the Terrible until he agreed to return his court and the relics of Moscow which he had taken with him. Ivan agreed to return after the church gave him permission to found the Oprichnina.
It was granted town status in 1778.
Courthouse and the statue of Lenin
Lenin Street
wn.com/Alexandrov_(town) -
Altai Krai
Altai Krai (Russian: Алта́йский край, Altaysky kray) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders with, clockwise from the south, Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative center is the city of Barnaul. Population: 2,419,755 (2010 Census).
The krai's economy depends on agriculture.
Altai Krai has rolling foothills, grasslands, lakes, rivers, and mountains.
The climate is severe with long cold dry winters and hot, usually dry summers. The region's main waterway is the Ob River. The Biya, Katun, and Chuya Rivers are also important. The biggest lakes are Lake Kulundinskoye, Lake Kuchukskoye, and Lake Mikhaylovskoye.
Altai Krai has huge reserves of raw materials, especial materials used for building, as well as significant mineral reserves. These include nonferrous metals, lead and iron ores, manganese, tungsten, molybdenum, bauxite, and gold. Forests cover about 60,000 km² of the krai's land. See also Geography of South-Central Siberia.
wn.com/Altai_Krai -
Altai Republic
Altai Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Алта́й, Respublika Altay; Altay: Алтай Республика, Altay Respublika) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the town of Gorno-Altaysk. The area of the republic is 92,600 square kilometers (35,800 sq mi). Population: 206,168 (2010 Census).
The national autonomy for the Altai people was created on June 1, 1922 as Oyrot Autonomous Oblast (Ойро́тская автоно́мная о́бласть), part of Altai Krai. The original name for this region was Bazla. On January 7, 1948 it was renamed Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast (Го́рно-Алта́йская автоно́мная о́бласть). In 1991 it was reorganized into the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR). In 1992 it was renamed as the Altai Republic.
The republic is situated in the very center of Asia at the junction of Siberian taiga, steppes of Kazakhstan and semi-deserts of Mongolia. Forests cover about 25% of the republic's territory.
More than 20,000 tributaries sprawl throughout the mountainous Republic, making for a total of more than 60,000 kilometers (37,000 mi) worth of waterways. The republic's largest rivers are the Katun and the Biya, both of which originate in the mountains and flow northwards. The junction of the two rivers eventually forms the Ob River, one of the longest rivers in Siberia, which flows northward to the Arctic Ocean.
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Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast (Russian: Аму́рская о́бласть, tr. Amurskaya oblast; IPA: [ɐˈmurskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), situated on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, the Heilongjiang province of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky Krai in the west. Population: 830,103 (2010 Census).
Amur Krai (Аму́рский край) or Priamurye (Приаму́рье) were unofficial names for the Russian territories by the Amur River used in the late Russian Empire that approximately correspond to modern Amur Oblast.
The administrative center of the oblast, the city of Blagoveshchensk, is one of the oldest settlements in the Russian Far East, founded in 1856. It is a traditional center of trade and gold mining. The territory is accessed by two railroads, the Trans-Siberian railway and the Baikal Amur Mainline.
The Stanovoy Range forms the dividing line between the Sakha Republic and Amur Oblast and spreads across the oblast's entire northern border. Dwarf Siberian pine and alpine tundra grow at higher elevations on these mountains and larch forests with small stands of flat-leaved birch and pine forests grow alongside the river plains. The Zeya River begins in these mountains in the northeast. The middle reaches of this great river were dammed to create the huge Zeysky Reservoir, which sprawls over 2,500 square kilometres (970 sq mi) between the Stanovoy Range and a southern parallel range running across the center of the oblast. The low lands between these two mountain ranges make up the Upper Zeysky Plain, which is primarily marshland with larch and pine forests. South of the second ridge is the vast Amur River plain which covers up to 40% of the oblast.
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Anichkov Bridge
The Anichkov Bridge (Russian: Аничков мост, Anichkov Most) is the first and most famous bridge across the Fontanka River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The current bridge, built in 1841-42 and reconstructed in 1906-08, combines a simple form with some spectacular decorations. As well as its four famous horse sculptures (1849–50), the bridge has some of the most celebrated ornate iron railings in Saint Petersburg. The structure is mentioned in the works of Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoevsky.
The first bridge was built in 1715-16 by order of Peter the Great, and named after its engineer, Mikhail Anichkov. The bridge was made of wood with several spans built on piles of supports lying just above the Fontanka River. It was designed by Domenico Trezzini.Nothing remains of this first bridge.
As the city grew and river traffic increased, plans were unveiled in 1721 to create a new drawbridge. The Anichkov Bridge was one of seven three-span stone drawbridges with towers built across the Fontanka River in the late 18th century, of which the Lomonosov Bridge and the Stary Kalinkin Bridge are the two still extant. At that time, the Anichkov Bridge was an especially popular attraction on Nevsky Prospekt, as well as a popular subject for illustrations and paintings.
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Anichkov Palace
Anichkov Palace (Russian: Аничков дворец, Aníchkov dvorets) is a former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, at the intersection of Nevsky Avenue and the Fontanka.
The palace, situated on the plot formerly owned by Antonio de Vieira, takes its name from the nearby Anichkov Bridge across the Fontanka. Designed for the Empress Elizabeth of Russia in a dazzling Baroque style, the palace came to be known as the most imposing private residence of the Elizabethan era. Some suggest architects Bartolomeo Rastrelli and Mikhail Zemtsov were responsible for the design, though it's yet to be substantiated. The main frontage faces the river and was originally connected to it by a Canal.
Construction works continued for thirteen years and, when finally finished in 1754, the palace was presented by the Empress to her favourite and likely spouse, Count Aleksey Razumovsky. After his death, the palace reverted to the crown, only to be donated by Catherine the Great of Russia to her own favourite, Prince Potemkin, in 1776. The architect Ivan Starov was charged with extensive renovations of the palace in the newly-fashionable Neoclassical style, which was effected in 1778 and 1779. Simultaneously a regular park was laid out by an English garden architect, William Hould.
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Aqaba
Aqaba (Arabic: العقبة, Al-ʻAqabah) is a coastal city in the far south of Jordan, the capital of Aqaba Governorate at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. Aqaba is best known today as a diving and beach resort, but industrial activity remains important to the area, and the town is an exporter of phosphate and some shells. Aqaba is also the largest city on the Gulf of Aqaba.
Aqaba has been an inhabited settlement since 4000 BC profiting from its strategic location at the junction of trading routes between Asia, Africa, and Europe. The early settlement was presumably Edomite in ancient times. It was a centre of the Edomites, and then of the Arab Nabataeans, during the first century B.C. who populated the region extensively. The oldest known text in Arabic alphabet is an inscription found in Jabal Ram 50 km east of Aqaba.
The Bible refers to the area in (1 Kings 9:26) "King Solomon also built ships in Ezion-Geber, which is near Ayla in Edom, on the shores of the Red Sea." This verse probably refers to an Iron Age port city on the same ground as modern Aqaba.
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Argentina
Argentina
i/ˌɑrdʒənˈtiːnə/, officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina [reˈpuβlika aɾxenˈtina]), is a country in South America, the continent's second largest by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.
Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentine claims over Antarctica, as well as overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, are suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. Argentina also claims the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom as British Overseas Territories.
A recognised middle power, Argentina is Latin America's third-largest economy, with a "very high" rating on the Human development index. Within Latin America, Argentina has the fifth highest nominal GDP per capita and the highest in purchasing power terms. Analysts have argued that the country has a "foundation for future growth due to its market size, levels of foreign direct investment, and percentage of high-tech exports as share of total manufactured goods", and it is classed by investors as middle emerging economy. Argentina is a founding member of the United Nations, Mercosur, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, and is one of the G-15 and G-20 major economies.
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Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk (Russian: Архангельск; IPA: [ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk]), formerly known in English as Archangel, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over 40 kilometers (25 mi) along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Arkhangelsk was the chief seaport of medieval Russia, until 1703. It is served by the Talagi Airport and a smaller Vaskovo Airport. The city is located at the northern end of a 1,133-kilometer (704 mi) long railroad, connecting it to Moscow via Vologda and Yaroslavl. Population: 348,716 (2010 Census preliminary results); 356,051 (2002 Census); 415,921 (1989 Census).
The area where Arkhangelsk is situated was known to the Vikings as Bjarmaland. Ohthere of Hålogaland told from his travels circa 800 of an area by a river and the White Sea with many buildings. This was probably the place later known as Arkhangelsk. According to Snorri Sturluson, there was a Viking raid on this area in 1027, led by Thorir Hund.
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Arkhangelsk Oblast
Arkhangelsk Oblast (Russian: Арха́нгельская о́бласть, Arkhangelskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea.
Arkhangelsk Oblast also has administrative jurisdiction over Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Nenetsia). Including Nenetsia, Arkhangelsk Oblast has an area of 587,400 km². Population (including Nenetsia): 1,227,626 (2010 Census).
The city of Arkhangelsk, with a population of 348,716 as of the 2010 Census, is the administrative center of the oblast. The second largest city is the nearby Severodvinsk, home to Sevmash, the main shipyard for the Russian Navy.
Among the oldest cities of the region are Kholmogory, Kargopol, and Solvychegodsk; there are a number of Russian Orthodox monasteries, including the Antoniev Siysky Monastery and the World Heritage Site of the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is one of three spaceports in Russia (the other two are Kapustin Yar in Astrakhan Oblast and Svobodny in Amur Oblast).
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Armenia
Armeniai/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.
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Astana
Astana (Russian/Kazakh: Астана, formerly known as Akmola (Kazakh: Ақмола / Aqmola, until 1998), Целиноград / Tselinograd until 1992) and Akmolinsk (Russian: Акмолинск, until 1961), is the capital and second largest city (after Almaty) of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010. It is located in the north-central portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area.
The current mayor of Astana is Imangali Tasmagambetov. He was appointed on 4 April 2008.
The word Astana in Kazakh literally means Capital but the word itself originates from Persian Astane (Persian: آستانه means "sublime threshold," "royal porte" implying a royal capital city or a holy shrine town, (from the Persian verb Istadan (آستان) 'to stand' (in respect)), and literally means "threshold" (royal or sacred, where people stand in respect or awe),[citation needed] implying where the court is seated (the capital city) or the body of a sacred person is interred (a shrine town). The city of Turkistan in Kazakhstan that hosts the body of the saint Ahmad Yasavi is also called the "astana" as is the city of Mashhad in Iran that is the burial place of the 8th Shiite Imam Reza. In fact, long before becoming the new capital of Kazakhstan, the city was "an astana," a burial ground of a saint, hence the old name of the city, Ak Mola (Ақмола), "white mausoleum."
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Astrakhan Oblast
Astrakhan Oblast (Russian: Астраха́нская о́бласть, Astrakhanskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan. Population: 1,010,073 (2010 Census).
Astrakhan is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
Population: 1,010,073 (2010 Census); 1,005,276 (2002 Census); 998,114 (1989 Census).
According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic composition was:
Astrakhan Governorate (guberniya) of the Russian Empire was created in 22th of the Nowember 1717 year by Peter the Great. It was on the southwestern frontier of the empire and was known as Astrakhan krai.
As of 1917, it bordered Saratov, Samara, and Stavropol Governorates, Don Cossack Voisko, Ural Cossack Host, Terek Oblast, and the Caspian Sea. It included the Kalmyk steppe and Kyrgyz steppe.
Since 1919 the geography of the guberniya/oblast has been changed many times. It assumed its present form in 1957.
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Australia
Australia (
/əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
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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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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (
i/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.
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Baku
Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı, IPA: [bɑˈcɯ]), sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City (21.5 ha). Baku's urban population at the beginning of 2009 was estimated at just over two million people. Officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in the metropolitan city area of Baku.
Baku is divided into eleven administrative districts (raions) and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on islands in the Baku Bay and the town of Oil Rocks built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 60 km (37 mi) away from Baku. The Inner City of Baku along with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planet's ranking, Baku is also among the world's top ten destinations for urban nightlife.
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Baltic Shipyard
The Baltic Shipyard (Baltiysky Zavod, formerly Shipyard-189) (Russian: Балтийский завод имени С. Орджоникидзе) is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia. It is located in Saint Petersburg in the south-western part of the Vasilievsky Island. It is one of the three shipyards active in Saint Petersburg. Together with the Admiralty Shipyard it has been responsible for building a large part of Imperial Russian battleships as well as Soviet nuclear powered icebreakers. Currently it is specializing in merchant ships while the Admiralty yard specializes in diesel-electric submarines.
The shipyard was founded in 1856 by the St. Peterburg merchant M. Carr and the Scotsman M. L. MacPherson. It subsequently became the Carr and MacPherson yard. In 1864 it built two monitors of the Uragan class. In 1874 the shipyard was sold to Prince Ochtomski.
In 1934 the shipyard started work on the three prototypes for the Soviet S class submarine, based on a German design produced by the Dutch company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw. The Soviets renamed the shipyard Numbered Zavod 189 'im. Sergo Ordzhonikidze' on 30 December 1936.
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Baltiysk
Baltiysk (Russian: Балти́йск), prior to 1945 known by its German name Pillau (Polish: Piława; Lithuanian: Piliava), is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separating the Vistula Bay from the Gdańsk Bay. Baltiysk is the westernmost town of Russia. Population: 32,670 (2010 Census preliminary results); 33,252 (2002 Census); 27,070 (1989 Census).
The town is a major naval base of the Baltic Fleet and a ferry port on the route to St. Petersburg.
A Prussian fishing village sprang up on the coast at some point in the 13th century, taking its name from pils, the Old Prussian word for "fort". A great tempest created the navigable lagoon in front of the village on 10 September 1510. This fostered the growth of Pillau into an important port of the Duchy of Prussia. A blockhouse was constructed in 1537, followed by a system of storehouses in 1543 and the earliest fortifications in 1550.
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Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital city of and largest urban area in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋ tʰêːp máhǎː nákʰɔ̄ːn] ( listen)) or simply Krung Thep ( listen), meaning "city of angels". Bangkok is by far the most densely populated city in Thailand with about 12 million people. Bangkok was a small trading post near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century. It eventually grew in size and became the site of two capital cities: Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782.
Because of its strategic location in Southeast Asia, Siam (later Thailand) acted as a buffer-zone between the French and British colonial empires. Bangkok itself has gained a reputation as an independent, dynamic and influential city. Bangkok is the political, social and economic centre of Thailand, and one of the leading cities in Southeast Asia.
Due to the 1980s and 1990s Asian investment boom, many multinational corporations make their regional headquarters in Bangkok and the city is a regional force in finance and business. Its increasing influence on global politics, culture, fashion and entertainment underlines its status as an Alpha global city. In 2009, it was the second most expensive city in South-East Asia behind Singapore. The city's many cultural landmarks and attractions in addition to its nightlife venues has made it synonymous with exoticism. Its rapid modernization, reflected in the cityscape and the urban society, has left untouched the historic Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Vimanmek Palace Complex and hundreds of Buddhist temples draw about 10 million international visitors each year, second only to London.
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Barcelona
Barcelona (English /bɑrsɨˈloʊnə/, Catalan: [bərsəˈɫonə], Spanish: [barθeˈlona]) is the capital of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of 101.4 km2 (39 sq mi). The urban area of Barcelona extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of between 4,200,000 and 4,500,000 within an area of 803 km2 (310 sq mi), being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, the Ruhr, Madrid and Milan. About five million people live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. It is also Europe's largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the main component of an administrative area of Greater Barcelona, with a population of 3,218,071 in an area of 636 km² (density 5,060 hab/km²). It is located on the Mediterranean coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs and is bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola ridge (512 m/1,680 ft).
Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona became one of the most important cities of the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions, including the 1888 Exposición Universal de Barcelona, the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition (Expo 1929), the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures, and the 2004 World Urban Forum.
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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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Belgorod Oblast
Belgorod Oblast (Russian: Белгоро́дская о́бласть, Belgorodskaya oblast) is a federal subjects of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Belgorod. Population: 1,532,526 (2010 Census results).
At the turn of the 17th century, a solid line of military fortifications was built in the area, stretching for almost 800 kilometers (500 mi). Ukrainian Cossacks, who moved here because of the nobility and the tax burden, were in charge of the line defenses. Even more Cossacks moved to the area during the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1657) and the internecine wars in the Cossack Hetmanate (1659–1679). Belgorod became the military and administrative center, after originating as an outpost on the southern borders of Russia.
Following the Battle of Poltava, Peter I granted to soldiers of Greater Belgorod the regiment flag.
From 1708 to 1727, the territory of the modern Belgorod Oblast was part of Kiev and Azov Governorates. In 1727, Belgorod Governorate was established from parts of Kiev Governorate. The governorate lasted until 1779. This territory was much greater than that of today, and the governorate incorporated territories of modern Kursk, Oryol, and parts of Bryansk and Kharkiv Oblasts. The coat of arms of the then-Governorate is still used by the modern Belgorod Oblast.
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Bethlehem
Bethlehem (Arabic: بيت لحم Bayt Laḥm (help·info) or Bēt Laḥm, lit "House of Flesh"; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם Bēṯ Leḥem, Modern: Bet Leḥem, IPA: [bet ˈleχem], lit "House of Bread;" Greek: Βηθλεὲμ, Vithleém) is a Palestinian city located in the central West Bank and approximately 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism. The Hebrew Bible identifies Bethlehem as the city David was from and the location where he was crowned as the king of Israel. The New Testament identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. The town is inhabited by one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, although the size of the community has shrunk due to emigration.
The city was sacked by the Samaritans in 529, but rebuilt by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Bethlehem was conquered by the Arab Caliphate of 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb in 637, who guaranteed safety for the city's religious shrines. In 1099, Crusaders captured and fortified Bethlehem and replaced its Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one. The Latin clergy were expelled after the city was captured by Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria. With the coming of the Mamluks in 1250, the city's walls were demolished, and were subsequently rebuilt during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
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Bolshaya Neva
Bolshaya Neva (Russian: Больша́я Нева́) is the largest armlet of Neva river. It starts near the Vasilievsky Island's Strelka (easternmost tip of the island). The length of Bolshaya Neva is 3.5 km, the width is from 200 to 400 meters, depth up to 12.8 meters. Its tributaries are Fontanka, Moyka and Novo-Admiralteysky Canal. There are two bridges across Bolshaya Neva - Palace Bridge and Blagoveshchensky Bridge.
Coordinates: 59°56′02″N 30°16′59″E / 59.934°N 30.283°E / 59.934; 30.283
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Brazil
Brazili/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
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Brest Fortress
Brest Fortress (Belarusian: Брэсцкая крэпасць, Brestskaya krepasts' ; Russian: Брестская крепость, Brestskaya krepost' ; Polish: Twierdza brzeska), formerly known as Brest-Litovsk Fortress (the Polish name of the city was Brześć Litewski), is a 19th century Russian fortress in Brest, Belarus. It is one of the most important Soviet World War II war monuments commemorating the Soviet resistance against the German invasion on June 22, 1941 (Operation Barbarossa). Following the war, in 1965 the title Hero-Fortress was given to the Fortress to commemorate the heroic defence of the frontier stronghold during the very first weeks of the German-Soviet War. It was then part of the Byelorussian SSR. The title Hero-Fortress corresponds to the title Hero City, that has been awarded to the total of twelve Soviet cities.
Originally it was the largest 19th century fortress of the Russian Empire, one of the western Russian fortresses. It is located at the confluence of the Mukhavets and Bug rivers with total area 4 km². Its layout was developed by Russian general K.I.Opperman in 1830 and the initial phase of the construction lasted from 1836 until 1842. The fortifications were then progressively modernized and expanded throughout the 19th century, with forts added around the original fortress. The final works were carried out in 1914, the first year of World War I, culminating in a fortified area 30 km in circumference.
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Bronze Horseman
The Bronze Horseman (Russian: Медный всадник, literally "The Copper Horseman") is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Commissioned by Catherine the Great, it was created by the French sculptor Étienne Maurice Falconet. It is also the name of a narrative poem written by Aleksandr Pushkin about the statue in 1833, widely considered to be one of the most significant works of Russian literature. The statue came to be known as the Bronze Horseman because of the great influence of the poem. The statue is now one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg, in much the same way that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of New York City. Both of them were designed and built by French artists.
The statue's pedestal is the enormous Thunder Stone, claimed to be the largest stone ever moved by man (1,250 t). Before carving, the stone weighed about 1500 tonnes. It was carved during transit to its current site.
The equestrian statue of Peter the Great is situated in the Senate Square (formerly the Decembrists Square), in Saint Petersburg. Catherine the Great, a German princess who married into the Romanov line, was anxious to connect herself to Peter the Great to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. She ordered its construction, and had it inscribed with the phrase Petro Primo Catharina Secunda MDCCLXXXII in Latin and Петру перьвому Екатерина вторая, лѣта 1782 in Russian, both meaning 'Catherine the Second to Peter the First, 1782', an expression of her admiration for her predecessor and her view of her own place in the line of great Russian rulers. Having gained her position through a palace coup, Catherine had no legal claim to the throne and wanted to represent herself as Peter's rightful heir.
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Bryansk Oblast
Bryansk Oblast (Russian: Бря́нская о́бласть, Bryanskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. Population: 1,278,217 (2010 Census results).
The territory of what is now Bryansk Oblast has been inhabited since ancient times by Slavic tribes. In the 9th to 11th centuries they lived along the banks of the Desna and in the forests of the land between the Desna and the Oka River. The city of Bryansk was established in 985.
Bryansk remained poorly attested until the Mongol invasion of Russia. It was the northernmost of the Severian cities in the possession of the Chernigov Rurikids and the principality of Novgorod-Seversky. After Mikhail of Chernigov was murdered by the Mongols and his capital was destroyed, his son moved his seat to Bryansk. In 1310, when the Mongols sacked the town again, it belonged to the principality of Smolensk. After the demise of Chernigov by the Mongols, the Principality of Bryansk was formed. In 1356 Bryansk territory was under the authority of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
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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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Busan
Busan (Officially Busan Metropolitan City), formerly spelled Pusan (Korean pronunciation: [pusan]) is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area (includes adjacent cities of Gimhae and Yangsan) population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the world's fifth busiest seaports by cargo tonnage. The city is located on the southeasternmost tip of the Korean peninsula. The most densely built up areas of the city are situated in a number of narrow valleys between the Nakdong River and Suyeong River, with mountains separating some of the districts. Administratively, it is designated as a Metropolitan City. The Busan metropolitan area is divided into 15 major administrative districts and a single county.
Busan was the host city of the 2002 Asian Games and APEC 2005 Korea. It was also one of the host cities for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and is a center for international conventions in Korea. On November 14, 2005, the city officially announced its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics Games. After Pyeongchang's successful bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, the city is considering its bid to host the 2024 or 2028 Summer Olympics.
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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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Cape Town
Cape Town (Afrikaans: Kaapstad; Xhosa: iKapa) is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is also Africa's most popular tourist destination.
Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling (supply) station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa.
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Catherine Palace
The Catherine Palace (Russian: Екатерининский дворец) was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.
The residence originated in 1717, when Catherine I of Russia engaged the German architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein to construct a summer palace for her pleasure. In 1733, Empress Anna commissioned Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Kvasov to expand the Catherine Palace. Empress Elizabeth, however, found her mother's residence outdated and incommodious and in May 1752 asked her court architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to demolish the old structure and replace it with a much grander edifice in a flamboyant Rococo style. Construction lasted for four years and on 30 July 1756 the architect presented the brand-new 325-meter-long palace to the Empress, her dazed courtiers, and stupefied foreign ambassadors.[citation needed]
During Elizabeth's lifetime, the palace was famed for its lavish exterior.[citation needed] More than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on the roof. It was even rumoured that the palace's roof was constructed entirely of gold. In front of the palace a great formal garden was laid out. It centres on the azure-and-white Hermitage Pavilion near the lake, designed by Zemtsov in 1744, overhauled by Rastrelli in 1749 and formerly crowned by a grand gilded sculpture representing The Rape of Persephone. The interior of the pavilion featured dining tables with dumbwaiter mechanisms. The grand entrance to the palace is flanked by two massive "circumferences", also in the Rococo style. A delicate iron-cast grille separates the complex from the town of Tsarskoe Selo.
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Cebu City
The City of Cebu (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Sugbo) is the capital city of Cebu and is the "second city" in the Philippines with the second most significant metropolitan centre and known as the oldest settlement established by the Spaniards in the country.
The city is located on the eastern shore of Cebu and was the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. Cebu is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. Cebu also holds the second largest international flights in the Philippines and is a significant centre of commerce, trade and industry in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
Cebu City is the centre of a metropolitan area called Metro Cebu, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay. Metro Cebu has a total population of about 2 million people. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu City is only a twenty-minute drive away from Cebu City. To the northeast of the city are Mandaue City and the town of Consolacion, to the west are Toledo City, the towns of Balamban and Asturias, to the south are Talisay City and the town of Minglanilla. Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan Island where Lapu-Lapu City and an aquarium attraction are located.
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Chelyabinsk Oblast
Chelyabinsk Oblast (Russian: Челя́бинская о́бласть, Chelyabinskaya oblast) is a federal subject Russia (an oblast) in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the city of Chelyabinsk. Population: 3,476,217 (2010 Census).
Population: 3,476,217 (2010 Census); 3,603,339 (2002 Census); 3,623,732 (1989 Census).
The oblast is highly urbanized.
The 2010 Census counted the following recognized ethnic groups in Chelyabinsk Oblast:
Source:
Chelyabinsk Oblast has considerable subsurface gold reserves, which are concentrated in ore and placer deposits. The gold deposits are associated with both basement rock and fluvial deposits. Probable reserves are estimated at 500 tons of ore gold and 40 tons of placer gold. The most important nonmetallic minerals in the region in terms of reserves are deposits of graphite, talc, kaolin, and vermiculite (rock raw materials); barite, phosphorite, and glauconite (chemical raw materials); magnesite, quartzite, fluxing limestone, and furnace dolomite (metallurgical raw materials).
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Chesme Church
The Chesme Church (Russian: Чесменская церковь; full name Church of Saint John the Baptist at Chesme Palace, Russian: це́рковь Рождества́ Иоа́нна Предте́чи при Че́сменском Дворце́), also called the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, is a small Russian Orthodox church at 12 Lensoveta Street, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built by the Russian court architect Yury Felten in 1780 at the direction of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. A memorial church, it was erected adjacent to the Chesme Palace between Saint Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo to commemorate the anniversary of Russia's 1770 victory over Turkish forces in Chesme Bay (Turkish: Çeşme) in the Aegean Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774.
The church and Chesme Palace were the earliest Neo-Gothic constructions in the St Petersburg area. Considered by some to be St Petersburg's single most impressive church, it is a rare example of very early Gothic Revival influence in Russian church architecture.
The church was named "The Church of the Birth of St. John the Baptist" as it was consecrated on the birthday of John the Baptist. As it was built to honour the Battle of Chesma which the Russians won in 1770, the church is also popularly known as the "Chesme Church."
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Chesme Column
The Chesme Column (Russian: Чесменская колонна) in Tsarskoye Selo commemorates three Russian naval victories in the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774, specifically the Battle of Chesma. It was constructed in the Large Pond of the Landscape Park of the Catherine Palace to Rinaldi's designs over the years 1774-78. The column should not be confused with the Chesme Obelisk in Gatchina.
The monument is a Doric rostral column of white-and-pink marble, decorated with ship bows rostra and crowned by a bronze figure of an eagle (symbol of Russia) trampling a crescent (symbol of Turkey). The column stands on a red marble pedestal lined with bronze bas-reliefs illustrating the Russian victories: these were destroyed by the Germans during the World War II and subsequently restored from old photographs. The pedestal rests on a stepped pyramid-like granite platform.
Catherine II strolling in the park at Tsarskoye Selo with the Chesme Column in the background
Marble Bridge in Tsarskoe Selo (1774). The Chesme Column may be seen in the distance
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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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Chungcheongbuk-do
Coordinates: 36°45′N 127°45′E / 36.75°N 127.75°E / 36.75; 127.75
North Chungcheong Province, or Chungcheongbuk-do, is a province in the centre of South Korea. It was formed in 1896 from the northeastern half of the former Chungcheong province. The provincial capital is Cheongju.
The province is part of the Hoseo region, and is bounded on the west by Chungcheongnam-do province, on the north by Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do provinces, on the south by Jeollabuk-do province, and on the east by Gyeongsangbuk-do. Chungcheongbuk-do is the only land-locked province in South Korea. The province is mostly mountainous, dominated by the Noryeong Mountains to the north and the Sobaek Mountains to the east.
It is also the only true landlocked province in the Republic of Korea.
Agricultural products includes rice, barley, beans, and potatoes, but the province specializes in ginseng and tobacco. The tobacco was introduced from the US in 1912, transplanted from Virginia.
There are mineral reserves of gold, iron, coal, steatite, fluorite, and molybdenum, as well as marble and limestone in the northern part of the province. Silk weaving plays an important role.
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Chuvash Republic
The Chuvash Republic (Russian: Чува́шская Респу́блика — Чува́шия; Chuvash: Чăваш Республики — Чăваш Ен), or Chuvashia (Чува́шия) for short, is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). It is the homeland of the Chuvash people. Its capital is the city of Cheboksary. Population: 1,251,619 (2010 Census).
The Chuvash Republic is located in the center of the European part of Russia, in the heart of the Volga-Vyatka region, midway between Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. The republic is not large, but is one of the most densely populated regions in the Russian Federation, with a total population of 1.35 million.
It is bordered by the Mari El Republic in the north, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in the west, the Republic of Mordovia in the southwest, Ulyanovsk Oblast in the south, and the Republic of Tatarstan in the east and southeast. Some of the Volga River valley reservoirs are in the north of the republic, and the Sura River flows towards the Volga along much of the republic's western boundary. The republic's central location gives companies located here access to some of the most industrially developed regions of the country.
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Colombo
Colombo (Sinhala: කොළඹ, pronounced [ˈkoləmbə]; Tamil: கொழும்பு) is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins and a population of 647,100. The Colombo Metropolitan Region, defined by the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, has an estimated population of 5,648,000, and covers an area of 3,694.20 km². As per the Provincial Gross Domestic Product-2010, The Western Province, which includes the cities of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara recorded GDP per capita of USD 3,808, the highest recorded GDP per capita for any region in South Asia. It was formerly the political capital of Sri Lanka, before Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.
Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.
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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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Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, (i/ˈkjuːbə/; Spanish: República de Cuba, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] ( listen)) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. To the north of Cuba lies the United States (140 km or 90 mi away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, and gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902. A fragile democracy, increasingly dominated by radical politics eventually evolved, solidified by the Cuban Constitution of 1940, but was definitely quashed in 1952 by former president Fulgencio Batista, and an authoritarian regime was set up, intensifying and catalyzing already rampant corruption, political repression and crippling economic regulations.Batista was ousted in January 1959 by the July 26 movement, and a new administration under Fidel Castro established, which had by 1965 evolved into a single-party state under the revived Communist Party of Cuba, which holds power to date.
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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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Daegu
Coordinates: 35°52′N 128°36′E / 35.867°N 128.6°E / 35.867; 128.6
Daegu (Korean: [tɛɡu]), (대구, 大邱, literally 'large hill') formerly spelled Taegu, and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the surrounding Gyeongsangbuk-do province, although it is not legally part of the province. The two areas combined are often referred to as Daegu-Gyeongbuk, with a total population of over 5 million.
Daegu is located in south-eastern Korea about 80 km from the seacoast, near the Geumho River and its mainstream, Nakdong River in Gyeongsang-do. The Daegu basin, where the city lies, is the central plain of the Yeongnam region, making the city the natural center of the region's politics, economy, and culture.
In ancient times, Daegu was part of the Silla Kingdom which was the first successful attempt to unify the Korean Peninsula. During the Joseon Dynasty period, the city was the capital of Gyeongsang-do which was one of eight provinces of the country. Daegu was an important motor during South Korea's rapid economic growth period (1960s–1980s) and is currently focused on becoming a leading center in Korea for the fashion and high-tech industries. Due to its status as a cultural center, popular nicknames for Daegu include "Apple City", "Beauty City", "Textile City", and "Fashion City".
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Daugavpils
Daugavpils (pronounced [ˈdaʊɡaʊpils] ( listen)) is a city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. Daugavpils literally means "Daugava Castle". With a population of over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some 230 km to its north-west. Daugavpils has a favorable geographical position as it borders Belarus and Lithuania (distances of 33 and 25 km respectively). It is located some 120 km from the Latvian border with Russia. Daugavpils is a major railway junction and industrial centre.
The city is surrounded by many lakes and nature parks.
Historically, several names in various languages have identified Daugavpils. Some are still in use today.
Here is a chronology of name changes:
The city has a moderate continental climate.
As of 1 January 2012, the city had a population of 101,057.
In Daugavpils 55% of the voters supported the proposal to make Russian the second state language in the 2012 referendum.
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Debrecen
Debrecen (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈdɛbrɛtsɛn] ( listen), known by alternative names), is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.
The city was first mentioned by the name "Debrezun" in 1235. Theories say the name is of Cuman origin. In other languages the name of the city is the following : German Debrezin, Serbian Debr(e)cin Slovak Debrecín, Romanian Debreţin.
Debrecen is located on the Great Hungarian Plain, 220 km (137 mi) east of Budapest. Situated nearby is the Hortobágy, a national park within Hungary .
The city used to be somewhat isolated from Budapest, Hungary's main transport hub. However, the completion of the motorway M35 means Budapest can now be reached in under two hours. Debrecen Airport (the second largest in Hungary) has recently undergone modernisation in order to be able to handle more international flights, although almost all flights to and from Hungary still use Budapest's Ferihegy Airport. There's some cities that you can reach from the Debrecen Airport: Milan, Eindhoven and London. The closest airport with scheduled flights in terms of distance is Oradea Airport in Romania 1 hour and 20 minutes away from Debrecen. There have also been improvements to some parts of the railway between the capital and Debrecen as part of Hungary's mainly EU-funded National Development Plan for 2004 to 2006.[citation needed]
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Delhi
Delhi (/ˈdɛli/; locally pronounced Dillee or Dehli), officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest metropolis by population in India. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16.7 million inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census. The region has been given special status of National Capital Region under The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991. There are nearly 22.2 million residents in the greater National Capital Region urban area (which also includes the cities Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon,Sonepat and Faridabad along with other smaller nearby towns).
Delhi is known to have been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BCE, though human habitation is believed to have existed since the second millennium BCE. Delhi is also widely believed to have been the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas during the times of the Mahabharata. Delhi re-emerged as a major political, cultural and commercial city along the trade routes between northwest India and the Gangetic plain after the rise of the Delhi sultanates. It is the site of many ancient and medieval monuments, archaeological sites and remains.
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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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Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.
Medieval castles were usually defended by a ditch or moat, crossed by wooden bridge. In early castles the bridge might be designed to be destroyed or removed in the event of an attack, but drawbridges became very common. A typical arrangement would have the drawbridge immediately outside a gatehouse, consisting of a wooden deck with one edge hinged or pivoting at the gatehouse threshold, so that in the raised position the bridge would be flush against the gate, forming an additional barrier to entry. It would be backed by one or more portcullises and gates. Access to the bridge could be resisted with missiles from machicolations above or arrow slits in flanking towers.
The bridge would be raised or lowered using ropes or chains attached to a windlass in a chamber in the gatehouse above the gate-passage. Only a very light bridge could be raised in this way without any form of counterweight, so some form of bascule arrangement is normally found. The bridge may extend into the gate-passage beyond the pivot point, either over a pit into which the internal portion can swing (providing a further obstacle to attack), or in the form of counterweighted beams that drop into slots in the floor.
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Dushanbe
Dushanbe (Tajik: Душанбе, Dushanbe, Dyushambe until 1929; Stalinabad, Tajik: Сталинабад until 1961), population 679,400 people (2008 est.), is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in Tajik, and the name reflects the fact that the city grew on the site of a village that originally was a popular Monday marketplace.
Situated at the confluence of two rivers, Varzob and Kofarnihon, Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan. Although archaeological remnants dating to the 5th century BC have been discovered in the area, there is little to suggest that Dushanbe was more than a small village until the early 20th century. In 1920, the last Emir of Bukhara briefly took refuge in Dushanbe (then called Dyushambe) after being overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution. He fled to Afghanistan after the Red Army conquered the area the next year.
Dushanbe, which means "Monday" in Persian, (فارسی), developed on the site of a Monday marketplace village, Dyushambe-Bozor, and its former name Dyushambe was a Russified version of the word meaning "Monday" in Persian (du-shanbe from du two + shanbe Saturday, lit. "second day after Saturday"). Following the Red Army victory in Central Asia the village was upgraded to town in 1925 and made the capital of the newly created Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik ASSR). After the transformation of Tajik ASSR to Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR) in 1929, Dyushambe was renamed Stalinabad, after Joseph Stalin. As part of Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization initiative, the city was renamed Dushanbe in 1961.
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Edinburgh
Edinburgh (i/ˈɛdɪnbʌrə/ ED-in-burr-ə; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland and the seat of the Scottish Parliament. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30 square miles (78 km2) rural area. Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea.
The city was one of the historical major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, helping to earn it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of the unique character of the Medieval Old Town and the planned Georgian New Town. It covers both the Old and New Towns together with the Dean Village and the Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In May 2010, it had a total of 40 conservation areas covering 23% of the building stock and 23% of the population, the highest such ratios of any major city in the UK. In the 2011 mid-year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 495,360.
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Esfahān
Isfahan (Persian: اصفهان Esfahān), historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609 and is Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad. The Isfahan metropolitan area had a population of 3,430,353 in the 2006 Census, the second most populous metropolitan area in Iran after Tehran.
The cities of Zarrinshahr, Fooladshahr and Najafabad, Se-deh , Shahin-shahr, Mobarakeh, Falavarjan and chiarmahin all constitute the metropolitan city of Isfahan.
Isfahan is located on the main north-south and east-west routes crossing Iran, and was once one of the largest cities in the world. It flourished from 1050 to 1722, particularly in the 16th century under the Safavid dynasty, when it became the capital of Persia for the second time in its history. Even today, the city retains much of its past glory. It is famous for its Islamic architecture, with many beautiful boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, mosques, and minarets. This led to the Persian proverb "'Esfahān nesf-e jahān ast" (Isfahan is half of the world).
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European route E95
The European route E 95 is a road in Europe and a part of the United Nations International E-road network. Approximately 2,527 kilometers (1,570 mi) long, it connects St Petersburg with Merzifon in north central Turkey. Between its northern terminus in Russia and its southern end, it passes in addition through Belarus and Ukraine. Between the port of Odessa on Ukraine's southern coast and Samsun in Turkey vehicles are required to cross the Black Sea by boat over a distance of 731 kilometers (approximately 455 miles).
Coordinates: 59°50′30″N 30°10′19″E / 59.84167°N 30.17194°E / 59.84167; 30.17194
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Exchange Bridge
Birzhevoy Bridge (also known as Exchange Bridge; Russian: Биржево́й мост) is the bridge across Malaya Neva (distributary of Neva River) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Its length is 239 meters and width is 27 meters. Birzhevoy bridge connects Vasilievsky Island and Petrogradsky Island. It takes its name from the famous Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange (also Bourse, Russian: Биржа) building located on Vasilievsky Island.
Coordinates: 59°56′46″N 30°18′11″E / 59.946°N 30.303°E / 59.946; 30.303
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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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Florence
Florence (Italian: Firenze [fiˈrɛntse] ( listen), alternate obsolete form: Fiorenza; Latin: Florentia) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area.
Florence is famous for its history. A centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time, Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy.
The historic centre of Florence attracts millions of tourists each year, and Euromonitor International ranked the city as the world's 72nd most visited in 2009, with 1,685,000 visitors. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and the city is noted for its history, culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments. The city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace, amongst others, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics.
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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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Galveston, Texas
Galveston ( /ˈɡælvɨstən/) is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 U.S. Census[update], the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of 208 square miles (540 km2). Located within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, the city is the seat and second-largest city of Galveston County in population.
Named after Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez, Galveston's first European settlements on the island were constructed around 1816. The Port of Galveston was established in 1825 by the Congress of Mexico following its successful independence from Spain. The city served as the main port for the Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution and later served as the capital of the Republic of Texas.
During the 19th century, Galveston became a major U.S. commercial center and one of the largest ports in the United States. Galveston is known for the hurricane that devastated the city in 1900. The natural disaster that followed still counts as the deadliest in American history.
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Gatchina
Gatchina (Russian: Га́тчина) is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located 45 kilometers (28 mi) south of St. Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov. Population: 92,566 (2010 Census preliminary results); 88,420 (2002 Census); 79,714 (1989 Census).
It is a part of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
Khotchino (old name of Gatchina) was first documented in 1499, a village in possession of Novgorod the Great, Russia. In the 17th century, in a series of wars, it passed to Livonia, then to Sweden, and was returned to Russia during the Northern War. At that time, Gatchina was a southern vicinity of the new Russian capital, St. Petersburg. In 1708 Gatchina was given by Peter the Great. to his sister Natalia Alekseevna, and after her death, Peter founded an Imperial Hospital and Apothecary here. In 1765, Catherine the Great bought Gatchina with suburban 20 villages, then she granted it to her favourite General Count Orlov. Between 1766 and 1788 Count Orlov built a sombre castle with 600 rooms and laid out an extensive English landscape park over 7 square kilometres, with adjacent zoo and a horse farm. A triumphal arch was erected to a design by the architect of Gatchina, Antonio Rinaldi (1771, built 1777-82), forming a monumental entrance, the gift of Catherine The Great to Count Orlov for his efforts during a recent outbreak of plague at Moscow.
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Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( /ɡəˈdænsk/ or /ɡəˈdɑːnsk/; Polish: [ˈɡdaɲsk]; German: Danzig, pronounced [ˈdantsɪç]) is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the center of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.
The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of over 800,000. Gdańsk itself has a population of 455,830 (June 2010), making it the largest city in the Pomerania region of Northern Poland.
Gdańsk is Poland's principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is also historically the largest city of the Kashubian region. The city is close to the former late medieval/modern boundary between West Slavic and Germanic lands and it has a complex political history with periods of Polish rule, periods of German rule, and extensive self-rule, with two spells as a free city. It has been part of modern Poland since 1945.
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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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Gorokhovaya Street
Gorokhovaya Street (Russian: Горо́ховая у́лица) is a north-south thoroughfare in the Central Business District of Saint Petersburg.
Gorokhovaya Street extends from the Admiralty and runs south, crossing the Moyka River and the Griboyedov Canal, crossing the Garden Street near Sennaya Square. Running south, crossing Fontanka River, it is home to the Semenovsky Bridge. The street ends at Zagorodny Prospect.
Gorokhovaya Street is one of central Saint Petersburg's major thoroughfares. The street is home to the Briantsev Youth Theatre, one of the first professional children's theatres in Russia, opened in 1922.
The nearest metro stations are Sennaya Square and Pushkinskaya.
Rodion Raskolnikov, the main character of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, lived in an apartment house at Gorokhovaya Street. Also, the titular character of Ivan Goncharov's novel Oblomov lives on the same street.
The former name of this street is "Dzerzhinsky Street", named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky.
Coordinates: 59°55′46″N 30°19′14″E / 59.9295°N 30.3205°E / 59.9295; 30.3205
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Gothenburg
Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg; pronounced [jœtəˈbɔrj] ( listen)) is the second largest city in Sweden by population and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 520,374, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 938,580 inhabitants in the metropolitan area. Gothenburg is classified as a global city by GaWC, with a ranking of Gamma−.
The City of Gothenburg was founded in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. It lies by the sea at the mouth of Göta Älv—the river running through the city—and is the largest seaport in the Nordic countries.
Gothenburg is home to many students, as the city includes both the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927. The city is a major centre in Sweden for sports and home to the IFK Göteborg, BK Häcken, GAIS and Örgryte IS association football teams as well as the Frölunda HC ice hockey team.
Gothenburg is served by Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport, located 30 km (18.64 mi) southeast of the city centre. It is the second largest airport in Sweden. The city is also served by Gothenburg City Airport, located 15 km (9.32 mi) from the city centre.
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Grand Hotel Europe
Grand Hotel Europe (Russian: Гранд Отель Европа; known as Hotel Evropeiskaya during the Soviet period) vies with Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel and Hotel Astoria for the title of the most luxurious five-star hotel in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
One of great hotels of the 19th-century Europe, it opened its doors to the public on January 28, 1875, replacing an earlier inn situated on the same site. Its marble-and-gilt interiors, sweeping staircases and elegant furniture have attracted crowds of well-to-do visitors, including Ivan Turgenev, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy, H.G. Wells, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav V of Sweden, Elton John, Jacques Chirac, to name only a few notables who lodged there.
In the 1910s, the hotel was remodelled in the Art Nouveau style to designs by Fyodor Lidval and Leon Benois. The latest major renovation was carried on between 1989 and 1991.
The hotel was featured in the 1995 James Bond movie GoldenEye. However, none of the movie was shot at the hotel, the exterior used was actually the Langham Hotel in London, while the interiors were sets.
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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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Griboyedov Canal
Coordinates: 59°55′58″N 30°19′30″E / 59.9327°N 30.3251°E / 59.9327; 30.3251
Griboyedov Canal or Kanal Griboyedova (Russian: кана́л Грибое́дова) is a canal in Saint Petersburg, constructed in 1739 on the basis of the existing river Krivusha. In 1764–1790, the canal was deepened, and the banks were reinforced and covered with granite.
Griboyedov Canal starts from the Moyka River near the Field of Mars. It flows into the Fontanka River. Its length is 5 km, with a width of 32 m.
Before 1923 it was called Catherine Canal, after the empress Catherine the Great, during whose rule it was deepened. The Communist authorities renamed it after the Russian playwright and diplomat Alexandr Griboyedov.
The canal is also considered a street; Naberezhnaya Kanala Griboyedova (The Griboyedov Canal Quay), although the St. Peterburgians just say Kanal Griboyedova, Griboyedov's Canal.
There are 21 bridges across the canal:
Griboedov Canal appears on the cover of the 2011 contemporary classical album Troika.
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Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡwaðalaˈxaɾa]) is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality. The Guadalajara Metropolitan Area includes seven adjacent municipalities with a reported population of 4,328,584 in 2009, making it the second most populous metropolitan area in Mexico, behind Mexico City. The municipality is the second most densely populated area in Mexico; the first being Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl in State of Mexico.
The city's economy is based on industry, especially information technology with a large number of international firms having manufacturing facilities in the Guadalajara Metro Area. Other, more traditional industries, such as shoes, textiles and food processing are also important contributing factors. Guadalajara is the cultural center of Mexico, considered by most to be the home of Mariachi music and host to a number of large-scale cultural events such as the International Film Festival of Guadalajara and the Guadalajara International Book Fair and a number of globally renowned cultural events which draw international crowds. It is also home to the Chivas football/soccer team, one of the two most popular in Mexico. This city was named American Capital of Culture in 2005. Guadalajara hosted the 2011 Pan American Games and is currently bidding to host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.
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Hai Phong
Hải Phòng ( listen), also Haiphong, is the 3rd largest city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence". Haiphong also names "The City of the Red Flamboyant", because there are a lot of flamboyant trees which are planted in the city. Haiphong is also the largest 1st-class city, and is an economic, industrial, commercial and educational center in Vietnam. With the advantage of having deep-watered ports, maritime transport here is very developed.
Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters (Hai Bà Trưng) in the year 43 C.E. The area which is now known as Duong Kinh District was once known as Hai tan Phong thu ("defensive coastal area"), and served as the second capital of the Mac dynasty (1527–1592). At the end of Nguyen Emperor Tu Duc's reign, the headquarters of An Duong District was also moved to Hang Kenh Communal House, which now belongs to Le Chan district.
In 1881, the city was the site of a devastating typhoon which claimed up to 300,000 lives.
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Haifa
Haifa (Hebrew: חֵיפָה, Hebrew pronunciation: [χeiˈfä], Ḥefa; Arabic: حيفا Ḥayfā) is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher. Together these areas form a contiguous urban area home to nearly 600,000 residents which makes up the inner core of the Haifa metropolitan area. Haifa is a mixed city: 90% are Jews, more than a quarter of whom are immigrants from the former Soviet Union, while 10% are Arabs, predominantly of the Christian religion. It is also home to the Bahá'í World Centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the history of settlement at the site spans more than 3,000 years. The earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE). In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Over the centuries, the city has changed hands: It has been conquered and ruled by the Phoenicians, Persians, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, British, and the Israelis. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the city has been governed by the Haifa Municipality.
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Hamburg
Hamburg ( /ˈhæmbɜrɡ/; German pronunciation: [ˈhambʊɐ̯k], local pronunciation [ˈhambʊɪç]; Low German/Low Saxon: Hamborg [ˈhaˑmbɔːx]), officially Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is the second-largest city in Germany, the thirteenth largest German state, and the sixth-largest city in the European Union. The city is home to over 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg Metropolitan Region (including parts of the neighbouring Federal States of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein) has more than 4.3 million inhabitants. Situated on the river Elbe, the port of Hamburg is the second largest port in Europe (after the Port of Rotterdam) and 11th-largest worldwide.
Hamburg's official name, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg), reflects Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, as a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, and that Hamburg is a city-state and one of the sixteen States of Germany.
Hamburg is a major transport hub in Northern Germany and is one of the most affluent cities in Europe. It has become a media and industrial centre, with plants and facilities belonging to Airbus, Blohm + Voss and Aurubis. The radio and television broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk and publishers such as Gruner + Jahr and Spiegel-Verlag are pillars of the important media industry in Hamburg. In total, there are more than 120,000 enterprises.
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Hanko
Hanko (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈhɑŋko]; Swedish: Hangö), is a bilingual port town and municipality on the south coast of Finland, 130 kilometres (80 mi) west of Helsinki. Its current population is 9,404 (31 January 2012), with a majority being Finnish speakers and a strong minority being Swedish speakers (44%).
Results of the Finnish parliamentary election, 2011 in Hanko:
The Hanko Peninsula, on which the city is located, is the southernmost tip of continental Finland. The soil is a sandy moraine, and vegetation consists mainly of pine and low shrubs, mostly Calluna. Hanko is known for its beautiful archipelago.
The city has a coastline of approximately 130 km (80 mi), of which 30 km (20 mi) are sandy beaches. There are also over 90 small islands and islets within the city limits.
The skyline of Hanko is dominated by the church and the water tower. Both of them received their current appearance after World War II, as their predecessors were either damaged or destroyed by the Soviet Armed Forces.
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Havana
Havana (/həˈvænə/; Spanish: La Habana, [la aˈβana] ( listen)) is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of 726.75 km2 (280.60 sq mi) — making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet and which divides into three main harbours: Marimelena, Guanabacoa and Atarés. The sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay.
Havana was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century and due to its strategic location it served as a springboard for the Spanish conquest of the continent becoming a stopping point for the treasure laden Spanish Galleons on the crossing between the New World and the Old World. King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City in 1592. Walls as well as forts were built to protect the old city. The sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana's harbor in 1898 was the immediate cause of the Spanish-American War.
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Helsinki
Helsinki ( listen (help·info); Swedish: Helsingfors, listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 596,233 (31 January 2012), making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is located some 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of St. Petersburg, Russia and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area includes the city of Helsinki and three other cities: Espoo and Vantaa, which immediately border Helsinki to the west and north, respectively; and Kauniainen, which is an enclave within the city of Espoo. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world's northernmost urban area among those with a population of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of a EU member state. Altogether 1.1 million people, approximately one in five Finns, live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
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Hermitage Theatre
The Hermitage Theatre (Russian: Эрмитажный театр, Ermitazhnïy teatr) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of five Hermitage buildings lining the Palace Embankment of the Neva River.
The palatial theatre was built between 1783 and 1787 at the behest of Catherine the Great to a Palladian design by Giacomo Quarenghi. The crumbling Third Winter Palace of Peter the Great was demolished to make room for the new structure, although its old foundations are still visible in the ground floor. Quarenghi's designs for the theatre were engraved and published in 1787, earning him a European reputation.
The semicircular auditorium is decorated with color marble and surrounded with ten niches for statues of Apollo and the muses. As the interior has never been overhauled, the original stage machinery remains in situ, but the elaborate sets, an acclaimed work of the Italian artist Pietro Gonzaga (1751-1831), were lost during the years of Soviet neglect.
The ceremonial opening of the theatre took place on 22 November 1785. Though the auditorium could seat no more than 250 spectators, it was seldom overcrowded. Usually, the performance would be attended by several dozen aristocratic spectators, all invited by the monarch herself. As a sign of gratitude, a separate loge was reserved for the architect Quarenghi and his family. In the 19th century, selected members of the diplomatic corps were admitted to the theatre as well.
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Hero-City Obelisk
Coordinates: 59°55′52″N 30°21′43″E / 59.931°N 30.362°E / 59.931; 30.362
To Leningrad the Hero City Obelisk is located in Vosstaniya Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which was known as Leningrad from 1924 to 1991. It was installed on Victory Day of May 1985 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Red Army's victory the in the German-Soviet War. The monument was designed by architects V. S. Lukyanov and A. I. Alymov.
The Hero-City Obelisk is pentahedral in shape; its cross section has the shape of a star. In its lower part, the Obelisk is encircled with a bronze wreath covering the joint of the two monoliths. The monument is decorated with bronze high reliefs devoted to the heroic defence of Leningrad while a gold star shines on its top. After the Alexander Column, it is highest stone monument in Saint Petersburg.
When Soviet forces eventually lifted the siege in January 1944, over one million inhabitants of Leningrad had died from starvation, exposure and German shelling. 300,000 soldiers had perished in the defence and relief of Leningrad. Leningrad was awarded the title Hero City in 1945, being the first city to receive that distinction.
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Herzen University
The State Russian Herzen Pedagogical University is one of the largest universities in Russia. Located in Saint Petersburg, it operates 20 faculties and more than 100 departments. Embroidered in its structure are the Institute of Pre-University Courses, the Institute of Continuous Professional Development, and the Pedagogical Research Center. The university is named after the Russian writer and philosopher Alexander Herzen.
The university dates its creation to 13 May [O.S. 2 May] 1797, when Emperor Paul I of Russia gave an independent status to the Saint Petersburg foundling house established by Ivan Betskoy and put it under the patronage of Empress Maria Feodorovna. The Imperial Foundling House eventually developed into the modern Pedagogical University.
Betskoy's humanistic ideas furnished the basic principles of the foundling house. The strong pedagogical traditions and consistency in education were passed from one generation to the next and were finally inherited by The State Russian Herzen Pedagogical University. The foundling house was based in a unique architectural complex: the palaces of the earl Kirill Razumovsky and Aleksey Grigorievich Bobrinsky on the Moyka in present-day Saint Petersburg.
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Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh; listen), formerly named Saigon (Sài Gòn; listen) is the largest city in Vietnam. It was once known as Prey Nokor, an important Khmer sea port prior to annexation by the Vietnamese in the 17th century.
Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochin-china and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1955–75. South Vietnam, as an anti-communist state, fought against the communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, with aid from the United States of America and countries including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Saigon fell when it was captured by the communists on 30 April 1975, bringing an end to the War with its enemy's victory. Vietnam was then turned into a communist state with the South overtaken. On 2 July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after Hồ Chí Minh (although the name Sài Gòn is still commonly used.)
The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, 60 kilometers (37 mi) from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers (1,090 mi) south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
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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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India
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Ingria
The Ingrians are ethnic Finns whose ancestors moved to an area of what is now Russia on the southeast shore of the Gulf of Finland since the 17th century. Historical Ingria (Finnish: Inkeri or Inkerinmaa; Russian: Ингрия, Ижорская земля, or Ингерманландия; Swedish: Ingermanland; Estonian: Ingeri or Ingerimaa) is the geographical area, located along the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and the River Narva on the border with Estonia in the west. Ingria became a province of Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617 that ended the Ingrian War, fought between Sweden and Russia. In 1710, Ingria was designated as the Province of St. Petersburg and in 1927 as Leningrad Province. In the Treaty of Nystad, Ingria was formally transferred back to Russia. Its russification was nearly complete by the 1930s, and today, it is the northwestern anchor of Russia, its "window" on the Baltic Sea, with Saint Petersburg as its center.
The Orthodox Izhorians, along with the Votes, are the indigenous people of historical Ingria (Inkeri in Finnish). However, after the Swedish conquest the Ingrian Finns, descendants of 17th century Lutheran emigrants from present-day Finland became the majority in Ingria.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Irkutsk Oblast
Irkutsk Oblast (Russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of Angara River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is the city of Irkutsk. Population: 2,428,750 (2010 Census).
In the 13th century, the Lake Baikal area came under Mongol influence. Genghis Khan conquered the Merkits and Tatars who were settling in the area by 1227, before going on to expand into wider Central Asia, establishing the Mongol Empire. The Mongols were succeeded by the Northern Yuan in the 14th century.
Russian presence in the area dates to the 17th century, as the Russian Tsardom expanded eastward following the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582.
By the end of the 17th century Irkutsk was a small town, the monasteries were being built, the suburbs and agricultural settlements were being formed.
Since the 18th century in Irkutsk the trades and crafts began to develop, the gold and silver craftsmen, smiths appeared. In relation with the expansion of Russian state to the East from Irkutsk, the city became a capital of enormous territories from the Enisey to the Pacific, it played an important role in the exploration and securing vast Eastern-Siberian and Far-Eastern territories to Russia. Gradually Irkutsk gained more meaning as the main transportation and trade center of Eastern Siberia, it became a center of trade routes from Kamchatka, Chukotka to Yakutia, Mongolia, and China. The administrative meaning of the city increased: it became a center of one fifth of the provinces of Siberia; in 1764 it became a center of independent province.
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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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İstanbul
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.4 million, the city is at the center of the second-largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, and among the world's largest cities by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is considered capital. Straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Istanbul is a transcontinental city, with one third of its population living in Asia but its commercial and historical center in Europe.
Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium on the Seraglio Point, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires — the late classical Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold from which the last caliphate ruled. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital elsewhere, in Ankara, remnants of Istanbul's previous central role still remain highly visible across the city, with palaces and imperial mosques lining its hills.
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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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Ivanovo Oblast
Ivanovo Oblast (Russian: Ива́новская о́бласть, Ivanovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its three largest cities are Ivanovo (the administrative center), Kineshma, and Shuya. Population: 1,061,051 (2010 Census).
The principal center of tourism is Plyos. The Volga River flows through the northern part of the oblast.
Ivanovo Industrial Oblast (Ива́новская Промы́шленная о́бласть) was established on January 14, 1929. On March 11, 1936, the oblast was divided into modern Ivanovo Oblast and Yaroslavl Oblast.
Ivanovo Oblast borders with Kostroma Oblast (N), Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (E), Vladimir Oblast (S), and Yaroslavl Oblast (W).
Industry in Ivanovo Region is subdivided into several main sectors, including the light, chemical and petrochemical, food, forest, peat, engineering and metalworking, power, and building material industries. The primary and most developed sector is light industry, made up of the clothing, knitting, textile, and shoe industries. Companies in this sector employ half of the region's industrial workers. The textile industry, which began developing in the last quarter of the 17th century, is of fundamental importance. Textile companies in the region produce half of Russia's textiles. Engineering occupies an important place in the region's industry. Engineering companies manufacture mobile cranes, looms and machine tools, excavators, combing machinery, instrumentation, and car components. The woodworking and pulp and paper industries also make a significant contribution to the regional economy. Forests of the region serve as a source of raw materials for these industries. The food industry produces a variety of goods that are in demand in many Russian regions, as well as abroad, e.g., sausage, mayonnaise, flour, cereals, canned meats and milk, confectionery, pasta, and alcohol.
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Izhora River
The Izhora (Russian: Ижóра, Finnish: Inkereenjoki), also known as Inger River, is a left tributary of the Neva River on its run through Ingria in northwestern Russia from Lake Ladoga to Gulf of Finland. A settlement of Ust-Izhora (lit. "mouth of Izhora") is situated at the confluence of Izhora and Neva, halfway between Saint Petersburg and Schlisselburg. The town of Kolpino is located on the Izhora as well. The river is noted as the farthest Swedish forces ever reached between the Viking Age and the Time of Troubles.
Izhora's calculated length is 76 kilometers. The river draws its water mainly from natural groundwater springs, snow melt, and rain water. The river has a sustainable underground water supply in both summer and winter, never drying up or freezing through.
Coordinates: 59°48′11″N 30°36′11″E / 59.803°N 30.603°E / 59.803; 30.603
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Japan
Japani/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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Kagul Obelisk
The Kagul Obelisk in Tsarskoye Selo is one of several such structures erected on behest of Catherine II of Russia in 1772 to commemorate Pyotr Rumyantsev's victory in the Battle of Kagul. Designed by Antonio Rinaldi, the dark grey-and-red marble obelisk stands in the landscape park of the Catherine Palace.
The inscription on the pedestal reads: "In memory of the victory at the Kagul River in Moldavia, July 21, 1770, under the command of Count Peter Rumyantsev the Russian army of seventeen thousand caused the Turkish Vizier Galil-Bey and his army of one hundred thousand and a half to flee to the Danube".
Coordinates: 59°42′51.67″N 30°23′31.47″E / 59.7143528°N 30.392075°E / 59.7143528; 30.392075
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Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad (Russian: Калинингра́д; Polish: Królewiec; Lithuanian: Karaliaučius; German: Königsberg; Czech: Královec) is a seaport city and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. The territory, the northern part of the former East Prussia, borders on NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania, and is geographically separated from the rest of Russia.
Originally named Königsberg in German, the town was founded in 1255 by the order of the Teutonic Knights in honour of the Czech king Přemysl Otakar II and was part of Prussia and then of Germany until 1945, but was largely destroyed during World War II. Its ruins were occupied by the Red Army in 1945 and its German population forced out. It was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946 in honor of Mikhail Kalinin.
According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, its population was 431,491—an increase from 430,003 recorded in the 2002 Census. Its ethnic composition is 77.9% Russians, 8.0% Belarusians, 7.3% Ukrainians, 1.9% Lithuanians, 0.6% Germans, and 0.5% Poles.
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Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, Kaliningradskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of 941,873 (2010 Census).
The oblast forms the westernmost part of Russia, but it has no land connection to the rest of the country. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then of the Russian Federation. The fall of the Soviet Union left it isolated from the "mainland". It is surrounded by Lithuania, Poland, and the Baltic Sea. Borderless travel to the main part of Russia is only possible by sea or air. This political isolation became more pronounced when Lithuania and Poland both became members of the European Union and NATO, and entered the Schengen Zone, which means that the oblast is surrounded by the territories of these organizations as well.
The oblast's largest city and the administrative center is Kaliningrad (formerly known as Königsberg), which has historical significance as both a major city of the historical state of Prussia and the capital of the former German province of East Prussia, partitioned after World War II between the USSR and Poland, and renamed after the Soviet Head of State Mikhail Kalinin.
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Kaluga Oblast
Kaluga Oblast (Russian: Калу́жская о́бласть, Kaluzhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga. Population: 1,010,930 (2010 Census).
Kaluga Oblast is located in the central part of the East European Plain. The Smolensk Highland (height—279 meters) lays in the western and north-western part of the oblast, while the Central Russian Highland - in the eastern part. The territory of the oblast is covered by hills, and in some parts by flat plains interspersed by numerous river valleys, hollows, and ravines.
From the north to the south, the territory of the oblast extends for more than 220 km from 53° 30' to 55° 30' N, and from west to the east – by 220 km. The territory of the oblast is 29,900 km².
Kaluga Oblast borders with Bryansk, Smolensk, Moscow, Tula, and Oryol Oblasts.
There are 2,045 rivers with a total length of 11,853 km, of which 256 have a length of more than 10 km each, with a total length of 7,638 km (including the Oka and the Desna), and 1,763 rivers and streams with a length of less than 10 km each, with a total length of 4,215 km. There are also 17 water reservoirs with a water storage capacity of 79 mln m³ (Lyudinovskoe — 30 mln m³, Kirovskoe-Verkhnee — 7.8 mln m³, Brynskoe — 14 mln m³, Yachenskoe — 5 mln m³, Milyatinskoe — 7.6 mln m³, Slobodskoe — 3.7 mln m³). Out of 473 ponds of common use, there are 213 ponds with a water storage capacity of up to 50,000 m3 equipped with basic discharge facilities. The main rivers are: the Oka, the Ugra, the Zhizdra, and the Bolva (all those rivers' names are of Lithuanian language origin).
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Kamchatka Krai
Kamchatka Krai (Russian: Камча́тский край; IPA: [kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj kraj]) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It was formed on July 1, 2007, as a result of the merger of Kamchatka Oblast and Koryak Autonomous Okrug, after a referendum was held on the issue on October 23, 2005. The krai's administrative center is the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The okrug retains the status of a special administrative division of the krai under the name of Koryak Okrug. Population: 322,079 (2010 Census).
Population: 322,079 (2010 Census); 358,801 (2002 Census); 466,096 (1989 Census).
Source:
After nearly two decades, Kamchatka recorded a net natural population growth instead of decline in 2007. However in first half of 2008, the trend was reversed and population decline was observed again, partly due to an increased mortality rate among the rural population.
Ethnic composition (2010):
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Kamenny Island
Coordinates: 59°59′N 30°17′E / 59.98°N 30.29°E / 59.98; 30.29
Kamenny Ostrov, Kamenny Island, or Stony Island (Russian: Каменный остров) is one of the islands in the Neva delta. It is part of Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Peter the Great presented the island to Count Gavriil Golovkin, Chancellor of the Russian Empire. After his family fell into disgrace, the island passed to his successor, Count Aleksei Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin. A decade later, Empress Elizabeth granted it to the future Peter III of Russia.
During the 19th century, the island was home to summer retreats ("dachas") of the Russian royalty and nobility. At the eastern-most tip of the island stands the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, built by Georg von Veldten for Paul I and the Neo-Gothic church of Saint John of Jerusalem (1776–81) constructed in honor of the victory at Chesma and frequented by Alexander Pushkin during his stay at a dacha on Kamenny Ostrov. A cluster of Pushkin's last poems, including his version of Exegi monumentum, date from that period.
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Karelian Isthmus
Coordinates: 60°30′N 29°54′E / 60.5°N 29.9°E / 60.5; 29.9
The Karelian Isthmus (Russian: Карельский перешеек) is the approximately 45–110 km wide stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva (between 61°21’N, 59°46’N and 27°42’E, 31°08’E). Its northwestern boundary is the relatively narrow area between the Bay of Vyborg and Lake Ladoga. If the Karelian Isthmus is defined as the entire territory of present-day Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast to the north of the Neva, the isthmus' area covers about 15,000 km2.
The smaller part of the isthmus to the southeast of the old Russia-Finland border is considered historically as Northern Ingria, rather than part of the Karelian Isthmus itself. The rest of the isthmus was historically a part of Finnish Karelia. This was conquered by the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War in 1712 and included within the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917) of the Russian Empire. When Finland became independent in 1917, the isthmus (except for the territory roughly corresponding to present-day Vsevolozhsky District and some districts of Saint Petersburg) remained Finnish. Finnish Karelia was ceded to the Soviet Union by Finland following the Winter War (1939–1940) and Continuation War (1941–1944). In 1940–1941, during the Interim Peace, most of the ceded territories in the isthmus were included within the Karelo-Finnish SSR. However, since World War II the entire isthmus has been divided between the city of Saint Petersburg (mostly Kurortny District), as well as Priozersky District, Vsevolozhsky District and Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast.
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Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (i/ˌkɑːzəkˈstɑːn/ or /ˌkæzəkˈstæn/) (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe. The ninth largest country in the world by land area, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Mongolia, its most easterly point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Mongolia's western tip. The terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.6 million people (2011 estimate) Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The capital was moved in 1998 from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to Astana.
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Kazan
Kazan (Russian: Каза́нь; IPA: [kɐˈzanʲ]; Tatar Cyrillic: Казан, Latin: Qazan) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,161,308, it is the eighth most populous city in Russia, while the metropolitan area has a population of 1.57 million (2011).[citation needed] Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia.
The Kazan Kremlin is a World Heritage Site. In 2005, the Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan" was established by Russia to denote this landmark event. The multi-ethnic city is is honored by UNESCO and famous for Muslims and Christians living side-by-side in peace.
In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of Russia. In 2009 it was chosen as the "Sports capital of Russia" and it still is referred to as such. The city will host 2013 Summer Universiade, 2015 World Aquatics Championships, and 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The origin of the name Kazan is uncertain. The most accepted legends derive it from the Bulgar Turkic (and also modern Tatar) word qazan, which means 'boiler' or 'cauldron'.
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Kazansky Bridge
Kazansky Bridge (Russian: Каза́нский мост) is a bridge across Griboyedov Canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. From 1766 to 1830 it had a name Rozhdestvensky Bridge (Рождественский мост) and from 1923 to 1944—Plekhanov Bridge (мост Плеханова). It is located near the Kazan Cathedral (hence the name). The bridge's length is 18.8 meters, and the width is 95.5 meters. It is second widest bridge in St. Petersburg after the Blue Bridge, the lowest bridge in the city and therefore also the only bridge where sailing underneath it is prohibited.
The bridge was built in 1765–1766 in place of previously existed wooden Rozhdenstvensky Bridge (since 1716) which was demolished during granite embankment of Griboyedov Canal.
Coordinates: 59°56′07″N 30°19′34″E / 59.9353°N 30.3262°E / 59.9353; 30.3262
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Kemerovo Oblast
Kemerovo Oblast (Russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть, Kemerovskaya oblast), also known as Kuzbass (Кузба́сс) after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains. The oblast, which covers an area of 95,500 square kilometers (36,900 sq mi), shares a border with Tomsk Oblast in the north, Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia in the east, the Altai Republic in the south, and Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai in the west. Its ethnic composition is predominantly Russian, but Ukrainians, Tatars, and Chuvash also live in the oblast. Population: 2,763,135 (2010 Census).
The climate of the oblast is continental: winters are cold and long, summers are warm, but short. The average January temperature is -17...-20°C, the average in July is +17...+18 °C. Average annual precipitation ranges from 300 mm on the plains and the foothills of up to 1,000 mm or more in mountainous areas. The duration of the frost-free period lasts 100 days in the north area up to 120 days in the south of the Kuznetsk Basin.
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Kerch
Kerch (Ukrainian: Керч, Russian: Керчь, Crimean Tatar: Keriç, Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ, Ancient Greek: Παντικάπαιον Pantikapaion, Turkish: Kerç) is a city on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, an important industrial, transport and tourist centre of Ukraine. Kerch, founded 2600 years ago, is considered as one of the most ancient cities in Ukraine.
Archeological digs at Mayak village near the city ascertained that the area had already been inhabited in 17th–15th centuries BC.
Kerch as a city starts its history in 7th century BC, when Greek colonists from Miletus founded a city-state named Panticapaeum on Mount Mithridat near the mouth of the Melek-Chesme river. Panticapaeum subdued nearby cities and by 480 BC became a capital of the Kingdom of Bosporus. Later, during the rule of Mithradates VI Eupator, Panticapaeum for a short period of time became the capital of much more powerful and extensive Kingdom of Pontus.
The city located at the intersection of trade routes between the steppe and Europe grew rapidly. The city's main exports were grain and salted fish, wine-making was also common. Panticapaeum minted its own coins. According to a few extant documents the Melek-Chesme river (small and shallow nowadays) was navigable in the Bosporan times, and sea galleys were able to enter the river. A large portion of the city's population was ethnically Scythian, later Sarmatian, as the large royal barrow at Kul-Oba testifies.
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Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai (Russian: Хаба́ровский край, tr. Khabarovsky kray; IPA: [xɐˈbarəfskʲɪj kraj]) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the Russian Far East. It lies mostly in the basin of the lower Amur River, but also occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The administrative center of the krai is the city of Khabarovsk. Population: 1,343,869 (2010 Census).
The indigenous people of the area are the Evenks, Negidals, Ulchs, Nanai, Oroch, Udege, and Amur Nivkhs.
According to various Chinese and Korean records, the southern part of Khabarovsk Krai was originally occupied one of the five semi-nomadic Shiwei, the Bo Shiwei tribes and the Black Water Mohe tribes living respectively on the west and the east of the Bureinsky and the Malyi Khingan ranges.
In 1643, Vassili Poyarkov's boats descended the Amur, returning to Yakutsk by the Sea of Okhotsk and the Aldan River, and in 1649–1650 Yerofey Khabarov occupied the banks of the Amur. The resistance of the Chinese, however, obliged the Cossacks to quit their forts, and by the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) Russia abandoned her advance into the basin of the river.
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Kharkiv
Kharkiv (Ukrainian: Харків, pronounced [ˈxɑrkiw]) or Kharkov (Russian: Ха́рьков) is the second-largest city in Ukraine.
The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was formed. Kharkiv became and remained the capital of the Ukrainian SSR until 1934, when the administrative capital was moved to Kiev. Currently, it is the administrative centre of the Kharkiv oblast (province), as well as the administrative centre of the surrounding Kharkivskyi Raion (district) within the oblast. The city is located in the northeast of the country. As of 2006, its population was 1,461,300.
Kharkiv is a major cultural, scientific, educational, transport and industrial centre of Ukraine, with 60 scientific institutes, 30 establishments of higher education, 6 museums, 7 theatres and 80 libraries. Its industry specializes primarily in machinery. There are hundreds of industrial companies in the city. Among them are world renown giants like the Morozov Design Bureau and the Malyshev Tank Factory, leaders in tank production since the 1930s; Khartron (aerospace and nuclear electronics); and the Turboatom turbines producer.
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Khartoum
Khartoum (Arabic: الخرطوم al Ḫarṭūm) is the capital and second largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran", meaning the Confluence. The main Nile continues to flow north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Divided by the Niles, Khartoum is a tripartite metropolis with an estimated overall population of over five million people consisting of Khartoum proper[clarification needed], and linked by bridges to Khartoum North called (al-Khartūm Bahrī) and Omdurman (Umm Durmān) to the west.
The origin of the word is uncertain. One tradition is that khartoum derives from Arabic kartūm الخرطوم meaning 'end of an elephant’s trunk', probably referring to the narrow strip of land extending between the Blue and White Niles. Captain J. A. Grant, who reached Khartoum in 1863 with Captain Speke’s expedition, thought that the derivation was most probably from the Arabic qurtum, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), which was cultivated extensively in Egypt for its oil, used in burning.[citation needed]
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Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast (Russian: Ки́ровская о́бласть, Kirovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. Population: 1,341,312 (2010 Census).
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vyatka remained a place of exile for opponents of the tsarist regime, including many prominent revolutionary figures. In 1920, a number of small southern and eastern districts (volosti) and villages were shifted from Vyatka as a result of the formation of the Tatar Autonomous Republic and the Mari and Votskaya [now the Udmurt Republic] autonomous regions.
The territory did not escape the Civil War and intervention of 1918-1921. Then in 1921-1922, it was hit by famine, followed by a typhus epidemic in late 1922. The death rate doubled during those years. The postwar period was accompanied by rebuilding of the province on the basis of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which consisted of free trade, entrepreneurship, and private sector stimulation. However, the basic principles of the NEP never really took hold in agriculture, where the only effect was to reduce all the peasants to the same level, or in industry.
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Kirov Plant
The Kirov Plant Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) (Russian: Кировский Завод, Kirovskiy Zavod) is a major Russian machine-building plant in St. Petersburg, Russia.
It was established in 1789, then moved to its present site in 1801 as a foundry for cannon balls. In 1848 it was purchased by Putilov and named the Putilov Company; it initially produced rolling stock for railways. It boomed during the industrialization of the 1890s, with the work force quadrupling in a decade, reaching 12,400 in 1900. The factory traditionally produced goods for the Russian government and railway products accounted for more than half of its total output. Starting in 1900 it also produced artillery, eventually becoming a major supplier of it to the Imperial Russian Army alongside the state arsenals. By 1917 it grew into a giant enterprise that was by far the largest in the city of St. Petersburg. In February 1917 strikes at the factory contributed to setting in motion the chain of events which led to the February Revolution. In 10 March 1919 at protest rally in the factory striking workers condemned the Bolshevik government in a resolution claiming "...the Bolshevik government is not the authority of the proletariat and peasants, but the authority of the dictatorship of the Central Committee of the Communist Party..." When Lenin came to Petrograd to give a speech on 13 March the workers demanded his resignation and when Zinoviev tried to address the workers he was greeted with shouts: "Down with the Jew!" Strikers barricaded themselves in the factory which was stormed by the Cheka to suppress the strike and about 200 workers were executed.[citation needed]
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Kirov Stadium
Kirov Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was one of the largest stadiums anywhere in the world. The stadium was named after Sergey Kirov.
The stands of the Kirov stadium were located on the slopes of a circular artificial mound in the western part of Krestovsky Island, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Construction started in 1932, initial project was designed by architect Aleksandr Nikolsky and his workshop. During the 1930s and 1940s, construction was mainly focused on groundworks for the artificial mound on the sea shore. Construction was interrupted by the World War II and the Siege of Leningrad, and resumed in 1945 with the return of citizens to Leningrad. Thousands of Red Army and Red Navy recruits were also conscripted as labor force for construction.
The stadium was open on 30 July 1950 with the game between two main Leningrad teams, Zenit and Dynamo, drew 1-1. Initially the stadium held 100,000 people (including 16,000 standing places).
For the match between Zenit and CSKA on 14 July 1951, additional temporary stands were installed, increasing the capacity of the stadium to 100,000. The stadium was sold out, and the attendance of 100,000 is the record for the Soviet football. Kirov stadium was reconstructed to hold preliminary matches of the football tournament at the 1980 Summer Olympics. The capacity was reduced to 72,000.
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Kolpino
Coordinates: 59°44′N 30°36′E / 59.733°N 30.6°E / 59.733; 30.6
Kolpino (Russian: Ко́лпино; Finnish: Kolpina, Kolppina, or Kolppana) is a municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River (Neva's tributary) 26 kilometers (16 mi) southeast of St. Petersburg proper. Population: 138,013 (2010 Census preliminary results); 136,632 (2002 Census); 81,000 (1972); 8,076 (1897).
Kolpino was founded in 1722 and was granted town status in 1912. It used to be one of the chief ironworks of the crown in Russia. Kolpino was also home to an iron foundry of the Russian Admiralty. A sacred image of St. Nicholas in the Trinity Church is visited by numerous pilgrims on the 22nd of May every year.
Many people of Kolpino work at Izhorsky Zavod.
With the onset of the Great Patriotic War in Kolpino formed part of the militia, August 24 - September 4, 1941 from factory workers formed Izhora Battalion. The front line was held in the immediate vicinity of the plant, which was subjected to enemy shelling (to 1944 Kolpino of 2183 houses survived 327). In the neighborhoods Kolpino and its boulevards burst 140,939 shells and 436 aerial bombs. According to some incomplete data for the war by shelling and starvation in the Kolpino district killed 4,600 people, not counting the dead on the front. By January 1, 1944 Kolpino there were only 2196 inhabitants. After the lifting of the siege, people are gradually coming back from the evacuation and from army. On January 1, 1945 population was 7404, the beginning of next year - 8914 people.
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Komi Republic
The Komi Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Ко́ми, Respublika Komi; Komi: Коми Республика, Komi Respublika) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar. Population: 901,189 (2010 Census).
The republic is situated to the west of the Ural mountains, in the north-east of the East European Plain. Forests cover over 70% of the territory and swamps cover approximately 15%.
Major rivers include:
There are many lakes in the republic. Major lakes include:
The republic's natural resources include coal, oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds and timber. Native reindeer are in abundance, and have been intentionally bred for human usage by the indigenous population from the beginning.[citation needed]
Around 32,800 km² of mostly boreal forest (as well as some alpine tundra and meadows) in the Republic's Northern Ural Mountains have been recognized in 1995 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Virgin Komi Forests. It is the first natural UNESCO World Heritage site in Russia and the largest expanse of virgin forests in Europe. The site includes two pre-existing protected areas: Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve (created in 1930) and Yugyd Va National Park (created in 1994).
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Kostroma Oblast
Kostroma Oblast (Russian: Костромска́я о́бласть, Kostromskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kostroma. Population: 667,562 (2010 Census).
Major historic towns include Kostroma, Sharya, Nerekhta, Galich, Soligalich, and Makaryev. Textile industries have been developed there since the early 18th century. The oblast was detached from Yaroslavl Oblast in 1944.
The Governor of the oblast was Viktor Shershunov from 1997 until his death in a car crash on September 20, 2007. As of 2011, Igor Slyunyayev is the Governor.
From c. 300 CE the whole current area of Kostroma with exception the area east of River Unzha was part of historical Finno-Ugric peoples' lands, like the Merya people and their loose tribal confederation. There were at least 109 Merya settlements located in the area of which the most important below mentioned trading centers and important hill fortresses were later recorded by the Russians as the Russians founded towns in the late 9th to 12th centuries.
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Kotka
Kotka (literally eagle) is a town and municipality of Finland. Its former name is Rochensalm.
Kotka is located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland at the mouth of Kymi River and it is part of the Kymenlaakso region in southern Finland. The municipality has a population of 54,837 (31 January 2012) and covers an area of 949.74 square kilometres (366.70 sq mi) of which 678.45 km2 (261.95 sq mi) is water. The population density is 202.13 inhabitants per square kilometre (523.5 /sq mi). The city centre of Kotka is located at Kotkansaari island.
The municipality is officially unilingually Finnish.
The Port of Kotka is a major Finnish sea port that serves both the foreign trade of Finland and Russia.
The Second All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held in Kotka, on July 21–23 (Aug. 3–5), 1907.
Kotka is twinned with:
The most famous sport team from Kotka is KTP (Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat). It's currently competing in football and basketball.
View of Kotka
Lutheran Church in Kotka
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Kotlin Island
Kotlin (or Kettle; Finnish: Retusaari) is a Russian island, located near the head of the Gulf of Finland, 20 mi (32 km) west of Saint Petersburg in the Baltic Sea. Kotlin separates the Neva Bay from the rest of the gulf. The fortified town of Kronstadt is located on the island.
The naval approach to Saint Petersburg was greatly facilitated by the construction in 1875–85 of a canal, 23 ft (7.0 m) deep, through the shallows, whereas cars will soon be able to travel overland to the island by using the Saint Petersburg Dam from the north and south shores of the Gulf of Finland. Started in 1980, but delayed by political upheaval in the 1990s, the dam project was completed in 2010 and officially commissioned in 2011.
In general outline, the island forms an elongated triangle, 7.5 mi (12.1 km) in length by about 1 mi (1.6 km) in breadth, with its base towards St Petersburg. The eastern or broad end is occupied by the town of Kronstadt, and shoals extend for 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from the western point of the island to the rock on which the Tolbaaken lighthouse is built.
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Krasnodar Krai
Krasnodar Krai (Russian: Краснода́рский край, Krasnodarsky kray) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Krasnodar. Population: 5,226,647 (2010 Census).
Krasnodar Krai encompasses the western part of the Forecaucasus and a part of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major. Krasnodar Krai borders, clockwise from the west, Ukraine—from which it is separated by the Strait of Kerch and the Sea of Azov—Russia's Rostov Oblast, Stavropol Krai, and the Karachay–Cherkess Republic, and Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia. The krai territory encircles the Republic of Adygea. Krasnodar Krai's southern border is formed by what is left of Russia's Black Sea coast, with the most important port (Novorossiysk) and resort (Sochi) in this part of the country.
Geographically, the area is split by the Kuban River into two distinct parts. The southern, seaward third (Circassia) is the western extremity of the Caucasus range, lying within the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex ecoregion; the climate is Mediterranean or, in the south-east, subtropical. The northern two-thirds lies on the Pontic Steppe and shares continental climate patterns. The largest lake is Abrau in the wine-making region of Abrau-Dyurso.
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Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai (Russian: Красноярский край, tr. Krasnoyarsky kray; IPA: [krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj]) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It is the second largest federal subject after the Sakha Republic, Russia's largest krai and the third largest subnational governing body by area in the world, occupying an area of 2,339,700 square kilometers (903,400 sq mi), which is 13% of the country's total territory. The administrative center of the krai is the city of Krasnoyarsk. Population: 2,828,187 (2010 Census).
The krai lies in the middle of Siberia, and belongs to the Siberian Federal District, stretching 3,000 km from the Sayan Mountains in the south along the Yenisei River to the Taymyr Peninsula in the north. It borders Tyumen, Tomsk, Irkutsk, and Kemerovo Oblasts, the Republic of Khakassia, the Tuva Republic, and the Sakha Republic, and the Kara Sea and Laptev Sea of the Arctic Ocean in the north.
The krai is located in the basin of the Arctic Ocean; a great number of rivers that flow through the krai all drain into it eventually. The main rivers of the krai are the Yenisei, and its tributaries (from south to north): the Kan, the Angara, the Podkamennaya Tunguska, and the Nizhnyaya Tunguska.
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Krasnoye Selo
Coordinates: 59°44′N 30°5′E / 59.733°N 30.083°E / 59.733; 30.083
Krasnoye Selo (Russian: Кра́сное Село́, lit. beautiful village) is a municipal town in Krasnoselsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is located south-southeast of the city center. Population: 44,485 (2010 Census preliminary results); 44,081 (2002 Census).
It was founded in the early 18th century, as a suburban village south of St. Petersburg. In 1764, the village had a paper mill, located near the road leading to St. Petersburg. During the 19th century, Krasnoye Selo developed as a recreational suburb of the capital with numerous summer dachas and villas, including the summer residences of the Tsars. In 1884, the famous airplane designer Alexander Mozhaysky tested his early monoplane there, achieving a power-assisted take off or 'hop' of 60 to 100 feet (18 to 30 m).
Krasnoye Selo was granted town status in 1925, and in 1973 it was transferred under the jurisdiction of the city of Leningrad.
vep:Krasnoje Selo
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Krestovsky Island
Coordinates: 59°58′N 30°16′E / 59.97°N 30.26°E / 59.97; 30.26
Krestovsky Island (Russian: Крестовский остров) is a 3.4 km² island in Saint Petersburg, Russia, situated between several tributaries of the Neva: the Srednyaya Nevka, the Malaya Nevka and the Krestovka. The island is served by the Krestovsky Ostrov "Крестовский остров" station of Saint Petersburg Metro. Until recently, the Western part of the island was occupied by the Maritime Victory Park, where the international Goodwill Games of sports and athletics competition took place in 1994, which was the first large scale post-Soviet Union international event in Russia. . A new stadium Zenit Stadium is currently under construction, where Kirov Stadium was previously located. The Zenit stadium will serve the same name club, which is the leading St Petersburg football club. FC Zenit Saint Petersburg has frequently led the Russian football top league and recently has had good international success, in the Champions/UEFA leagues.
Meanwhile, the eastern part of this beautiful St Petersburg island, has seen slow but steady urbanization since the early 1900s, which has slowly changed its parkland nature. Recently there has been even more pressure from today's "nomenclature" to locate top-end housing projects and high-prestige homes here - a long-time tendency that also continues today, since historically the island was always owned by families who were close to and favourites of the Tzars/"powers-to-be" and who served them well.
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Kronstadt
Kronshtadt (Russian: Кроншта́дт), also spelled Kronstadt, Cronstadt (German: Krone for "crown" and Stadt for "city"; Finnish: Retusaari), is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: 42,999 (2010 Census preliminary results); 43,385 (2002 Census).
It is also St. Petersburg's main seaport. In March 1921 it was the site of the Kronstadt rebellion.
Traditionally, the seat of the Russian admiralty and the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet were located in Kronstadt guarding the approaches to Saint Petersburg. The historic centre of the city and its fortifications are part of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
Kronstadt has been a place of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians for many years due to the holy memory of Saint John of Kronstadt. Bus and water tours to Kronstadt are taken daily from Saint Petersburg
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Kurgan Oblast
Kurgan Oblast (Russian: Курга́нская о́бласть, Kurganskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kurgan. Population: 910,807 (2010 Census).
The oblast was formed on February 6, 1943, just when the Soviet Army decisively defeated Hitler's forces near Stalingrad. However, the history of Transuralia (Zauralye) began much earlier when the first settlers built their small stockaded towns on the banks of the banks of the Tobol and Iset Rivers. Decembrist and Polish exiles made substantial contributions to the development of culture and education in Zauralye. The cooperative movement was widespread at the beginning of the 20th century, and thanks to Trans-Ural oil manufacturers, Russia became the world's second-largest exporter of butter.
Kurgan Oblast is located in Southern Russia and is part of the Urals Federal District. It shares borders with Chelyabinsk Oblast to the west, Sverdlovsk Oblast to the north, Tyumen Oblast to the east, and Kazakhstan to the south.
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Kursk Oblast
Kursk Oblast (Russian: Ку́рская о́бласть, Kurskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kursk. Population: 1,127,081 (2010 Census).
The oblast occupies the southern slopes of the middle-Russian plateau, and its average elevation is from 177 to 225 meters (580–738 ft). The surface is hilly, and intersected by ravines. The central part of Kursk oblast is more elevated than the Seym Valley to the west. The Timsko-Shchigrinsky ridge contains the highest point in the oblast at 288 meters (945 ft) above the sea level. The low relief, gentler slopes, and mild winter make the area suitable for farming, and much of the forest has been cleared.
The chernozem soils cover around 70% of the oblast's territory; podsol soils cover 26%.
Kursk Oblast contributes to two major drainage areas—the Dnieper River and the Don River (78% and 22% respectively). There are 902 rivers and streams in the oblast, with their total length of approximately 8,000 kilometers (5,000 mi). Major rivers are the Seym and the Psyol.
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Lansing, Michigan
Lansing ( /ˈlænsɪŋ/) is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan. The population of its Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was 464,036, while the even larger Combined Statistical Area (CSA) population, which includes Shiawassee County, was 534,684.
The Lansing Metropolitan Area, colloquially referred to as "Mid-Michigan", is an important center for educational, cultural, governmental, business, and high-tech manufacturing, including two medical schools, one veterinary school, two nursing schools, two law schools, including the nation's largest law school (Thomas M. Cooley Law School), a Big Ten Conference university (Michigan State), the Michigan State Capitol, the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, a federal court, the Library of Michigan and Historical Center, and headquarters of four national insurance companies.
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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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Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast (Russian: Ленингра́дская о́бласть, Leningradskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on August 1, 1927, although it was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly settled in their present position. The oblast was named after the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
The oblast is bordered by Finland in the northwest, Estonia in the west, as well as five federal subjects of Russia: the Republic of Karelia in the northeast, Vologda Oblast in the east, Novgorod Oblast in the south, Pskov Oblast in the southwest, and the federal city of Saint Petersburg in the west.
The first governor of Leningrad Oblast was Vadim Gustov (in 1996–1998). Since 1999 he has been succeeded by Valery Serdyukov, who was replaced by Alexander Drozdenko, since 2012.
The oblast has an area of 84,500 square miles (219,000 km2) and a population of 1,716,868 (2010 Census); up from 1,669,205 recorded in the 2002 Census. The most populous town of the oblast is Gatchina, with 88,659 inhabitants (as of the 2002 Census). Leningrad Oblast is highly industrialized.
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Leningrad Rock Club
The Leningrad Rock Club (Russian: Ленинградский рок-клуб) was a historic music venue of the 1980s in Leningrad, situated on Rubinstein Street in the city center. Opened in 1981 and overseen by the KGB, it became the first legal rock music venue in Leningrad. Overall, it was the largest rock scene in the Soviet Union, which featured such bands as Kino, Alisa, Aquarium, Zoopark, Piknik, Automatic Satisfiers, DDT, Grazhdanskaya Oborona, and became an important influence on the Russian rock music.
Coordinates: 59°55′47″N 30°20′38″E / 59.9296°N 30.3438°E / 59.9296; 30.3438
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Ligovsky Prospekt
Coordinates: 59°55′37″N 30°21′31″E / 59.9269°N 30.3585°E / 59.9269; 30.3585
Ligovsky Prospekt (Russian: Лиговский проспект) is a major street in Saint Petersburg. Before the establishment of the city, it was a street leading to Novgorod, used by the people living in the villages around the delta of Neva.
During 1718 to 1725, when Saint Petersburg was the capital of Russia, a building project of a canal, the Ligovsky Canal, started. The canal was used to transfer water from the Ligi River to fountains of the Summer Garden, here comes the name of the street and the canal. After the flood in 1777 all the fountains were demolished and later on the canal too.
The Ligovsky Prospekt is one of the largest streets in Saint Petersburg. It extends from Oktyabrskiy Big Concert Hall, Vosstaniya Square and Nevsky Prospekt, and runs through southern Saint Petersburg, onto Moskovsky Prospekt and the Moscow Triumphal Gate.
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Lipetsk Oblast
Lipetsk Oblast (Russian: Ли́пецкая о́бласть, Lipetskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) which was formed on January 6, 1954. Its administrative center is the city of Lipetsk. Population: 1,172,818 (2010 Census results).
Lipetsk Oblast borders with Ryazan Oblast (NE), Tambov Oblast (E), Voronezh Oblast (S), Kursk Oblast (SW), Oryol Oblast (W), and Tula Oblast (NW).
The world's first hyperboloid structure—the steel open-work lattice tower—is located in Polibino, Dankovsky District of Lipetsk Oblast. The hyperboloid tower was built and patented in 1896 by the famous Russian engineer and scientist Vladimir Shukhov. The hyperboloid structures were subsequently built by other architects, such as Antoni Gaudí, Le Corbusier, and Oscar Niemeyer.
The most important industrial branches are the iron processing and the mechanical engineering. The most industrialized cities are Lipetsk, the administrative center, and Yelets.
As of 2011, the Head of the Administration is Oleg Korolyov.
Population: 1,172,818 (2010 Census); 1,213,499 (2002 Census); 1,230,220 (1989 Census).
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Liteyny Prospekt
Coordinates: 59°56′27″N 30°20′54″E / 59.9408°N 30.3483°E / 59.9408; 30.3483
Liteyny Avenue (Russian: Лите́йный проспе́кт, Liteyny Prospekt) is a wide avenue in the Central District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The avenue runs from Liteyny Bridge to Nevsky Avenue.
The avenue originated in 1738 when the forest was cleared to make a trail from Nevsky Prospekt to a foundry (est. 1711) at the banks of Neva River. The Russian word "liteyny" means "metal casting" as an adjective, hence the street name.
Soon after the October Revolution, the avenue was named Prospekt Volodarskogo after the Russian revolutionary V. Volodarsky. In 1944, the historic name was restored.
The avenue passes by several notable locations including the Big House (Liteyny 4), the 19th-century Varvara Dolgoruky mansion (Liteyny 14), Muruzi House with Joseph Brodsky apartment (Liteyny 24), Nekrasov Museum (Liteyny 36), Zinaida Yusupova mansion (Liteyny 42), Mariinsky Hospital (Liteyny 56).
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Lithuania
Lithuania (i/ˌlɪθuːˈeɪniə/ or /ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3.2 million as of 2011, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state, on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
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Lviv
Lviv (Ukrainian: Львів L’viv, IPA: [lʲwiu̯] ( listen); Polish: Lwów, pronounced [lvuf]; Russian: Львов, L'vov; German: Lemberg and Yiddish Lemberg, לעמבערג; Latin: Leopolis; see also other names) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically had also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center; as Poles and Jews comprised a demographic majority of the city for a period leading up to the outbreak of World War II, the Holocaust, and Polish population transfers (1944–1946) that followed. The historical heart of Lviv with its old buildings and cobblestone roads has survived World War II and ensuing Soviet presence largely unscathed. The city has many industries and institutions of higher education such as the Lviv University and the Lviv Polytechnic. Lviv is also a home to many world-class cultural institutions, including a philharmonic orchestra and the famous Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet. The historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Lviv celebrated its 750th anniversary with a son et lumière in the city centre in September 2006.
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Magadan Oblast
Magadan Oblast (Russian: Магада́нская о́бласть, tr. Magadanskaya oblast; IPA: [məgɐˈdanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) in the Far Eastern Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Magadan. Population: 156,996 (2010 Census).
The oblast borders in the north with Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the east with Kamchatka Krai, in the south with Khabarovsk Krai, and in the west with the Sakha Republic.
Magadan Oblast was established in 1953 in what had popularly been known as Kolyma. As a result of considerable raw resources, especially gold, silver, tin, and tungsten deposits, mining activities and road building had been developed during the Stalin era in the 1930s and 1940s under the coordination of Dalstroy and its forced labor camps. Upon Stalin's death, Dalstroy was disbanded and the regional administration took over many of its former responsibilities.
From then on, paid labor replaced most of the convict-based manpower, attracted by the region's rapid economic expansion, especially the gold-mining interests.
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Malaya Neva
Malaya Neva (Russian: Малая Нева) is the second largest distributary of the Neva River. The Neva splits into Bolshaya Neva (the southern armlet) and Malaya Neva (the northern armlet) near the Vasilievsky Island's Strelka (easternmost tip of the island), in the historic center of the city of Saint Petersburg.
The length of Malaya Neva is 4.25 km, the width is from 200 to 400 meters, depth is 3 – 7 meters. It has its own armlets: Smolenka and Zhdanovka. There are two bridges across Malaya Neva: Exchange Bridge and Tuchkov Bridge.
Coordinates: 59°58′N 30°14′E / 59.967°N 30.233°E / 59.967; 30.233
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Manchester
Coordinates: 53°28′N 2°14′W / 53.467°N 2.233°W / 53.467; -2.233
Manchesteri/ˈmæntʃɛstər/ is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England with an estimated population of 498,800 in 2010. Manchester lies within one of the United Kingdom's largest urban areas; the Greater Manchester Urban Area which has a population of 2.2 million. The demonym of Manchester is Mancunian and the local authority is Manchester City Council.
Manchester is situated in the south-central part of North West England, fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south and the Pennines to the north and east. The recorded history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort of Mamucium, which was established in c. 79 AD on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically, most of the city was a part of Lancashire, although areas south of the River Mersey were in Cheshire. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but it began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city. An early 19th-century factory building boom transformed Manchester from a township into a major mill town and borough that was granted city status in 1853. In 1894 the Manchester Ship Canal was built, creating the Port of Manchester.
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Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, 400 km (249 mi) south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" has apparently the meaning of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata". Mar del Plata is one of the major fishing ports and the biggest seaside beach resort in Argentina. With a population of 614,350 as per the 2010 census [INDEC], it is the 7th largest city in Argentina.
As part of the Argentine recreational coast, tourism is Mar del Plata's main economic activity with seven million tourists visiting the city in 2006. Mar del Plata has a sophisticated tourist infrastructure with countless hotels, restaurants, casinos, theatres and other tourist attractions. Mar del Plata is also an important sports centre with a multi-purpose Olympic style stadium (first used for the 1978 World Cup and later upgraded for the 1995 Pan American Games), 5 golf courses and many other facilities.
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Marble Palace
Coordinates: 59°56′43″N 30°19′36″E / 59.945176°N 30.326799°E / 59.945176; 30.326799
Marble Palace (Мраморный дворец) is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is situated between the Field of Mars and Palace Quay, slightly to the east from New Michael Palace.
The palace was built by Count Grigory Orlov, the favorite of Empress Catherine the Great and the most powerful Russian nobleman of the 1760s. Construction started in 1768 to designs by Antonio Rinaldi, who previously had helped decorate the grand palace at Caserta near Naples. The combination of sumptuous ornamentation with rigorously classicizing monumentality, as practiced by Rinaldi, may be attributed to his earlier work under Luigi Vanvitelli in Italy.
The palace takes its name from its opulent decoration in a wide variety of polychrome marbles. A rough-grained Finnish granite on the ground floor is in subtle contrast to polished pink Karelian marble of the pilasters and white Urals marble of capitals and festoons. Panels of veined bluish gray Urals marble separate the floors, while Tallinn dolomite was employed for ornamental urns. In all, 32 disparate shades of marble were used to decorate the palace.
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Mari El Republic
The Mari El Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Мари́й Эл, Respublika Mariy El; Mari: Марий Эл Республик, Marii El Respublic) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Yoshkar-Ola. Population: 696,459 (2010 Census).
The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic. 57% of the republic's territory is covered by forests.
There are 476 rivers in the republic. Most of them are considered to be minor: 10–50 m wide and 0.5-1.4 m deep. They usually freeze from mid-November till mid-April. Major rivers include:
There are over two hundred lakes in the republic, most of them with an area less than 1 km² and depth of 1–3 m. Many lakes are located among swamps. Swamps cover large areas (10–70 km², up to 100 km²), and usually freeze in December. Average depth of the swamps is .5-1.5 m (up to 3 m), but they are impassable in fall and spring due to flooding.
Major lakes include:
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Maribor
Maribor ( pronunciation (help·info) German: Marburg an der Drau, Italian: Marburgo) is the second largest city in Slovenia with 95,200 inhabitants as of 2011[update]. Maribor is also the largest city of the traditional region of Lower Styria and the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor.
Maribor is, jointly with Guimarães in Portugal, the 2012 European Capital of Culture. In November 2010, The European Youth Forum announced that Maribor will be the 2013 European Youth Capital.
In 1164, a castle known as the Marchburch (Middle High German for "March Castle") was documented in Styria. It was first built on Piramida Hill, which is located just above the city. Maribor was first mentioned as a market near the castle in 1204, and received town privileges in 1254. It began to grow rapidly after the victory of Rudolf I of Habsburg over Otakar II of Bohemia in 1278. Maribor withstood sieges by Matthias Corvinus in 1480 and 1481 and by the Ottoman Empire in 1532 and 1683, and the city remained under the control of the Habsburg Monarchy until 1918.
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Mariinsky Palace
Mariinsky Palace, also known as Marie Palace (Russian: Мариинcкий дворец), was the last Neoclassical imperial palace to be constructed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built between 1839 and 1844 to a design by the court architect Andrei Stackensneider.
The palace stands on the south side of St Isaac's Square, just across the 99-metre-wide Blue Bridge from Saint Isaac's Cathedral. In the 18th century, the plot belonged to Zakhar Tchernyshov and contained his mansion (1762-68), which was occasionally let to Prince of Condé and other foreign worthies visiting the Russian capital. In 1825-39, the Tchernyshov mansion housed a military school, where Mikhail Lermontov studied for two years.
Stackensneider's palace was conceived by Emperor Nicholas I as a present to his daughter Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia on the occasion of her marriage to Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Eugène de Beauharnais's son. Although the reddish-brown facade is elaborately rusticated and features Corinthian columns arranged in a traditional Neoclassical mode, the whole design was inspired by the 17th-century French Baroque messuages. Other eclectic influences are apparent in the Renaissance details of exterior ornamentation and in the interior decoration, with each main room designed in a different historic style.
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Mariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre (Russian: Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy Teatr, also spelled Maryinsky, Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as its general director.
The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II. There is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The theatre's name has changed throughout its history, reflecting the political climate of the time:
Note: The acronym "GATOB" (Gosudarstvennïy Akademicheskiy Teatr Operï i Baleta) is often encountered in historical accounts.
The theatre building is commonly called the Mariinsky Theatre. The companies that operate within it have for brand recognition purposes retained the famous Kirov name, acquired during the Soviet era to commemorate the assassinated Leningrad Communist Party leader Sergey Kirov (1886–1934).
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Maryland
Maryland (i/ˈmɛrɨlənd/) is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. Maryland was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution, and three nicknames for it (the Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State) are occasionally used. Maryland is the 9th smallest state by area, but the 19th most populous and the 5th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's most populated city is Baltimore. Its capital is Annapolis. It was named after Queen Henrietta Maria.
Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles (32,133.2 km2) and is comparable in overall area with the European country of Belgium (11,787 square miles (30,530 km2)). It is the 42nd largest/9th smallest state, and is closest in size to Hawaii (10,930.98 square miles (28,311.1 km2)), the next smallest state. The next largest state, Maryland's neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland (24,229.76 square miles (62,754.8 km2)).
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Menshikov Palace
Coordinates: 59°56′20″N 30°17′46″E / 59.939°N 30.296°E / 59.939; 30.296
The Menshikov Palace (Russian: Меншиковский дворец) is a Petrine Baroque edifice in Saint Petersburg, situated on Universitetskaya Embankment of the Bolshaya Neva on Vasilyevsky Island. It was the first stone building in the city. Since 1981, it has served as a public museum, a branch of the Hermitage Museum.
The palace was founded in 1710 as a residence of Saint Petersburg Governor General Alexander Menshikov and built by Italian architects Giovanni Maria Fontana, and, later, German architect Gottfried Johann Schädel. It was opened in 1711, but the construction continued until 1727 (assisted by Domenico Trezzini, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Georg Johann Mattarnovy and Jean-Baptiste Le Blond), when Menshikov with his family was exiled to Siberia and his property was confiscated.
In 1731, Cadet Corps were established and occupied the palace and neighboring buildings. At the end of the 19th century the Menshikov Palace was restored and became the museum of the Corps. In 1924, its collections were moved to the Hermitage and other museums. From 1956-1981 the Menshikov Palace was restored again and finally opened to the public as a branch of the Hermitage Museum with a collection of Russian art of the late 17th-early 18th century.
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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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Mikkeli
Mikkeli (Swedish: S:t Michel) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of 48,952 (31 January 2012) (around 34,000 in the town itself) and covers an area of 2,124.60 square kilometres (820.31 sq mi) of which 424.7 km2 (164.0 sq mi) is water. The population density is 28.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (75 /sq mi) .
Mikkeli was the site for the headquarters of the Finnish armed forces during World War II. In recognition of this, the town's coat of arms incorporates a pair of crossed Marshal's batons, and the town was awarded the Cross of Liberty, 4th class, to be displayed with the coat of arms.
The municipality is unilingually Finnish (only 0.15% of Mikkelians speak Swedish as their first language).
The centre of Mikkeli is located on a low rise, set back about 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the shore of a bay of Lake Saimaa. There are several small lakes in and around the town. The lakes of the eastern parts of the town belong to the water system of River Vuoksi. In the west the town reaches Lake Puula that belongs to the water system of River Kymijoki. The town centre is built around a large market place, where markets are held twice each week.
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Milan
Milan (Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno] ( listen); Lombard: [miˈlan]; Latin: Mediolanum) is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy as well as of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area is the 5th largest in EU and the largest in Italy with an estimated population of approximately 5 million. The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper, following the Italian economic miracle of 1950s–60s and massive commuting flows, suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of its administrative limits and its agglomeration, creating a region of approximately 9,3 million people. It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density. Its health care and education system is considered one of the best of Europe.
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Minsk
Coordinates: 53°54′N 27°34′E / 53.9°N 27.567°E / 53.9; 27.567
Minsk (Russian: Минск, [mʲinsk]; Belarusian: Мінск, pronounced [minsk]) is the capital and largest city in Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Niamiha rivers. Minsk is also a headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus; it is also the administrative centre of Minsk Region (voblast) and Minsk raion (district). It has a population of 1,836,808 inhabitants (2009).
The earliest historic references to Minsk date to the 11th century (1067), when it was noted as a provincial city within the principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers. In 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499.
From 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. From 1919–1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union.
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Moika Palace
The Moika Palace or Yusupov Palace (Russian: Дворец Юсуповых на Мойке, literally the Palace of the Yusupovs on the Moika) was once the primary residence in St. Petersburg, Russia of the House of Yusupov. The building was the site of Grigori Rasputin's murder in 1916.
The palace was first built around 1770 by the French architect Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe. Over the years numerous well-known architects worked on the palace, and it is known for the hodgepodge of architectural styles.
From 1830 to 1917, the palace belonged to the House of Yusupov, an immensely wealthy family of Russian nobles, known for their philanthropy and art collections. Thus in the time of Imperial Russia, the palace became known as the Yusupov Palace.
The palace is most famous, however, because of the actions of its last prince Felix Yusupov. The exact events surrounding Rasputin's death are much in dispute. The story, according to Yusupov, is that on the night of December 16, 1916 he, along with Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of the House of Romanov, invited Grigori Rasputin to the Moika Palace. Supposedly, they served Rasputin cakes and red wine laced with cyanide—supposedly enough poison to kill five men. Concerned that Rasputin appeared unaffected, Yusupov retrieved a gun and shot Rasputin in the back. Taking him for dead, the party prepared to leave. Yusupov returned a short while later to find Rasputin still alive. He and his conspirators shot Rasputin, at close range, three more times, but Rasputin was still attempting to stand back up and flee. Desperate they clubbed Rasputin in the head repeatedly with an iron bar, wrapped him in a blanket, walked outside and tossed him into the Moika River. His autopsy supposedly found that neither the poison, nor the multiple gunshot wounds, nor the clubbing caused his death—instead he died of hypothermia. Much of the account, from Yusupov, is considered implausible.
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Mongolia
Mongoliai/mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ (Mongolian: Монгол улс (help·info), literally Mongol country/state) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, all of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.
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Montevideo
Montevideo (Spanish pronunciation: [mo̞n̪t̪e̞β̞iˈð̞e̞.o̞]) is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento. According to the census of 2004, Montevideo has a population of 1,325,968 (about half of Uruguay's population). It has an area of 530 square kilometres (200 sq mi) and extends 20 kilometres (12 mi) from west to east. The southernmost cosmopolitan capital city in the Americas and third most southern in the world, it is situated in the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata (Spanish: "Silver River") — which is often referred to in English-speaking countries as the River Plate. The city was under brief British rule in 1807 and was involved in the first major naval battle in the Second World War: the Battle of the River Plate. It is also the place where the Montevideo convention was signed, in 1933, by nineteen nations of the Americas. The city hosted all of the matches during the first FIFA World Cup in 1930. Montevideo has a rich architectural and cultural heritage, the latter including tango and candombe. According to Mercer Human Resource Consulting, in 2007 Montevideo provided the highest quality of life in Latin America.
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Moscow
Moscow ( /ˈmɒskaʊ/ or /ˈmɒskoʊ/; Russian: Москва́, tr. Moskva; IPA: [mɐˈskva] (
listen)) is the capital and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe, and the 6th largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the results of the 2010 Census, is 11,503,501. Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow has the largest community of billionaires in the world.
Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, an ancient fortress that is today the residence of the Russian President and of the executive branch of the Government of Russia. The Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow.
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Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast (Russian: Моско́вская о́бласть, tr. Moskovskaya oblast; IPA: [mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]), or Podmoskovye (Russian: Подмоско́вье; IPA: [pədmɐˈskovʲjə]), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its area, at 45,900 km2 (17,700 sq mi), is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the population of 7,095,120 (2010 Census), is the second most populous federal subject. There is no official administrative center of Moscow Oblast; its public authorities are located in Moscow and across other locations in the oblast.
The oblast was founded in 1929. It borders Tver Oblast in the northwest, Yaroslavl Oblast in the north, Vladimir Oblast in the northeast and east, Ryazan Oblast in the southeast, Tula Oblast in the south, Kaluga Oblast in the southwest and Smolensk Oblast in the west. In the center stands the federal city of Moscow, which is a separate federal subject in its own right. The oblast is highly industrialized, with its main industrial branches being metallurgy, oil refining, and mechanical engineering, food, energy, and chemical industries.
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Moskovsky Prospekt
Coordinates: 59°53′09″N 30°19′11″E / 59.8859°N 30.3197°E / 59.8859; 30.3197
Moskovsky Prospekt (Russian: Моско́вский проспе́кт, Moskovsky Avenue) is a 10 km-long prospekt in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It runs from Sennaya Square and Sadovaya Street, to the Victory Square, where it splits into Pulkovo Highway and Moscow Highway. It crosses Fontanka River, Zagorodny Prospekt, Obvodny Canal, and Ligovsky Prospekt. It is named for and leads to Moscow.
The prospekt began to develop as a part of the major route connecting the city with Moscow and south provinces. The original name of the prospekt was Tsarskoselskaya Doroga (Route to Tsarskoe Selo) since it leads to imperial estates in Tsarskoye Selo. In the 1770s, marble mileposts were installed along the way; many have survived to this day. Another notable fact about the prospekt is that it coincides with the so-called Pulkovo Meridian. Among historic buildings along the prospekt are Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology, the New Smolny Convent with the adjacent Novodevichy Cemetery. The intersection with Ligovsky Prospekt features the Moscow Triumphal Gate designed by Vasily Stasov and constructed in 1834-1838 to commemorate the victory in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829. After the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 the prospekt was renamed Zabalkansky (i.e., Transbalkanian), to memorialize the crossing of the Balkans by the Russian army.
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Mumbai
Mumbai /mʊmˈbaɪ/, also known as Bombay /bɒmˈbeɪ/, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million. Along with the neighbouring urban areas, including the cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2009, Mumbai was named an Alpha world city. Mumbai is also the richest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West or Central Asia.
The seven islands that came to constitute Mumbai were home to communities of fishing colonies. For centuries, the islands were under the control of successive indigenous empires before being ceded to the Portuguese and subsequently to the British East India Company. During the mid-18th century, Mumbai was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook the reclamation of the area between the seven constituent islands from the sea. Completed by 1845, the project along with construction of major roads and railways transformed Bombay into a major seaport on the Arabian Sea. Economic and educational development characterised the city during the 19th century. It became a strong base for the Indian independence movement during the early 20th century. When India became independent in 1947, the city was incorporated into Bombay State. In 1960, following the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as capital. The city was renamed Mumbai in 1996.
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Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: Му́рманск; Kildin Sami: Мурман ланнҍ; Northern Sami: Murmánska; Skolt Sami: Muurman) is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland. Population: 307,664 (2010 Census preliminary results); 336,137 (2002 Census); 468,039 (1989 Census). Despite its rapidly declining population, Murmansk remains the largest city north of the Arctic Circle.
Murmansk was the last city founded in the Russian Empire.[citation needed] In 1915, World War I needs led to the construction of the railroad from Petrozavodsk to an ice-free location on the Murman Coast in the Russian Arctic, to which Russia's allies shipped military supplies. The terminus became known as the Murman station, and soon boasted a port, a naval base, and an adjacent settlement with a population which quickly grew in size and soon surpassed the nearby towns of Alexandrovsk and Kola.
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Murmansk Oblast
Murmansk Oblast (Russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, Murmanskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk. Population: 795,409 (2010 Census).
Geographically it is located mainly on the Kola Peninsula, and it is a part of the larger Lapland region that spans over four countries. It lies almost completely north of the Arctic Circle. Murmansk Oblast borders Karelia, Finnmark County in Norway and Lapland Province in Finland and, by water, the Barents Sea and the White Sea. Norrbotten County in Sweden is also located nearby (300 km). Most of the Murmansk Oblast is hilly, the Khibiny Mountains being the highest point of the region. The climate is mildered by the proximity of the sea and the gulf stream. The Oblast is mostly covered by tundra in the north and taiga in the south.
The Saami, even if they represent now a very small minority, are the indigenous people of the region. However, the Russian people started to explore the shores of the White Sea as early as the 12th century. Despite of these early settlements, the area remained backward and undeveloped for a very long time, with the city of Murmansk being founded only in 1916.
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Nampho
Namp'o (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; Korean pronunciation: [nampɸo]) is a city and seaport in South P'yŏngan Province, North Korea. It was a provincial-level Directly Governed City (Chikhalsi) from 1980 to 2004, when it was designated a "Special City" (T'ŭkgŭpsi) and made a part of South P'yŏngan. Namp'o was designated a T'ŭkpyŏlsi (teukbyeolsi; 특별시; 特別市) "Special City" in 2010.
Namp'o is situated some 50 kilometres south west of P'yŏngyang, at the mouth of the Taedong River. It was originally a small fishing village, but opened as a port of foreign trade in 1897, and began to develop into a modern port after liberation in 1945. With the rapid increase in state investment, the city's industrial capacity grew.
Some of the industrial facilities are the Namp'o Smelter Complex, the Namp'o Glass Corporation, the Namp'o Shipbuilding Complex, the Namp'o Fishery Complex and other central and local factories. Namp'o is a center for the DPRK shipbuilding industry. North of the city are facilities for freight transportation, aquatic products, and fishery, and a sea salt factory. The apples grown in Namp'o's Ryonggang district (룡강군) are a famous local product.
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Narva Triumphal Gate
The Narva Triumphal Arch (lit. Gate, Russian: На́рвские триумфа́льные воро́та) was erected in the vast Narva Square (known as the Stachek Square in Soviet years), Saint Petersburg, in 1814 to commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleon. The wooden structure was constructed on the Narva highway with the purpose of greeting the soldiers who were returning from abroad after their victory over Napoleon. The architect of the original Narva Arch was Giacomo Quarenghi. The program was meant to respond to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris, originally erected to celebrate Napoleon's victory over the Allies at Austerlitz, but the material used was a weather-resistant plaster that was never intended to be permanent.
Between 1827 and 1834 Vasily Stasov redesigned and rebuilt the gate in stone. A similar gate, also by Stasov, was erected on the road leading to Moscow. A sculptor Vasily Demut-Malinovsky was responsible for the arch's sculptural decor. As has been conventional since Imperial Roman times, sculptures of Fame offering laurel wreaths fill the spandrels of the central arch. The main entablature breaks boldly forward over paired Composite columns that flank the opening and support colossal sculptures. Nike, the Goddess of Victory surmounts the arch, in a triumphal car drawn by six horses, sculpted by Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg, instead of the traditional Quadriga.
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Nazi Germany
The Third Reich, also Nazi Germany, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany, quickly eliminating all opposition to rule as sole leader. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly...Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal..." Under the "leader principle", the Führer's word was above all other laws. Top officials reported to Hitler and followed his policies, but they had considerable autonomy. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power and curry favor with the Führer. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazi government restored prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy of free-market and central-planning practices. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of the Autobahns. The return to prosperity gave the regime enormous popularity; the suppression of all opposition made Hitler's rule mostly unchallenged.
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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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Neva Bay
The Neva Bay (Russian: Невская губа, Nevskaya Guba), also known as the Gulf of Kronstadt, is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland between Kotlin Island and the Neva River estuary where the city of St. Petersburg is sited.
The Saint Petersburg Dam separates the bay from the Baltic Sea. It has a surface area of 329 km². The entire coastline is designated part of St. Petersburg rather than of Leningrad Oblast.
The bay is also informally known as "the Marquis's Pool" after Jean Baptiste, marquis de Traversay, the Russian naval minister who regarded the shallow waters of the bay as an ideal place for holding naval exercises.
Coordinates: 59°57′N 30°00′E / 59.95°N 30°E / 59.95; 30
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Neva Yacht Club
The Neva Yacht Club, (Yacht-club Neva or simply Club Neva) is a sailing club located in Saint Petersburg, close to the Neva River, originally founded in 1718. Despite being a relatively recently established club in its present form, its origins hail back to the first and oldest yacht club in Russia and even in the world, though this is challenged by the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Ireland.
Nevsky Flot (lit. "Fleet of the Neva"), the first Yacht Club in Russia, was founded by tsar Peter the Great on April 12, 1718 (likely, the idea had deviced as early as 1716, when the First Neva Shipyard started building civilian vessels). The tsar, an enthusiast of naval activities, provided 141 small ships to entertain members of the aristocracy. The flag of the club, a version of the Russian Navy Ensign, was designed and given to the club by the tsar himself. The club ceased activities after the death of the tsar, who had been personally sponsoring the club.
Its date of establishment makes the Neva Yacht Club perhaps the oldest yacht club in the world, and often it is counted as such. However, since this Russian yacht club was established by a decree of the emperor, it does not qualify as a proper club, understood as a voluntary association of members. Therefore, the Royal Cork Yacht Club, founded two years later in 1720, is also widely acknowledged as the oldest yacht club in the world, despite having gone through periods of dormancy and undergone name changes, much in the same manner as the Neva Yacht Club.
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Nevsky Prospect
Coordinates: 59°55′54″N 30°21′10″E / 59.9318°N 30.3527°E / 59.9318; 30.3527
Nevsky Avenue (Russian: Не́вский проспе́кт, tr. Nevsky Prospekt; IPA: [ˈnʲefskʲɪj prɐˈspʲekt]) is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The chief sights include the Rastrelliesque Stroganov Palace, the huge neoclassical Kazan Cathedral, the Art Nouveau Bookhouse (Dom Knigi), Elisseeff Emporium, half a dozen 18th-century churches, a monument to Catherine the Great, an enormous 18th-century shopping mall, a mid-19th-century department store, the Russian National Library, and the Anichkov Bridge with its horse statues. The feverish life of the avenue was described by Nikolai Gogol in his story "Nevsky Prospekt". Fyodor Dostoevsky often employed the Nevksy Prospekt as a setting within his works, such as Crime and Punishment and The Double: A Petersburg Poem.
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Nevsky Prospekt
Coordinates: 59°55′54″N 30°21′10″E / 59.9318°N 30.3527°E / 59.9318; 30.3527
Nevsky Avenue (Russian: Не́вский проспе́кт, tr. Nevsky Prospekt; IPA: [ˈnʲefskʲɪj prɐˈspʲekt]) is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The chief sights include the Rastrelliesque Stroganov Palace, the huge neoclassical Kazan Cathedral, the Art Nouveau Bookhouse (Dom Knigi), Elisseeff Emporium, half a dozen 18th-century churches, a monument to Catherine the Great, an enormous 18th-century shopping mall, a mid-19th-century department store, the Russian National Library, and the Anichkov Bridge with its horse statues. The feverish life of the avenue was described by Nikolai Gogol in his story "Nevsky Prospekt". Fyodor Dostoevsky often employed the Nevksy Prospekt as a setting within his works, such as Crime and Punishment and The Double: A Petersburg Poem.
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New Holland Island
New Holland Island (Russian: Но́вая Голла́ндия) in Saint Petersburg was created in 1720, when the newly built Kryukov Canal and Admiralty Canal connected the Moika River with the Neva. The triangular island took its name after a number of canals and shipbuilding facilities that rendered its appearance similar to Amsterdam.
During the following centuries, the island belonged to the Russian Admiralty, which would adapt the plot for its various needs. Originally, there was a minor shipyard for rowing boats. In 1732, the Admiralty engaged architect Ivan Korobov to construct a network of basins and wooden warehouses along the island's perimeter in order to store lumber for shipbuilding.
In 1765, Savva Chevakinsky was ordered to rebuild the warehouses in brick but without customary stucco decoration. By 1788, when the project was halted, Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe had designed and supervised the construction of a highly pitched Neoclassical arch over the canal. This magnificent red-brick gateway to the island, known as the New Holland Arch, is flanked by massive Tuscan columns of red granite.
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Nicholas Palace
Coordinates: 59°55′55″N 30°17′35″E / 59.932°N 30.293°E / 59.932; 30.293
Nicholas Palace (Russian: Николаевский дворец, Nikolayevsky dvorets) was one of several St Petersburg palaces designed by Andreas Stackensneider (1802-65) for the children of Nicholas I of Russia. The palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaievich of Russia forms part of a sprawling complex incorporating a palatial church, a manege, and several outbuildings separated from Labour Square by a cast-iron fence.
In 1894 the edifice reverted to the crown and was transformed into the Xenia Institute for Noble Young Ladies (Russian: Ксенинский институт благородных девиц, Kseninskii institut blagorodnykh devits). It was described by E. M. Almedingen in her memoirs:
At certain functions in the great paneled white hall it was easy to imagine yourself plunged into the court life of the late eighteenth century. ... The palace, for all its enormous size, was beautiful. The sweep of that regal, gray marble staircase, curving off to the right and the left, must have been an architectural marvel. We played in halls, their high ceilings supported by Corinthian pillars, their walls covered with most exquisite paneling. We read and studied in rooms with lovely mirrors, framed in the scrolled and carven fantasies of great artists. We slept in dormitories, their walls covered by delicate frescoes. ... The exquisite staircase... swept down to a hall where a gigantic Cerberus of a porter, magnificent in scarlet and gold, stood on duty. The great front doors, splendid with carved wood and panes of cut glass, were nearly always closed.
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Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod (Russian: Нижний Новгород; IPA: [ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət]), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia.
From 1932 to 1990, the city was known as Gorky (Горький, IPA: [ˈɡorʲkʲɪj]), after the writer Maxim Gorky who was born there.
The city is an important economic, transport and cultural center of the Russian Federation. It is the economic and cultural center of the vast Volga-Vyatka economic region, and also the administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Volga Federal District.
After the destruction of the Mordvin Inäzor Obram, a hillfort named Obran Osh (Ashli) at the site of future stone Kremlin in 1220, a small Russian wooden hillfort was founded by Grand Duke Yury II in 1221. Located at the confluence of two most important rivers of his principality, the Volga (Mordvin "Rav" or "Rava"), and the Oka, and Obran Osh was renamed Nizhny Novgorod. Its name literally means Lower Newtown, to distinguish it from the older Veliky Novgorod. Its independent existence was threatened by the continuous Mordvin attacks against it. The major attempt made by Inäzor Purgaz from Arzamas in January 1229 was repulsed, but after the death of Yuri II on March 4, 1238 at the Battle of Sit River the Mongols occupied the fortress and the remnants of small Nizhny Novgorod settlement which surrendered without any resistance in order to preserve what had been developed since Purgaz's attack nine years earlier. Later a major stronghold for border protection, Nizhny Novgorod fortress took advantage of a natural moat formed by the two rivers.
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North Korea
Coordinates: 40°00′N 127°00′E / 40°N 127°E / 40; 127 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국), commonly referred to as "North Korea" ( listen), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok, or Yalu, and the Tumen rivers form the border between North Korea and China. A section of the Tumen River in the far northeast is the border with Russia.
The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War in 1910. It was divided into Soviet- and American-occupied zones in 1945, after the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. North and South Korea each claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean Peninsula, which led to the Korean War of 1950. The Armistice Agreement of 1953 ended the fighting; but the two countries are officially still at war against each other, for a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.
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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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Novgorod Oblast
Novgorod Oblast (Russian: Новгоро́дская о́бласть, Novgorodskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Veliky Novgorod. Some of the oldest Russian cities, including Veliky Novgorod and Staraya Russa, are located there. The historic monuments of Veliky Novgorod and surroundings have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Population: 634,111 (2010 Census).
Novgorod Oblast borders with Leningrad Oblast in the north and in the northwest, Vologda Oblast in the east, Tver Oblast in the southeast and in the south, and Pskov Oblast in the southwest.
The western part is a lowland around the Lake Ilmen, while the eastern part is a highland (northern spurs of the Valdai Hills). The highest point is Mount Ryzhokha in the Valdai Hills (296 metres (971 ft)). In the center of the oblast, there is Lake Ilmen, one of the largest lakes in Central Russia. The major tributaries of Lake Ilmen are the Msta, which originates in the east of the Valdai Hills and collects the rivers in the east of the oblast, the Lovat, the Pola, and the Polist, which all flow to the lake from the south, and the Shelon, flowing from the southwest. The only outflow of the lake is the Volkhov, a major tributary of Lake Ladoga. Almost all of the oblast belongs to the river basin of the Volkhov. The exceptions are the nothwest, which belongs to the river basin of the Luga, a tributary of the Baltic Sea, the north, belonging to the basin of the Syas, another tributary of Lake Ladoga, the east, which belongs to the basin of the Mologa, a tributary of the Volga, and the south, belonging to basins of various tributaries of the upper Volga River. Sorted by the discharge, the biggest rivers of the oblast are the Volkhov, the Mologa, the Msta, the Lovat, the Syas, and the Shelon.
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Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk (Russian: Новоросси́йск; IPA: [nəvərɐˈsʲijsk]; Adyghe: Цӏэмэз, Ts'emez) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is the country's main port on the Black Sea and the leading Russian port for importing grain. It is one of the few cities honored with the title of the Hero City. Population: 241,788 (2010 Census preliminary results); 232,079 (2002 Census); 185,938 (1989 Census).
In antiquity, the shores of the Tsemess Bay were the site of Bata, an ancient Greek colony that specialized in the grain trade. It is mentioned in the works of Strabo and Ptolemy, among others. The Genoese merchants from the Ghisolfi family maintained a trade outpost there in the Middle Ages. Archaeological investigation of the area is in its infancy, but some interesting items have already been uncovered.[1]
Since 1722, the bay was commanded by the Ottoman fortress of Sujuk-Qale or Soğucak. After the coastline was ceded to Russia in 1829 as a result of a Russo-Turkish War, the admirals Mikhail Lazarev and Nikolay Raevsky founded an eastern base for the Black Sea Fleet on the shore in 1838. Named after the province of Novorossiya, the port formed a vital link in the chain of forts known as the Black Sea Coastal Line, which stretched south to Sochi.
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Novosibirsk Oblast
Novosibirsk Oblast (Russian: Новосиби́рская о́бласть, Novosibirskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative and economic center is the city of Novosibirsk. The population was 2,665,911 as of the 2010 Census.
Novosibirsk Oblast is located in the south of West Siberian Plain, at the foothills of low Salair ridge, between the Ob and Irtysh Rivers. The oblast borders Omsk Oblast in the west, Tomsk Oblast in the north, Kemerovo Oblast in the east, and Altai Krai together with Kazakhstan (Pavlodar Province) in the south. The territory of the oblast extends for more than 600 kilometers (370 mi) from west to east, and for over 400 kilometers (250 mi) from north to south. The oblast is mainly plain; at south the steppes prevail; at north enormous tracts of woodland with great number of marshes prevail. There are many lakes, the largest ones located at the south. The majority of the rivers belong to the Ob basin, many of them falling in dead lakes. Largest lakes are Chany, Sartlan, Ubinskoye, and some others.
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Nyenschantz
Nyenschantz (Swedish: Nyenskans, Finnish: Nevanlinna, Russian: Ниенша́нц, although generally known in the 17th century as Канцы) was a Swedish fortress built in 1611 at the mouth of the Neva river in Swedish Ingria on the site of the present day St. Petersburg in Russia.
"Nyen" was properly Swedish for the Neva river, and officially the fortress was always known as Nyenskans, even though the concepts were in flux in common parlance. The term "skans" is Swedish for "bastion." Near the fortress of Nyenskans a town, Nyen, soon developed which was granted town privileges and became the administrative centre of Swedish Ingria in 1642. Population in town was largely Finnish, secondly Swedish but also some Germans, according to church records. In 1656 a Russian attack badly damaged the town, and the administrative centre was moved to Narva. An important Swedish emporium, Nyen was burned down in 1702 in order not to become a threat to the fortress in the event of a Russian invasion.[citation needed]
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Odessa
Odessa (Russian: Одесса, pronounced [ɐˈdʲesːə]) or Odesa (Ukrainian: Одеса, pronounced [ɔˈdɛsɑ]) is the third largest city in Ukraine, with a population of 1,003,705. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast.
The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement, was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1240 and originally named after him as "Hacıbey"[citation needed]. After a period of Lithuanian control, it passed into the domain of the Ottoman Sultan in 1529 and remained in Ottoman hands until the Ottoman Empire's defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1792. The city of Odessa was founded by a decree of the Empress Catherine the Great in 1794. From 1819 to 1858 Odessa was a free port. During the Soviet period it was the most important port of trade in the Soviet Union and a Soviet naval base. On 1 January 2000 the Quarantine Pier of Odessa trade sea port was declared a free port and free economic zone for a term of 25 years.
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Okhta Center
Coordinates: 59°59′13.7″N 30°10′37.3″E / 59.987139°N 30.177028°E / 59.987139; 30.177028
Okhta Centre (Russian: О́хта-це́нтр), known before March 2007 as Gazprom City (Russian: Газпро́м-си́ти), is a construction project of a business centre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It will include the first supertall skyscraper in the city, museums and a concert hall. The 403-metre main tower of Okhta Centre is set to be the tallest building in Europe amongst live building proposals.
The core design team includes Chief Design Architect Charles Phu, Russian architect Philip Nikandrov, Tony Kettle and Roger Whiteman. In 2008, Arabtec, the construction company involved in construction of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, has won a contract to build this 60 billion-ruble ($2.56 billion) complex.
On November 15, 2005, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Saint Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko announced the intention of Sibneft to build the Gazprom City Business centre. The plans included a 300 metre-high skyscraper with its headquarters on the right bank of the Neva River 59°56′37.6″N 30°24′27.1″E / 59.943778°N 30.407528°E / 59.943778; 30.407528 (original site), across from the Smolny Cathedral, despite the fact that current regulations forbid construction of a building of more than 42 (48 with expert approval) metres high there. The plans were later revised to increase the height of the skyscraper to more than 400 metres.
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Omsk
Omsk (Russian: Омск) is a city and the administrative center of Omsk Oblast, Russia, located in southwestern Siberia 2,236 kilometers (1,389 mi) from Moscow. With a population of over 1.1 million, it is Russia's second-largest city east of the Ural Mountains after Novosibirsk, and seventh by size nationally.
During the Imperial era, Omsk was the seat of the Governor General of Western Siberia, and later of the Governor General of the Steppes. For a brief period during the Russian Civil War in 1918–1920, it served as the capital of the anti-Bolshevik Russian State and held the imperial gold reserves.
Omsk is the administrative center of the Siberian Cossack Host. It also serves as the see of the bishop of Omsk and Tara, as well as the administrative seat of the Imam of Siberia.
Omsk stretches along on the banks of the north-flowing Irtysh at its confluence with the smaller Om River. The city has an elevation of 87 meters (285 ft) above mean sea level at its highest point.
Omsk is an important railroad hub, and is the junction point for the northern and southern branches of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The city also serves as a major hub for the regional highway network. River-port facilities handle both passengers and freight, giving the city access to the extensive navigable waterways of the Irtysh and Ob River;. The waterways connect Omsk with the coal and mineral-mining towns further up the river in Kazakhstan, as well as with the oil, natural gas and lumber operations of northern Siberia. Omsk is served by the Tsentralny Airport, which offers access to domestic and international (primarily, German and Kazakh) destinations, making the city an important aviation hub for Siberia and the Russian Far East.
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Omsk Oblast
Omsk Oblast (Russian: О́мская о́бласть, Omskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southwestern Siberia. The oblast has an area of 139,700 square kilometers (53,900 sq mi). Its population is 1,977,655 (2010 Census) with the majority, 1.15 million, living in Omsk, the administrative center.
The oblast borders with Tyumen Oblast in the north and west, Novosibirsk and Tomsk Oblasts in the east, and with Kazakhstan in the south.
Archeological finds have indicated that the present day territory of the oblast has been inhabited for the last 14,000 years. Neolithic societies in the area lived by fishing and hunting. About three thousand years ago, pastoralism began to take hold.
Various Turkic states dominated the area throughout the Middle Ages. The most notable of these were the Western Turkic Khaganate and the Siberian Khanate. Siberian Tatars, Mongols, Khanty and Mansi tribes, along with others, inhabited the territory.
The Russian history of Omsk can be said to begin with the 1584 arrival of a Cossack force under the command of Yermak, who defeated local rulers and established nominal Russian control of the area.
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Orenburg Oblast
Orenburg Oblast (Russian: Оренбу́ргская о́бласть, Orenburgskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg. From 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast (Чка́ловская о́бласть) in honor of Valery Chkalov. Population: 2,033,072 (2010 Census).
The most important river of the oblast is the Ural.
Orenburg is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
Population: 2,033,072 (2010 Census); 2,179,551 (2002 Census); 2,174,459 (1989 Census).
According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic composition of the oblast was as follows:
The main religion is Orthodox Christianity, while a minority is Muslim.
Orenburg Oblast is one of the major agricultural areas of Russia. Its climate is favorable for farming: humid spring, dry summer and a large number of sunny days make perfect conditions for cultivating hard wheat and rye, sunflowers, potatoes, peas, beans, corn, and gourds.
The range of the oblast's export commodities includes: oil and oil products, gas and gas produced products, rolled ferrous and non-ferrous metals, nickel, asbestos, chromium compounds, rough copper, electric engines, radiators, products of machine-building industry.
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Oryol Oblast
Oryol Oblast (Russian: Орло́вская о́бласть, Orlovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Oryol. Population: 786,935 (2010 Census).
It is located in the southwestern part of the Central Federal District, in the Mid-Russian Highlands. Kaluga and Tula Oblasts border it in the north, Bryansk Oblast is located to the west, Kursk Oblast—to the south, and Lipetsk Oblast is to the east. From north to south, it extends for more than 150 kilometers (93 mi), and from west to east—for over 200 kilometers (120 mi). In terms of area, at 24,700 square kilometers (9,500 sq mi) it is one of the smallest federal subjects.
The climate is temperate. The average January temperature is −8 °C (18 °F) and the average July temperature is +18 °C (64 °F). Rainfall averages 490 to 590 mm, and snow cover averages 126 days.
There are 4,800 square kilometers (1,900 sq mi) of black earth soils (chernozems) in the oblast, which amounts to three-quarters of the world chernozem reserves.
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Osaka
Osaka (大阪, Ōsaka?) listen (help·info) is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. Located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, Osaka is the third largest city by population after Tokyo (special wards) and Yokohama.
Keihanshin is the second largest area in Japan by population and one of the largest metropolitan areas highly ranked in the world, with nearly 18 million people, and by GDP the second largest area in Japan and the seventh largest area in the world.
Historically the commercial centre of Japan, Osaka functions as one of the command centers for the Japanese economy. The ratio between daytime and night time population is 141%, the highest in Japan, highlighting its status as an economic center. Its nighttime population is 2.6 million, the third in the country, but in daytime the population surges to 3.7 million, second only after Tokyo (combining the Special wards of Tokyo, which is not a single incorporated city, for statistical purposes. See the Tokyo article for more information on the definition and makeup of Tokyo.) Osaka used to be referred to as the "nation's kitchen" (天下の台所, tenka no daidokoro?) in feudal Edo period because it was the centre of trading for rice, creating the first modern futures exchange market in the world.
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Osh
Osh (Kyrgyz: Ош) is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south". The city is at least 3,000 years old, and has served as the administrative center of Osh Province since 1939. The city has an ethnically mixed population of about 220,000 (in 2003), comprising Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Russians, Tajiks, and other smaller ethnic groups.
Osh is a lively place, with the largest and most crowded outdoor market in all of Central Asia. The city's industrial base, established during the Soviet period, largely collapsed after the break-up of the Soviet Union and has started to revive only gradually. The proximity of the Uzbek border, which cuts through historically linked territories and settlements, deprives Osh of much of its former hinterland and presents a serious obstacle to trade and economic development. Daily flights link Osh - and hence the southern part of Kyrgyzstan - to Bishkek and the north, and the recent upgrading of the long and arduous road through the mountains to Bishkek has greatly improved communications.
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Oslo
Oslo (English pronunciation: /ˈɒzloʊ/, OZ-loh,Norwegian pronunciation: [²ʊʃlʊ] ( listen) or [²ʊslʊ]) is the capital of and most populous city in Norway. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814 and with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 reduced its influence. After being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Castle during the reign of King Christian IV and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality (formannskapsdistrikt) on 1 January 1838. Following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, when its original Norwegian name was restored.
Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for maritime industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to many companies within the maritime sector, some of which are amongst the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and maritime insurance brokers. Oslo is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme.
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Palace Bridge
Coordinates: 59°56′28″N 30°18′29″E / 59.941149°N 30.308105°E / 59.941149; 30.308105
Palace Bridge (Russian: Дворцо́вый мост, Dvortsoviy Most) is a road traffic and foot bascule bridge spanning the Neva River in Saint Petersburg between Palace Square and Vasilievsky Island. Like every other Neva bridge (except for Big Obukhovsky Bridge), it is drawn by night, making foot travel between various parts of the city virtually impossible. It was built by the French firm Société de Construction des Batignolles.
The total length of Palace Bridge is 260.1 metres, width is 27.8 metres. It is actually composed of five spans, the southernmost joining Palace Embankment between Winter Palace and Admiralty and leading to Palace Square.
After Emperor Nicholas I lifted Peter the Great's prohibition to construct bridges across the Neva, a temporary pontoon bridge was set up about 50 metres downstream from the current structure.
Construction of the cast-iron bridge was started in 1912 to designs by Andrey Pshenitsky, but the work was delayed by World War I and the bridge was not opened to the public until December 23, 1916. The history leading up to the construction of this bridge was tortuous with 54 proposed designs rejected between 1901 and 1911. The design was subject to strict controls so as to prevent the bridge from obstructing the view from Palace Embankment towards Kunstkammer, Imperial Academy of Arts, and other structures on Vasilievsky Island.
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Palace Embankment
Coordinates: 59°56′28″N 30°18′45″E / 59.941232°N 30.312629°E / 59.941232; 30.312629
The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay (Russian: Дворцовая набережная, Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya) is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings (including the Winter Palace), the Hermitage Theatre, the Marble Palace, the Vladimir Palace, the New Michael Palace and the Summer Garden.
The street was laid out between 1763 and 1767, when it used to be a preferred place of residence for the Russian Imperial Nobility. The street begins at the Palace Bridge, where the Admiralty Embankment becomes the Palace Embankment, and the street ends at the Fontanka, where it becomes the Kutuzov Embankment.
The Palace Embankment is a very popular street among tourists, as it has a wonderful view of the Neva, the Peter and Paul Fortress and Vasilievsky Island. Many sightseeing boats are available for hire there.
In his novel Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin depicted himself walking along Palace Quay with his hero, Eugene Onegin:
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Palace Square
Palace Square (Russian: Дворцо́вая пло́щадь, tr. Dvortsovaya Ploshchad; IPA: [dvɐˈrtsovəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ]), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. It was the setting of many events of worldwide significance, including the Bloody Sunday (1905) and the October Revolution of 1917.
The earliest and most celebrated building on the square is the baroque white-and-azure Winter Palace of Russian tsars (1754–62), which gave the square its name. Although the adjacent buildings are designed in the Neoclassical style, they perfectly match the palace in their scale, rhythm, and monumentality. The opposite, southern side of the square was designed in the shape of an arc by George von Velten in the late 18th century. These plans were executed half a century later, when Alexander I of Russia envisaged the square as a vast monument to the Russian victory over Napoleon and commissioned Carlo Rossi to design the bow-shaped Empire-style Building of the General Staff (1819–29), which centers on a double triumphal arch crowned with a Roman quadriga.
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Paldiski
Paldiski is a town and Baltic Sea port situated on the Pakri peninsula of north-western Estonia. Originally a Swedish settlement known as Rågervik, it became a Russian naval base in the 18th century. The Russians renamed it Балтийский Порт ("Baltiyskiy Port", i.e. Baltic Port, German: Baltisch-Port) in 1762. In Estonian the name was spelled Baltiski until 1933 when the Estonian pronunciation Paldiski became the official name.
In 1962, Paldiski became a Soviet Navy nuclear submarine training centre. With two land-based nuclear reactors, and employing some 16,000 people, it was the largest such facility in the Soviet Union. Because of its importance, the whole city was closed off with barbed wire until the last Russian warship left in August 1994. Russia finally relinquished control of the nuclear reactor facilities in September 1995.
After Estonia restored its independence, the city had not enough Estonian citizens and Paldiski was subordinated to Keila until 30 October 1996. Located some 45 km west of Tallinn, Paldiski is a municipality within Harju County and has a regular ferry connection with Kapellskär in Sweden (operated by Tallink). Derelict Soviet-style apartment buildings make up much of the town, and the relics of military bases are widespread. The majority of its residents are ethnic Russians.
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Palmyra
Palmyra (Aramaic: ܬܕܡܘܪܬܐ;Hebrew: תדמור; tiḏmor, Greek: Παλμύρα, Arabic: تدمر; Tadmur, English pronunciation: /ˌpælˈmaɪrə/) was an ancient city in central Syria. In antiquity, it was an important city located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan stop for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert. The earliest documented reference to the city by its Semitic name Tadmor, Tadmur or Tudmur (which means "the town that repels" in Amorite and "the indomitable town" in Aramaic) is recorded in Babylonian tablets found in Mari.
Though the ancient site fell into disuse after the 16th century, it is still known as Tadmor in Arabic (aka Tedmor), and there is a newer town of the same name next to the ruins. The Palmyrenes constructed a series of large-scale monuments containing funerary art such as limestone slabs with human busts representing the deceased.
Palmyrans bore Aramaic names, and worshipped a variety of deities from Mesopotamia (Marduk and Ruda), Syria (Hadad, Baʿal, Astarte), Arabia (Allāt) and Greece (Athena). Palmyrans were originally speakers of Aramaic but later shifted to the Greek language. At the time of the Islamic conquests Palmyra was inhabited by several Arab tribes, primarily the Qada'ah and Kalb.
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Pavlovsk Palace
Pavlovsk Palace is an 18th-century Russian Imperial residence built by Paul I of Russia in Pavlovsk, near Saint Petersburg. After his death, it became the home of his widow, Maria Feodorovna. The palace and the large English garden surrounding it are now a Russian state museum and public park.
In 1777 The Empress Catherine II of Russia gave a parcel of a thousand hectares of forest along the winding Slavyanka River, four kilometers from her residence at Tsarskoye Selo, to her son and heir Paul I and his wife Maria Feodorovna, to celebrate the birth of their first son, the future Alexander I of Russia.
At the time the land was given to Paul and Maria Feodorovna, there were two rustic log lodges in the called 'Krik' and 'Krak.' Paul and his wife spent the summers of 1777 to 1780 in Krik, while their new homes and the garden were being built.
They began by building two wooden buildings, one kilometer apart. Paul's house, a two-story house in the Dutch style, with small gardens, was called "Marienthal", or the "Valley of Maria." Maria's house was a small wooden house with a cupola, flower beds, named "Paullust", or "Paul's Joy." Paul and Maria Feodorovna began to create picturesque "ruins", a Chinese kiosk, Chinese bridges and classical temples in the English landscape garden style which had spread rapidly across Europe in the second half of the 18th century.
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Penza Oblast
Penza Oblast (Russian: Пе́нзенская о́бласть, Penzenskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Penza. Population: 1,386,186 (2010 Census).
Penza Oblast has over 3000 rivers, the overall length is 15 458 km. The biggest rivers are:
Population: 1,386,186 (2010 Census); 1,452,941 (2002 Census); 1,504,309 (1989 Census).
Ethnic composition (2010):
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Pesochny
Coordinates: 60°07′N 30°09′E / 60.12°N 30.15°E / 60.12; 30.15
Pesochny (Russian: Песо́чный) is a municipal settlement in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersurg, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus, on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. Population: 7,011 (2010 Census preliminary results); 6,487 (2002 Census); 7,761 (1989 Census).
Until 1925, it was called Grafskaya koloniya (Графская колония, lit. Colony of the earl), or Grafskoye (Графское) for short. Its Finnish name "Raavski" is derived from that name.
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Petergof
Coordinates: 59°53′N 29°54′E / 59.883°N 29.9°E / 59.883; 29.9
Petergof (Russian: Петерго́ф) or Peterhof (Dutch/German for "Peter's Court"), known as Petrodvorets (Петродворец) from 1944 to 1997, is a municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. Population: 73,154 (2010 Census preliminary results); 64,791 (2002 Census); 81,525 (1989 Census).
The town hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University and the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, one of the leading Russian watch manufactures. A series of palaces and gardens, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great, and sometimes called the "Russian Versailles", is also situated there. The palace-ensemble along with the city center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In the time of Peter the Great, the sea floor just north of the Petergof site and to the east toward St. Petersburg was too shallow for either commercial ships or warships. However, to the west of Petergof, the sea floor dropped off to be deep enough for sea vessels. Accordingly, when Peter the Great decided to build St. Petersburg at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, he first captured the Kotlin Island clearly visible from the Petergof site just to the northeast in the middle of the Gulf. At Kotlin Island he would build the commercial harbor for St. Petersburg as well as the Kronshtadt fortifications across the 20 kilometers (12 mi) of shallow sea to provision and defend the Navy that he would build.
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Peterhof Palace
Coordinates: 59°53′N 29°54′E / 59.883°N 29.9°E / 59.883; 29.9
The Peterhof Palace (Russian: Петерго́ф, Petergóf, ("h" is commonly/historically transliterated as "г" (g) in Russian, so German Peterhof is transliterated as "Петергoф" Petergof into Russian) for "Peter's Court") is a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the "Russian Versailles". The palace-ensemble along with the city centre is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The dominant natural feature of Peterhof is a sixteen-metre-high bluff lying less than a hundred metres from the shore. The so-called Lower Gardens (Nizhny Sad), at 1.02 km² comprising the better part of Peterhof's land area, are confined between this bluff and the shore, stretching east and west for roughly 200 metres. The majority of Peterhof's fountains are contained here, as are several small palaces and outbuildings. East of the Lower Gardens lies the Alexandria Park with 19th-century Gothic Revival structures such as the Kapella.
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Petrogradsky Island
Petrogradsky Island (Russian: Петроградский остров) is the third largest island in the Neva River delta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Along with Zayachy Island, Aptekarsky Island, and Petrovsky Island, it constitutes the Petrogradskaya Side (Russian: Петроградская сторона). It is the administrative center of the Petrogradsky District and hosts a number of universities and research centers, as well as cultural, historical, and recreational facilities. Coordinates: 59°57′45″N 30°18′08″E / 59.9625°N 30.30222°E / 59.9625; 30.30222
Petrogradsky Island lies between the Neva River and its Bolshaya Nevka branch. It is separated from Aptekarsky Island on the north by the Karpovka River, from Krestovsky Island on the west by the Malaya Nevka, from Petrovsky Island on the south by the Zhdanovka River, and from Zayachy Island on the southeast by the Kronverksky Strait. It is linked to the central district by the Troitsky Bridge, to Vasilievsky Island by the Birzhevoy (Exchange) Bridge and Tuchkov Bridge), to Petrovsky Island by the Maly Petrovsky Bridge, to Krestovsky Island by the Lazarevsky Bolshoy Krestovsky Bridges, and to the Vyborgskaya Side via the Sampsonievsky and Grenadersky Bridges.
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Petrovsky Stadium
The Petrovsky Stadium (Стадион «Петровский») is a sport complex that consists of a number of sport buildings. One of them is the Grand Sport Arena which is the home of FC Zenit of Saint Petersburg, Russia and for simplicity referred by everyone as Petrovsky Stadium. The complex also contains another football stadium, Minor Sport Arena (MSA). MSA of Petrovsky in 2008 was used by several teams that compete in lower professional leagues: FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg, FC Zenit-2 Saint Petersburg, and FC Sever Murmansk. The whole complex is located on the Petrograd side in central St. Petersburg on Petrovsky Island, an island in the Malaya Neva River connected to the adjacent Krestovsky and Petrogradsky islands through bridges.
The Grand Sport Arena of the Petrovsky Sport Complex currently has a capacity of 21,405 people.
The first stadium at this location was designed by architects N.V. Baranov, O.I. Guryev and V.M. Fromzel, and was built in 1924 - 1925. In 1957 - 1961 it went through major reconstruction, the largest one before the 1980 Summer Olympics. At that time the capacity was 33,000 seats.
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Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk (Russian: Петрозаво́дск; IPA: [pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk]; Karelian/Vepsian/Finnish: Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. It stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega for some 27 kilometers (17 mi). Population: 263,540 (2010 Census preliminary results); 266,160 (2002 Census); 269,485 (1989 Census).
It is served by Petrozavodsk Airport.
On September 11, 1703, Prince Menshikov founded the settlement of Petrovskaya Sloboda ("Petrine Sloboda"). He did so at the behest of Tsar Peter the Great, who needed a new iron foundry to manufacture cannons and anchors for the Baltic Fleet at the time of the Great Northern War (1700–1721). At first the foundry used the name Shuysky zavod (literally, "factory at the Shuya River"), but a decade later it became Petrovsky zavod ("Petrine factory"), after the name of the reigning monarch. From this form the present name of the city derives.
By 1717, Petrovskaya Sloboda had grown into the largest settlement in Karelia, with about 3,500 inhabitants, a timber fort, a covered market, and miniature palaces of the Tsar and Menshikov. The town's best-known landmark became the wooden church of Saints Peter and Paul, rebuilt in 1772 and renovated in 1789. The church retained its original iconostasis until this relic of Peter's reign was destroyed by fire on October 30, 1924.
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Philippines
The Philippinesi/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.
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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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Porkkala
Coordinates: 59°59′N 24°26′E / 59.983°N 24.433°E / 59.983; 24.433
Porkkala (Swedish: Porkala) is a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland located at Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt) in Southern Finland.
The peninsula had great strategic value, as coastal artillery based there would be able to reach more than halfway across the Gulf of Finland. If the same power controlled the Estonian coast, on the opposite side of the gulf, it would then be able to block Saint Petersburg's naval access to the Baltic Sea. The distance to Estonia at the closest point is only 36 km (22 mi). Porkkala is furthermore located only 30 kilometers (19 mi) from Helsinki, the Finnish capital, and a foreign power based there would be able to exert significant pressure on the Finnish government.
Nowadays the coasts of the peninsula are popular bird watching areas during spring migration as the Arctic geese and other waterfowl are on their passage.
At the end of the Second World War the Soviet Union secured the rights of lease to a naval base at Porkkala, in accordance with the Moscow armistice agreement that ended the Continuation War, between Finland and the Soviets on September 19, 1944. Porkkala thus replaced the peninsula of Hanko, which had been leased to the Soviets as a naval base in 1940–41. A large area centered on the peninsula, including land from the municipalities of Kirkkonummi, Siuntio and Ingå and almost the entire area of Degerby, was leased to the USSR from 29 September 1944, ten days after the armistice. It was immediately placed under a military commander, Neon Vasilyevich Antonov (1907–1948), who remained in office till June 1945, when he was transferred to command the Amur River flotilla, in preparation to the war against Japan.
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Prague
Prague ( /ˈprɑːɡ/; Czech: Praha pronounced [ˈpraɦa] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and fourteenth largest city in European Union. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of nearly 2.0 million. The city has a temperate oceanic climate with warm summers and chilly winters.
Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its 1,100 year existence. Founded during the Romanesque and flourishing by the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. It was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire and after World War I became the capital of Czechoslovakia. The city played major roles in the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, and in modern history generally as the principal conurbation in Bohemia and Moravia whose second city is Brno.
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Priozersk
Coordinates: 61°2′N 30°7′E / 61.033°N 30.117°E / 61.033; 30.117
Priozersk (Russian: Приозе́рск, before 1948: Finnish: Käkisalmi; Swedish: Kexholm) is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated at the northwestern shore of Lake Ladoga, at the estuary of the northern armlet of River Vuoksi on the Karelian Isthmus. It is served by a station of the Saint Petersburg-Kuznechnoye railroad with the same name. Population: 18,929 (2010 Census preliminary results); 20,506 (2002 Census); 20,557 (1989 Census).
The main landmark of Priozersk, Korela Fortress, has historically been the center for the Karelians of the Karelian Isthmus; and from time to time been the northwestern outpost of the realm of the Russians or the eastern outpost of the realm of the Swedes.
From the Middle Ages, Priozersk was known as Korela to Russians and Käkisalmi to Karelians and Finns. The town was part of the Vodskaya pyatina of the Novgorod Republic. Taxation book from Novgorod from year 1500 lists 183 houses in Korela - so estimated population 1500-2000. The Swedes captured Korela twice: in 1578 for seventeen years and in 1611 for one hundred years. In the Swedish Empire, the fortress was called Kexholm and the whole district became known as the County of Kexholm. Russia definitively secured the area during the Great Northern War; the town's Swedish name was retained, however, as Keksgolm (Кексгольм). But wars and devastating fires 1300, 1580, 1634, 1679 had taken its toll to civilian population. When the city gained its first court house in 1800 population was only 400.
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Pskov
Pskov (Russian: Псков; IPA: [pskof] ( listen), ancient Russian spelling "Плѣсковъ", Pleskov) is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about 20 kilometers (12 mi) east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: 203,281 (2010 Census preliminary results); 202,780 (2002 Census); 203,789 (1989 Census).
The name of the city, originally spelled "Pleskov", may be loosely translated as "[the town] of purling waters". Its earliest mention comes in 903, which records that Igor of Kiev married a local lady, St. Olga. Pskovians sometimes take this year as the city's foundation date, and in 2003 a great jubilee took place to celebrate Pskov's 1,100th anniversary.
The first prince of Pskov was Vladimir the Great's younger son Sudislav. Once imprisoned by his brother Yaroslav, he was not released until the latter's death several decades later. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the town adhered politically to the Novgorod Republic. In 1241, it was taken by the Teutonic Knights, but Alexander Nevsky recaptured it several months later during a legendary campaign dramatized in Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 movie.
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Pskov Oblast
Pskov Oblast (Russian: Пско́вская о́бласть, Pskovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Pskov Oblast borders the countries of Estonia and Latvia, as well as Belarus. It is the westernmost federal subject of contiguous Russia (i.e. excluding the exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast). Its major cities are the administrative center Pskov (pop. 202,000) and Velikiye Luki (pop. 104,000). Area: 55,300 square kilometers (21,400 sq mi). Population: 673,423 (2010 Census).
Andrey Turchak is the current governor.Mikhail Kuznetsov was the governor until he was replaced by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in February 2009, due to economic policy differences.[citation needed]
One of the most important natural resources of Pskov Oblast is wood. Forest takes up to one third of the territory of the region. Overall stocks of woods as for 1 January 2005 were 331,2 Million cubic meters.
Population: 673,423 (2010 Census); 760,810 (2002 Census); 846,449 (1989 Census).
For the first half of 2007, the birth rate was 9.1 per 1000 [1]
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Pulkovo Airport
Pulkovo Airport (Russian: Аэропо́рт Пу́лково, Aeroport Pulkovo) (IATA: LED, ICAO: ULLI) is an international airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia. It consists of two terminals, Pulkovo-1 (serving mostly domestic flights) and Pulkovo-2 (international flights), which are located about 20 km (12 mi) and 17 km (11 mi) south of the city centre, respectively. The airport serves as a hub for Rossiya Airlines (formerly Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise), and as focus city for Nordavia. In 2011 roughly 9.6 million passengers travelled through Pulkovo airport.
Originally it was named Shosseynaya Airport, by the name of a nearby railroad station. Construction began in January 1931, and was completed on June 24, 1932, with the first aircraft arriving at 17:31 that day, after a two-and-a-half hour flight from Moscow carrying passengers and mail.
During the Second World War the airport was the frontline in the Nazi Siege of Leningrad. There were no flights between 1941 and 1944. The nearby Pulkovo hills were occupied by the Nazis and were used by the long-range artillery for daily bombardments of Leningrad. The airport was cleared of the Nazis in January 1944, and resumed cargo and mail flights after the runways were repaired in 1945.
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Pushkin (town)
Pushkin (Russian: Пу́шкин) is a municipal town in Pushkinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located 24 kilometers (15 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg proper, and its train station, Detskoye Selo, is directly connected by railway to the Vitebsky Rail Terminal of the city. Population: 92,721 (2010 Census preliminary results).
Pushkin was founded in 1710 as an imperial residence named Tsarskoye Selo and received status of a town in 1808. The first public railways in Russia, Tsarskoye Selo Railways, were opened here in 1837 and connected the town to the capital St. Petersburg. After the October Revolution, the town was renamed to Detskoye Selo (meaning Children's Village). Its name was further changed in 1937 to Pushkin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The town contains an ensemble of the 18th century "Tsarskoye Selo". This museum complex includes the Catherine Palace, Alexander Palace and other buildings and associated parks; it is a major tourist attraction of the area and is included in the list of monuments protected by the UNESCO.
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Quebec City
Quebec ( /kwəˈbɛk/ or /kəˈbɛk/; French: Québec [kebɛk] ( listen)), also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City (French: Ville de Québec) is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of 2011, the city has a population of 516,622, and the metropolitan area has a population of 765,706, making it the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about 233 kilometres (145 mi) to the southwest.
The narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River proximate to the city's promontory, Cap-Diamant (Cape Diamond), and Lévis, on the opposite bank, provided the name given to the city, Kébec, an Algonquin word meaning "where the river narrows". Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) are the only remaining fortified city walls that still exist in the Americas north of Mexico, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the 'Historic District of Old Québec'.
According to the federal and provincial governments, Québec is the city's official name in both French and English, although Quebec City (or its French equivalent, Ville de Québec) is commonly used, particularly to distinguish the city from the province. The city's most famous landmark is the Château Frontenac, a hotel which dominates the skyline. The National Assembly of Quebec, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (National Gallery of Quebec), and the Musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization) are found within or near Vieux-Québec.
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Republic of Adygea
The Republic of Adygea (English pronunciation: /ɑːdɨˈɡeɪ.ə/;Russian: Респу́блика Адыге́я, tr. Respublika Adygeya; IPA: [ɐdɨˈɡʲejə]; Adyghe: Адыгэ Республик, Adıge Respublik) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic) enclaved within Krasnodar Krai. Its area is 7,600 square kilometers (2,900 sq mi) with a population of 439,996 (2010 Census). Its capital is the city of Maykop.
Adygea lies in southeastern Europe in the northern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, with plains in the north and mountains in the south. Forests cover almost 40% of its territory.
The 870-kilometer (540 mi) long Kuban River is one of the major navigable rivers in the Caucasus region. It forms part of the northern border between Adygea and Krasnodar Krai. Other rivers include:
The republic has no large lakes. However, the several large reservoirs include:
The republic's major mountains range in height from 2,000 to 3,238 m and include:
The republic is rich in oil and natural gas. Other natural resources include gold, silver, tungsten, and iron.
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Republic of Buryatia
The Republic of Buryatia (Russian: Респу́блика Буря́тия, tr. Respublika Buryatiya; IPA: [rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə bʊˈrʲætʲɪjə]; Buryat: Буряад Республика, Buryaad Respublika) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Ulan-Ude. Its area is 351,300 square kilometers (135,600 sq mi) with a population of 972,021 (2010 Census).
The republic is located in the south-central region of Siberia along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal.
Major rivers include:
Over 80% of the republic's territory is located in the mountainous region, including the Baikal Mountains on the northern shores of Lake Baikal.
The republic's natural resources include gold, tungsten, zinc, uranium, and more.
Population: 972,021 (2010 Census); 981,238 (2002 Census); 1,041,119 (1989 Census).
Source:
According to the 2010 Census, ethnic Russians make up two thirds of the republic's population, while the ethnic Buryats are only 30%. Other groups include Ukrainians (0.6%), Tatars (0.7%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.
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Republic of Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan ( /dɑːɡɨˈstɑːn/ or /dæɡɨˈstæn/; Russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respublika Dagestan; also spelled Daghestan) is a federal subject (a republic) of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea. Population: 2,910,249 (2010 Census).
Dagestan is ethnically very diverse, with several dozen ethnic groups and subgroups inhabiting the republic, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Azeri, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russians form only a small proportion (3.6%) of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca among the ethnic groups.
Dagestan has been a scene of low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism since the 1990s. According to International Crisis Group, the militant Islamist organization Shariat Jamaat is responsible for much of the violence. Much of the tension is rooted in an internal Islamic conflict between traditional Sufi groups advocating secular government and more recently introduced Salafist teachers preaching the implementation of Sharia law in Dagestan.
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Republic of Karelia
The Republic of Karelia (Russian: Респу́блика Каре́лия, Respublika Kareliya; Karelian: Karjalan Tazavalda; Finnish: Karjalan tasavalta; Veps: Karjalan Tazovaldkund) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Petrozavodsk. Population: 643,548 (2010 Census).
The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas. The White Sea shore line is 630 kilometers (390 mi).
There are about 27,000 rivers in Karelia. Major rivers include:
There are 60,000 lakes in Karelia. Republic's lakes and swamps contain about 2,000 km³ of high-quality fresh water. Lake Ladoga (Finnish: Laatokka) and Lake Onega (Ääninen) are the largest lakes in Europe. Other lakes include:
The most part of the republic's territory (148,000 km², or 85%) is composed of state forest stock. The total growing stock of timber resources in the forests of all categories and ages is 807 million m³. The mature and over mature tree stock amounts to 411.8 million m³, of which 375.2 million m³ is coniferous.
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Republic of Mordovia
The Republic of Mordovia (Russian: Респу́блика Мордо́вия, tr. Respublika Mordoviya; IPA: [rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə mɐrˈdovʲɪjə]; Moksha/Erzya: Мордовия Республикась,Mordoviya Respublikas), also known as Mordvinia, is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Saransk. Population: 834,755 (2010 Census).
The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia. The western part of the republic is situated in the Oka Don Plain; its eastern and central parts in the Volga Elevation.
There are 114 rivers in the republic. Major rivers include:
There are approximately five hundred lakes in the republic.
Natural resources include peat, mineral waters, and others.
Climate is moderately continental.
Earliest archaeological signs of human beings in the area of Mordovia are from the Neolithic era. Finno-Ugric Mordvins are mentioned in written sources in 6th century. Later, Mordvins were under the influence of both Volga Bulgaria and Kievan Rus. Mordvin princes sometimes raided Muroma and Volga Bulgaria, and often despoiled each other's holdings.
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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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Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( /ˈriːoʊ deɪ ʒəˈnɛəroʊ/ or /ˈriːoʊ deɪ dʒəˈnɛəroʊ/; Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈʁi.u dʒi ʒaˈnejɾu],River of January), commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th largest in the Americas, and 26th in the world.
The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1815 during the Portuguese colonial era, 1815 to 1821 as the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, and 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. Rio is nicknamed the Cidade Maravilhosa or "Marvelous City."
Rio de Janeiro represents the second largest GDP in the country (and 30th largest in the world in 2008), estimated at about R$ 343 billion (IBGE/2008) (nearly US$ 201 billion), and is the headquarters of two major Brazilian companies – Petrobras and Vale, and major oil companies and telephony in Brazil, besides the largest conglomerate of media and communications companies in Latin America, the Globo Organizations. The home of many universities and institutes, it is the second largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific production – according to 2005 data.
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Rishon LeZion
Rishon LeZion (Hebrew: רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן (audio) (help·info), lit. First to Zion), is the fourth-largest city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain 12 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area.
The city had a population of 228,200 at the end of 2009. Founded in 1882 by European Jewish immigrants, it was the second Jewish farm colony established in Land of Israel in the 19th century, after Petah Tikva.
The name Rishon LeZion is derived from a biblical verse: "First to Zion are they, and I shall give herald to Jerusalem" (Hebrew: ראשון לציון הנה הינם, ולירושלים מבשר אתן) (Isaiah 41:27) and literally translates as "First to Zion".
Rishon LeZion was founded on July 31, 1882 by ten Hovevei Zion pioneers from Kharkov, Ukraine (then the Russian Empire) headed by Zalman David Levontin. Reuven Yudalevich was also a member of the group. The pioneers purchased 835 acres (337.91 ha) of land southeast of present-day Tel Aviv, part of the townland of the Arab village of Ayun Kara (literally ' fountain of the crier'). Ayun Kara was the scene of a bloody battle between Turkish and New Zealand troops on November 14, 1917. A stone cenotaph was erected by the people of Rishon LeZion to the memory of the New Zealanders who fell that day, but it has since been destroyed.
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Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast (Russian: Росто́вская о́бласть, tr. Rostovskaya oblast; IPA: [rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. Rostov Oblast has an area of 100,800 square kilometers (38,900 sq mi) and a population of 4,277,976 (2010 Census), making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Rostov-on-Don, which also became the administrative center of the Southern Federal District in 2002.
Rostov Oblast borders Ukraine and also Volgograd and Voronezh Oblasts in the north, Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais in the south, and the Republic of Kalmykia in the east.
The Don River, one of Europe's largest flows through the oblast for part of its course. Lakes cover only 0.4% of the oblast's area.
Population: 4,277,976 (2010 Census); 4,404,013 (2002 Census); 4,308,654 (1989 Census).
Ethnic groups: Residents identified themselves as belonging to 157 different ethnic groups, including twenty-seven of more than two thousand persons each. The most important ethnicities are the 3,795,607 ethnic Russians:(90.3%); the 77,802 ethnic Ukrainians:(1.9%); the 110,727 ethnic Armenians:(2.6%). Other important groups are the 35,902 Turks:(0.9%); 16,493 Belarusians:(0.4%)); 13,948 Tatars:(0.3%); 17,961 Azeris:(0.4%); 11,449 Chechens:(0.3%); 16,657 Roma:(0.4%); 11,597 Koreans:(0.3%); and 8,296 Georgians:(0.2%). There were also 76,498 people (1.8%) belonging to other ethno-cultural groupings. 76,735 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.
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Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( /ˈrɒtərdæm/; Dutch [ˌrɔ.tər.ˈdɑm] ( listen)) is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam constructed in 1270 on the Rotte River, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre. Its strategic location at the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta on the North Sea and at the heart of a massive rail, road, air and inland waterway distribution system extending throughout Europe is the reason that Rotterdam is often called the "Gateway to Europe".
Located in the Province of South Holland, Rotterdam is found in the west of the Netherlands and at the south end of the Randstad. The population of the city proper was 616,250 on February 1st 2012. The population of the greater Rotterdam area, called "Rotterdam-Rijnmond" or just "Rijnmond", is around 1.3 million people. Rotterdam is one of Europe's most vibrant, multicultural cities. The city is known for its university (Erasmus), its cutting-edge architecture, its lively cultural life, its striking riverside setting, its maritime heritage and the Rotterdam Blitz.
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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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Russian Federation
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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Russian Museum
Coordinates: 59°56′19″N 30°19′57″E / 59.938742°N 30.332385°E / 59.938742; 30.332385
The State Russian Museum (formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III) is the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg.
The museum was established on April 13, 1895, upon enthronement of Nicholas II to commemorate his father, Alexander III. Its original collection was composed of artworks taken from the Hermitage Museum, Alexander Palace, and the Imperial Academy of Arts. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, many private collections were nationalized and relocated to the Russian Museum. These included Kazimir Malevich's Black Square.
The main building of the museum is the Mikhailovsky Palace, a splendid Neoclassical residence of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, erected in 1819-25 to a design by Carlo Rossi on Square of Arts in St Petersburg. Upon the death of the Grand Duke the residence was named after his wife as the Palace of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, and became famous for its many theatrical presentations and balls.
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Ryazan Oblast
Ryazan Oblast (Russian: Ряза́нская о́бласть, Ryazanskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Ryazan, which is the oblast's largest city. Population: 1,154,114 (2010 Census).
Ryazan Oblast borders Vladimir Oblast (N), Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (NE), the Republic of Mordovia (E), Penza Oblast (SE), Tambov Oblast (S), Lipetsk Oblast (SW), Tula Oblast (W), and Moscow Oblast (NW). Ryazan Oblastis located in the central part of the Russian Plain between the Central Russian and Volga uplands. The terrain is flat, with a highest point of no more 300 m above sea level. Soils are podzolic and boggy on the left bank of the Oka, changing southward to more fertile podzolic and leached black earths (Chernozyom).
As early as 1096, Ryazan had the status of a country, but the name of its capital appears only in the Nikonov chronicle. The first Olgovsky Uspensky Monastery, one of the oldest in Russia, was built in Ryazan land in the 12th century. A new round of history began in 1198, when the Murom-Ryazan principality left the jurisdiction of the Chernigov bishopric (eparchy) and became an independent eparchy with its seat in Ryazan.
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Sadovaya Street
Coordinates: 59°55′56″N 30°19′49″E / 59.9321°N 30.3302°E / 59.9321; 30.3302
Sadovaya Street or Garden Street is a major thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg, Russia, passing through the historic city center.
From east to west, it begins near the Field of Mars, crosses the Moika River at the First Sadovy Bridge, then passes over Spassky Island, the Kryukov Canal (at the Staro-Nikolsky Bridge), and Pokrovsky Island, before finally ending at the junction of the Griboyedov Canal and the Fontanka River. The section from the Moika to Gorokhovaya Street belongs to the Central District of the city, and the rest, to the Admiralteysky District. The street is 4376 m in length and about 8 m in width, and the distance between the buildings can be up to 18 m.
The street has great cultural and historical significance, passing by many historical and architectural monuments from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including the Mikhailovsky, Vorontsov, and Moika (Yusupov) palaces. The street serves many important transportation functions, linking the central areas of the city, and is home to many markets, including Gostiny Dvor, Apraksin Dvor, and the Hay Market. Among the figures in Russian history who lived on Sadovaya are Dmitry Milyutin, Aleksey Kuropatkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Demyan Bedny, Ivan Krylov, Mikhail Petrashevsky, Yuri Lisyansky, Apollon Maykov, Yevgeny Tarle, and Sergei Prokofiev.
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Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербург, tr. Sankt-Peterburg; IPA: [sankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk] ( listen)) is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914 the name of the city was changed to Petrograd (Russian: Петроград; IPA: [pʲɪtrɐˈgrat]), in 1924 to Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград; IPA: [lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat]) and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg.
In Russian literature, informal documents, and discourse, the "Saint" (Санкт-) is usually omitted, leaving Petersburg (Петербург, Peterburg). In common parlance Russians may drop "-burg" (-бург) as well, leaving only Peter (Питер, Russian: [ˈpʲitʲɪr]).
Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27 [O.S. 16] 1703. From 1713 to 1728 and from 1732 to 1918, Saint Petersburg was the Imperial capital of Russia. In 1918 the central government bodies moved from Saint Petersburg (then named Petrograd) to Moscow. It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow with almost 5 million inhabitants. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and also an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea.
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Saint Petersburg Dam
The Saint Petersburg Flood Prevention Facility Complex (Russian: Комплекс защитных сооружений Санкт-Петербурга от наводнений, tr. kompleks zashchitnykh sooruzheniy Sankt-Peterburga ot navodneniy), unofficially the Saint Petersburg Dam, is a 25 km (16 mi) complex of dams for flood control near Saint Petersburg, Russia. The dam extends from Lomonosov northward to Kotlin Island (and the city of Kronstadt), then turns east toward Cape Lisiy Nos near Sestroretsk.
The complex is intended to protect Saint Petersburg from storm surges by separating the Neva Bay from the rest of the Gulf of Finland. Historically, the storm surges from the gulf had caused over 300 floods in the city, several of which had a massive devastating effect. The dam has the capability to protect the city from water rising up to 5 m (16 ft). Its first use to hold back the incoming Baltic water into Neva bay took place 28 November 2011 and had resulted in decrease of water rise to 1.3 masl, that is below flood level equal to 1.6 masl, which prevented the 309th flood in the history of the city and saved some 1.3 billion roubles of possible damages.
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Sakha Republic
The Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (Russian: Республика Саха (Якутия), tr. Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya); IPA: [rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə sɐˈxa jɪˈkutʲɪə]; Sakha: Саха Республиката, Sakha Respublikata) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Population: 958,528 (2010 Census), consisting mainly of ethnic Yakuts and Russians.
Comprising half of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the largest subnational governing body by area in the world at 3,103,200 km2 (1,198,200 sq mi)[citation needed] and the eighth largest territory in the world, if the federal subjects of Russia were compared with other countries. It is larger than Argentina and just smaller than India which covers an area of 3,287,240 km2. It has a population of fewer than one million inhabitants. Its capital is the city of Yakutsk.
The Sakha Republic is one of the ten autonomous Turkic Republics within the Russian Federation. Yakutia also fosters close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the independent Turkic states through membership in organisations such as the Turkic Council and the Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture.
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Sakhalin Oblast
Sakhalin Oblast (Russian: Сахали́нская о́бласть, tr. Sakhalinskaya oblast; IPA: [səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The oblast has an area of 87,100 square kilometers (33,600 sq mi). Its administrative center and the largest city is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Population: 497,973 (2010 Census).
Besides people from other parts of the former Soviet Union, the oblast is home to Nivkhs and Ainu, with the latter having lost their language in Sakhalin recently.
Some territories of Sakhalin Oblast (four islands, the southern ones of the Kuril archipelago) are claimed by Japan.
Population: 497,973 (2010 Census); 546,695 (2002 Census); 709,629 (1989 Census).
Ethnic groups: 409,786 ethnic Russians are the largest group, followed by 24,993 Koreans, 12,136 Ukrainians and a whole host of smaller groups, including 219 Japanese (0.05%). The ethnic composition of the oblast in 2010 was as follows:
The indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Nivkhs, Oroki, and Ainu minorities.
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Samara Oblast
Samara Oblast (Russian: Сама́рская о́бласть, Samarskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Samara. Population: 3,215,532 (2010 Census).
In 1936–1990, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast (Ку́йбышевская о́бласть), after the Soviet name of Samara (Kuybyshev).
Population: 3,215,532 (2010 Census); 3,239,737 (2002 Census); 3,265,586 (1989 Census).
Ethnic groups: According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of the region was:
In 1997, Samara Oblast became one of the few regions to receive the approval of the President of Russia to implement external bonded loans (Presidential decree № 1212, dated 12.10.1997 “On Creating Conditions to Conduct Loans Operations on the Internal and External Capital Markets”).
Governors:
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Samara, Russia
Samara (Russian: Сама́ра; IPA: [sɐˈmarə]), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (Ку́йбышев; IPA: [ˈkujbɨʂəf]), is the sixth largestcity in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers on the east bank of the Volga. The Volga acts as the city's western boundary; across the river are the Zhiguli Mountains, after which the local beer (Zhigulyovskoye) is named. The northern boundary is formed by the Sokolyi Hills and by the steppes in the south and east. The land within the city boundaries covers 46,597 hectares (115,140 acres). Samara is the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: 1,164,896 (2010 Census preliminary results); 1,157,880 (2002 Census); 1,254,460 (1989 Census)..
The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast constitutes the population of more than three million people. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural center of European Russia, which in May 2007 hosted the European Union—Russia Summit.
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Sankt Michel
Mikkeli (Swedish: S:t Michel) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of 48,952 (31 January 2012) (around 34,000 in the town itself) and covers an area of 2,124.60 square kilometres (820.31 sq mi) of which 424.7 km2 (164.0 sq mi) is water. The population density is 28.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (75 /sq mi) .
Mikkeli was the site for the headquarters of the Finnish armed forces during World War II. In recognition of this, the town's coat of arms incorporates a pair of crossed Marshal's batons, and the town was awarded the Cross of Liberty, 4th class, to be displayed with the coat of arms.
The municipality is unilingually Finnish (only 0.15% of Mikkelians speak Swedish as their first language).
The centre of Mikkeli is located on a low rise, set back about 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the shore of a bay of Lake Saimaa. There are several small lakes in and around the town. The lakes of the eastern parts of the town belong to the water system of River Vuoksi. In the west the town reaches Lake Puula that belongs to the water system of River Kymijoki. The town centre is built around a large market place, where markets are held twice each week.
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Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some 540 miles (870 km) south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana.
The municipality extends over 1,023.8 square kilometers (395.3 sq mi), and contains the communities of El Caney, Guilera, Antonio Maceo, Bravo, Castillo Duany, Leyte Vidal and Moncada.
Historically Santiago de Cuba has long been the second most important city on the island after Havana, and still remains the second largest. It is on a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and is an important sea port. In 2004 the city of Santiago de Cuba had a population of about 494,337 people.
Santiago de Cuba was founded by Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar on June 28, 1514. In 1516 the settlement was destroyed by fire, and was immediately rebuilt. This was the starting point of the expeditions led by Juan de Grijalba and Hernán Cortés to the coasts of Mexico in 1518, and in 1538 by Hernando de Soto's expedition to Florida. The first cathedral was built in the city in 1528. From 1522 until 1589 Santiago was the capital of the Spanish colony of Cuba.
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Saratov Oblast
Saratov Oblast (Russian: Сара́товская о́бласть, Saratovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Saratov. Population: 2,521,892 (2010 Census).
The name "Saratov" is encountered in the name of a people on the Lower Volga (Ptolemy, 2nd century) and in the titles of Russian epic poems (bylinas) of the Saratov Mountains, the Saratovka River, and the Saratov Steppe. It also survives in the names of the city of Saratov and Saratov Region. Legends and scientific evidence both say that two great turning points in human history-the revelation of monotheism and domestication of the horse-are associated with the Saratov Volga region. This territory was poetically called the "Land of Apple Trees" and the "Land of Licorice." The Volga, the steppe, and oak forests were the main elements of nature in the region.[citation needed]
The Saratov Volga appears to be the location of one of the centers of the Old Russian state system (Volga Rus). From the 13th to the 15th centuries, these lands belonged to the Golden Horde and then to the Great Horde. The history of the Golden Horde city of Ukek (Uvek) is closely tied to the history of the new Russian city of Saratov, whose name is said to come from the Tatar words sary tau (Yellow Mountain). Thus, in a way, Saratov can be considered one of Russia's oldest cities.
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Sestroretsk
Coordinates: 60°06′N 29°57′E / 60.1°N 29.95°E / 60.1; 29.95
Sestroretsk (Russian: Сестроре́цк; Finnish: Siestarjoki; Swedish: Systerbäck) is a municipal town in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Sestra River and the Sestroretskiy Lake 34 kilometers (21 mi) northwest of St. Petersburg. Population: 36,680 (2010 Census preliminary results); 40,287 (2002 Census); 30,500 (1975).
Sestroretsk was founded by Peter the Great in 1714 due to the construction of a munitions factory (today's Sestroretsk Toolmaking Factory). The town is also known as a balneologic and climatic resort.
In 1812, the town was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Finland, along with Old Finland. In 1864, the town was transferred to Russia in exchange for a promise of compensation, supposedly in the form of access to the Arctic Ocean at Petsamo.
In 1875, Fyodor Pirotsky experimented with electrically powered railway cars on the Sestroretsk railway. The electricity was transferred over a distance of approximately one kilometer. Although the experiment did not last, this was the first use of electricity to power any railway in the world.
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Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( /ˌsɛvəˈstoʊpəl/ or /səˈvæstəpoʊl/; previously Sebastopol; Ukrainian and Russian: Севасто́поль; Crimean Tatar: Aqyar) is one of two cities with special status in Ukraine (the other being the capital, Kiev), located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimean peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 (2001). Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa.
The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city's harbours make Sevastopol a strategically important naval point. It is also a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The city, formerly the home of the Russian then Soviet Black Sea Fleet, is now home to a Ukrainian naval base and a Russian naval base in facilities leased by the Russian Navy. The headquarters of both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russia's Black Sea Fleet are located in the city. In 1993, the city was the subject of a territorial dispute between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
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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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Smolenka
Smolenka [smɔˈlɛŋka] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Filipów, within Suwałki County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland.
Coordinates: 54°09′18″N 22°45′39″E / 54.155°N 22.7608°E / 54.155; 22.7608
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Smolensk
Smolensk (Russian: Смоле́нск (help·info)) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated 360 kilometers (220 mi) west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk is noted for electronics, textiles, food processing, and diamonds facetting. Population: 326,863 (2010 Census preliminary results); 325,137 (2002 Census); 341,483 (1989 Census).
The name of the city is derived from the name of the Smolnya Rivulet. The origin of the hydronym is less clear. One possibility is the old Slavic word "смоль" (smol) for black soil, which might have colored the waters of the long-derelict Smolnya. An alternative origin could be the Russian word "смола" (smola), which means resin, tar, or pitch. Pine trees grow in the area, and the city was once a center of resin processing and trade. The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII recorded its name as Μιλινισκα.
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Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast (Russian: Смоле́нская о́бласть, Smolenskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its area is 49,800 square kilometers (19,200 sq mi). Its administrative center is the city of Smolensk. Population: 985,537 (2010 Census).
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Smolensk was one of the most important economic and military centers of the Grand Princedom of Moscow. It was also a major commercial center, and home industry production reached high levels. Construction of the Smolensk fortress wall was an important event in the history of Russia. Smolensk Oblast was formed in September 1937 from the central and western districts of Western Oblast as the result of a reorganization of the latter oblast. The new oblast exceeded present-day Smolensk Oblast in both population and area.
The oblast was founded on September 27, 1937. It borders Pskov Oblast in the north, Tver Oblast in the northeast, Moscow Oblast in the east, Kaluga and Bryansk Oblasts in the south, and Mogilev and Oblasts of Belarus, in the west and northwest.
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Smolny
The Smolny Institute (Russian: Смольный институт, Smol'niy institut) is a Palladian edifice in St Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia.
The building was commissioned from Giacomo Quarenghi by the Society for Education of Noble Maidens and constructed in 1806-08 to house the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, established at the urging of Ivan Betskoy and in accordance with a decree of Catherine II (the Great) in 1764, borrowing its name from the nearby Smolny Convent. The Smolny was Russia's first educational establishment for women and continued to function under the personal patronage of the Russian Empress until just before the 1917 revolution. A nice garden and iron-work grille around the institute date from the early 19th century.
In 1917, the building was chosen by Vladimir Lenin as Bolshevik headquarters during the October Revolution. It was Lenin's residence for several months, until the national government was moved to the Moscow Kremlin. After that, the Smolny became the headquarters of the local Communist Party apparat, effectively the city hall. In 1927, a monument to Lenin was erected in front of the building, designed by the sculptor Vasily Kozlov and the architects Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh.
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Smolny Convent
Smolny Convent or Smolny Convent of the Resurrection (Voskresensky), located on Ploschad Rastrelli, on the bank of the River Neva in Saint Petersburg, Russia, consists of a cathedral (sobor) and a complex of buildings surrounding it, originally intended for a convent.
This Russian Orthodox convent was built to house Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. After she was disallowed succession to the throne, she opted to become a nun. However her Imperial predecessor, Ivan VI was overthrown during a coup d'état (carried out by the royal guards in 1741). Elizabeth then decided against entering monastic life and accepted the offer of the Russian throne and work on the convent continued with her royal patronage.
The convent's main church (catholicon or sobor), a blue-and-white building, is considered to be one of the architectural masterpieces of the Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who also redesigned the Winter Palace, and created the Grand Catherine Palace (Yekaterininsky) in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), the Grand Palace in Peterhof and many other major St. Petersburg landmarks.
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Smolny Institute
The Smolny Institute (Russian: Смольный институт, Smol'niy institut) is a Palladian edifice in St Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia.
The building was commissioned from Giacomo Quarenghi by the Society for Education of Noble Maidens and constructed in 1806-08 to house the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, established at the urging of Ivan Betskoy and in accordance with a decree of Catherine II (the Great) in 1764, borrowing its name from the nearby Smolny Convent. The Smolny was Russia's first educational establishment for women and continued to function under the personal patronage of the Russian Empress until just before the 1917 revolution. A nice garden and iron-work grille around the institute date from the early 19th century.
In 1917, the building was chosen by Vladimir Lenin as Bolshevik headquarters during the October Revolution. It was Lenin's residence for several months, until the national government was moved to the Moscow Kremlin. After that, the Smolny became the headquarters of the local Communist Party apparat, effectively the city hall. In 1927, a monument to Lenin was erected in front of the building, designed by the sculptor Vasily Kozlov and the architects Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh.
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Sofia
Sofia (Bulgarian: София, pronounced [ˈsɔfijɐ] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 15th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.2 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.
Prehistoric settlements were excavated in the centre of the present city, near the royal palace, as well as in outer districts Slatina and Obelya. The well-preserved town walls (especially their substructures) date back before the 7th century BC, when Thracians established their city around a mineral spring, which exists to the present day. Sofia has had several names in the different periods of its existence. Its ancient name, Serdika or Serdica, derives from the local Celtic tribe of the serdi who inhabited the region since the 1st century BC. Serdica was a Roman capital during the tetrarchic system of government. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the major commercial centres of the Bulgarian Empire, along with Tarnovo. Sofia's population remained small until 1879, when it was declared a capital of the Principality of Bulgaria after the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
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Sousse
Sousse (Arabic: سوسة Sūsa, Berber: Susa) is a city in Tunisia. Located 140 km south of the capital Tunis, the city has 173,047 inhabitants (2004). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The name may be of Berber origin: similar names are found in Libya and in the south of Morocco (Bilād al-Sūs). The city is the capital of Sousse Governorate with 540,000 inhabitants (2005 estimate). Its economy is based on transport equipment, processed food, olive oil, textiles and tourism. It is home to the Université de Sousse.
The Phoenicians founded Hadrumetum in the 11th century B.C.
The city allied itself with Rome during the Punic Wars, thereby escaping damage or ruin and entered a relatively peaceful 700-year period under the Pax Romana. Livy tells us that Hadrumetum was the landing place of the Roman army under Scipio Africanus in the second Punic War.
As part of Bonifacius's revolt against Constantinople, the Vandals were invited in and they took Hadrumetum in 434 CE and renamed the town Hunerikopolis. During the Vandalic War Justinian retook the town in 534 CE and restored its Roman name.
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South Africa
Coordinates: 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north of the country lie the neighbouring territories of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory.
South Africa is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution. Two of these languages are of European origin: South African English and Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President.
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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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Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] ( listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990. A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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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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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (i/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/, /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/;Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை), is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon ( /sɨˈlɒn/, /seɪˈlɒn/, or /siːˈlɒn/), Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives.
As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia. It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country. Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people.
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Stavropol Krai
Stavropol Krai (Russian: Ставропо́льский край, Stavropolsky kray) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol. Population: 2,786,281 (2010 Census).
Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major. It borders on Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Republic of Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, and the Karachay–Cherkess Republic.
Stavropol is traversed by the northeasterly lines of equal latitude and longitude.
According to the 2010 Census, the population of the krai is 2,786,281; up from 2,735,139 recorded in the 2002 Census and further up from 2,410,379 recorded in the 1989 Census. The population of the krai is concentrated in the Kuban River and the Kuma River drainage basin, which used to be traditional Cossack land (see History of Cossacks). The Kuban Cossacks are now generally considered to be ethnic Russians, even though they are still an important minority in their own right in this area. Other notable ethnic groups include the Armenians (mostly Christian Hamsheni) and Greeks who have been settling here since at least the 18th century.
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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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Sudan
Sudan (i/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
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Sverdlovsk Oblast
Sverdlovsk Oblast (Russian: Свердло́вская о́бласть, Sverdlovskaya oblast) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Urals Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg formerly known as Sverdlovsk. Population: 4,297,747 (2010 Census).
Most of the oblast lies on the eastern slopes of the Middle and North Urals and the Western Siberian Plain. Only in the southwest does the oblast stretch onto the western slopes of the Ural Mountains.
The highest mountains all rise in the North Urals (Konzhakovsky Kamen at 1,569 m and Denezhkin Kamen at 1,492 m). The Middle Urals is mostly hilly country with no discernible peaks; the mean elevation is closer to 300–500 m above the sea level. Principal rivers include the Tavda, the Tura, the Chusovaya, and the Ufa, the latter two being tributaries of the Kama.
Sverdlovsk Oblast borders with, clockwise from the west, Perm Krai, the Komi Republic, Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast, Kurgan, and Chelyabinsk Oblasts, and the Republic of Bashkortostan.
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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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Tajikistan
Tajikistan (i/tɑːˈdʒiːkɨstɑːn/, /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/, or /tæˈdʒiːkiːstæn/; Тоҷикистон [ˈtɔjikɪsˈtɔn]), officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Cumhuriyi Tocikiston; Persian: جمهوری تاجیکستان Jomhuri-ye Tajikestan; Russian: Республика Таджикистан, Respublika Tadzhikistan), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. It borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. Gilgit Baltistan as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan are separated from Tajikistan by the narrow Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan in the south.
Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover over 90% of this Central Asian republic.
After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton, aluminium and uranium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.
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Tallinn
Tallinn (/ˈtɑːlɪn/ or /ˈtælɪn/,Estonian pronunciation: [ˈtɑlʲˑinˑ]) is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of 159.2 km2 (61.5 sq mi) with a population of 416,470. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, 80 km (50 mi) south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is ranked as a global city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku, Finland.
Tallinn is the oldest capital[clarification needed] in Northern Europe. The city was known as Reval from the 13th century until the 1920s.
In 1154 a town called Qlwn or Qalaven (possible derivations of Kalevan or Kolyvan) was put on the world map of the Almoravid by the Muslim cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi, who described it as a small town like a large castle among the towns of Astlanda. It has been suggested that the Quwri in Astlanda may have denoted the predecessor town of today's Tallinn.
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Tambov Oblast
Tambov Oblast (Russian: Тамбо́вская о́бласть, Tambovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tambov. Population: 1,091,994 (2010 Census).
Tambov Oblast is situated in forest steppe.
Population: 1,091,994 (2010 Census); 1,178,443 (2002 Census); 1,320,763 (1989 Census).
For the first half of 2007, the birth rate was 8.5 per 1000.
Ethnic composition (2010):
Southeastern Railway passes through Michurinsk and connects the central regions with the southern regions. Breeding cattle, sheep, pig, and chicken is a product of animal husbandry.
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Tampere
Tampere (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈtɑmpere] ( listen); Swedish: Tammerfors [tamərˈfɔrs] or [tamərˈfɔʂ]) is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of 215,315, growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in Finland, after the Greater Helsinki municipalities of Helsinki and Espoo. In 2007, the entire Pirkanmaa region had around 470,000 residents, of which 230,000 were employed, and a turnover of 25 billion euros.
Tampere is located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by 18 metres (59 ft), the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity. Tampere is dubbed the "Manchester of Finland" for its industrial past as the former center of Finnish industry, and this has given rise to its Finnish nickname "Manse" and terms such as "Manserock".
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Tauride Palace
Tauride Palace (Russian: Tavrichesky dvorets, Таврический дворец) is one of the largest and most historic palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride commissioned his favourite architect, Ivan Starov, to design his city residence in a rigorous Palladian style. Starov's design called for an extensive park and harbour in front of the palace, which would be linked with the Neva River by a canal. Building work began in 1783 and lasted for six years. Considered the grandest nobleman's residence of 18th-century Russia, Tauride Palace served as a model for innumerable manors scattered across the Russian Empire.
Shortly before his death, on April 28, 1791, Potemkin used the palace to host unprecedented festivities and illuminations with the purpose of winning the Empress's waning affections. The ball was described by Gavrila Derzhavin in the longest of his compositions. Notwithstanding all the expenses, Potemkin failed in his ambition and departed for Iaşi in despair.
After the owner's death several months later, Catherine II purchased his palace and ordered architect Fyodor Volkov to transform it into her summer townhouse. Volkov was responsible for many improvements in the grounds, including the construction of the theatre in the east wing and the church in the west wing. In the garden, he designed the Admiralty Pavilion, gardener house, orangery, glass-houses, bridges, and ironwork fences. The sculpture named the Venus Tauride (now in the Hermitage Museum) was kept in the palace from the end of the eighteenth century until the mid-nineteenth, and derives its name from it.
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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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The Passage
For the novel by Justin Cronin see The Passage (novel)
The Passage (Russian: Пассаж, Passazh), from the French word Passage, is an elite department store on Nevsky Avenue in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1998. Parenthetically, the Passage premises have long been associated with the entertainment industry and still remains home to the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre.
The site where the Passage sprawls had been devoted to trade since the city's foundation in the early 18th century. It had been occupied by various shops and warehouses (Little Gostiny Dvor, Schukin Dvor, Apraksin Dvor) until 1846, when Count Essen-Stenbock-Fermor acquired the grounds to build an elite shopping mall for the highest echelons of the Russian nobility and bourgeoisie.
The name came from a vast gallery between Nevsky Avenue and Italianskaya Street which provided the main passage through the mall. The gallery was covered over by an arching glass and steel roof, thus giving it a claim to being one of the world's first shopping malls, along with Passage du Caire in Paris (1798) Burlington Arcade in London, Galerie Vivienne in Paris (1823) and Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels.
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Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη [θesaloˈnici] ( listen)), also known as Thessalonica ( /ˌθɛsəlɵˈnaɪkə/) and historically known as Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. Its honorific title is Συμπρωτεύουσα (Symprotévusa), literally "co-capital", and stands as a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa), "co-reigning" city of the Byzantine Empire, alongside Constantinople.
According to the 2011 census the municipality of Thessaloniki today has a population of 322,240, while the Thessaloniki Urban Area (the contiguous built up area forming the "City of Thessaloniki") has a population of 790,824; making it the fifth largest and most populated city in the Balkans and the second most populated city that is not a capital. Furthermore, the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area extends over an area of 1,455.62 km2 (562.02 sq mi) and its population in 2011 reached a total of 1,006,730 inhabitants.
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Tomsk Oblast
Tomsk Oblast (Russian: То́мская о́бласть, Tomskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Tomsk. Population: 1,047,394 (2010 Census).
The development of the territory which now constitutes the oblast began in the early 17th century. Tomsk itself was founded in 1604. Most of the oblast's 316,900 square kilometers (122,400 sq mi) territory is inaccessible because it is covered with taiga woods and swamps. The oblast borders with Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, and Kemerovo Oblasts.
Tomsk Oblast is rich in natural resources, particularly oil, natural gas, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, peat, and underground waters. Forests are also among the most significant assets of the oblast: about 20% of the West Siberian forest resources are located in Tomsk Oblast. Industry makes up about half of the regional GDP, while agriculture contributes 19% and construction 13%. Chemical and oil industries are the most developed in the region, followed by machine construction. The oblast's major export items are: oil (62.1%), methanol (30.2%), and machines and equipment (4.8%). Oil extraction and lumbering are the major business of the region's joint ventures.
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Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia (also known as Tsardom of Muscovy; officially Русское царство (Tsardom of Rus') or, in hellenized form, Российское царство) was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 until Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.
From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 (Holland's size) a year. The period includes the upheavals of the transition from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasties, drawn-out military conflict with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as well as the Russian conquest of Siberia, leading up to the 42-year reign of Peter the Great, who ascended in 1682 and transformed the Tsardom into a major European power, after a military victory over Sweden and Poland implemented substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire (Российская Империя) in 1721 making it a recognized European power.
While Ivan assumed the title of "Tsar and Grand Duke of the entire Rus'" (Царь и Великий князь всея Руси), officially renaming the Grand Duchy of Moscow to Tsardom of Russia, the state remained partly referred to as Muscovy (Moscovia) throughout Europe, predominantly in its Catholic part. The two names "Russia" and "Muscovy" appear to have co-existed as interchangeable during the later 16th and throughout the 17th century with different maps and sources using different names.
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Tsarskoye Selo
Coordinates: 59°43′24″N 30°24′57″E / 59.72333°N 30.41583°E / 59.72333; 30.41583
Tsarskoye Selo (Russian: Ца́рское Село́; [ˈt͡sarskəjɪ sʲɪˈlo] ( listen); "Tsar's Village") is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located 24 kilometres (15 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
In the 17th century, the estate belonged to a Swedish noble. Its original Finnish name is usually translated as "a higher ground". Max Vasmer, on the other hand, derives this toponym from the Finnish word for island, "saari". In any case, the Finnish name came to be pronounced by the 18th-century Russians as "Sarskoye Selo", later changed to "Tsarskoye Selo" (i.e., "the royal village").[citation needed]
In 1708, Peter the Great gave the estate to his wife, the future Empress Catherine I, as a present. She founded the Blagoveschensky (Annunciation) church there in 1724, and changed the name of the settlement to Blagoveschenskoye, but this did not stand the test of time and quickly went out of use.
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Tula Oblast
Tula Oblast (Russian: Ту́льская о́бласть, Tulskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) with its present borders formed on September 26, 1937. Its administrative center is the city of Tula. The oblast has an area of 25,700 square kilometers (9,900 sq mi)[citation needed] and a population of 1,553,925 (2010 Census preliminary results). The current governor of the oblast is Vladimir Gruzdev.
People have inhabited Tula area since ancient times, as shown by discoveries of burial mounds (kurgans) and old settlements. These lands were occupied by the Slavic Vyatichi, who cultivated the land, traded, and worked at crafts. This is confirmed by records in property registers, which mention an "ancient settlement" located at the place where the small Tulitsa River flows into the Upa River. In those long-ago times, its inhabitants may also have defended their settlements against raids by Tatars and nomadic tribes, but history is silent on this matter. The first mention of Tula is found in Nikon's chronicle in reference to the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich of Chernigov. The chronicle notes that in 1146, the prince, who was heading for Ryazan, passed through a number of other settlements, including Tula, which at the time belonged to the Ryzan principality.
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Tunisia
Tunisia (USi/tuːˈniːʒə/ two-NEE-zhə or UK /tjuːˈnɪziə/ tew-NIZ-iə; Arabic: تونس Tūnis pronounced [ˈtuːnɪs]), officially the Republic of Tunisia (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast.
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of coastline.
Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
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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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Turku
Turku (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈturku] ( listen); Swedish: Åbo [ˈoːbu] ( listen)) is a city on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed to have been first settled around the end of the 13th century, making it the oldest city in Finland. It quickly became the most important city in Finland, a status it retained for hundreds of years. After Finland became part of the Russian Empire (1809), and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland was moved to Helsinki (1812), Turku continued to be the most populous city in Finland, until the end of the 1840s. Today it remains a regional capital and an important business and cultural center.
Because of its long history it has been the site of many important events, and has extensively influenced Finnish history. Along with Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, Turku was designated the European Capital of Culture for 2011. In 1996 it was declared the official Christmas City of Finland.
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Tuva Republic
The Tyva Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, tr. Respublika Tyva; IPA: [rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva]; Tuvan: Тыва Республика, Tyva Respublika), or Tuva (Russian: Тува́), is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). It lies in the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders with the Altai Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, and the Republic of Buryatia in Russia and with Mongolia to the south. Its capital is the city of Kyzyl. Population: 307,930 (2010 Census).
Forests, mountains, and steppe make up a large part of the geography.
A majority of the people are Tuvans who speak the Tuvan language, but Russian is also spoken extensively. Tuva is governed by the Great Khural which elects a chairman for a four-year term. The current chairman is Sholban Kara-ool.
The republic is situated in the far south of Siberia. Its capital city of Kyzyl is located near the geographic "center of Asia". The eastern part of the republic is forested and elevated, and the west is a drier lowland.
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Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast (Russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, Tverskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast (Кали́нинская о́бласть) after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: 1,353,392 (2010 Census).
Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno. Much of its area is occupied by the Valdai Hills, where the Volga, the Western Dvina, and the Dnieper have their source.
Tver Oblast is one of the tourist regions of Russia with modernized tourist infrastructure. There are also many historic towns: Torzhok, Toropets, Zubtsov, Kashin, Vyshny Volochyok, and Kalyazin. The oldest of these is Rzhev, primarily known for the Battles of Rzhev of the World War II. Staritsa was a seat of the last appanage principality in Russia. Ostashkov is a major tourist center.
Tver Oblast has a very strong economy due to its machinery industry in the automobile and aeronautics sectors.
A branch of Karelians, known as Tver Karelians used to live in the oblast. They numbered 140,567 in 1926. Due to the heavy casualties suffered during the World War II, they vanished as a separate ethnic group from most parts of the oblast. The Tver Karelians numbered 14,633 according to the 2002 Census.
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Twelve Collegia
The Twelve Collegia, or Twelve Colleges (Russian: Двeнaдцaть Коллегий) is the largest edifice from the Petrine era still extant in Saint Petersburg. It was designed by Domenico Trezzini and Theodor Schwertfeger and built from 1722 to 1744.
The three-storey, red-brick complex of 12 buildings is 400–440 meters long, giving an illusion of one enormous edifice. The result is an "austerely structured" complex with a "rustic style." The original design separated the 12 individual buildings. In subsequent restructuring, they would be connected to form the modern complex.
The Twelve Collegia was commissioned by Peter the Great, who wanted a place for the Russian government, at the time divided into 12 branches:
Twelve Collegia presently serves as one of three Petrine Baroque structures for Saint Petersburg State University. The Twelve Collegia are the headquarters of the university, which was founded in 1819 (it claims be the successor of the Academy of St. Petersburg, and dates its foundation to 1724), stands along Mendeleevskaya Line on Vasilievsky Island.
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Tyumen Oblast
Tyumen Oblast (Russian: Тюме́нская о́бласть, Tyumenskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tyumen. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous okrugs—Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Tyumen is the largest city, with over half a million inhabitants. As of 2006[update], it is by far the richest federal subject of Russia, with an average GDP per capita several times the national average. Population: 3,395,755 (2010 Census).
There are a variety of fauna and flora in this region. In the northern part can be found ptarmigan, walrus and Arctic fox.Polar bears also occur in the extreme north; the genetic make-up of this Polar bear sub-population is genetically distinct from other circumpolar regions.
Population: 3,395,755 (2010 Census); 3,264,841 (2002 Census); 3,080,621 (1989 Census).
There were thirty-six recognized ethnic groups of more than two thousand persons each in Tyumen Oblast, making this one of the most multicultural oblasts in Russia. The national composition at the time of the 2010 Census was:
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Udmurt Republic
Udmurtia (Russian: Удму́ртия, Udmurtiya; Udmurt: Удмуртия), or The Udmurt Republic (Russian: Удму́ртская Pеспу́блика, Udmurtskaya Respublika ; Udmurt: Удмурт Элькун) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Izhevsk. Population: 1,521,420 (2010 Census).
The Uralic language community was founded in the late Stone Age in the Ural region. Later, a Permic community split off from the Uralic community. At the end of the first millennium CE, Proto-Udmurts were differentiated from the Permic generality.[clarification needed] Originally, the Proto-Udmurts lived in the middle Kama River region, then began to settle around the mouth of the Vyatka River.
Udmurts are mentioned by Arab historians Ibn Fadlan (921) and Abu-Said al-Balchi (950) as neighbors of the Idel River Bolgars.[citation needed] Thus, the southern Udmurts were under the influence of Volga Bulgaria.
By the middle of the second millennium, Udmurts had settled adjacent to the middle reaches of the Vyatka, where they began to settle in the valley of the Cheptsa River — from the mouth to the source of the river. At the Vyatka River, Udmurts first met the Old Rus people, who had been settling there since the 12th century. In addition, Udmurts were in contact with Russian and Arab merchants. The Russian state exerted political and cultural influence on the northern Udmurt. By the 16th century, the northern Udmurt almost became part of the Russian state.
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Ufa
Ufa (Russian: Уфа́; IPA: [ʊˈfa]; Bashkir: Өфө) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. It is the industrial, economic, scientific and cultural center of the republic. Population: 1,062,300 (2010 Census preliminary results); 1,042,437 (2002 Census); 1,082,052 (1989 Census).
The newspaper English Russia and the President of Bashkortostan coined Ufa as the Muslim centre of Russia.
The city began as a fortress built on the orders of Ivan the Terrible in 1574, and originally bore the name of the hill it stood on, Tura-Tau. It was granted town status in 1586.
In the 18th century Ufa evolved into an administrative, trading, manufacturing and cultural center of Russia. Ufa Municipal Public Bank was established on December 15, 1876.
In 1918, Ufa was the residence of the Provisional All-Russian Government.
On June 14, 1922, the Decree of the All-Union Central Executive Committee abolished Ufa Governorate, and Ufa became the capital of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Ukraine
Ukraine (i/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
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Ulan Bator
Ulan Bator /ˌuːlɑːn ˈbɑːtər/ or Ulaanbaatar (Mongolian: Улаанбаатар, [ʊɮɑːŋ.bɑːtʰɑ̆r], ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠤᠷ, Ulaγanbaγatur, literally "Red Hero") is the capital and by far the largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million.
Located in north central Mongolia, the city lies at an elevation of about 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the cultural, industrial, and financial heart of the country. It is the center of Mongolia's road network, and is connected by rail to both the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia and the Chinese railway system.
The city was founded in 1639 as a movable (nomadic) Buddhist monastic centre. In 1778 it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. Before that it changed location twenty-eight times, with each location being chosen ceremonially. In the twentieth century, Ulan Bator grew into a major manufacturing centre.
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Ulyanovsk Oblast
Ulyanovsk Oblast (Russian: Улья́новская о́бласть, Ulyanovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It is located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Ulyanovsk. Population: 1,292,799 (2010 Census).
Ulyanovsk Oblast borders with the Chuvash Republic (N), the Republic of Tatarstan (NE), Samara Oblast (E), Saratov Oblast (S), Penza Oblast (W), and the Republic of Mordovia (NW).
It is located on the northern edge of Central Steppes. A quarter of its territory is covered with deciduous forests; the rest is covered with steppes and meadows. The oblast is divided in half by the Volga River. Hilly areas to the west of the Volga are known as Volga Upland (elevations up to 358 m). Eastern part of the oblast is mostly flat. The water table occupies about 6% of territory.
Ulyanovsk Oblast has moderately continental, highly volatile climate. Average temperature of July +19°C, of January −11°C. As weather systems move in and out of the area, average daily temperatures often change more than +25°C in the matter of days. Fixed snow cover is typically present from November to the beginning of April. Overnight frosts occur until late May, restricting agriculture to cold-resistant plants such as rye and winter wheat. Annual precipitation drops out 400 mm a year. About time in three years in area there is a strong drought which causes a damage to region agriculture.
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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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Uruguay
Uruguayi/ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay pronounced: [re̞ˈpuβ̞lika o̞ɾje̞n̪ˈt̪al̪ d̪e̞l uɾuˈɰwai̯]) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88% of the population are of European ancestry.
Except for the recent union of Timoteo Domínguez Island and Argentina's Martín García Island, Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lies the Uruguay River and the estuary of the Río de la Plata to the southwest. To the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), Uruguay is the second-smallest nation in South America by area, after Suriname.
Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the country, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1811–28 following a three-way struggle between the claims of Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, with a president who is both the head of state and the head of government.
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USSR
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] ( listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990. A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Vasilyevsky Island
Vasilyevsky Island is an island in Saint Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the rivers Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south and northeast, and by the Gulf of Finland in the west. Vasilyevsky Island is separated from Dekabristov Island by the Smolenka River. Together they form the territory of Vasileostrovsky District, an administrative subdivision of Saint Petersburg. The district's population: 203,181 (2010 Census preliminary results); 199,692 (2002 Census).
Situated just across the river from the Winter Palace, it constitutes a large portion of the city's historic center. Two of the most famous St Petersburg bridges, Palace Bridge and Blagoveshchensky Bridge, connect it with the mainland to the south. The Exchange Bridge and Tuchkov Bridge across Malaya Neva connect it with Petrogradsky Island. Vasilyevsky Island is served by Vasileostrovskaya and Primorskaya stations of Saint Petersburg Metro (Line 3
). There are also tramway lines.
Geographically, the island consists of two main parts. The south and east of the island are old, with buildings mostly from the 19th century. The southern embankment has some of the oldest buildings in the city dated from 18th century. That part of the island is notable for its rectangular grid of streets (originally intended to be canals, like in Venice), with three prospects – Bolshoi (Big), Sredniy (Middle) and Maly (Small) – going roughly from east to west, and with 30 Liniya (Line) streets going perpendicularly from south to north.
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Venice
Venice (Italian: Venezia [veˈnɛttsja] ( listen), Venetian: Venexia [veˈnɛsja]; (Latin: Venetia) is a city in northeast Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. The city in its entirety is listed as World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon.
Venice is the capital of the Veneto region. In 2009, there were 270,098 people residing in Venice's comune (the population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazioni of Mestre and Marghera; 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon). Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) (population 1,600,000).
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Vietnam
Vietnam ( listen), formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam; listen), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 91.5 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.
The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.
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Vilnius
Vilnius ([ˈvʲɪlʲnʲʊs] ( listen); see also other names) is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 554,060 (838, 852 together with Vilnius County) as of 2011. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County. The first known written record of Vilnius as the Lithuanian capital is known from Gediminas' letters in 1323. Vilnius is classified as a Gamma global city according to GaWC studies.
The name of the city originated from the Vilnia River. The city has also been known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history. The most notable non-Lithuanian names for the city include: Polish: Wilno, Belarusian: Вiльнюс, Вiльня, German: Wilna, Latvian: Viļņa, Russian: Вильнюс, Yiddish: ווילנע (Vilne). An older Russian name was Вильна / Вильно (Vilna/Vilno), although Вильнюс (Vilnius) is now used. The names Wilno, Wilna and Vilna have also been used in older English, German, French and Italian language publications. The name Vilna is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew.
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Vladimir
Vladimir (Russian: Влади́мир; IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr]) is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, 200 kilometers (120 mi) to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population: 345,598 (2010 Census preliminary results); 315,954 (2002 Census); 349,702 (1989 Census).
Vladimir was one of the medieval capitals of Russia, and two of its cathedrals are a World Heritage Site. It is served by the Semyazino Airport, and during the Cold War Vladimir was host to Dobrynskoye air base.
The area occupied by the city of Vladimir has been inhabited by humans (at least intermittently) for approximately 25,000 years (see Sungir). Traditionally, the founding date of Vladimir has been acknowledged as 1108, as the first mention of Vladimir in the Primary Chronicle appears under that year. This view attributes the founding of the city, and its name, to Vladimir Monomakh, who inherited the region as part of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality in 1093. In 1958, the 850th anniversary of the city foundation was celebrated, with many monuments from the celebrations adorning the city squares.
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Vladimir Oblast
Vladimir Oblast (Russian: Влади́мирская о́бласть, Vladimirskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located 190 kilometers (120 mi) east of Moscow. Population: 1,443,693 (2010 Census data).
The 12th-century cathedrals of Vladimir, Suzdal, Bogolyubovo, and Kideksha are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Vladimir Oblast borders Moscow, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Nizhny Novgorod Oblasts. The oblast is situated in the center of the East European Plain. The Klyazma and the Oka are the most important rivers of oblast. There are approximately 300 lakes. The oblast is situated in a zone of mixed forests.
Population: 1,443,693 (2010 Census); 1,523,990 (2002 Census); 1,653,938 (1989 Census).
Ethnic composition (2010):
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Volgograd
Volgograd (Russian: Волгогра́д; IPA: [ˌvəlɡɐˈɡrat] ( listen)), formerly called Tsaritsyn (Russian: Цари́цын (help·info); 1589–1925) and Stalingrad (Russian: Сталингра́д (help·info); 1925–1961) is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is 80-kilometer (50 mi) long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River. Population: 1,021,244 (2010 Census preliminary results); 1,011,417 (2002 Census); 1,022,578 (1989 Census). The city became famous for its resistance, extensive damage, and death toll during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II.
Although it is possible the city originated in 1555, it was first mentioned documentally in 1589 as Tsaritsyn, located at the confluence of the Tsaritsa and Volga Rivers. The fortress Sary Su (a local Tatar language name meaning: yellow water/river), was established to defend the unstable southern border of the country. It soon became the nucleus of a trading settlement. It was captured twice by Cossack rebels, under Stepan Razin in the rebellion of 1670 and Yemelyan Pugachev in 1774. Tsaritsyn became an important river port and commercial center in the 19th century.
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Volgograd Oblast
Volgograd Oblast (Russian: Волгогра́дская о́бласть, Volgogradskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Volgograd. Population: 2,610,161 (2010 Census).
The oblast borders with Saratov, Rostov, Astrakhan, and Voronezh Oblasts, the Republic of Kalmykia, and with Kazakhstan.
(more than 200 rivers overall)
Population: 2,610,161 (2010 Census); 2,699,223 (2002 Census); 2,593,944 (1989 Census).
(shown are the ethnic groups with a population of more than 7,500 people)
Governor of Volgograd Oblast is Nikolay Kirillovich Maksyuta (Russian: Николай Кириллович Максюта) (since 1996, reelected in 2004) New governor is Anatoliy Brovko (since 2010)
Both the flag and the coat of arms of Volgograd Oblast include an image of The Motherland Calls, an 85 meter tall statue located in Volgograd.
Primary branches of economics are agriculture, food production, heavy industry, gas and petroleum refining.
Volga Hydroelectric Station operates on the Volga River.
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Vologda Oblast
Vologda Oblast (Russian: Вологодская область, tr. Vologodskaya oblast; IPA: [vəlɐˈɡotskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. Population: 1,202,444 (2010 Census). The largest city is Cherepovets, the home of the Severstal metallurgical plant, the largest industrial enterprise of the oblast.
Vologda Oblast is rich in historic monuments, such as the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Ferapontov Monastery (a World Heritage Site) with the frescoes of Dionisius, medieval towns of Velikiy Ustyug and Belozersk, and baroque churches of Totma and Ustyuzhna.
Large reserves of wood and fresh water are the main natural resources.
The area of Vologda Oblast was settled by Finno-Ugric peoples since prehistory, and most of the toponyms in the region are in fact Finno-Ugric. Vepsians still living in the west of the Oblast are the descendants of that population. Subsequently, the area was colonized. Belozersk has been mentioned in chronicles in 862 as one of the oldest towns in Russia. Much of the area was controlled by the Novgorod Republic, in particular, Totma was founded in 1152. Veliky Ustyug and the west of the current territory of the Oblast, with Belozersk and Ustyuzhna, belonged to the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality and were constantly threatened by Novgorod. Not later than in the 13th century the Novgorod merchants already reached the White Sea. They penetrated the area using the waterways. The main waterway to the White Sea was the Northern Dvina, and Novgorod merchants used the Volga and its tributary, the Sheksna, along the Slavyanka River into Lake Nikolskoye, then the boats were taken by land to Lake Blagoveshchenskoye, from there downstream along the Porozovitsa River into Lake Kubenskoye and further to the Sukhona and the Northern Dvina.
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Voronezh Oblast
Voronezh Oblast (Russian: Воро́нежская о́бласть, Voronezhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on June 13, 1934. Its administrative center is the city of Voronezh. Population: 2,335,380 (2010 Census);.
Voronezh Oblast has large reserves of chalk. The oblast is an industrial and agricultural region. Excavators, bridge structures, and electronic equipment are produced in regional industry.
Population: 2,335,380 (2010 Census); 2,378,803 (2002 Census); 2,469,766 (1989 Census).
For the first half of 2007, the birth rate was 8.4 per 1,000
Ethnic composition (2010):
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Vosstaniya Square
Coordinates: 59°55′52″N 30°21′43″E / 59.931°N 30.362°E / 59.931; 30.362
Vosstaniya Square (Russian: Пло́щадь Восста́ния, lit. Uprising Square) is a major square in the Central Business District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The square lies at the crossing of Nevsky Prospekt, Ligovsky Prospekt, Vosstaniya Street and Goncharnaya Street, in front of the Moskovsky Rail Terminal, which is the northern terminus of the line connecting the city with Moscow. Administratively, the Vosstaniya Square falls under the authority of the Tsentralny District.
Prior to the February Revolution, the square was known as Znamenskaya, after the church of the Sign, which was built there in 1794-1804 to a Neoclassical design by Fyodor Demertsov. The square was a scene of many revolutionary demonstrations and protests. After the Bolsheviks seized the city, they had the square renamed into the Uprising Square to commemorate these events. The church of the Sign was torn down in 1940 to make room for the surface vestibule of the Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station (opened in 1955).
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Vysotsk
Coordinates: 60°38′0″N 28°34′0″E / 60.633333°N 28.566667°E / 60.633333; 28.566667
Vysotsk (Russian: Высо́цк; Finnish: Uuras; Swedish: Trångsund) is a coastal town and a seaport in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus, on the eastern shore of the Bay of Vyborg, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) southwest of Vyborg and 159 kilometers (99 mi) northwest of St. Petersburg. It hosts a base of the Russian Baltic Fleet and an oil terminal (since 2004). Population: 1,244 (2010 Census preliminary results); 1,673 (2002 Census); 929 (1989 Census).
It was granted town status in 1940 and in terms of population remains one of the smallest towns in Russia.
The fortress of Trångsund (literally: "narrow strait") was built to the order of Peter the Great in the beginning of the 18th century after Russia had captured the area from Sweden during the Great Northern War. In 1812, Trongzund was included by Alexander I of Russia into the newly-created Grand Duchy of Finland. Between 1918 and 1940, the town was part of independent Finland under the name Uuras. As a result of the Winter War and subsequent Moscow Peace Treaty, it was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and became part of the Karelo Finnish SSR. In 1941, during Continuation War, it was liberated by Finnish troops and returned to Finland. In June 1944, the town was occupied by the Red Army and was anexed to the Soviet Union according to the Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty. In July 1948, the town was renamed Vysotsk in honour of the Soviet machine gunner Kuzma Demidovich Vysotsky, who was killed in the area on March 4, 1940 during the final days of the Winter War.
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Warsaw
Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa [varˈʂava] ( listen); see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most populous city proper in the European Union. The area of the city covers 516.9 square kilometres (199.6 sq mi), while the city's agglomeration covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39 sq mi).
Warsaw is an Alpha- global city, a major international tourist destination and an important economic hub in Central Europe. It is also known as the "phoenix city" because it has survived many wars throughout its history. Most notably, the city had to be painstakingly rebuilt after the extensive damage it suffered from World War II, during which 80% of its buildings were destroyed. On 9 November 1940 the city was awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, for the Siege of Warsaw (1939).
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Winter Palace
The Winter Palace (Russian: Зи́мний дворе́ц; IPA: [ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts]) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and altered almost continuously between the late 1730s and 1837, when it was severely damaged by fire and immediately rebuilt. The storming of the palace in 1917 became an iconic symbol of the Russian Revolution.
The palace was constructed on a monumental scale that was intended to reflect the might and power of Imperial Russia. From the palace, the Tsar ruled over 22,400,000 square kilometres (8,600,000 sq mi) (almost 1/6 of the Earth's landmass) and over 125 million subjects by the end of the 19th century. It was designed by many architects, most notably Bartolomeo Rastrelli, in what came to be known as the Elizabethan Baroque style. The green-and-white palace has the shape of an elongated rectangle, and its principal façade is 250 m long and 100 ft (30 m) high. The Winter Palace has been calculated to contain 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases. The rebuilding of 1837 left the exterior unchanged, but large parts of the interior were redesigned in a variety of tastes and styles, leading the palace to be described as a "19th-century palace inspired by a model in Rococo style."
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Yaroslavl Oblast
Yaroslavl Oblast (Russian: Яросла́вская о́бласть, Yaroslavskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma, and Vologda Oblasts. This geographic location affords the oblast the advantages of proximity to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Additionally, the administrative center of the oblast—the city of Yaroslavl—is an intersection of major highways, railroads, and waterways. Population: 1,272,468 (2010 Census).
Yaroslavl Oblast was established on March 11, 1936.
The climate is moderate continental, with snowy winters and a short but rather hot summer. Formerly almost all territory was covered with thick conifer forest (fir, pine), but now a large portion of it has been replaced with birch-and-aspen secondary forests and crop fields. Swamps also take considerable areas.
Large animals have been much reduced in numbers, but there are still some bears, wolves, foxes, moose, and wild boars.
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Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg (Russian: Екатеринбу́рг; IPA: [jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk], also romanized Ekaterinburg) is the fourth-largest city in Russia with a population of 1,398,889 (2012). Yekaterinburg is situated in the middle of the Eurasian continent, on the border of Europe and Asia.
Yekaterinburg is the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the main industrial and cultural center of the Ural Federal District. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was named Sverdlovsk (Свердло́вск) after the Communist party leader Yakov Sverdlov.
Internationally Yekaterinburg is best known as a city where the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed in 1918.
The city was founded in 1723 by Vasily Tatischev and Georg Wilhelm de Gennin and named after Tsar Peter the Great's wife Catherine I (Yekaterina). The official date of the city's foundation is November 18, 1723. It was granted town status in 1796.
Soon after the Russian Revolution, on July 17, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their children Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei were murdered by the Bolsheviks at the Ipatiev House in this city. Other members of the Romanov family were killed at Alapayevsk the day after. In 1977, the Ipatiev House was demolished by order of Boris Yeltsin, to prevent it from being used as a rallying location for monarchists. He later became the first President of Russia and represented the people at the funeral of the Tsar in 1998.
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Yelagin Island
Coordinates: 59°58′46″N 30°16′05″E / 59.979407°N 30.26808°E / 59.979407; 30.26808
Yelagin Island (Russian: Елагин остров) is an island at the mouth of the Neva River which is part of St. Petersburg, Russia. Yelagin Island is home to the Yelagin Palace but has few other buildings; the island initially served as a wooded retreat for the ruling class. Originally known as Melgunov Island, the island takes its present name from its former owner, Ivan Yelagin (1725-93), best known as a founding father of the Russian Freemasonry. After the Russian Revolution, the isle was opened to the public as an urban park which still bears the name of Sergei Kirov.
The island is a popular weekend destination for Petersburgers. Visitors can rent boats to navigate the island's several ponds and canals. There are also rollerblade and bicycle rentals, as well as several attractions for children including pony rides, miniature trains and playgrounds. The island also features several kilometers of paved pathways.
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Yelagin Palace
Coordinates: 59°58′45″N 30°16′12″E / 59.9793°N 30.27°E / 59.9793; 30.27 Yelagin Palace (Елагин дворец; also Yelaginsky or Yelaginoostrovsky Dvorets) completed in 1822 is a palace in Saint Petersburg which is situated on Yelagin Island in the Neva River and served as a royal summer palace during the reign of Tsar Alexander I. Constructed on the site of an earlier mansion built during the rule of Catherine the Great, the villa was designed for Alexander's mother, Maria Fyodorovna, by the architect Carlo Rossi. The palace was destroyed during World War II but was rebuilt and currently houses a museum.
The isle to the north of the imperial Russian capital owes its name to its former proprietor, Ivan Yelagin (1725-94), a close ally of Catherine II from her early days as Grand Duchess. His Palladian villa might have been designed by Giacomo Quarenghi. After the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna declared that she was too old to make daily trips to such distant residences as Pavlovsk Palace and Gatchina Castle, her son Alexander I bought the estate from Yelagin's heirs and asked Carlo Rossi to redesign the villa. Its lavish Neoclassical interiors were decorated by Giovanni Battista Scotti, Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky, and Stepan Pimenov.
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Yerevan
Coordinates: 40°11′00″N 44°31′00″E / 40.183333°N 44.516667°E / 40.183333; 44.516667
Yerevan (Armenian: Երևան, Armenian pronunciation: [jɛɾɛˈvɑn]) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country. It has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia.
The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by king Argishti I at the western extreme of the Ararat plain. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the Democratic Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide settled in the area. The city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became one of the fifteen republics in the Soviet Union. In fifty years, Yerevan was transformed from a town of a few thousand residents within the Russian Empire, to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial center, as well as becoming the seat of national government.
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Zabaykalsky Krai
Zabaykalsky Krai (Russian: Забайка́льский край; IPA: [zəbɐjˈkalʲskʲɪj kraj], lit. Transbaikal krai) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai) that was created on March 1, 2008 as a result of a merger of Chita Oblast and Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug, after a referendum held on the issue on March 11, 2007. Population: 1,106,611 (2010 Census).
Ravil Geniatulin, the Governor of Chita Oblast, was elected Governor of Zabaykalsky Krai on February 5, 2008 by the majority of the deputies of both Chita Oblast Duma and Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug Duma. He assumed the post on March 1, 2008.
The krai is located within the historical region of Transbaikalia.
The krai has extensive international borders with China (998 km) and Mongolia (868 km) and internal borders with Irkutsk and Amur Oblasts, as well as with the Republic of Buryatia and the Sakha Republic.
Population: 1,107,107 (2010 Census); 1,155,346 (2002 Census); 1,377,975 (1989 Census).
The population was mostly Russians and Buryats, along with some Ukrainians and a few Evenks. There were 1,000 Jews in the regional capital. According to the 2010 Census, Russians made up 89.9% of the population while Buryats were 6.8%. Other significant groups were Ukrainian (0.6%), Tatars (0.5%), Belorussian (0.2%), Azeri (0.18%), Evenks (0.1%). 19,981 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.
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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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Zayachy Island
Coordinates: 59°57′04″N 30°18′54″E / 59.9510°N 30.315°E / 59.9510; 30.315
Zayachy Island (Russian Заячий остров, transliteration zayachy ostrov, also known as Hare Island) is an island in the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is separated by the Kronverksky Strait from Petrogradsky Island to the north, to which it is connected by the Kronverksky and Ioannovsky bridges.
Zayachy Island was for the most part swampy, unpopulated, and unremarkable until 1703, when Peter the Great began construction of the Peter and Paul fortress there, himself laying the foundation stones. Until the late 19th century, there were three canals inside the fortress, dividing the island into four parts. The canals were filled up by the late 19th century.. The island is described as offering picturesque views of the city historical center and the Neva River.
During the Red Terror, the island was the site of massacres of enemies of the state. Bodies were discovered during the recent building of a road linking a car park. Some estimates put the number of buried in the hundreds and potentially in the thousands. Human rights charity Memorial is currently trying to convince the authorities to investigate the graves properly.
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Aidan Dunne
A graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Aidan Dunne was art critic of In Dublin magazine, Sunday Press and the Sunday Tribune. Currently visual arts critic of The Irish Times, Dunne has written extensively on Irish art, with essays on Michael Mulcahy, Patrick Scott, Hughie O'Donoghue, Patrick Swift, and Jennifer Trouton. He has also written an essay on Russian photographer and artist Alexey Titarenko.
Patrick Scott, published by Liberties Press in 2008; 2010- ISBN 1-905483-53-8; ISBN 978-1-905483-53-2
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Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine, Ph. D. (October 31 [O.S. October 19] 1892 – March 24, 1946) (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин, pronounced [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲexʲɪn]) was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.
By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played. In 1927, he became the fourth World Chess Champion by defeating Capablanca, widely considered invincible, in what would stand as the longest chess championship match held until 1985.
In the early 1930s, Alekhine dominated tournament play and won two top-class tournaments by large margins. He also played first board for France in five Chess Olympiads, winning individual prizes in each (four medals and a brilliancy prize). Alekhine offered Capablanca a rematch on the same demanding terms that Capablanca had set for him, and negotiations dragged on for years without making much progress. Meanwhile, Alekhine defended his title with ease against Bogoljubov in 1929 and 1934. He was defeated by Euwe in 1935, but regained his crown in the 1937 rematch. His tournament record, however, remained uneven, and rising young stars like Keres, Fine, and Botvinnik threatened his title. Negotiations for a title match with Keres or Botvinnik were halted by the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939. Negotiations with Botvinnik for a world title match were proceeding in 1946 when Alekhine died in Portugal, in unclear circumstances.
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Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Блок [] ( listen), 28 November [O.S. 16 November] 1880 – 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet.
Blok was born in Saint Petersburg, into a sophisticated and intellectual family. Some of his relatives were literary men, his father being a law professor in Warsaw, and his maternal grandfather the rector of Saint Petersburg State University. After his parents' separation, Blok lived with aristocratic relatives at the manor Shakhmatovo near Moscow, where he discovered the philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov, and the verse of then-obscure 19th-century poets, Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet. These influences would affect his early publications, later collected in the book Ante Lucem.
In 1903 he married Lyubov (Lyuba) Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, daughter of the renowned chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. Later, she would involve him in a complicated love-hate relationship with his fellow Symbolist Andrei Bely. To Lyuba he dedicated a cycle of poetry that made him famous, Stikhi o prekrasnoi Dame (Verses About the Beautiful Lady, 1904).
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Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Яросла́вич Не́вский (help·info), Aleksandr Yaroslavich Nevskiy; pronounced [ɐlʲɪˈksandr jɪrɐˈslavʲɪtɕ ˈnʲefskʲɪj]; 30 May 1220 – 14 November 1263, proclaimed Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church by Metropolite Macarius in 1547) was the Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the city's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Rus, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military victories over the German and Swedish invaders while employing collaborationist policies towards the powerful Golden Horde.
From Tales of the Life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander found in the Second Pskovian Chronicle, circa 1260–1280, comes one of the first known references to the Great Prince:
"By the will of God, prince Alexander was born from the charitable, people-loving, and meek the Great Prince Yaroslav, and his mother was Theodosia. As it was told by the prophet Isaiah: 'Thus sayeth the Lord: I appoint the princes because they are sacred and I direct them.' "... He was taller than others and his voice reached the people as a trumpet, and his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh placed as next to the king after him of Egypt. His power was a part of the power of Samson and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon ... this Prince Alexander: he used to defeat but was never defeated ..."
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Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин, tr. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin; IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr sʲɪˈrɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn] ( listen); 6 June [O.S. 26 May] 1799 – 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1837) was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.
Born into the Russian nobility in Moscow, Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, and was widely recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo.
While under the strict surveillance of the Tsar's political police and unable to publish, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama Boris Godunov. His novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, was serialized between 1825 and 1832.
Notoriously touchy about his honour, Pushkin fought a total of twenty-nine duels, and was fatally wounded in such an encounter with Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès. D'Anthès, a French officer serving with the Chevalier Guard Regiment, had been attempting to seduce the poet's wife, Natalya Pushkina. Pushkin's early death at the age of 37 is still regarded as a catastrophe for Russian literature.
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Altai Republic
Altai Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Алта́й, Respublika Altay; Altay: Алтай Республика, Altay Respublika) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the town of Gorno-Altaysk. The area of the republic is 92,600 square kilometers (35,800 sq mi). Population: 206,168 (2010 Census).
The national autonomy for the Altai people was created on June 1, 1922 as Oyrot Autonomous Oblast (Ойро́тская автоно́мная о́бласть), part of Altai Krai. The original name for this region was Bazla. On January 7, 1948 it was renamed Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast (Го́рно-Алта́йская автоно́мная о́бласть). In 1991 it was reorganized into the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR). In 1992 it was renamed as the Altai Republic.
The republic is situated in the very center of Asia at the junction of Siberian taiga, steppes of Kazakhstan and semi-deserts of Mongolia. Forests cover about 25% of the republic's territory.
More than 20,000 tributaries sprawl throughout the mountainous Republic, making for a total of more than 60,000 kilometers (37,000 mi) worth of waterways. The republic's largest rivers are the Katun and the Biya, both of which originate in the mountains and flow northwards. The junction of the two rivers eventually forms the Ob River, one of the longest rivers in Siberia, which flows northward to the Arctic Ocean.
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Anatoly Sobchak
Anatoly Alexandrovich Sobchak (Russian: Анато́лий Алекса́ндрович Собча́к, August 10, 1937—February 20, 2000) was a Russian politician, a co-author of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the first democratically elected mayor of Saint Petersburg, and a mentor and teacher of both Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.
Anatoly Sobchak was born in Chita, Siberia, USSR, on August 10, 1937. His father, Alexander Antonovich, was a railroad engineer, and his mother, Nadezhda Andreyevna Litvinova, was an accountant. Anatoly was one of four brothers. In 1939, the family moved to Uzbekistan, where Anatoly lived until 1953 before entering Stavropol Law College. In 1954, he was transferred to Leningrad State University. In 1958, he married Nonna Gandzyuk, a student of Hertzen Teacher's College. They had a daughter, Maria Sobchak, who is currently a Petersburg lawyer and married on 2000 in Marmaris with Turgut Ceran(1978).
After graduating from Leningrad State University he worked for three years as a lawyer in Stavropol, then returned to Leningrad State University for graduate studies (1962–1965). After obtaining his Ph.D., he taught law at the Leningrad Police School and the Leningrad Institute for Cellulose and Paper Industries' Technology (1965–1973). From 1973 to 1990 he taught at Leningrad State University. In 1980 he married Lyudmila Narusova, at that time a history student at the Leningrad Academy of Soviet Culture and later a prominent MP. They had a daughter Ksenia Sobchak, currently a TV presenter and the most notorious figure of Moscow's demimonde society.
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Andrei Bely
Andrei Bely (Russian: Андре́й Бе́лый [] ( listen)) was the pseudonym of Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (Russian: Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев [] ( listen)) (October 26 [O.S. October 14] 1880, Moscow – January 8, 1934, Moscow), a Russian novelist, poet, theorist, and literary critic. His novel Petersburg was regarded by Vladimir Nabokov as one of the four greatest novels of the 20th century.
Boris Bugaev was born into a prominent intellectual family. His father, Nikolai Bugaev, was a leading mathematician who is regarded as a founder of the Moscow school of mathematics. His mother was not only highly intelligent but a famous society beauty, and the focus of considerable gossip. Young Boris was a polymath whose interests included mathematics, music, philosophy, and literature. He would go on to take part in both the Symbolist movement and the Russian school of neo-Kantianism.
Nikolai Bugaev was well known for his influential philosophical essays, in which he decried geometry and probability and trumpeted the virtues of hard analysis. Despite—or because of—his father's mathematical tastes, Boris Bugaev was fascinated by probability and particularly by entropy, a notion to which he frequently refers in works such as Kotik Letaev.
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Andrey Voronikhin
Andrey (Andrei) Nikiforovich Voronikhin (Russian: Андрей Никифорович Воронихин) (17 October 1759, Novoe Usolye, Perm Oblast — 21 February 1814, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian architect and painter. As a representative of classicism he was also one of the founders of the monumental Russian Empire style. Born a serf of the Stroganov family, he is best known for his work on Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.
Andrey Voronikhin was born in the village of Novoa Usolye (now Perm Krai) to a family who were the serfs of count Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov, a long time President of the Imperial Academy of Arts. It is generally believed that he was fathered by Alexander Stroganov. Voronikhin trained in painting in the workshop of Ural iconographer Gabriel Yushkova. The talents of his youth attracted Stroganov's attention, and in 1777 the count sent Voronikhin to study in Moscow. Among his teachers were Vasili Ivanovich Bazhenov and Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov. After 1779 Voronikhin worked in Saint Petersburg.
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Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko (Russian: А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко Russian pronunciation: [ˈanə ɐndrʲəˈjɛvnə gɐˈrʲɛnkə]; Ukrainian: А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко) (June 23 [O.S. June 11] 1889 – March 5, 1966), better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova (Russian and Ukrainian: А́нна Ахма́това), was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.
Akhmatova's work ranges from short lyric poems to intricately structured cycles, such as Requiem (1935–40), her tragic masterpiece about the Stalinist terror. Her style, characterised by its economy and emotional restraint, was strikingly original and distinctive to her contemporaries. The strong and clear leading female voice struck a new chord in Russian poetry. Her writing can be said to fall into two periods – the early work (1912–25) and her later work (from around 1936 until her death), divided by a decade of reduced literary output. Her work was condemned and censored by Stalinist authorities and she is notable for choosing not to emigrate, and remaining in Russia, acting as witness to the atrocities around her. Her perennial themes include meditations on time and memory, and the difficulties of living and writing in the shadow of Stalinism.
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Anna of Russia
Anna of Russia or Anna Ivanovna (Russian: Анна Ивановна) (7 February [O.S. 28 January] 1693, Moscow – 28 October [O.S. 17 October] 1740) reigned as Duchess of Courland from 1711 to 1730 and as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740.
Anna was the daughter of Ivan V of Russia, as well as the niece of Peter the Great. The latter married her to Frederick William, Duke of Courland in November 1710, but on the return trip from Saint Petersburg in January 1711, her husband died. Anna proceeded to rule Courland (now western Latvia) from 1711 to 1730, with the Russian resident, Peter Bestuzhev, as her adviser (and sometimes lover). She never remarried after the death of her husband, but was reputed by her enemies to have conducted a love affair with Ernst Johann von Biron for many years.
On the death of Peter II, Emperor of Russia, the Russian Supreme Privy Council under Prince Dmitri Galitzine made Anna Empress in 1730. They had hoped that she would feel indebted to the nobles for her unexpected fortune and remain a figurehead at best, and malleable at worst. In the hope of establishing a constitutional monarchy in Russia, they convinced her to sign articles that limited her power. However, these proved a minor inconvenience to her, and soon she established herself as an autocratic ruler, using her popularity with the imperial guards and lesser nobility.
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Anna Pavlova
Anna Pavlova (Russian: А́нна Па́вловна; February 12 [O.S. January 31] 1881 – January 23, 1931) was a Russian ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the finest classical ballet dancers in history and was most noted as a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognised for the creation of the role The Dying Swan and, with her own company, became the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world.
Her mother was a laundress named Lyubov Feodorovna. The identity of her father has been open to debate. She later claimed her father had died when she was two years old. Some sources, including The Saint Petersburg Gazette, have claimed that her illegitimate father was the Jewish–Russian banker Lazar Polyakov. Her mother's second husband, Matvey Pavlov, is believed to have adopted her at the age of three, by which she acquired his last name.
Pavlova's passion for the art of ballet was ignited when her mother took her to a performance of Marius Petipa's original production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Imperial Maryinsky Theater. The lavish spectacle made an impression on the young Pavlova, and at the age of nine she was taken by her mother to audition for the renowned Imperial Ballet School. Because of her age, and what was considered to be a "sickly" appearance, she was not chosen, but in 1891 she was finally accepted, at the age of 10. She appeared for the first time on stage in Marius Petipa's Un conte de fées (A Fairy Tale), which the ballet master staged for the students of the school.
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Apostle Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader and one of the twelve apostles of Jesus who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and who is venerated as a saint. The son of John or of Jonah, he was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee or Gaulanitis. His brother Andrew was also an apostle. Peter is venerated in multiple churches and is regarded as the first Pope by the Catholic Church. After working to establish the church of Antioch, presiding for seven years as the leader of the city's Christian community, he preached to scattered communities of believers, Jews, Hebrew Christians and the gentiles, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor and Bithynia.[citation needed] He then went to Rome, where in the second year of Claudius, it is claimed, he overthrew Simon Magus and held the Sacerdotal Chair for 25 years.[citation needed] He is said to have been put to death at the hand of Emperor Nero.
Peter wrote two General epistles. The Gospel of Mark is also ascribed to him (as Mark was his disciple and interpreter). On the other hand, several books bearing his name—the Acts of Peter, Gospel of Peter, Preaching of Peter, Revelation of Peter, and Judgement of Peter—are rejected by the Catholic Church as Apocryphal.
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Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.
The largest concentration is in Armenia, having a nearly homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian. Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 3 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world, most notably the Russian Empire, the Near East, the United States, France, Iran, Georgia and other parts of Europe (see Armenian diaspora).
Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church.
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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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Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand ( /ˈaɪn ˈrænd/; born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum, February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982) was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.
Born and educated in Russia, Rand moved to the United States in 1926. She worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood and had a play produced on Broadway in 1935–1936. After two initially unsuccessful early novels, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel The Fountainhead. In 1957, she published her best-known work, the philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward she turned to nonfiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own magazines and releasing several collections of essays until her death in 1982.
Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge and rejected all forms of faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism, and rejected ethical altruism. In politics, she condemned the initiation of force as immoral and opposed all forms of collectivism and statism, instead supporting laissez-faire capitalism, which she believed was the only social system that protected individual rights. She promoted romantic realism in art. She was sharply critical of the philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her besides Aristotle.
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Belarusians
Belarusians (Belarusian: беларусы, biełarusy, Russian: белорусы, byelorusy) are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. There are over 8 million people who associate themselves with the Belarusian nationality today.
Belarusians also form minorities in neighboring Poland (especially in the Podlaskie Voivodeship), Russia and Lithuania. At the beginning of 20th century Belarusians constituted a majority in the regions around Smolensk.[citation needed]
Noticeable numbers have emigrated to the United States, Brazil and Canada in the early 20th century. During Soviet times, many Belarusians were deported or migrated to various regions of the USSR, including Siberia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Since the breakup of the USSR several hundred thousand have emigrated to the European Union, United States, Canada and Russia.
The most spoken language in Belarus is Russian, principally spoken by 72% of the population, while the other official language, Belarusian, is only used by 11.9% in every day life. Statistical data shows that Belarusian is fluently communicated, read and written by 29.4%, while 52.5% of the population can communicate and read in Belarusian. Belarusian is a language of the Eastern Slavic group.
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Boris Grebenshchikov
Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (Russian: Бори́с Бори́сович Гребенщико́в) also known as Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov, is one of the most prominent members of the generation which is widely considered the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. Due as much to his personal contribution as to the undisputed and lasting success of his main effort, the band Aquarium (active since 1972 until today), he is a household name in Russia. Grebenshchikov is colloquially known as BG (Russian: БГ) after his initials.
Boris Grebenshchikov was born on November 27, 1953 in Leningrad. He co-founded Aquarium with a childhood friend, Anatoly "George" Gunitsky, in 1972 as a post-modernistic theater-centric effort that involved poetry and music. Gunitsky provided absurdist, highly symbolic lyrics to some of BG's earliest songs.
Despite an eventual graduate degree in Applied Mathematics, Grebenshchikov had always been a voracious consumer of culture, especially music. His school-years enamorment with The Beatles eventually extended to include a deep appreciation of Bob Dylan, which slowly transformed Aquarium into a low-fi electric blues band that moonlighted in acoustic reggae. The first song he managed to play on guitar was The Beatles' "Ticket to Ride"; his first public performance, in 1973, featured him performing songs by Cat Stevens.
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Brian Curran
Brian Phillip Curran (born November 5, 1963 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian ice hockey player, coach. and executive. He is the current Head Coach/General Manager of the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Selected by the Boston Bruins in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft, he played the position of defenceman for the Bruins, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League.
Following his playing career, Curran got into coaching and was the Head Coach with Jacksonville of the ECHL in 1998-99 and the Monroe Moccasins of the WPHL in 1999-2000. He was the general manager and head coach of the Quad City Mallards until he resigned on April 26, 2007. Brian was head coach of the Kalamazoo Wings hockey team in Kalamazoo, Michigan during the 2007–2008 season until he was released from service April 8, 2008. On July 9, 2008, he was hired as Head Coach/General Manager of the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. On October 16, 2009, Curran was released as Head Coach/General Manager of the Bandits. Curran was introduced as the head coach/general manager of the Lloydminster Bobcats, of the Alberta Junior Hockey League on November 25, 2009, a position he would hold until he resigned on March 8th, 2012. On February 22nd, 2012, Curran was named 2011-12 AJHL Coach of the Year. On March 15th, 2012, Curran signed a 5 year contract to coach/manage the Drumheller Dragons of the AJHL .
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Burton Holmes
Burton Holmes (1870–1958) was an American traveler, photographer and filmmaker, who coined the term "travelogue".
Travel stories, slide shows, and motion pictures were all in existence before Holmes began his career, as was the profession of travel lecturer; but Holmes was the first person to put all of these elements together into documentary travel lectures.[citation needed]
Burton Holmes was born into a middle-class Chicago family, the son of a banker. His interest in travel was sparked at the age of nine when his grandmother took him to hear a then-famous travel lecturer, John L. Stoddard (whom Holmes was to meet on a subsequent trip abroad). In 1890, Holmes accompanied his grandmother on a trip to Europe and when he returned showed slides of his trip at the Chicago Camera Club, of which he was a member. Holmes wrote of this event: "To take the edge off the silence, to keep the show moving, I wrote an account of my journey and read it, as the stereopticon man changed slides."
Despite the success of this event, which grossed $350 for the club, it wasn't until several years later that Holmes decided to set himself up as a travel lecturer. In 1893, after sending out 2000 invitations to a select group of Chicagoans, Holmes gave two sold-out talks about a recent trip to Japan.
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Catherine the Great
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great (Russian: Екатерина II Великая, Yekaterina II Velikaya; German: Katharina die Große), Empress of Russia (2 May [O.S. 21 April] 1729 – 17 November [O.S. 6 November] 1796), was the most renowned and the longest-ruling female leader of Russia, reigning from 9 July [O.S. 28 June] 1762 until her death at the age of 67. She was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, and came to power following a coup d'état and the assassination of her husband, Peter III, at the end of the Seven Years' War. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever and becoming recognised as one of the great powers of Europe.
In both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. Assisted by highly successful generals such as Pyotr Rumyantsev and Alexander Suvorov, and admirals such as Fyodor Ushakov, she governed at a time when the Russian Empire was expanding rapidly by conquest and diplomacy. In the south, the Crimean Khanate was crushed following victories over the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish wars, and Russia colonised the vast territories of Novorossiya along the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas. In the west, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherine's former lover, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, with the Russian Empire gaining the largest share. In the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America.
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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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DDT (band)
DDT (or ДДТ in Cyrillic) is a popular Russian rock band founded by its lead singer, Yuri Shevchuk (Юрий Шевчук), in Ufa (Bashkir ASSR, RSFSR) in 1980. It is one of the most successful and prolific Russian musical groups of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The band was formed in 1980 and originally consisted of 5 members:
In 1982, Komsomolskaya Pravda paper declared a competition for young music performers called Zolotoy Kamerton (Golden Tuning Fork). DDT submitted three compositions - "Inoplanetyane" (Aliens), "Chyornoye solntse" (Black Sun), and "Ne strelyai!" (Don't Shoot!). During the long-running competition, the group published their first album (on tape), Svinya na raduge (Pig on a Rainbow). The album contained elements of rock and roll, blues and country music. During this time Russian popular music was divided between sanctioned "official" performers who were admitted to the musicians union, and unofficial artists. Unofficial artists were often highly trained musicians who also had other jobs. A complex underground network evolved in the 1980s and "unofficial" music became widely distributed (although, of course, without any compensation for the artists), in a similar way to the underground channels that had existed for non-state sanctioned literature (samizdat). Such "underground" artists became widely known, and their unofficial albums were sometimes mentioned in the press. In the 1980s, DDT straddled the line between underground and sanctioned artists, but leaned more towards the unsanctioned category.
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Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich Russian pronunciation: [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ˈdmʲitrʲɪɪvʲɪt͡ɕ ʂəstɐˈkovʲɪt͡ɕ] (Russian: Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович; 25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet Russian composer and pianist and was one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century.
Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Leon Trotsky's chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962) and the USSR (from 1962 until death).
After a period influenced by Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky, Shostakovich developed a hybrid style, as exemplified by Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934). This single work juxtaposed a wide variety of trends, including the neo-classical style (showing the influence of Stravinsky) and post-Romanticism (after Gustav Mahler). Sharp contrasts and elements of the grotesque characterize much of his music.
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Dmitry Likhachov
Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachov (Russian: Дми́трий Серге́евич Лихачёв, also Dmitri Likhachev or Likhachyov; November 28 [O.S. November 15] 1906, St. Petersburg – September 30, 1999, St. Petersburg) was an outstanding Soviet Russian scholar who was considered the world's foremost expert in Old Russian language and literature. He has been revered as "the last of old St Petersburgers", "a guardian of national culture", and "Russia's conscience".
Dmitry Likhachyov’s personality is symbolic of Russian culture of the 20th century. He was an intellectual who survived a Soviet labor camp; one of Russia’s most outstanding scientists and a notable public figure, who managed to preserve his moral values and strength of mind throughout his life.
Dmitry Likhachyov was born in Saint Petersburg. From his early childhood he was passionate about literature, even though his parents didn’t approve of this interest.
In 1923, at only 16 years old, Likhachyov entered the Leningrad State University in the Department of Linguistics and Literature. He attended Roman-Germanic and Slavic-Russian sections at the same time, undertaking two diplomas. At the university young Likhachyov met many outstanding scientists and developed his own way of thinking. In 1928, at the end of his studies, Likhachyov was arrested and accused of being a member of the students’ club “Cosmic Academy of Science,” which was simply a playful name for a group of like-minded youths. Shortly before his arrest Dmitry Likhachyov had presented a short report, in which, either jokingly or seriously, he claimed that the new spelling rules were “demonic” and worse than the old ones. This document was used as proof of his “counter-revolutionary” ideas. After nine months in jail, the young scientist was unlawfully exiled without trial and spent five years in the USSR’s largest labor camp situated on the Solovetsky Islands.
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Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Russian: Дми́трий Анато́льевич Медве́дев, tr. Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev; IPA: [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪˈdvʲedʲɪf] ( listen); born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been Prime Minister of Russia since 2012. He previously served as President of Russia from 2008 to 2012.
Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint Petersburg State University, where he taught civil and Roman law until 1999. Medvedev's political career began as the election campaign manager and later an adviser of St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. During this time, Medvedev befriended Vladimir Putin. In November 1999, Medvedev was hired in the Russian presidential administration, where he worked as deputy chief of staff. In the 2000 Presidential elections, Medvedev was Putin's campaign manager. On 14 November 2005, Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and was tasked with overseeing National Priority Projects. He also worked as the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post which he held until 2008.
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Domenico Trezzini
Domenico Trezzini (c. 1670 – 1734) was a Swiss Italian architect who elaborated the Petrine Baroque style of Russian architecture.
Domenico was born in Astano, near Lugano, in the Italian-speaking Ticino (at that time a condominium of the Old Swiss Confederacy). He probably studied in Rome. Subsequently, as he was working in Denmark, he was offered by Peter I of Russia, among other architects, to design buildings in the new Russian capital city, St. Petersburg.
Since 1703, when the city was founded, he substantially contributed to its most representative buildings. The Peter and Paul Fortress with the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Twelve Collegia Building (now the main building of Saint Petersburg University) as well as Peter's Summer House count among his many achievements. He also helped found and design Kronstadt and the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.
Domenico Trezzini was very important for another aspect of Russian architectural history: in founding a school based on the European model, he laid the foundations for the development of the Petrine Baroque.
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Edita Piekha
Edita Piekha (Russian: Эди́та Станисла́вовна Пье́ха, Edita Stanislavovna Pyekha, Polish: Edyta Piecha, French: Édith-Marie Pierha) is a French-born popular Soviet and Russian singer and actress of Polish descent. She was the third popular female singer, after Klavdiya Shulzhenko and Sofia Rotaru, to be named a People's Artist of the USSR (1988).
Edita Piekha is a well known public activist for humanitarian causes, and is a supporter of orphanages in Russia.
Edita Piekha was born in Noyelles-sous-Lens, France, in 1937, into an ethnic Polish family. Her father was Stanisław Piecha, a mining worker, and her mother was Felicja Korolewska. From 1945 to 1955 Edita Piekha lived in Boguszów, Silesia with her mother and stepfather. There she studied music, sang with a choir, and excelled in Russian at her school, graduating at the top of her class.
In 1955 Edita Piekha moved to Leningrad to study psychology on a state scholarship. From 1955 to 1957 she attended A. A. Zhdanov Leningrad State University (now known as Saint Petersburg State University). There she met composer and pianist Aleksandr Bronevitsky. Together they formed the first popular band in Russia, named Druzhba, and gave their first TV performance on New Year's Eve, 31 December 1955, with the Polish song "Autobus czerwony" which became a popular hit in the USSR.
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Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years. In his prime Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players ever.
His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew the openings well but disagreed with many contemporary analyses. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods.
Lasker made contributions to the development of other games. He was a first-class contract bridge player and wrote about bridge and other games, including Go and his own invention, Lasca. His books about games presented a problem which is still considered notable in the mathematical analysis of card games. Lasker was also a research mathematician who was known for his contributions to commutative algebra, which included proving the primary decomposition of the ideals of polynomial rings. On the other hand, his philosophical works and a drama that he co-authored received little attention.
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Frances Lincoln
Frances Elisabeth Rosemary Lincoln (20 March 1945 – 26 February 2001) was an English independent publisher of illustrated books. She won a Woman of the Year award in 1995.
She went to school at St George's School, Harpenden where she became Head Girl.
Her university education was at Somerville College, Oxford. (Somerville at that time was a women's college, known in Oxford as "the bluestocking college".) There she read Greats (the Oxford term for traditional courses in the humanities, with emphasis on the ancient classics of Greece and Rome, including philosophy).
The drug smuggler Howard Marks was a student at Balliol College, Oxford while Frances was at Somerville. In his autobiography Mr. Nice he describes her as "vivacious". The book contains an anecdote of Marks dropping acid for the first time before visiting Frances in her rooms. While they sat listening to The Rolling Stones, Marks described to her the trip he was experiencing.
In 1970 she started work as an Assistant Editor at the London publishing firm of Studio Vista. She went on to become its Managing Director. From Studio Vista she moved to a job with the publisher Marshall Cavendish, and from there to Weidenfeld and Nicolson, where she was given her own imprint.
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Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский; IPA: [ˈfʲodər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj] ( listen); 11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881) sometimes translated as Dostoevsky, was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th-century Russian society. A Slavophile, nationalist and monarchist, he criticised the bourgeois, pre-materialist West and nihilism in many of his works. Although Dostoyevsky wrote books in the mid-1850s which were influenced by realist and romanticist writers, most notably by Dickens, Gogol and Balzac, his best remembered work was done in his last years, including such masterpieces as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoyevsky overall wrote 11 complete novels, 3 novellas, 17 short novels and 3 essays. He is often acknowledged by critics as one of the greatest and most prominent psychologists in world literature.
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Galina Ulanova
Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova (Russian: Галина Сергеевна Уланова, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia; 8 January 1910 [O.S. 26 December 1909] – 21 March 1998) is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm.
Ulanova studied in Petrograd under Agrippina Vaganova and her own mother, a ballerina of the Imperial Russian Ballet. When she joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 1928, the press found in her "much of Semyonova's style, grace, the same exceptional plasticity and a sort of captivating modesty in her gestures". They say that Konstantin Stanislavsky, fascinated with her acting style, implored her to take part in his stage productions. In 1944, when her fame reached Joseph Stalin, he had her transferred to the Bolshoi Theatre, where she would be the prima ballerina assoluta for 16 years. The following year, she danced the title role in the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella.
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Georgians
The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.
The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.
The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.
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Georgy Poltavchenko
Georgy Sergeyevich Poltavchenko (Russian: Георгий Сергеевич Полтавченко) (born on 24 February 1953, in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union (today Azerbaijan)) was the Russian Presidential Envoy to the Central Federal District. He was assigned acting governor of Saint Petersburg in August 2011.
He was born in Azerbaijan in 1953; his father was of Ukrainian descent. He studied at Leningrad Aviation Instrument-Making Institute. After graduation he worked at Leninets Research and Production Association and at a district Komsomol (Young Communists' League) committee in Leningrad. He began service in the KGB in 1979. From 1980–1990, he occupied various posts in the KGB, ultimately becoming chief of department, Vyborg directorate, regional department of KGB in Leningrad and the Leningrad region. Georgy was deputy of the Leningrad Regional Council from 1990–1993, deputy of Leningrad Regional Council. He was then chief of St. Petersburg directorate, Federal Tax Police from 1993–1999. He ran for the Leningrad city council unsuccessfully in 1998. From 1999–2000, he was plenipotentiary representative of the Russian President in Leningrad region.
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Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi (Russian: Джа́комо Кваре́нги; 20 or 21 September 1744 – 2 March [O.S. 18 February] 1817) was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg.
Born in Rota d'Imagna near Bergamo to an Italian noble family, Quarenghi was destined by his parents for a career in law or the church but initially was allowed to study painting in the Bergamo studio of G. Reggi, himself a student of Tiepolo. Young Quarenghi was well educated and widely read. Traveling through Italy he visited Vicenza, Verona, Mantua and Venice, the places where he made the longest stays. He made drawings of the Greek temples at Paestum (Loukomski 1928) and finally arrived in Rome in 1763, at a moment when Neoclassicism was being developed in advanced artistic circles. He studied painting with Anton Raphael Mengs, then with Stefano Pozzi, later moving to study architecture (1767–69) with a traditionalist Late Baroque architect, Paolo Posi.
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Giuseppe D'Amato
Giuseppe D’Amato is an Italian historian, specialized in Russia and former USSR, and a columnist of international politics.
After getting a decree in Italy in the Eighties, he became scholar of the Russian academician Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt (in Russian Шмидт, Сигурд Оттович) at Moscow’s Historical-Archive Institute (Russian State University for the Humanities) at the beginning of the Ninetieth. He got the Ph.D. in history.
D’Amato wrote a book about Italian travellers to Russia in the 15th -16th centuries and studied Russian-Italian relationship. Some of his articles have been edited in other languages than Italian. He edited three books about the break-up of USSR, the EU enlargement to the East, and euro-integration.
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Isaak Dunayevsky
Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky (Russian: Исаак Осипович Дунаевский; also transliterated as Dunaevski or Dunaevsky; 30 January [O.S. 18 January] 1900 – 25 July 1955) was a most famous Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who achieved huge success in music for operetta and film comedies, frequently working with the film director Grigori Aleksandrov. He is considered one of the greatest Soviet composers of all time and many of his songs are very well known and are held in high regard in Russia and former Soviet Union.
Dunayevsky was born to a Jewish family in Lokhvitsa, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire in 1900. He studied at the Kharkiv Musical School in 1910 where he studied violin under Joseph Achron. During this period he started to study the theory of music under Semyon Bogatyrev (1890–1960). He graduated in 1919 from the Kharkiv Conservatory. At first he was a violinist, the leader of the orchestra in Kharkiv. Then he started a conducting career. In 1924 he went to Moscow to run the Theatre Hermitage. After that he worked in Leningrad (1929–1941) as a director and conductor of the "Music-Hall" (1929–34) and then moved to Moscow to work on his operettas and film music.
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Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (Russian: Ио́сиф Алекса́ндрович Бро́дский, IPA: [ˈjɵsʲɪf ˈbrotskʲɪj] ( listen); 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996), was a Russian poet and essayist.
In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters. He taught thereafter at universities including those at Yale, Cambridge and Michigan.
Brodsky was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity". He was appointed American Poet Laureate in 1991.
Brodsky was born into a Jewish family in Leningrad. His father, Aleksandr Brodsky, was a professional photographer in the Soviet Navy and his mother, Maria Volpert Brodsky, was a professional interpreter whose work often helped to support the family. They lived in communal apartments, in poverty, marginalized by their Jewish status. In early childhood Brodsky survived the Siege of Leningrad where he and his parents nearly died of starvation; an aunt of his did die of hunger. He later suffered from various health problems caused by the siege. Brodsky commented that many of his teachers were anti-Semitic and that he felt like a dissident from an early age. He noted "I began to despise Lenin, even when I was in the first grade, not so much because of his political philosophy or practice ... but because of his omnipresent images."
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Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин; born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили; 18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and later held the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. While the office of the General Secretary was officially elective and not initially regarded as the top position in the Soviet state, Stalin managed to use it to consolidate more and more power in his hands after the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924 and gradually put down all opposition groups within the Communist Party. This included Leon Trotsky, a socialist theorist and the principal critic of Stalin among the early Soviet leaders, who was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929. Whereas Trotsky was an exponent of permanent revolution, it was Stalin's concept of socialism in one country that became the primary focus of Soviet politics.
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Konstantin Khabensky
Konstantin Khabensky (Russian: Хабенский Константин Юрьевич; born 11 January 1972) is a Russian actor best known in the West for starring in the films Night Watch and Day Watch as the lead character Anton Gorodetsky.
Khabensky was born and trained in St Petersburg, and now resides in Moscow. Khabensky was already a popular and well-established theatre and television/film actor prior to appearing in the -Watch films. However, their unprecedented success in both Russia and worldwide has made Khabensky the very popular actor in Russia, and one of the best-known Russian actors in the West.
Khabensky has been a stage actor in Satyricon Theatre (Moscow) and Lensovet Theatre in Saint Petersburg. In 1995-1996, he worked as presenter of regional TV in the department of music and information programs. Since 2003, Khabensky has been a member of Moscow Art Theatre stage cast, and a lead actor in Duck Hunt (Zilov), Mikhail Bulgakov's White Guard (Alexey Turbin) and Hamlet. Graduated from the Leningrad State Institute for Theatre, Music and Cinema in 1996 (course of V. Filshtinsky).
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Konstantin Thon
Konstantin Andreyevich Thon, also spelled Ton (Russian: Константи́н Андре́евич Тон; October 26, 1794 – January 25, 1881) was an official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. His major works include the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow.
Konstantin, born in St. Petersburg to the family of a German jeweller, was one of three Thon brothers who all rose to become notable architects. He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1803–15) under the Empire Style architect Andrey Voronikhin, best remembered for his work on the Kazan Cathedral, situated right in the middle of the Nevsky Prospekt. He studied Italian art in Rome from 1819 to 1828, and on his return home was admitted to the academy as its member (1830) and professor (1833). In 1854, he was appointed rector of the architectural division of the academy.
Thon first attracted public attention with his sumptuous design for the interiors of the Academy building on the Neva embankment. In 1827, he submitted to the tsar his project of St Catherine church at the Obvodnyi Canal, the first ever design in the Russian Revival style. Nicholas I, who felt disaffected with the prevailing Neoclassicism of Russian architecture, remarked that "Russians have their own great art traditions and don't need to cringe before Rome". Thon's project was to become a revered model for other churches in St Petersburg and across Russia.
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Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky (Russian: Лев Троцкий, pronounced [ˈlʲef ˈtrot͡skʲɪj] ( listen); 7 November [O.S. 26 October] 1879 – 21 August 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army.
Trotsky was initially a supporter of the Menshevik Internationalists faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He joined the Bolsheviks immediately prior to the 1917 October Revolution, and eventually became a leader within the Party. During the early days of the Soviet Union, he served first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army as People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs. He was a major figure in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1918–20). He was also among the first members of the Politburo.
After leading a failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and the increasing role of bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, Trotsky was successively removed from power, expelled from the Communist Party, deported from the Soviet Union and assassinated on Stalin's orders. An early advocate of Red Army intervention against European fascism, Trotsky also opposed Stalin's non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s.
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Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (Russian: Леони́д Ильи́ч Бре́жнев; IPA: [lʲɪɐˈnʲid ɪlʲˈjitɕ ˈbrʲeʐnʲɪf] ( listen); Ukrainian: Леоні́д Іллі́ч Бре́жнєв, 19 December 1906 (O.S. 6 December) – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in length. During Brezhnev's rule, the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically, in part because of the expansion of the Soviet military during this time, but his tenure as leader has often been criticised for marking the beginning of a period of economic stagnation in which serious economic problems were overlooked, problems which eventually led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Brezhnev was born in Kamenskoe into a Russian worker's family. After graduating from the Dniprodzerzhynsk Metallurgical Technicum, he became a metallurgical engineer in the iron and steel industry, in Ukraine. He joined Komsomol in 1923, and in 1929 became an active member of the Communist Party. He was drafted into immediate military service during World War II and left the army in 1946 with the rank of Major General. In 1952 Brezhnev became a member of the Central Committee, and in 1964, Brezhnev succeeded Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary. Alexei Kosygin succeeded Khrushchev in his post as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
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Leonid Utyosov
Leonid Osipovich Utyosov or Utesov (Russian: Леони́д О́сипович Утёсов); real name Lazar (Leyzer) Vaysbeyn or Weissbein (Russian: Ла́зарь (Ле́йзер) Ио́сифович Вайсбе́йн) (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1895, Odessa – 9 March 1982, Moscow), was a famous Soviet jazz singer and comic actor of Jewish origin, who became the first pop singer to be awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1965.
Leonid Utyosov was brought up in Odessa (in present day Ukraine) and attended the Faig School of Commerce, from which he dropped out and joined the Borodanov Circus troupe as an acrobat. He started his stage career in 1911 in Kremenchuk, then returned to Odessa, changed his artistic name to Leonid Utyosov, and performed as a stand up comedian with the Rosanov troupe and with the Rishelyavsky Theatre. In 1917, he won a singing competition in Gomel, Belarus, then performed in Moscow.
In the 1920s, he moved to Leningrad and set up one of the first Soviet jazz bands. In Leningrad he began collaboration with the popular composer, Isaak Dunayevsky, which turned out to be a breakthrough for both artists. At that time, Utyosov built a band of the finest musicians available in Leningrad, and created a style all his own - a jazz show with stand up comedy, which blended several styles, ranging from Russian folk songs to a variety of international cosmopolitan genres. In 1928, Utyosov toured Europe and attended performances of American jazz bands in Paris, which influenced his own style. During the 1930s, Utyosov and his band, called "Thea-Jazz" (a portmanteau of Theatrical Jazz) had a regular gig at the Marble Hall of the Kirov Palace of Culture in Leningrad. Utyosov's jazz band also performed at the Leningrad Maly Opera theatre, at the "Svoboda-teatr," and at the Leningrad Music Hall. In his performances, Utyosov delivered a variety of musical styles, including such genres as American jazz, Argentine tango, French chanson, upbeat dance, and Russian folk music.
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Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (Russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Бары́шников, Latvian: Mihails Barišņikovs) (born January 27, 1948), nicknamed "Misha", is a Russian American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers in history. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance. After freelancing with many companies, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George Balanchine's style of movement. He then danced with the American Ballet Theatre, where he later became artistic director.
Baryshnikov has spearheaded many of his own artistic projects and has been associated in particular with promoting modern dance, premiering dozens of new works, including many of his own. His success as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema and television has helped him become probably the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer. In 1977, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe nomination for his work as "Yuri Kopeikine" in the film The Turning Point.
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Mikhail Boyarsky
Mikhail Sergeevich Boyarsky (Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Боя́рский; b. December 26, 1949 in Leningrad) is a Soviet/Russian actor and singer, living in the city of Saint Petersburg. He is best known for the role of d'Artagnan in the film d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) and its sequels (1992, 1993). He was also a popular singer of the 1980s and completed several tours. He is an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1984) and a People's Artist of Russia (1990).
Mikhail Sergeevich Boyarsky was born in the family of Sergey Boyarskiy and Ekaterina Milenteva, both Komissarzhevskaya Theatre actors.
He studied piano in a music school affiliated with the Conservatory. After school, Boyarsky entered Institute of Theatre Music and Cinema, finishing in 1972 and begun working in the Lensovet Theatre for Igor Vladimirov.
In the cinema, the actor made a debut in the films Bridges and The Straw Hat (1974), becoming well known in 1975 after his role in the picture Eldest Son. He found much greater popularity in the main role of Troubadour in the theatre musical The Troubadour and His Friends, with the princess played by Larissa Luppian, who soon became his wife. In 1976, he played the big bad wolf in the movie Ma-ma.
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Mikhail Lomonosov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (Russian: Михаи́л Васи́льевич Ломоно́сов; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ləmɐˈnosəf]; November 19 [O.S. November 8] 1711 – April 15 [O.S. April 4] 1765) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries was the atmosphere of Venus. His spheres of science were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art, philology, optical devices and others. Lomonosov was also a poet, who created the basis of the modern Russian literary language.
Lomonosov was born in the village of Denisovka (later renamed Lomonosovo in his honor) in the Arkhangelsk Governorate, on an island not far from Kholmogory, in the far north of Russia. His father, Vasily Dorofeyevich Lomonosov, was a prosperous peasant fisherman turned ship owner, who amassed a small fortune transporting goods from Arkhangelsk to Pustozyorsk, Solovki, Kola, and Lapland. Lomonosov’s mother was Vasily’s first wife, a deacon’s daughter, Elena Ivanovna Sivkova.
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Mikhail Manevich
Mikhail Manevich (Russian: Михаил Владиславович Маневич, February 18, 1961, Leningrad, Soviet Union – August 18, 1997, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian economist and official of the Saint Petersburg City Administration.
Manevich graduated from Leningrad Institute of Finance and Economics in 1983 and worked with the institute as a research fellow during the 1980s. In 1992 in the wake of Russian privatization he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Committee for City Property Management of Saint Petersburg and in 1993 was promoted to the position of its First Deputy Chairman. As the Chairman of the Committee, Sergey Belyaev, assumed the position of the Director of the Federal Bankruptcy Agency in Moscow in 1993, Manevich became acting Chairman. In March 1994 he was approved as the Chairman. In 1996, as Vladimir Yakovlev had been elected governor instead of Anatoly Sobchak, Manevich also became Vice Governor of Saint Petersburg for City Property Management.
Mikhail Manevich was wounded by a sniper on his way to office in the morning of August 18, 1997, while his car drove out from Rubinstein Street to Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, and died in hospital shortly thereafter. Officially the assassination has not been solved, though Anatoly Chubais, a close friend of Manevich, claimed in 2006 that the people behind the assassination were serving their life terms. He apparently hinted at Yury Shutov.
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Mikhail Mikeshin
Mikhail Osipovich Mikeshin (1835 — 1896) was a Russian artist who regularly worked for the Romanov family and designed a number of outdoor statues in the major cities of the Russian Empire.
Mikeshin was born on 21 February 1835 in a village near Roslavl. When he attended the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1852-58, his Romantic treatment of patriotic themes won him the admiration of the Russian royalty and he was asked to teach drawing to the Grand Duchesses.
Although his forte was battle painting, Mikeshin's sketch won the much-publicized contest for the monument to the Millennium of Russia in 1859. Henceforward, commissions were plentiful. He illustrated the official motto Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality in designs for bombastic outdoor statues of Kuzma Minin in Nizhny Novgorod, Admiral Greig in Nikolayev, and Alexander II of Russia in Rostov-on-Don.
Only a few of Mikeshin's outdoor monuments survived the Soviet years. These include the statues of Catherine the Great in Saint Petersburg (1873), Bohdan Khmelnytsky in Kiev (1888), and Ermak in Novocherkassk (1904). He also won competitions to erect monuments abroad, e.g., the statue of Pedro IV in Lisbon.
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Natalia Makarova
Natalia Romanovna Makarova (Russian: Наталья Романовна Макарова, born November 21, 1940) is the legendary Soviet-Russian-born prima ballerina. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that “Her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation in the West.” She has also won awards as an actress.
Makarova was born in 1940 in Leningrad in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the USSR. At the age of 12, she auditioned for the Leningrad Choreographic School (formerly the Imperial Ballet School), and was accepted although most students join the school at the age of 10.
Makarova was a permanent member of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad from 1956 to 1970, achieving prima ballerina status during the 1960s. Soon after Makarova defected to the West in 1970, she began performing with the American Ballet Theatre in New York and the Royal Ballet in London.
When she first arrived in the West, Makarova was eager to expand her choreography by dancing ballets by modern choreographers. At the same time, she remained most identified with classical roles such as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Giselle. She was featured in the 1976 live American Ballet Theatre production of Swan Lake, simulcast from Lincoln Center on both PBS and NPR.
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Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I (Николай I Павлович, Nikolaj I Pavlovič), (6 July [O.S. 25 June] 1796 – 2 March [O.S. 18 February] 1855) was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles). In his capacity as the emperor he was also the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland.
Nicholas I was born in Gatchina to Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna. He was a younger brother to Alexander I of Russia and Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia.
Nicholas was not brought up to be the Emperor of Russia; he had two elder brothers before him. As such, in 1825, when Alexander I suddenly died of typhus, Nicholas was caught between swearing allegiance to his second-eldest brother Constantine Pavlovich and accepting the throne for himself. The interregnum lasted until Constantine Pavlovich, who was in Warsaw at that time, confirmed his refusal. Additionally, on 25 December (13 Old Style) Nicholas issued the manifesto claiming his accession to the throne. That manifesto retroactively named 1 December (19 November Old Style), the date of Alexander I's death, as the beginning of his reign. During this confusion a plot was hatched by the military to overthrow Nicholas and to usurp power. This led to the Decembrist Revolt on 26 December (14 Old Style) 1825, an uprising Nicholas was successful in suppressing.
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Nicholas Zubov
Count Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov (Russian: Николай Александрович Зубов; 24 April 1763 - 9 August 1805) was the eldest of the Zubov brothers who, together with Count Pahlen, masterminded the conspiracy to assassinate Tsar Paul of Russia.
In 1782 Zubov joined the Horse Guards regiment where he became known for his gigantic height, physical strength and fiery temper. When his younger brother Platon became Catherine II's lover, the "colossus" was made a count and general. He helped Alexander Suvorov fend off Prince Potemkin's intrigues, courted his only daughter, the Suvorochka (1775–1844), and eventually married her towards the end of 1794.
Although Catherine II's death spelled the end of his career, Nicholas mustered courage and rushed to the Gatchina Palace, where her son Paul was residing. He hoped to become the first to congratulate Paul on his prospective ascension to the throne. On hearing the news of his arrival, Paul refused to see the courtier. He had heard the rumor that the Zubovs persuaded the Empress to sign a testament transferring the throne to her grandson Alexander and was afraid that Zubov had come to arrest him.
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Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь, tr. Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol; IPA: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈgogəlʲ]; Ukrainian: Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; 31 March [O.S. 19 March] 1809 – 4 March [O.S. 21 February] 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist, novelist and short story writer.
Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism and the grotesque ("The Nose", "Viy", "The Overcoat," "Nevsky Prospekt"). His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing, Ukrainian culture and folklore. His later writing satirised political corruption in the Russian Empire (The Government Inspector, Dead Souls), leading to his eventual exile. The novel Taras Bulba (1835) and the play Marriage (1842), along with the short stories "Diary of a Madman", "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich", "The Portrait" and "The Carriage", round out the tally of his best-known works.
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Nikolai Yudenich
Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Юде́нич) (July 30 [O.S. July 18] , 1862 – October 5, 1933), was a commander of the Russian Imperial Army during World War I. He was a leader of the anti-communist White movement in Northwestern Russia during the Civil War.
Yudenich was born in Moscow, where his father was a minor court official. Yudenich graduated from the Alexandrovsky Military College in 1881 and the General Staff Academy in 1887. He first served with the Life Guards Regiment in Lithuania from November 1889 to December 1890. In January 1892, he was transferred to the Turkestan Military District, and was promoted to lieutenant colonal in April 1892. He was a member of the Pamir Expedition in 1894, and was promoted to colonel in 1896. From September 20, 1900 Yudenich served on the staff of the 1st Turkestan Rifle Brigade.
In 1902, Yudenich was appointed commander of the 18th Infantry Regiment, which he continued to command during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. He was wounded in the arm during the Battle of Sandepu, and wounded in the neck during the Battle of Mukden. At the end of the war, he was promoted to major general.
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Osip Mandelstam
Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (Russian: О́сип Эми́льевич Мандельшта́м; IPA: [ˈosʲɪp ɪˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪt͡ɕ məndʲɪlʲˈʂtam]; January 15 [O.S. January 3] 1891 – December 27, 1938) was a Russian poet and essayist who lived in Russia during and after its revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets. He was arrested by Joseph Stalin's government during the repression of the 1930s and sent into internal exile with his wife Nadezhda. Given a reprieve of sorts, they moved to Voronezh in southwestern Russia. In 1938 Mandelstam was arrested again and sentenced to a camp in Siberia. He died that year at a transit camp.
Mandelstam was born in Warsaw (then part of the Russian Empire) to a wealthy Polish Jewish family. His father, a leather merchant by trade, was able to receive a dispensation freeing the family from the pale of settlement and, soon after Osip's birth, they moved to Saint Petersburg. In 1900, Mandelstam entered the prestigious Tenishevsky School. The writer Vladimir Nabokov and other significant figures of Russian and Soviet culture have been among its alumni. His first poems were printed in 1907 in the school's almanac.
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Paolo Troubetzkoy
Prince Paolo or Paul Troubetzkoy (Russian: Павел Петрович Трубецкой, Pavel Petrovich Trubetskoy; Intra, Italy, 15 February 1866 — Pallanza, 12 February 1938) was an artist and a sculptor who was described by G.B. Shaw as "the most astonishing sculptor of modern times".[1]
He worked in Russia, America, England and Italy. He was a self taught artist, although he learned sculpture from Giuseppe Grandi. He is associated with impressionism, due to his ability to grasp sketchy movements in his bronze works. He depicted the society of the Belle Époque. Few of his bronzes are still available in the market. Quite famous is the 35 cm high portrait of Constance Stewart-Richardson called "The Dancer".
The largest and best known of his works is the monumental equestrian statue of the Russian Tsar Alexander III in St. Petersburg, Russia. The monument was opened in 1909 on the Nevsky Prospekt near the Moskovsky Vokzal terminal. After the Russian revolution of 1917, the Soviet government removed the monument from the main street to the backyard of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the monument to Tsar Alexander III was placed in front of the Marble Palace near the embankment of the Neva river.
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Paul I of Russia
Paul I (Russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич; Pavel Petrovich) (1 October [O.S. 20 September] 1754 – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801) was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 71st Grand Master of the Order of Malta (de facto).
Paul was born in the Palace of Empress Elisabeth in St Petersburg. He was the son of Elizabeth's heir, her nephew, the Grand Duke Peter, later Emperor Peter III, and his wife, the Grand Duchess Catherine, later Empress Catherine II. In her memoirs, Catherine strongly implies that Paul's father was not Peter, but her favorite at the time, Sergei Saltykov. Peter's behavior was infantile and immature and he chose other favorites among Catherine's ladies in waiting but he was not sterile as many believed; he later sired an illegitimate child with one lover. However, it was no secret that Peter and Catherine were estranged through much of their marriage. Paul does in fact seem to have physically resembled the Grand Duke (Peter III) so one might doubt any claims of illegitimacy.
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Paul the Apostle
Paul the Apostle (c. AD 5 – c. AD 67; variously referred to as the "Apostle Paul" or "Saint Paul"), also known as Saul of Tarsus, is perhaps the most influential early Christian missionary. The writings ascribed to him by the church form a considerable portion of the New Testament. The influence on Christian thinking of the epistles ascribed to him has been significant, due in part to his association as a prominent apostle of Christianity during the spreading of the Gospel through early Christian communities across the Roman Empire.
According to the writings in the New Testament, Paul was known as Saul prior to his conversion, and was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. While traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem", the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. Saul was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God.
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Pavel Antokolsky
Pavel Grigoryevich Antokolsky (Russian: Па́вел Григо́рьевич Антоко́льский [] ( listen); July 1, 1896, St. Petersburg, Russia—October 9, 1978, Moscow, USSR) - a Russian poet, a nephew of Mark Antokolsky. His poem, "All we who in his name..." was written in 1956, the year of Nikita Khrushchev's "secret speech" condemning Stalinism, and widely circulated among student groups in the 1950s.
Pavel Antokolsky translated in Russian story by V. Hugo Le Dernier jour d'un condamne.
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Peter II of Russia
Peter II Alekseyevich (Russian: Пётр II Алексеевич, Pyotr II Alekseyevich) (23 October [O.S. 12 October] 1715 – 30 January [O.S. 19 January] 1730) was the Emperor of Russia from 1727 until his death. He was the only son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, son of Peter I of Russia by his first consort Eudoxia Lopukhina, and Princess Charlotte.
Peter was born in Saint Petersburg on 23 October [O.S. 12 October] 1715. From his childhood the orphan grand duke was kept in the strictest seclusion. His grandfather, Peter the Great, systematically ignored him. His earliest governesses were the wives of a tailor and a vintner from the Dutch settlement; a sailor called Norman taught him the rudiments of navigation; and, when he grew older, he was placed under the care of a Hungarian refugee, Janos Zeikin, who seems to have been a conscientious teacher.
During the reign of Catherine I, Peter was quite ignored; but just before her death it became clear to those in power that the grandson of Peter the Great could not be kept out of his inheritance much longer. The majority of the nation and three-quarters of the nobility were on his side, while his uncle, Emperor Charles VI, through the imperial ambassador at Saint Petersburg, persistently urged his claims. The matter was arranged between Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov and Count Andrei Osterman; and on 18 May 1727 Peter II, according to the terms of the forged last will of Catherine I, was proclaimed emperor.
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Peter III of Russia
Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Фëдорович, Pyotr III Fyodorovich) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was very pro-Prussian, which made him an unpopular leader. He was supposedly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II.
Peter was born in Kiel, in the duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. His parents were Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (nephew of Charles XII of Sweden), and Anna Petrovna, a daughter of Emperor Peter I and Empress Catherine I of Russia. His mother died less than two weeks after his birth. In 1739, Peter's father died, and he became Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as Charles Peter Ulrich (German: Karl Peter Ulrich).
When his aunt, Anna's younger sister Elizabeth, became Empress of Russia she brought Peter from Germany to Russia and proclaimed him her heir-presumptive in the autumn of 1742. Previously in 1742, the 14-year-old Peter was proclaimed King of Finland during the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743), when Russian troops held Finland. This proclamation was based on his succession rights to territories held by his childless granduncle, the late Charles XII of Sweden who also had been Grand Duke of Finland. About the same time, in October 1742, he was chosen by the Swedish parliament to become heir-presumptive to the Swedish throne. However, the Swedish parliament was unaware of the fact that he had also been proclaimed heir-presumptive to the throne of Russia, and when their envoy arrived in Saint Petersburg in November, it was too late. It has been reported that the underage Peter's succession rights to Sweden were renounced on his behalf.
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Peter the Great
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov (Russian: Пётр Алексе́евич Рома́нов, Пётр I, Pyotr I, or Пётр Вели́кий, Pyotr Velikiy) (9 June [O.S. 30 May] 1672 – 8 February [O.S. 28 January] 1725) ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May [O.S. 27 April] 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother. In numerous successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European power. According to historian James Cracraft, he led a cultural revolution that replaced the traditionalist and medieval social and political system with a modern, scientific, Europe-oriented, and rationalist system.
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Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев, Tatar: Rudolf Xämit ulı Nuriev, Russian: Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев) (17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a ballet dancer, one of the most celebrated of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.
Originally a Soviet citizen, Nureyev defected to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him. According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev personally signed an order to have Nureyev killed.
Nureyev was born on a Trans-Siberian train near Irkutsk, Siberia, Soviet Union, while his mother Feride was travelling to Vladivostok, where his father Hamit, a Red Army political commissar, was stationed. He was raised as the only son in a Bashkir-Tatar family in a village near Ufa in Soviet republic of Bashkortostan. When his mother took him and his sisters into a performance of the ballet "Song of the Cranes", he fell in love with dance. As a child he was encouraged to dance in Bashkir folk performances and his precocity was soon noticed by teachers who encouraged him to train in Leningrad. On a tour stop in Moscow with a local ballet company, Nureyev auditioned for the Bolshoi ballet company and was accepted. However, he felt that the Kirov Ballet school was the best, so he left the local touring company and bought a ticket to Leningrad.
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Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War (25 October 1917 – October 1922) was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire fought between the Bolshevik Red Army and the White Army, the loosely allied anti-Bolshevik forces. Many foreign armies warred against the Red Army, notably the Allied Forces and the pro-German armies. The Red Army defeated the White Armed Forces of South Russia in Ukraine and the army led by Aleksandr Kolchak in Siberia in 1919. The remains of the White forces commanded by Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel were beaten in the Crimea and were evacuated in the autumn of 1920. A number of independent countries – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland – emerged from the war.
After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the Russian Provisional Government was established during the February Revolution of 1917.
In the wake of the October Revolution, the old Russian Imperial Army had been demobilized; the volunteer-based Red Guard was the Bolsheviks' main military force, augmented by an armed military component of the Cheka, the Bolshevik state security apparatus. In January, after significant reverses in combat, War Commissar Leon Trotsky headed the reorganization of the Red Guard into a Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, in order to create a more professional fighting force. Political commissars were appointed to each unit of the army to maintain morale and ensure loyalty.
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Saint Paul
Paul the Apostle (c. AD 5 – c. AD 67; variously referred to as the "Apostle Paul" or "Saint Paul"), also known as Saul of Tarsus, is perhaps the most influential early Christian missionary. The writings ascribed to him by the church form a considerable portion of the New Testament. The influence on Christian thinking of the epistles ascribed to him has been significant, due in part to his association as a prominent apostle of Christianity during the spreading of the Gospel through early Christian communities across the Roman Empire.
According to the writings in the New Testament, Paul was known as Saul prior to his conversion, and was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. While traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem", the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. Saul was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God.
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Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader and one of the twelve apostles of Jesus who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and who is venerated as a saint. The son of John or of Jonah, he was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee or Gaulanitis. His brother Andrew was also an apostle. Peter is venerated in multiple churches and is regarded as the first Pope by the Catholic Church. After working to establish the church of Antioch, presiding for seven years as the leader of the city's Christian community, he preached to scattered communities of believers, Jews, Hebrew Christians and the gentiles, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor and Bithynia.[citation needed] He then went to Rome, where in the second year of Claudius, it is claimed, he overthrew Simon Magus and held the Sacerdotal Chair for 25 years.[citation needed] He is said to have been put to death at the hand of Emperor Nero.
Peter wrote two General epistles. The Gospel of Mark is also ascribed to him (as Mark was his disciple and interpreter). On the other hand, several books bearing his name—the Acts of Peter, Gospel of Peter, Preaching of Peter, Revelation of Peter, and Judgement of Peter—are rejected by the Catholic Church as Apocryphal.
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Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean (born 17 April 1959) is an English actor of stage and screen. Bean is known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe. He is also known for his film work playing such roles as Alec Trevelyan in GoldenEye, Jason Locke in Essex Boys, Odysseus in Troy, Ian Howe in National Treasure and Andy McNab in Bravo Two Zero. Bean has also acted in a number of television productions and character roles such as playing Robert Aske in Henry VIII and Eddard Stark in HBO's Game of Thrones. He has also performed voice work for computer games, including Martin Septim in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Bean was born Shaun Mark Bean in the Handsworth district of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, the son of Rita (née Tuckwood) and Brian Bean. Bean's father owned a fabrication shop, which he had set up with a colleague. The business employed 50 people, including Bean's mother, who worked as a secretary. He has a younger sister named Lorraine. Despite becoming relatively wealthy (his father owned a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow), the family never moved away from the council estate, because they preferred to remain close to friends and family.
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Sergei Shnurov
Sergey Vladimirovich Shnurov (Russian: Серге́й Влади́мирович Шну́ров; born 13 April 1973) is a Russian musician and songwriter, best known as Shnur, of the ska-punk band Leningrad which he formed in 1997 and was the frontman of till the end of 2008. In December 2008 the group disbanded, Shnur with some of its members forming Rubl.
Three of Shnur's songs featured on the Everything Is Illuminated soundtrack, including hugely popular Дикий Мужчина (Dikiy Muzhchina, "Wild Man"). Shnurov also composed music for many other movies, including the Russian cult film Boomer and its sequel.
He has a daughter named Siham. She lives in France and is a talented drummer and songwriter.
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Sergey Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov (Russian: Серге́й Миро́нович Ки́ров; 27 March [O.S. 15 March] 1886 – 1 December 1934), born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad. Kirov was seen as a focal point of opposition to some policies of Joseph Stalin, and as a counterbalance to the increasing concentration of power in Stalin's hands.[citation needed]
On 1 December 1934, Kirov was shot and killed by a gunman at his offices in the Smolny Institute. Some historians place the blame for his assassination at the hands of Stalin and believe the NKVD organised its execution, but any evidence for this claim remains elusive. Kirov's death served as one of the pretexts for Stalin's escalation of repression against dissident elements of the Party, culminating in the Great Purge of the late 1930s in which many of the Old Bolsheviks were arrested, expelled from the Party, and executed. Complicity in Kirov's assassination was a common charge to which the accused confessed in the show trials of the era.
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Sergey Kuryokhin
Sergey Kuryokhin (Russian: Серге́й Анато́льевич Курёхин, akas include: Sergei Kuriokhin, Sergei Kurekhin, Sergueï Kouriokhine, Sergey Kuriokhin, etc.; 16 June 1954 – 9 July 1996) was a Russian film actor, film composer, pianist, music director, experimental artist and writer, based in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Kuryokhin began his acting career as a piano and keyboard player with a school band in Leningrad. After playing with professional jazz-bands as well as popular rock musicians, Kuryokhin went through several stages in his career, and eventually became one of the most recognisable names and faces in Russia during the 1980s and 1990s.[citation needed]
By the end of his life, he had emerged as an avant-garde film composer, performance artist and film actor. Outside Russia he is primarily known as a jazz and experimental musician, through his works released since 1981 on UK's Leo Records, as well as his concert tours with Ensemble Pop-Mekhanika and his happening show also titled Pop Mekhanika. He also made a significant contribution to several albums (in particular: Triangle, Taboo and Radio Africa) of the famous Russian rock band Aquarium.[citation needed]
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Sergey Zagraevsky
Professor Dr. Sergey Zagraevsky (Russian: Сергей Вольфгангович Заграевский. Hebrew: סרגיי זגרייבסקי) (born August 20, 1964, Moscow) is a Russian-Jewish painter,architectural historian, writer and theologian.[citation needed]
Zagraevsky is the son of architectural historian Wolfgang Kawelmacher (1933–2004) and poet and dramatist Inna Zagraevsky (born 1933).
Between 2002-2005, Zagraevsky taught at the Moscow Institute of Restoration Arts, and subsequently at the Russian University of Intellectual Property and in the Vladimir-Souzdal Museum. The main themes of his architectural history research are ancient Russian white-stone buildings, the early architecture of Moscow and architectural connections between ancient Russia and Romano-Gothic Europe. His doctoral thesis was "North-Eastern Russian architecture from the end of 13th - first third of the 14th century".
Zagraevsky is chief editor of the reference work "United Artists Rating" and the author of a number of books on philosophy, theology and the history of architecture. He has written a number of children's stories and many articles of art criticism. He is the founder and curator of "RusArch" - the electronic scientific library on History of Old Russian architecture.
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Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch (5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Tarrasch was born in Breslau (Wrocław), Prussian Silesia. Having finished school in 1880, he left Breslau to study medicine in Halle. Later he lived most of his life with his family in Nuremberg, Bavaria, and later in Munich. He had five children. Tarrasch was Jewish, converted to Christianity in 1909, and a patriotic German who lost a son in World War I. Yet he faced antisemitism in the early stages of Nazism.
Tarrasch was a highly esteemed chess writer. It was Tarrasch who wrote in his Preface to The Game of Chess (1931) the often repeated line:
A medical doctor by profession, Tarrasch may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against the aging Steinitz in tournaments, (+3-0=1), but refused an opportunity to challenge for the world title in 1892 because of the demands of his medical practice. Soon afterwards, in St. Petersburg in 1893, Tarrasch drew a hard-fought match against Steinitz' challenger Mikhail Chigorin (+9-9=4) after leading most of the way. He also won four major tournaments in succession: Breslau 1889, Manchester 1890, Dresden 1892, and Leipzig 1894.
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Sophie Marceau
Sophie Marceau (French pronunciation: [sɔfi maʁso]; born 17 November 1966) is a French actress, director, screenwriter, and author. She has appeared in 38 films. As a teenager, Marceau achieved popularity with her debut films La boum (1980) and La boum 2 (1982), receiving a César Award for Most Promising Actress. She became a film star in Europe with a string of successful films, including L'étudiante (1988), Pacific Palisades (1990), and Fanfan (1993). In the 1990s, Marceau became an international film star with her performances in Braveheart (1995), Firelight (1997), and the James Bond thriller The World Is Not Enough (1999).
Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu was born 17 November 1966 in Paris, France, the second child of Simone (née Morisset), a shop assistant, and Benoît Maupu, a truck driver. Her parents divorced when she was nine years old.
In February 1980, Marceau and her mother came across a model agency looking for teenagers. Marceau had photos taken at the agency, but did not think anything would come of it. At the same time, Françoise Menidrey, the casting director for Claude Pinoteau's La boum (1980), asked modeling agencies to recommend a new teenager for the project. After viewing the rushes, Alain Poiré, the director of the Gaumont Film Company, signed Marceau to a long-term contract. La boum was a hit movie, not only in France, where 4.5 million tickets were sold, but several other European countries and Japan.[citation needed] In 1981, Marceau made her singing debut with French singer François Valéry on record "Dream in Blue", written by Delanoë.[citation needed]
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Stenka Razin
Stepan (Sten'ka) Timofeyevich Razin (Russian: Степан (Стенька) Тимофеевич Разин, Russian pronunciation: [sʲtʲɪpˈɑn (sʲtʲˈenʲkə) tʲɪmɐˈfʲeɪvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈrɑzʲɪn]; 1630 – June 16 [O.S. June 6] 1671) was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia.
He is first noted by history in 1661, as part of a diplomatic mission from the Don Cossacks to the Kalmyks. That same year Razin went on a long-distance pilgrimage to the great Solovetsky Monastery on the White Sea for the benefit of his soul. After that, all trace of him is lost for six years, when he reappears as the leader of a robber community established at Panshinskoye, among the marshes between the rivers Tishina and Ilovlya, from whence he levied tribute from all vessels passing up and down the Volga.
A long war with Poland in 1654-1667 and Sweden in 1656-1658 put heavy demands upon the people of Russia. Taxes increased as did conscription. Many peasants hoping to escape these burdens fled south and joined bands of Razin's marauding Cossacks. They were also joined by many other disaffected with the Russian government, including people of the lower classes as well as representatives of non-Russian ethnic groups, such as Kalmyks, that were being oppressed.
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Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ( Светла́на Алекса́ндровна Кузнецо́ва (help·info)); born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of May 7, 2012 ranked No. 28 in the WTA singles and No. 31 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in seven doubles finals, winning twice. She has qualified five times for the round-robin stage of the WTA Tour Championships but has never qualified for the semifinals.
Her first Grand Slam title came at the 2004 US Open, making her the third Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title, after Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova who won at the 2004 French Open and 2004 Wimbledon tournaments respectively. Kuznetzova's second Grand Slam title was the 2009 French Open, defeating Serena Williams in the quarterfinal, Samantha Stosur in the semifinal, and compatriot Dinara Safina in the final in straight sets. At the 2006 French Open and the 2007 US Open singles tournament she was the runner-up, both times to Belgian player Justine Henin. As a result, Kuznetsova obtained her new WTA ranking of No. 2, her best to that date. Kuznetsova has won a total of 13 WTA and 1 ITF singles titles and 15 WTA doubles titles to date and US$16,372,146 in prize money, making her the second top Russian earner on court and number 11 of all female tennis players to date and No. 5 of active players, after only Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Maria Sharapova respectively.
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Tajiks
Tajik (Persian: تاجيک, Tājīk; Tajik: Тоҷик) is a general designation for a wide range of Persian-speaking people of Iranic origin, with traditional homelands in present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. There are also smaller communities living in Iran and Pakistan; consisting mainly of refugees from Afghanistan and immigrants from Tajikistan.
In terms of language, culture, and history the Tajiks are closely related to the Persians of Iran.
As a self-designation, the term Tajik, which earlier on had been more or less pejorative, has become acceptable only during the last several decades, particularly as a result of Soviet administration in Central Asia. Alternative names for the Tajiks are Fārsī (Persian), Fārsīwān (Persian-speaker), and Dīhgān (cf. Tajik: Деҳқон, Dehqon, literally "farmer or settled villager", in a wider sense "settled" in contrast to "nomadic").
The Tajiks of China, although known by the name Tajik, speak Eastern Iranian languages and are distinct from Persian Tajiks.
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Tatars
Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar / Татарлар, sometimes spelled Tartars) are a Turkic people, numbering around 7 million. The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of 5.5 million, 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan, 1 million in the republic of Bashkortostan and other 2.5 million in different regions of Russia. Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.
The Tatars originated with the Tatar confederation in the north-eastern Gobi desert in the 5th century. After subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans, they migrated southward. In the 13th century Mongol Empire, they were subjugated under Genghis Khan and reassigned once again particularly by his son Jochi. Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan, they moved westwards, forming part of the Golden Horde which dominated the Eurasian steppe during the 14th and 15th centuries. In Europe, they were assimilated by the local populations or their name spread to the conquered peoples: Kipchaks, Kimaks and others; and elsewhere with Uralic-speaking peoples, as well as with remnants of the ancient Greek colonies in the Crimea and Caucasians in the Caucasus.
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Ukrainians
Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Українці, Ukrayintsi, [ukrɑˈjinʲtsʲi]) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens. According to some dictionary definitions, a descriptive name for the "inhabitants of Ukraine" is Ukrainian or Ukrainian people.Russians and Belarusians are considered the closest relatives of Ukrainians, while Rusyns are either considered another closely related group, or an ethnic subgroup of Ukrainians.
Ethnonym Ukrainians became widely accepted only in the 20th century, so modern Ukrainians identify their ancestry with differently named historical Slavic groups, who are often called Ukrainians too, in retrospect. The oldest recorded ethnonyms used for Ukrainian ancestors are Rusy, Rusyny, and Rusychi (from term Rus'). From the 9th to 12th centuries those names applied to the population of Kievan Rus', as the united state of Rusy is restrospectively called. Similar names were adopted by the proto-Russian and proto-Belarusian inhabitants of the northern principalities of Rus', reflecting the common origin of all those East Slavic peoples.
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Uzbeks
The Uzbeks (Oʻzbek, pl. Oʻzbeklar) are a major Turkic-speaking ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Smaller diaspora populations of Uzbeks from Central Asia, mainly from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, are also found in Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, North America, and Western Europe.
The origin of the name Uzbek remains disputed. One view holds that it is eponymously named after Uzbeg Khan. Another states that the name means independent or the lord itself, from Oʻz (self) and Bek/Bey/Beg (from the Turkic root meaning a noble title). However there is another theory that the pronunciation of Uz comes from one of the Oghuz Turks variously known as Uz or Uguz united with the word Bey or Bek to form uguz-bey, meaning "leader of an oguz".
Although Turko-Mongol infiltration into Central Asia had started early, as late as the 13th century AD when Turkic and Mongol armies finally conquered the entire region, the majority of Central Asia's peoples were Iranic peoples such as Sogdians, Bactrians and, more ancient, the Saka–Massagetae tribes. It is generally believed that these ancient Indo-European-speaking peoples were linguistically assimilated by smaller but dominant Turkic-speaking groups while the sedentary population finally adopted the Persian language, the traditional lingua franca of the eastern Islamic lands. The language-shift from Middle Iranian to Turkic and New Persian was predominantly the result of an elite dominance process. This process was dramatically boosted during the Mongol conquest when millions were either killed or pushed further south to the Pamir region.
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Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko (Russian: Валенти́на Ива́новна Матвие́нко; IPA: [vəlʲɪnˈtʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə mətvʲɪˈjenkə], née Tyutina (Тю́тина; IPA: [ˈtʲʉtʲɪnə]); born 7 April 1949 in the Ukrainian SSR), is currently the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. Born in the Ukrainian SSR, Matviyenko started her political career in the 1980s in Saint Petersburg (then called Leningrad) and was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District CPSU of the city from 1984 to 1986. In the 1990s she served as Russian ambassador to Malta (1991–1995) and Greece (1997–1998). Between 1998–2003 Matviyenko was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Welfare, and briefly the Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District in 2003. By that time she firmly allied herself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an alliance which secured her a victory in the governor elections in Saint Petersburg, Putin's native city.
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Vasily Stasov
Vasily Petrovich Stasov (Russian: Васи́лий Петро́вич Ста́сов; 4 August 1769 – 5 September 1848) was a Russian architect.
Stasov was born in Moscow.
He extensively travelled in France and Italy, where he became professor at the St Luke Academy in Rome. On his return home, he was elected to the Imperial Academy of Arts (1811). One of his early works, the Gruzino estate near Novgorod, was built for Count Alexey Arakcheyev in the 1810s and was completely destroyed during World War II.
While developing guidelines for other architects, Stasov advocated making even the most trivial of buildings—barracks, storehouses, stables—look imposing and monumental. He worked much to embellish Tsarskoe Selo, where he designed the famous Pushkin Lyceum and the fanciful Chinese Village. After the great fire of 1820, he was entrusted to remodel in the Neoclassical style some premises of the baroque Catherine Palace.
Stasov's first important commissions in the capital were the Transfiguration and the Trinity cathedrals for the regiments of the Russian Imperial Guard. The interior decoration of the Smolny Cathedral also belongs to him.
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Vaslav Nijinsky
Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (Russian: Ва́цлав Фоми́ч Нижи́нский; Russian pronunciation: [ˌvatslɐf foˌmʲitʃ nʲɪˈʐinskʲɪj]; Polish: Wacław Niżyński; Ukrainian: Ва́цлав Томович Ніжи́нський; March 12, 1889/1890 – April 8, 1950) was a Russian danseur and choreographer of Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. He grew to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could perform en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time and his ability to perform seemingly gravity-defying leaps was also legendary. The choreographer Bronislava Nijinska was his sister. He also had a brother, Stassik Nijinsky.
Vaslav Nijinsky was born in 1889 or 1890 in Kiev, Ukraine, a part of Russian Empire as Wacław Niżyński, to ethnic Polish parents, dancers Tomasz Niżyński and Eleonora Bereda. Nijinsky was christened in Warsaw, and considered himself to be a Pole despite difficulties in properly speaking the language as a result of his childhood in Russia's interior where his parents worked.
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Viktor Tsoi
Viktor Robertovich Tsoi (Russian: Ви́ктор Ро́бертович Цой, Korean: 빅토르 초이 Bigtoleu Choi, sometimes transliterated as Zoy); 21 June 1962 – 15 August 1990) was a Soviet rock musician, leader of the band Kino.
He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Russian rock and has many devoted fans across the countries of the former Soviet Union even today. Few musicians in the history of Russian music have been more popular or have had more impact on their genre than Viktor Tsoi and his rock band Kino.
Tsoi contributed a plethora of musical and artistic works, including ten albums. He died in a car accident on August 15, 1990, aged 28.
Tsoi was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. He was the only child of Valentina Vasilyevna Tsoi (8 January 1937 in Leningrad, Soviet Union - 28 November 2009 in Saint Petersburg, Russia), a Russian schoolteacher, and Robert Maximovich Tsoi (born 5 May 1938 in Kyzylorda, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union; today's Kazakhstan), a Soviet Korean engineer.
Tsoi attended the Serov Artistic Academy in Leningrad from 1974 to 1977.[citation needed] In 1977,[citation needed] when Tsoy was 18 years old, the academy expelled him. The academy said that he was expelled for poor grades. RT said "it didn't help that he was heavily involved in the rock scene."
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Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Russian: Владимир Ильич Ленин; IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr ɪlʲˈjitɕ ˈlʲenʲɪn] ( listen); 22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary, intellectual and politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917–1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system.
As a politician, Lenin was a persuasive and charismatic orator. As an intellectual his extensive theoretic and philosophical developments of Marxism produced Marxism–Leninism, a pragmatic Russian application of Marxism that emphasized the critical role played by a committed and disciplined political vanguard in the revolutionary process, while defending the possibility of a socialist revolution in less advanced capitalist countries through an alliance of the proletarians with the rural peasantry.
Lenin was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian: Владимир Ильич Ульянов) on 22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 in the town of Simbirsk in the Russian Empire. Simbirsk, a rural town on the River Volga nearly 1,500 miles from the capital Saint Petersburg, would be renamed upon Ulyanov's death fifty-four years later as "Ulyanovsk" in his honour. That same year, Saint Petersburg itself would be renamed Leningrad after Ulyanov's better-known cadre name.
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Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков, pronounced [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nɐˈbokəf] ( listen); 22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1899c – 2 July 1977) was a multilingual Russian novelist, poet and short story writer. Nabokov's first nine novels were in Russian. He then rose to international prominence as a writer of English prose. He also made serious contributions as a lepidopterist and chess composer.
Nabokov's Lolita (1955) is frequently cited as among his most important novels and is his most widely known, exhibiting the love of intricate word play and synesthetic detail that characterised all his works. The novel was ranked at No. 4 in the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels.Pale Fire (1962) was ranked at No. 53 on the same list. His memoir, Speak, Memory, was listed No. 8 on the Modern Library nonfiction list.
Nabokov was born on 22 April 1899 (10 April 1899 Old-Style), in Saint Petersburg,b to a wealthy and prominent Saint Petersburg family of the minor nobility. He was the eldest of five children of liberal lawyer, statesman, and journalist Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov and his wife, Elena Ivanovna née Rukavishnikova. His cousins included the composer Nicolas Nabokov. He spent his childhood and youth in St. Petersburg and at the country estate Vyra near Siverskaya, south of the city.
wn.com/Vladimir_Nabokov -
Vyacheslav Butusov
Vyacheslav Butusov (Russian: Вячеслав Бутусов), born October 15, 1961, was a lead singer of Nautilus Pompilius, a Russian rock group, until its disbandment. He has since started his own career as a singer.
Vyacheslav Butusov was born in Bugach Settlement of the Krasnoyarsk Region. When a first-year student of Sverdlovsk Architectural Institute he got acquainted with musician Dmitry Umetsky. The two young men were keen on music and often gathered to play together. This resulted in recording of Nautilus Pompilius’s first and not quite successful album Pereyezd (Removal) (1982–1983). In the same year Butusov met the poet Ilya Kormiltsev. Together with him Vyacheslav Butusov recorded his first mature album Nevidimka (An Invisible) in 1985. Next year their tandem released the record Razluka (Separation), which evoked terrific popularity of Nautilus Pompilius. The band’s last album Yablokitai was recorded by Butusov and Kormiltsev in 1996 in England with participation of Boris Grebenshikov and English musician Bill Nelson who became its producer. In 2001 Vyacheslav Butusov founded the U-Piter band and in 2007 launched his solo career.
wn.com/Vyacheslav_Butusov -
World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
wn.com/World_War_I -
Yevgeny Mravinsky
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (Russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Мрави́нский) (4 June [O.S. 22 May] 1903 – 19 January 1988) was a Soviet-Russian conductor.
Mravinsky was born in Saint Petersburg. The soprano Yevgeniya Mravina was his aunt. His father died in 1918, and in that same year, he began to work backstage at the Mariinsky Theatre. He first studied biology at the university in Leningrad, before going to the Leningrad Conservatory to study music. He served as a ballet repetiteur from 1923 to 1931. His first public conducting appearance was in 1929. Through the 1930s he conducted at the Kirov Ballet and Bolshoi Opera. In September 1938, he won the All-Union Conductors Competition in Moscow.
In October 1938, Mravinsky took up the post that he was to hold until 1988: principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he had made his debut as a conductor in 1931. Under Mravinsky, the Leningrad Philharmonic gained a legendary reputation, particularly in Russian music such as Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. During World War II, Mravinsky and the orchestra were evacuated to Siberia. But members of the Leningrad Philharmonic's reserve orchestra and the Leningrad Radio Orchestra were left behind in the siege of Leningrad, so it fell to Karl Eliasberg to conduct the surviving musicians in the Leningrad premiere of the Symphony No.7 "Leningrad" by Shostakovich.
wn.com/Yevgeny_Mravinsky -
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin (Russian: Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин, Russian pronunciation: [jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ zɐˈmʲætʲɪn]) (February 20, 1884 – March 10, 1937) was a Russian author of science fiction and political satire. Despite having been a prominent Old Bolshevik, Zamyatin was deeply disturbed by the policies pursued by the CPSU following the October Revolution. He is most famous for his 1921 novel We, a story set in a dystopian future police state. In 1921, We became the first work banned by the Soviet censorship board. Ultimately, Zamyatin arranged for We to be smuggled to the West for publication. The subsequent outrage this sparked within the Party and the Union of Soviet Writers led directly to Zamyatin's successful request for exile from his homeland. Due to his use of literature to criticize Soviet society, Zamyatin has been referred to as one of the first Soviet dissidents.
Zamyatin was born in Lebedyan, 300 km south of Moscow. His father was a Russian Orthodox priest and schoolmaster, and his mother a musician. He may have had synesthesia as he gave letters and sounds qualities. For example, he saw the letter "L" as having pale, cold and light blue qualities.
wn.com/Yevgeny_Zamyatin -
Yuri Shevchuk
Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk (Russian: Ю́рий Юлиа́нович Шевчу́к), born 16 May 1957, is a Soviet and Russian singer/songwriter who leads the rock band DDT, which he founded with Vladimir Sigachev in 1980. Shevchuk was born in Yagodnoye in Magadan Oblast and raised in Ufa, Bashkir ASSR, though he now resides in St. Petersburg, Russia. Shevchuk was an art teacher before founding DDT. He is best known for his distinctive gravelly voice. His lyrics detail aspects of Russian life with a wry, humanistic sense of humor. He is also very famous for openly opposing pop music. He is often accredited with being the greatest song-writer in present-day Russia.
Shevchuk is highly critical of the undemocratic society that has developed in Vladimir Putin's Russia. On 3 March 2008 he participated in a Dissenters March in Saint Petersburg against the president elections where no real opposition candidates were allowed to run.
On 24 and 26 September 2008 he organized two peace concerts in Moscow and Saint Petersburg as a protest to the Russian-Georgian war. The name of the concert "Don't Shoot" was taken from his song "Ne Strelyai" that he had written in 1980 as a response to the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Together with his band DDT he performed with both Ossetian and Georgian musicians as well as the Ukrainian band Bratya Karamazovy that he called peacekeepers. Parts of the profits from the concerts were given to those who had suffered from the war, both Ossetians and Georgians.
wn.com/Yuri_Shevchuk -
Yuri Temirkanov
Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov (Russian: Ю́рий Хату́евич Темирка́нов) (born 10 December 1938) is a Russian conductor of Circassian (Kabardian) origin.
Yuri Temirkanov has been the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic since 1988.
Born in 1938 in the Caucasus city of Nalchik, Temirkanov began his musical studies at the age of nine. When he was thirteen, he attended the Leningrad School for Talented Children where he continued his studies in violin and viola. Upon graduation from the Leningrad School, he attended the Leningrad Conservatory where he completed his studies in viola. He returned to the Conservatory to study conducting with Ilya Musin and graduated in 1965.
After winning the prestigious All-Soviet National Conducting Competition in 1966, Mr. Temirkanov was invited by Kirill Kondrashin to tour Europe and the United States with legendary violinist David Oistrakh and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Yuri Temirkanov made his debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in early 1967 and was then invited to join the Orchestra as Assistant Conductor to Yevgeny Mravinsky. In 1968, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra where he remained until his appointment as Music Director of the Kirov Opera and Ballet in 1976.
wn.com/Yuri_Temirkanov -
Yury Felten
Yury Matveyevich Felten (Russian: Ю́рий Матве́евич Фе́льтен, German name Georg Friedrich Veldten) (1730–1801) was a court architect to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.
Yury Felten was born Georg Veldten, into a family of German immigrants to Russia. His father worked for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Young Yury Felten studied on a Russian State scholarship at the Gymnasium of the Academy of Sciences.
In 1744, after the death of his father, Felten moved to Germany. From 1744 to 1749 he studied at Tübingen University, but his financial and personal situation prompted him to move back to St. Petersburg. Felten wrote a letter to Empress Elizabeth, and she extended her hospitality and a scholarship, so he completed his studies at the Russian Academy, graduating in 1752 as an architect.
From 1752 to 1762 Felten worked as assistant to the celebrated architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli during the construction of the Winter Palace and other buildings in and around St. Petersburg. In the 1760s and 1770s he designed a complex ensemble enclosing the south side of Palace Square, now partially incorporated into the present buildings of the General Staff. At the same time, he designed the Old Hermitage, a wing of the growing Hermitage complex on the waterfront, and worked on the winter garden on the roof of the Small Hermitage, as well as extending the museum's galleries.
wn.com/Yury_Felten -
Zemlyane
Zemlyane, (Russian: Земляне which is Russian for Earthlings) is a Soviet, and later Russian rock band which enjoyed great popularity in the early 1980s. The band was formed in Leningrad, Soviet Union in 1979 and remains active to this day.
A key artist in "VIA" (vocal-instrumental ensemble) wave of Soviet music, it was one of the first officially state-recognized bands to feature elements of rock music in USSR. Zemlyane used to mix hard rock music with synthpop, and Zemlyane's frontman Sergey Skachkov plays keytar. Most of their lyrics deal with risk, courage, and masculinity. They sang about cosmonauts, stunts, pilots, and sailors.
Zemlyane was formed in 1968 by students of Leningrad Radiopolytechnical College. Followers of bands such as Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, they played mainly cover versions of these bands' music until 1974 when they started creating compositions of their own.
In 1978 Zemlyane stopped performing on stage for several months for reasons of reorganization and rest.
wn.com/Zemlyane
karaoke
Before the time of the morning sandman
I can find my way around
Soon be here at the borderline, I guess
Armageddon coming down
And here lies a pretty state again
It's time to make a move on
'Cause in three days, I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon
Firelight, the light of love, burns
Turns to ashes in your hand
So to bed by the morning light, I guess
And I'm awake and understand
Set sail for St. Petersburg
Making use of my time
'Cause in three days, I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon
Head out to a better life
I can get a job, settle down
I'm full of love, of a full of feeling
I can't stand the here and now
We leave town for pity's sake, you know
It's time to make a move on
'Cause in three days, I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon
Yeah, three days, I'll be out of here
from:danh@vms.huji.ac.il (Rami Zakh)
====================================
St.Petersburg - Robin Hitchcock
===============================
In St.Petersburg,in the night
Where the light shines down on the snow
On the banisters,what a mess
I can't guess,i,what i don't know.
She cuts like a knife,she cuts like a wife
She cuts like someone i once knew
She cuts like a stream,flows into my dream
You cut me and i bleed for you..
And in Williamsburg,by the lake
Where the stake went deep in your heart
On the banisters,it's allright
It's so tight that it drives you apart.
She hangs from a hook,she hangs like a crook
Had gone and hung her up there
She spins round and round
3 feet off the ground
But why she does i don't care.
She cuts like a knife,she cuts like a wife
She cuts like someone i once knew
She cuts like a stream,flows into your dream
You cut me and i bleed for...
I took a walk around the world to see
if what everyone was telling me
is true
but as I walked around this great big world
the only thing I could think about
is you
there's so many things I want to tell you
there's so many things I want to say
as you turned and walked away
you just turned and walked away
I took a walk around the world to see
if what everyone was telling me
is true
but as I walked around this great big world
the only thing I could think about
is you
there's so many things I want to tell you
there's so many things I want to say
as you turned and walked away
you just turned and walked away
[break]
there's so many things I want to tell you
there's so many things I want to say
as you turned and walked away
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Supergrass - St. Petersburg
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:12
- Updated: 18 Dec 2012
Supergrass - St. Petersburg
http://wn.com/Supergrass_St_Petersburg
St Petersburg, Russia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 104:33
- Updated: 18 Dec 2012
Recorded August 4-5, 2011: Long video of my 2-day visit to St. Petersburg, Russia includes: 00:16 Emerald Princess arrives in St. Petersburg 01:49 Drive through St. Petersburg 07:29 Peterhof Palace 08:28 The Grand Cascade at Peterhof Palace 13:24 Lunch at Troyka Restaurant 16:20 St. Isaac's Cathedral 20:32 Church of the Spilled Blood 24:10 Drive through St. Petersburg 27:59 Imperial Reception at Catherine Palace 54:17 St. Petersburg at night 56:00 Day two begins with drive on Nevsky Prospect 62:24 Palace Square 63:34 Palace Embankment 66:18 Peter and Paul Fortress 69:32 The Hermitage / Winter Palace 78:35 The River Neva / Trinity Bridge 79:29 Cruise on the canals and rivers of St. Petersburg 94:28 Yusupov Palace 99:58 Sail away on the Emerald Princess From: timvp.com
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg,_Russia
Recorded August 4-5, 2011: Long video of my 2-day visit to St. Petersburg, Russia includes: 00:16 Emerald Princess arrives in St. Petersburg 01:49 Drive through St. Petersburg 07:29 Peterhof Palace 08:28 The Grand Cascade at Peterhof Palace 13:24 Lunch at Troyka Restaurant 16:20 St. Isaac's Cathedral 20:32 Church of the Spilled Blood 24:10 Drive through St. Petersburg 27:59 Imperial Reception at Catherine Palace 54:17 St. Petersburg at night 56:00 Day two begins with drive on Nevsky Prospect 62:24 Palace Square 63:34 Palace Embankment 66:18 Peter and Paul Fortress 69:32 The Hermitage / Winter Palace 78:35 The River Neva / Trinity Bridge 79:29 Cruise on the canals and rivers of St. Petersburg 94:28 Yusupov Palace 99:58 Sail away on the Emerald Princess From: timvp.com
- published: 22 Sep 2011
- views: 162007
- author: hoosiertim
A guide to St. Petersburg, Russia UPDATED
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:20
- Updated: 11 Dec 2012
A updated version of my previous video from St. Petersburg
http://wn.com/A_guide_to_St_Petersburg,_Russia_UPDATED
A updated version of my previous video from St. Petersburg
- published: 12 Mar 2007
- views: 131244
- author: oslo87
Saint Petersburg city tour Watch in HD.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:53
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг ), Russian pronunciation: [sankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk]) is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd (, 1914-1924) and Leningrad (1924-1991). It is often called just Petersburg (Петербу́рг) and is informally known as Piter (Пи́тер). Founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on 27 May, 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (17131728, 17321918). Saint Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917.[8] It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow with 4.6 million inhabitants, and over 6 million people live in its vicinity. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural centre, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Saint Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia.[9] Among cities of the world with over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Russia's political and cultural centre for 200 years, the city is sometimes referred to in Russia as the northern capital. A large number of foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and other businesses are located in Saint Petersburg
http://wn.com/Saint_Petersburg_city_tour_Watch_in_HD
Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг ), Russian pronunciation: [sankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk]) is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd (, 1914-1924) and Leningrad (1924-1991). It is often called just Petersburg (Петербу́рг) and is informally known as Piter (Пи́тер). Founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on 27 May, 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (17131728, 17321918). Saint Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917.[8] It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow with 4.6 million inhabitants, and over 6 million people live in its vicinity. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural centre, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Saint Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia.[9] Among cities of the world with over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Russia's political and cultural centre for 200 years, the city is sometimes referred to in Russia as the northern capital. A large number of foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and other businesses are located in Saint Petersburg
- published: 23 Jul 2009
- views: 64321
- author: noodzaak
Boat Cruise in St. Petersburg, Russia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:02
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Recorded August 5, 2011: Scenic boat cruise on the canals and rivers of St. Petersburg, Russia. Note: This is a segment of the complete St. Petersburg video @ youtu.be From: timvp.com
http://wn.com/Boat_Cruise_in_St_Petersburg,_Russia
Recorded August 5, 2011: Scenic boat cruise on the canals and rivers of St. Petersburg, Russia. Note: This is a segment of the complete St. Petersburg video @ youtu.be From: timvp.com
- published: 24 Sep 2011
- views: 14198
- author: hoosiertim
St Petersburg Peterhof.mov
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 17:07
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
www.tourvideos.com Peterhof was the main home of Peter the Great. The most spectacular feature of the palace is the Golden Cascade, which just might be the world's most wonderful fountain! It has dozens of golden statues drenched in a huge water display. St. Petersburg 2010
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg_Peterhofmov
www.tourvideos.com Peterhof was the main home of Peter the Great. The most spectacular feature of the palace is the Golden Cascade, which just might be the world's most wonderful fountain! It has dozens of golden statues drenched in a huge water display. St. Petersburg 2010
- published: 11 Sep 2010
- views: 13142
- author: denniscallan
St.Petersburg revealed
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:30
- Updated: 13 Dec 2012
Mark Ames heads to St.Petersburg this weekend, to show you what makes this city so special. In his own inimitable way, Ames gets to the root of things with a mixture of humour and insight. There are two parts to this episode in the "Wayfarer" special report series.
http://wn.com/StPetersburg_revealed
Mark Ames heads to St.Petersburg this weekend, to show you what makes this city so special. In his own inimitable way, Ames gets to the root of things with a mixture of humour and insight. There are two parts to this episode in the "Wayfarer" special report series.
- published: 13 Jun 2008
- views: 21714
- author: RussiaToday
Violent racism in St Petersburg - 26 Feb 08
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:39
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
When Vladimir Putin steps down as Russian President after eight years in office, he'll be remembered for making massive changes within his country. But one issue that's shown little sign of improvement is racial attacks. Violence leaves dozens of people dead every year and injures many more. A recent Amnesty International report went so far as to described racist violence in Russia as "out of control." In the second of our special reports on the state of Russia, Al Jazeera' s Jonah Hull visited Vladimir Putin's home city, St Petersburg.
http://wn.com/Violent_racism_in_St_Petersburg_26_Feb_08
When Vladimir Putin steps down as Russian President after eight years in office, he'll be remembered for making massive changes within his country. But one issue that's shown little sign of improvement is racial attacks. Violence leaves dozens of people dead every year and injures many more. A recent Amnesty International report went so far as to described racist violence in Russia as "out of control." In the second of our special reports on the state of Russia, Al Jazeera' s Jonah Hull visited Vladimir Putin's home city, St Petersburg.
- published: 26 Feb 2008
- views: 77948
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
St. Petersburg Stitch - Jewelry Design
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:25
- Updated: 06 Dec 2012
Supplies and materials needed to make this stitch - www.auntiesbeads.com After many requests, I sat down and learned the St. Petersburg stitch! It does require your patience, but you will be rewarded with a beautiful stitched v-shaped necklace. It is a piece that you can put down and pick back up and work in stages! So join me as I demonstrate this fabled stitch! Beads & Supplies found at www.AuntiesBeads.com
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg_Stitch_Jewelry_Design
Supplies and materials needed to make this stitch - www.auntiesbeads.com After many requests, I sat down and learned the St. Petersburg stitch! It does require your patience, but you will be rewarded with a beautiful stitched v-shaped necklace. It is a piece that you can put down and pick back up and work in stages! So join me as I demonstrate this fabled stitch! Beads & Supplies found at www.AuntiesBeads.com
- published: 18 Apr 2009
- views: 133636
- author: AuntiesBeads
Beat It - Michael Jackson Flashmob @ St. Petersburg, Russia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:49
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Beat_It_Michael_Jackson_Flashmob_@_St_Petersburg,_Russia
St Petersburg Russia Peterhof Hermitage St Isaacs Cathedral Palace Fountains
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:38
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
St Petersburg Russia Peterhof Hermitage St Isaacs Cathedral Palace Fountains Travel Neil Walker
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg_Russia_Peterhof_Hermitage_St_Isaacs_Cathedral_Palace_Fountains
St Petersburg Russia Peterhof Hermitage St Isaacs Cathedral Palace Fountains Travel Neil Walker
- published: 02 Jan 2012
- views: 2985
- author: Neil Walker
Russia Today | Saint Petersburg (White Nights)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Updated: 13 Oct 2012
It's the season of white nights in St.Pete. Every year more than 3 mln tourists fill up the one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
http://wn.com/Russia_Today_|_Saint_Petersburg_White_Nights
It's the season of white nights in St.Pete. Every year more than 3 mln tourists fill up the one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
- published: 07 Jun 2007
- views: 9996
- author: alsemoff
St. Petersburg Complaints Choir
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:46
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
The Complaints choir for St. Petersburg. I believe that it's the 4th in the series. Enjoy! *from www.complaintschoir.org *
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg_Complaints_Choir
The Complaints choir for St. Petersburg. I believe that it's the 4th in the series. Enjoy! *from www.complaintschoir.org *
- published: 11 Jan 2007
- views: 65308
- author: PintSize2684
St. Petersburg, Russia Hermitage Museum part 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:02
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
tourvideos.com St. Petersburg, Russia Hermitage Museum part 2
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg,_Russia_Hermitage_Museum_part_2
tourvideos.com St. Petersburg, Russia Hermitage Museum part 2
- published: 01 Sep 2009
- views: 10497
- author: denniscallan
St Petersburg part 5, Hermitage Museum, Russia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:16
- Updated: 05 Oct 2012
www.tourvideos.com St Petersburg, Hermitage Museum, Russia. Olga Abramovof continues our tour through this great art museum, Throne Room, Audience Room, Italian Renaissance, Baroque, Canova, Rembrandt, Potter, Classical and Egyptian. 24
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg_part_5,_Hermitage_Museum,_Russia
www.tourvideos.com St Petersburg, Hermitage Museum, Russia. Olga Abramovof continues our tour through this great art museum, Throne Room, Audience Room, Italian Renaissance, Baroque, Canova, Rembrandt, Potter, Classical and Egyptian. 24
- published: 01 Sep 2009
- views: 6272
- author: denniscallan
Saint-Petersburg
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:55
- Updated: 19 Dec 2012
Timelapse. Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 2010 vkontakte.ru Музыка: Пуччини, опера "Тоска", ария Каварадосси. Обработка Эдвина Мартона.
http://wn.com/Saint-Petersburg
Timelapse. Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 2010 vkontakte.ru Музыка: Пуччини, опера "Тоска", ария Каварадосси. Обработка Эдвина Мартона.
- published: 07 Dec 2010
- views: 1326338
- author: vomifeq
St Petersburg part 6, Russia, Catherine Palace
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 20:07
- Updated: 17 Oct 2012
tourvideos.com St Petersburg, Russia, Catherine Palace
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg_part_6,_Russia,_Catherine_Palace
tourvideos.com St Petersburg, Russia, Catherine Palace
- published: 01 Sep 2009
- views: 5251
- author: denniscallan
St Petersburg, Russia 08
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:38
- Updated: 26 Sep 2012
Bus tour of St. Petersburg then free time downtown for shopping and lunch. Later we visit Peterhof, palace of Peter the Great, and admire the Golden Staircase of fountains and golden statues facing the manicured gardens. We then include a detailed visit to Catherine Palace, home of the Empress in a splendid garden setting with a lavish interior rivaling Versailles. A boat ride on the canals of St. Petersburg is another must-do in your visit, passing many palaces, parks, monuments and impressive apartments.
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg,_Russia_08
Bus tour of St. Petersburg then free time downtown for shopping and lunch. Later we visit Peterhof, palace of Peter the Great, and admire the Golden Staircase of fountains and golden statues facing the manicured gardens. We then include a detailed visit to Catherine Palace, home of the Empress in a splendid garden setting with a lavish interior rivaling Versailles. A boat ride on the canals of St. Petersburg is another must-do in your visit, passing many palaces, parks, monuments and impressive apartments.
- published: 05 Aug 2009
- views: 10221
- author: denniscallan
A Rumor In St Petersburg
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:26
- Updated: 18 Dec 2012
Note: Not a Disney film. Album: Anastasia( Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Artist/Composer: David Newman NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.
http://wn.com/A_Rumor_In_St_Petersburg
Note: Not a Disney film. Album: Anastasia( Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Artist/Composer: David Newman NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.
- published: 02 May 2009
- views: 93339
- author: Prue126
saint petersburg سن پطرزبورگ kamel
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 120:14
- Updated: 19 Dec 2012
full length hd امين حيايي، بهاره رهنما، شيلا خداداد، انديشه فولاوند، اميد روحاني و سروش صحت محسن تنابنده و پيمان قاسمخاني بهروز افخمی
http://wn.com/saint_petersburg_سن_پطرزبورگ_kamel
full length hd امين حيايي، بهاره رهنما، شيلا خداداد، انديشه فولاوند، اميد روحاني و سروش صحت محسن تنابنده و پيمان قاسمخاني بهروز افخمی
- published: 17 Feb 2011
- views: 85305
- author: siavash02
Russian Federation, Moscow and Saint Petersburg City Tour, in 3D + HD
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:50
- Updated: 19 Dec 2012
Russian Federation, Moscow City (Москва Сити 2011), Business Center and Saint Petersburg City Tour by Night (with Time Lapse Scenes), in 3D + HD Saint Petersburg: Is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914 the name of the city was changed to Petrograd (Russian: Петроград), in 1924 to Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград) and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Moscow: Is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost city on Earth to have a population above 10000000, the most populous city on the continent of Europe, and the seventh largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the preliminary results of the 2010 census, is 11514330.Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow had 79 billionaires, displacing New York as the city with the greatest number of billionaires Kategorie
http://wn.com/Russian_Federation,_Moscow_and_Saint_Petersburg_City_Tour,_in_3D_+_HD
Russian Federation, Moscow City (Москва Сити 2011), Business Center and Saint Petersburg City Tour by Night (with Time Lapse Scenes), in 3D + HD Saint Petersburg: Is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914 the name of the city was changed to Petrograd (Russian: Петроград), in 1924 to Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград) and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Moscow: Is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost city on Earth to have a population above 10000000, the most populous city on the continent of Europe, and the seventh largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the preliminary results of the 2010 census, is 11514330.Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow had 79 billionaires, displacing New York as the city with the greatest number of billionaires Kategorie
- published: 18 Oct 2011
- views: 68649
- author: Pascal Viola
The Wonderful Nights of Saint Petersburg
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:55
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
Special thanks to Peter Sobolev for the photos used in the video bcam.spb.ru
http://wn.com/The_Wonderful_Nights_of_Saint_Petersburg
Special thanks to Peter Sobolev for the photos used in the video bcam.spb.ru
- published: 08 Aug 2007
- views: 78916
- author: Olga H
St Petersburg, Russia 1 Peterhof
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 16:39
- Updated: 31 Aug 2012
tourvideos.com St Petersburg, Russia 1 Peterhof
http://wn.com/St_Petersburg,_Russia_1_Peterhof
tourvideos.com St Petersburg, Russia 1 Peterhof
- published: 01 Sep 2009
- views: 3934
- author: denniscallan
photo: AP / Charles Krupa
18 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. "Most people reason dramatically, not quantitatively." -Oliver Wendell Holmes. On the same day that a 20-year-old, described as brilliant but remote, walked into an elementary school in Connecticut and massacred 26 children and adults, the school where I teach went on "lock-down." Four students with a handgun were arrested ... That morning before school, he had posted on Twitter and Facebook....(size: 14.0Kb)
photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
19 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON. US President Barack Obama backs a new bill to revive an assault weapons ban and other new gun laws, the White House said Tuesday, fleshing out his nascent response to a shocking school massacre. Obama also called an ardently pro-gun senator who has shifted his position on firearms laws since Friday's carnage in Connecticut and has begun meeting top cabinet officials to consider his options, his spokesman Jay Carney said ... ....(size: 4.9Kb)
photo: Creative Commons / Joachim Huber
18 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. When a Stanford geneticist, Gerald Crabtree, published a provocative and controversial new view on evolutionary change, namely that humans are actually getting dumber, he should have also added that humans are still developing an extermination gene ... Paleontologist Tim Flannery would more than likely agree with Crabtree ... Strange strings of gravel also overlaid some bones ... (1) Kane, Alex ... 195....(size: 9.4Kb)
photo: AP / Narciso Contreras
19 Dec 2012
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $1.5 billion (920.1 million pounds) to provide life-saving aid to Syrians suffering from a "dramatically deteriorating" humanitarian situation ... "The magnitude of this humanitarian crisis is indisputable," said Radhouane Nouicer, U.N ... Inside Syria, U.N ... ....(size: 1.5Kb)
photo: AP / Jason DeCrow
18 Dec 2012
An increasing number of US congressmen have called for a national dialogue about measures to curb gun violence following the shooting last week at a primary school in Connecticut that killed 26 people, including 20 children and six adults. White House officials have said that President Barack Obama would make preventing gun-related violence a priority in his second term in office and stricter laws would be part of the effort. ... ....(size: 19.2Kb)
The Examiner
19 Dec 2012
TAMPA BAY - This past weekend the St. Petersburg Live Music Bar Scene Column and the Tampa Bay music scene in general had the misfortune of having to start saying their goodbyes to two of our own... St ... On Saturday, Nicol held a CD signing for her new album, Broader Horizons, at the Ale & The Witch in Downtown St. Petersburg ... The St ... Petersburg Live Music Bar Scene Column was the "2010 & 2011 Most Read Examiner Column" in the St....(size: 4.4Kb)
Tampabay.com
19 Dec 2012
ST. PETERSBURG — The Color Run on Saturday in downtown St. Petersburg was big, sloppy fun for participants ... The 90 exhibitors in the St. Petersburg Holiday Art Festival, which started on Dec ... "I don't want to denigrate the Color Run," said Victoria Arendt, whose work includes an oil cityscapes series, Visions of St. Petersburg ... St ... Petersburg waterfront," said Jefferis ... St. Petersburg ....(size: 4.3Kb)
Tampabay.com
19 Dec 2012
ST. PETERSBURG — The Color Run on Saturday in downtown St. Petersburg was big, sloppy fun for participants ... The 90 exhibitors in the St. Petersburg Holiday Art Festival, which started Friday and ended Sunday, were set up on the north lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts, "probably one of the best locations in the country," said Carroll Swayze, an artist who was at the show ... Petersburg ... St ... Petersburg waterfront," Jefferis said ... St....(size: 4.3Kb)
Newstrack India
19 Dec 2012
St. Petersburg, Dec 19 (IANS) Representatives of the Russian football club Zenit St. Petersburg's largest fan group, Landskrona, defended their controversial recent manifesto, arguing simply that priority should be given to local players regardless of skin colour ... that it makes sense for a local football club like Zenit to cast its net first in St....(size: 2.3Kb)
Yahoo Daily News
19 Dec 2012
Additional appearances are currently being negotiated. St. Petersburg, FL (PRWEB) December 19, 2012 What. First Night is an independent not for profit corporation run by a volunteer board of directors ... Who ... Additional appearances are currently being negotiated. Why ... When ... Downtown St. Petersburg ( 5.00-6.00 Baywalk ; 7.30-12.00 North Straub Park). 300 NE to 400 Bayshore, St. Petersburg, FL ... Exit at 9th St. or 4th St ... Exit at 9th St. or 4th St ... Cell....(size: 2.8Kb)
Skynews
19 Dec 2012
Anti-gay activists threw eggs at equality campaigners near the State Duma, before scuffles broke out between the two sides. ... Zenit St Petersburg fans' manifesto opposed gays and blacks ... The attacks and arrests come a day after football team Zenit St Petersburg was forced to address claims of racism and anti-gay policies. ... The manifesto added ... The team has a large working class fan base among St Petersburg's 4.5m population....(size: 4.9Kb)
Tampabay.com
19 Dec 2012
ST. PETERSBURG — Two men were killed and a third person injured in a shooting early Wednesday during a botched robbery at the Kenwood Village Inn, authorities said ... happened at about 3.45 a.m., police spokesman Mike Puetz said, as about six men played cards on the patio of the motel, 701 34th St ... Lucas, 25, of 615 37th St ... St. Petersburg ....(size: 2.2Kb)
Tampabay.com
19 Dec 2012
ST. PETERSBURG — One person was killed in a shooting early Wednesday morning at the Kenwood Inn, a motel at 701 34th St ... St. Petersburg ....(size: 1.3Kb)
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19 Dec 2012
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Tampa Bay Online
19 Dec 2012
Two men are dead and a 17-year-old boy is seriously injured after a shooting during an apparent robbery attempt in St. Petersburg early today, authorities said ... Police responded to the Kenwood Village Inn, 701 34th St....(size: 1.1Kb)
Tampa Bay Online
19 Dec 2012
Last Friday – Select T.G.I Friday's locations, including the one on Tyrone Boulevard in St. Petersburg, are holding Mayan-inspired events to enjoy the Friday feeling "one last time." ... End of the World Glow Party – The Flamingo Resort in St. Petersburg hosts a no-cover party in the GLBT-friendly resort's Blu Room nightclub ... Petersburg ... 97X End of the World Party – Jannus Live in St....(size: 4.5Kb)
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19 Dec 2012
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Tampabay.com
19 Dec 2012
Mark PuenteTampa Bay Times. ADVERTISEMENT. ADVERTISEMENT ... ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays want to look for a new home in Tampa, but the team president bought a mansion five miles from Tropicana Field ... The luxurious estate sits on an oversized lot on 34th Avenue NE in northeast St. Petersburg ... He declined to comment ... [Last modified....(size: 2.1Kb)
"Leningrad" redirects here. For other uses, see Leningrad (disambiguation).
This article is about the city in Russia. For the city in Florida, USA, see St. Petersburg, Florida. For other uses, see Saint Petersburg (disambiguation).
| Saint Petersburg | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Санкт-Петербург (Russian) | |||
| — Federal city — | |||
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| Coordinates: 59°57′N 30°19′E / 59.95°N 30.317°E / 59.95; 30.317Coordinates: 59°57′N 30°19′E / 59.95°N 30.317°E / 59.95; 30.317 | |||
| Political status | |||
| Country | Russia | ||
| Federal district | Northwestern[1] | ||
| Economic region | Northwestern[2] | ||
| Established | May 27, 1703[3] | ||
| Federal city Day | May 27[4] | ||
| Government (as of March 2010) | |||
| - Governor | Georgy Poltavchenko (acting) | ||
| - Legislature | Legislative Assembly | ||
| Statistics | |||
| Area [5] | |||
| - Total | 1,439 km2 (555.6 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 82nd | ||
| Population (2010 Census)[6] | |||
| - Total | 4,879,566 | ||
| - Rank | 4th | ||
| - Density[7] | 3,390.94 /km2 (8,782.5 /sq mi) | ||
| Time zone(s) | MSK (UTC+04:00)[8] | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | RU-SPE | ||
| License plates | 78, 98, 178 | ||
| Official languages | Russian[9] | ||
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Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербург, tr. Sankt-Peterburg; IPA: [sankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk] ( listen)) is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914 the name of the city was changed to Petrograd (Russian: Петроград; IPA: [pʲɪtrɐˈgrat]), in 1924 to Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград; IPA: [lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat]) and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg.
In Russian literature, informal documents, and discourse, the "Saint" (Санкт-) is usually omitted, leaving Petersburg (Петербург, Peterburg). In common parlance Russians may drop "-burg" (-бург) as well, leaving only Peter (Питер, Russian: [ˈpʲitʲɪr]).
Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27 [O.S. 16] 1703. From 1713 to 1728 and from 1732 to 1918, Saint Petersburg was the Imperial capital of Russia. In 1918 the central government bodies moved from Saint Petersburg (then named Petrograd) to Moscow.[10] It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow with almost 5 million inhabitants.[6] Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and also an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea.
Saint Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia.[11] Among cities of the world with over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is also home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world.[12] A large number of foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and other businesses are located in Saint Petersburg.
Contents |
History[link]
 |
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011) |
Main article: History of Saint Petersburg
Nyenskans, a Swedish fortress, was founded at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a land then called Ingermanland.[13] A small town called "Nyen" grew up around it.
Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he aimed to have Russia gain an ability to take to the seas, so it could trade with other maritime nations.[14] In order to do so, he needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north.
On May 12 [O.S. 1] 1703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon set about replacing that fortress. On May 27 [O.S. 16] 1703,[15] closer to the estuary (5 km/3 miles inland from the gulf), on Zayachy (Hare) Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city.[16]
The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia; a number of Swedish prisoners of war were also involved in some years[17] under the supervision of Alexander Menshikov. Tens of thousands of serfs died building the city.[18] Later the city became the centre of Saint Petersburg Governorate. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712, 9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, although he was already referring to Saint Petersburg as the capital (or seat of government) as early as 1704.[19]
During the first few years of its existence the city grew spontaneously around Trinity Square on the right bank of the Neva, near the Peter and Paul Fortress. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to develop according to a plan. By 1716 Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is still evident in the layout of the streets. In 1716 Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond was appointed chief architect of Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great.
The style of Petrine Baroque, developed by Trezzini and other architects and exemplified by such buildings as the Menshikov Palace, Kunstkamera, Peter and Paul Cathedral, Twelve Collegia, became prominent in the city architecture of the early 18th century. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great.
In 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His push for modernization of Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility — resulting in several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his own son.[20] Thus, in 1728, Peter II of Russia moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, in 1732, under Empress Anna of Russia, Saint Petersburg again became the capital of the Russian Empire. It remained the seat of the Romanov Dynasty and the Imperial Court of the Russian Tzars, as well as the seat of the Russian government, for another 186 years until the communist revolution of 1917.
In 1736–1737 the city suffered from catastrophic fires. To rebuild the damaged boroughs, a new plan was commissioned in 1737 by a committee under Burkhard Christoph von Münnich. The city was divided into five boroughs, and the city center was moved to the Admiralty borough, situated on the east bank between the Neva and Fontanka.
It developed along three radial streets, which meet at the Admiralty building and are now known as Nevsky Prospekt (which is now perceived as the main street of the city), Gorokhovaya Street and Voznesensky Prospekt. A Baroque style dominated the city architecture during the first sixty years, culminating in the Elizabethan Baroque, represented most notably by Bartolomeo Rastrelli with such buildings as the Winter Palace. In the 1760s Baroque architecture was succeeded by neoclassical architecture.
The Commission of Stone Buildings of Moscow and Saint Petersburg established in 1762 ruled that no structure in the city be higher than the Winter Palace and prohibited spacing between buildings. During the reign of Catherine the Great in the 1760s–1780s, the banks of the Neva were lined with granite embankments.
However, it was not until 1850 that the first permanent bridge across the Neva, Blagoveshchensky Bridge, was allowed to open. Before that, only pontoon bridges were allowed. Obvodny Canal (dug in 1769–1833) became the southern limit of the city.
Among the most prominent neoclassical architects in Saint Petersburg (including those working within the Empire style) were Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe (Imperial Academy of Arts, Small Hermitage, Gostiny Dvor, New Holland Arch, Catholic Church of St. Catherine), Antonio Rinaldi (Marble Palace), Yury Felten (Old Hermitage, Chesme Church), Giacomo Quarenghi (Academy of Sciences, Hermitage Theatre, Yusupov Palace), Andrey Voronikhin (Mining Institute, Kazan Cathedral), Andreyan Zakharov (Admiralty building), Jean-François Thomas de Thomon (Spit of Vasilievsky Island), Carlo Rossi (Yelagin Palace, Mikhailovsky Palace, Alexandrine Theatre, Senate and Synod Buildings, General Staff Building, design of many streets and squares), Vasily Stasov (Moscow Triumphal Gate, Trinity Cathedral), and Auguste de Montferrand (Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Alexander Column). In 1810 the first engineering Higher learning institution, the Saint Petersburg Main military engineering School were established in Saint Petersburg by Alexander I. The victory over Napoleonic France in the Patriotic War of 1812 was commemorated with many monuments, including the Alexander Column by Montferrand, erected in 1834, and the Narva Triumphal Gate.
In 1825, the suppressed Decembrist revolt against Nicholas I took place on the Senate Square in the city, a day after he assumed the throne.
By the 1840s, neoclassical architecture had given way to various romanticist styles, which dominated until the 1890s, represented by such architects as Andrei Stackenschneider (Mariinsky Palace, Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace, Nicholas Palace, New Michael Palace) and Konstantin Thon (Moskovsky Rail Terminal).
With the emancipation of the peasants undertaken by Alexander II in 1861 and an industrial revolution, the influx of former peasants into the capital increased greatly. Poor boroughs spontaneously emerged on the outskirts of the city. Saint Petersburg surpassed Moscow in population and industrial growth and grew into one of the largest industrial cities in Europe, with a major naval base (in Kronstadt), river and sea port.
The names of saints Peter and Paul, bestowed upon original city's citadel and its cathedral (from 1725 – a burial vault of Russian emperors) coincidentally were mirrored by the names of the first two assassinated Russian Emperors, Peter III (1762, supposedly a conspiracy led by his wife, Catherine the Great) and Paul I (1801, Nicholas Zubov and other conspirators who brought to power Alexander I, the son of their victim). The third emperor's assassination took place in Petersburg in 1881 when Alexander II fell victim of narodniki (see the Church of the Savior on Blood).
1900 to present[link]
The Revolution of 1905 began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces.
During World War I, the city was renamed Petrograd, meaning "Peter's City", to remove the German word "burg."
In March 1917, during the February Revolution Nicholas II abdicated both for himself and on behalf of his son, thus putting an end to the Russian monarchy.
The October Revolution which ultimately brought Vladimir Lenin to power, broke out in Petrograd on November 7–8, 1917 (months mismatch due to Julian/Gregorian calendar differences).[21] After that the city acquired a new descriptive name, "the city of three revolutions"[22] which recalls the fact that all these three major developments in the political history of Russia of the early 20th century occurred here.
In September and October 1917, the German troops invaded the West Estonian archipelago thus threatening Petrograd with bombardment and invasion. Thus on March 12, 1918, the Soviets transferred the government to Moscow. During the ensuing Civil War in 1919 general Yudenich advancing from Estonia repeated the attempt to capture the city, but Leon Trotsky mobilised the army and forced him to retreat.
On January 26, 1924, five days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. Later some streets and other toponyms were renamed accordingly. The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin. Some of them were turned into museums,[23] as well as cruiser Aurora – a symbol of the October Revolution and the oldest ship in the Russian Navy.
In the 1920s–1930s the poor outskirts were reconstructed into regularly planned boroughs. Constructivist architecture flourished around that time. Housing was nationalized; many 'bourgeois' apartments were so large, that many people who had previously lived in slums now shared these 'communal' apartments (kommunalkas). By the 1930s, 68% of the population lived in such housing. In 1935 a new general plan was outlined, whereby the city should expand to the south. Constructivism was rejected in favor of a more pompous Stalinist architecture. Moving the city center further from the border with Finland, Stalin adopted a plan to build a new city hall with a huge adjacent square at the southern end of Moskovsky Prospekt which could thereby become a new main street of Leningrad. However, after the war, the Soviet-Finnish border was moved to the north, and Nevsky Prospekt with the Palace Square maintained the functions and the role of a city center.
In December 1931, Leningrad was administratively separated from Leningrad Oblast. At that time it included Leningrad Suburban District, some parts of which were transferred back to Leningrad Oblast in 1936 and turned into Vsevolozhsky District, Krasnoselsky District, Pargolovsky District and Slutsky District (renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944).[24]
On December 1, 1934, Sergey Kirov, popular communist leader of Leningrad, was assassinated, which became the pretext for the Great Purge.[25]
During World War II, Leningrad was besieged by German forces.[26] The siege lasted 872 days[26] from September 1941 to January 1944.[27] The Siege of Leningrad was one of the longest, most destructive, and most lethal sieges of a major city in modern history. It isolated the city from most supplies except those provided through the Road of Life across Lake Ladoga, and more than a million civilians died, mainly from starvation. Many others were eventually evacuated or escaped by themselves, so the city became largely depopulated.
On May 1, 1945 Joseph Stalin, in his Supreme Commander Order No. 20, named Leningrad, alongside Stalingrad, Sevastopol, and Odessa, hero cities of the war. However, a statute bestowing the honorary title of 'Hero City' was only officially adopted on May 8, 1965 (the 20th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War), during the Brezhnev era. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Leningrad as a Hero City the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal 'for the heroic resistance of the city and tenacity of the survivors of the Siege'. The Hero-City Obelisk bearing the Gold Star sign was installed later, in April 1985.
In October 1946 some territories along the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland, which had passed to the USSR from Finland in 1940 under the peace treaty following the Winter War were transferred from Leningrad Oblast to Leningrad and divided into Sestroretsky District and Kurortny District, including the town of Terijoki (renamed Zelenogorsk in 1948).[24] Leningrad and many of its suburbs were rebuilt over the post-war decades, partially according to pre-war plans. The 1948 general plan for Leningrad featured radial urban development in the north as well as in the south. In 1953 Pavlovsky District in Leningrad Oblast was abolished, and parts of its territory, including Pavlovsk, merged with Leningrad. In 1954 the settlements Levashovo, Pargolovo and Pesochny merged with Leningrad.[24]
Leningrad gave its name to the Leningrad Affair (1949–1952), a notable event in the postwar political processes in the USSR. A product of clan rivalries (where one side was represented by the leaders of the city Communist Party organization – one of the most significant in the country), it afflicted only an elite circle, so the victims of this affair were comparatively few. 23 leaders were sentenced to death, 181 to prison or exile (exonerated in 1954). About 2 thousand were expelled from the party and Komsomol and removed from leadership positions.[28]
The Leningrad Metro underground rapid transit system, designed before the war, opened in 1955 with its first eight stations decorated with marble and bronze. However, after the death of Stalin, the perceived ornamental excesses of the Stalinist architecture were abandoned. In the 1960s–1980s, as many new residential boroughs were built on the outskirts with few series of functionalist apartment blocks identical to each other, many families moved there from kommunalkas in the city centre in order to live in separate apartments.
On June 12, 1991, simultaneously with the first Russian presidential elections the city authorities arranged the mayoral elections and the referendum upon the name of the city. The turnout was 65%; 66.13% of the total count of votes went to Anatoly Sobchak who became the first democratically elected mayor of the city. Meanwhile the economy conditions continued to deteriorate. For the first time since the 1940s food rationing was introduced, and the city received humanitarian food aid from abroad.[29] This dramatic time was being depicted in photographic series of Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko.[30][31] In 1995 a northern section of the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro was cut off by underground flooding, thus creating a major obstacle to the city development for almost ten years.
In 1996, Anatoly Sobchak was defeated by Vladimir Yakovlev in the elections of the head of the city administration. The title of the city head was changed from "mayor" to "governor". In 2000 Yakovlev was reelected again. His second term expired in 2004; the long-awaited restoration of broken subway connection was expected to finish by that time. However in 2003 Yakovlev suddenly resigned, leaving a governor's office to Valentina Matviyenko.
After that the law on the City Governor was changed, breaking the tradition of its democratic election by a universal suffrage, and in 2006 Matvienko was reapproved as governor by the city legislature. The residential building had intensified again, real estate prices inflated greatly which caused many new problems for the preserving of the historical part of the city.
Although the central part of the city is watched by UNESCO (there are about 8,000 architectural monuments in Petersburg), the safety of its historical and architectural environment became disputable[32] since after 2005 the demolition of older buildings in the historical centre went into practice.[33] In 2006 Gazprom announced an ambitious project to erect a 396-meter skyscraper opposite to Smolny, which could result in irretrievable loss of the unique line of Petersburg landscape. Urgent protests of citizen and prominent public figures of Russia against this project were not considered by Governor Valentina Matvienko and the city authorities until December 2010, when after the statement of President Dmitry Medvedev it was finally decided to find a more appropriate location for this construction site.
Geography[link]
Main article: Geography of Saint Petersburg
Territory of the federal subject of Saint Petersburg
Satellite image of Saint Petersburg
The area of Saint Petersburg city proper is 605.8 square kilometers (233.9 sq mi). The area of the federal subject is 1,439 square kilometers (556 sq mi), which contains Saint Petersburg proper (consisting of eighty-one municipal okrugs), nine municipal towns – (Kolpino, Krasnoye Selo, Kronstadt, Lomonosov, Pavlovsk, Petergof, Pushkin, Sestroretsk, Zelenogorsk) – and twenty-one municipal settlements.
Petersburg is situated on the middle taiga lowlands along the shores of the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland, and islands of the river delta. The largest are Vasilyevsky Island (besides the artificial island between Obvodny canal and Fontanka, and Kotlin in the Neva Bay), Petrogradsky, Dekabristov and Krestovsky. The latter together with Yelagin and Kamenny island are covered mostly by parks. The Karelian Isthmus, North of the city, is a popular resort area. In the south Saint Petersburg crosses the Baltic-Ladoga Klint and meets the Izhora Plateau.
The elevation of Saint Petersburg ranges from the sea level to its highest point of 175.9 meters (577 ft) at the Orekhovaya Hill in the Duderhof Heights in the south. Part of the city's territory west of Liteyny Prospekt is no higher than 4 meters (13 ft) above sea level, and has suffered from numerous floods. Floods in Saint Petersburg are triggered by a long wave in the Baltic Sea, caused by meteorological conditions, winds and shallowness of the Neva Bay. The four most disastrous floods occurred in 1824 (421 centimeters / 166 inches above sea level, during which over three hundred buildings were destroyed[34]), 1924 380 centimeters / 150 inches, 1777 321 centimeters / 126 inches, 1955 293 centimeters / 115 inches, and 1975 281 centimeters / 111 inches. To prevent floods, the Saint Petersburg Dam has been constructed.[35]
Since the 18th century the terrain in the city has been raised artificially, at some places by more than 4 meters (13 ft), making mergers of several islands, and changing the hydrology of the city. Besides the Neva and its tributaries, other important rivers of the federal subject of Saint Petersburg are Sestra, Okhta and Izhora. The largest lake is Sestroretsky Razliv in the north, followed by Lakhtinsky Razliv, Suzdal Lakes and other smaller lakes.
Due to location at ca. 60° N latitude the day length in Petersburg varies across seasons, ranging from 5:53 to 18:50. A period from mid-May to mid-July when twilight may last all night is called the white nights.
Climate[link]
Main article: Climate of Saint Petersburg
By Köppen climate classification Petersburg is classified as Dfb, a humid continental climate. Distinct moderating influence of the Baltic Sea cyclones result in warm, humid and short summers and long, cold wet winters.
The average daily temperature in July is +22 °C (72 °F); a maximum temperature of +37 °C (99 °F) occurred during the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave. A winter minimum of −35.9 °C (−32.6 °F) was recorded in 1883. The average annual temperature is +5.4 °C (41.72 °F). The Neva River within the city limits usually freezes up in November–December and break-up occurs in April. From December to March there are 123 days average with snow cover, which reaches the average of 24 centimeters (9.4 in) by February. The frost-free period in the city lasts on average for about 135 days. The city has a climate slightly warmer than its suburbs. Weather conditions are quite variable all year round.[36]
Average annual precipitation varies across the city, averaging 600 millimeters (24 in) per year and reaching maximum in late summer. Soil moisture is almost always high because of lower evapotranspiration due to the cool climate. Air humidity is 78% on average, while overcast is 165 days a year on average.
| Climate data for Saint Petersburg | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 8.3 (46.9) |
10.2 (50.4) |
14.9 (58.8) |
25.3 (77.5) |
30.9 (87.6) |
34.6 (94.3) |
35.3 (95.5) |
37.1 (98.8) |
30.4 (86.7) |
21.0 (69.8) |
12.3 (54.1) |
10.9 (51.6) |
37.1 (98.8) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −3.1 (26.4) |
−3 (26.6) |
2.0 (35.6) |
9.3 (48.7) |
16.0 (60.8) |
20.0 (68.0) |
23.0 (73.4) |
20.8 (69.4) |
15.0 (59.0) |
8.6 (47.5) |
2.0 (35.6) |
−1.5 (29.3) |
9.1 (48.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −5.5 (22.1) |
−5.8 (21.6) |
−1.3 (29.7) |
5.1 (41.2) |
11.3 (52.3) |
15.7 (60.3) |
18.8 (65.8) |
16.9 (62.4) |
11.6 (52.9) |
6.2 (43.2) |
0.1 (32.2) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
5.78 (42.41) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −8 (17.6) |
−8.5 (16.7) |
−4.2 (24.4) |
1.5 (34.7) |
7.0 (44.6) |
11.7 (53.1) |
15.0 (59.0) |
13.5 (56.3) |
8.8 (47.8) |
4.0 (39.2) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
2.7 (36.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −35.9 (−32.6) |
−35.2 (−31.4) |
−29.9 (−21.8) |
−21.8 (−7.2) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
0.1 (32.2) |
4.9 (40.8) |
1.3 (34.3) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
−12.9 (8.8) |
−22.2 (−8.0) |
−34.4 (−29.9) |
−35.9 (−32.6) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 44 (1.73) |
33 (1.3) |
37 (1.46) |
31 (1.22) |
46 (1.81) |
71 (2.8) |
79 (3.11) |
83 (3.27) |
64 (2.52) |
67 (2.64) |
56 (2.2) |
51 (2.01) |
662 (26.06) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 21.7 | 53.2 | 124.0 | 180.0 | 260.4 | 276.0 | 266.6 | 213.9 | 129.0 | 71.3 | 24.0 | 12.4 | 1,632.5 |
| Source no. 1: Pogoda.ru.net[37] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: HKO (sunshine hours)[38] | |||||||||||||
Toponymy[link]
The first and fairly rich chapter of the history of the local toponymy is the story of the own name of the city itself. The name day of Peter I falls on June, 29 when the Russian Orthodox Church observes the memory of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul. The consecration of the small wooden church in their names (its construction began simultaneously with the citadel) made them the heavenly patrons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, while St. Peter at the same time became the eponym of the whole city.
Explanation of Sankt- by the appreciation of Dutch culture by Peter the Great is one of common misconceptions: "Saint-" in Dutch is Sint.[39] The sample which czar Peter followed sounds in the names of another European cities: Sankt Goar in Germany, Sankt Michael in Austria and some others, of which the closest to Sankt Petersburg was Sankt Michel in the rival Swedish Empire (now Mikkeli in Finland). Sankt- in these toponyms is merely a Germanized form of Latin: Sanctus.
A 14–15-letter long name, composed of the three roots proved too cumbersome, and a lot of shortened versions appeared in habitual use. The first General Governor of the city Menshikov is maybe also the author of the first nickname of Petersburg which he called Петри (Petri). It took some years until the known Russian spelling of this name finally settled. In 1740s Mikhail Lomonosov uses a derivative of Greek: Πετρόπολις (Petropolis, Петрополис) in a russified form Petropol’ (Петрополь). A combo Piterpol (Питерпол) also appears at this time.[40] In any case, eventually the usage of prefix "Sankt-" ceased except for the formal official documents, where a 3-letter abbreviation "СПб" (SPb) was very widely used as well.
In the 1830s Alexander Pushkin translated the "foreign" city name of "Saint Petersburg" to the more Russian Petrograd in one of his poems. However, it was only on 31 [O.S. 18 August] 1914, after the war with Germany had began, did tsar Nicholas II rename the capital to Petrograd. Since the prefix 'Saint' was omitted,[41] this act also changed the eponym and the "patron" of the city, from Apostle Peter to Peter the Great, its founder.
After the October Revolution, and until the city was renamed Leningrad in January 1924, the name Красный Петроград (Red Petrograd) was often used in newspapers and other prints.
In the referendum on reversing the renaming of Leningrad on June 12, 1991, renaming it to Petrograd was not an option. Because of this only 54.86% of the voters (with a turnout of 65%) supported "St.Petersburg". This change officially took effect on September 6, 1991.[29] Meanwhile, the oblast which administrative center is also in St. Petersburg is still named Leningrad.
Having passed the role of capital to Petersburg, Moscow never relinquished the title of "capital", being called pervoprestolnaya("first-throned") for 200 years. A mirroring name for Petersburg in this connotation, the "Northern Capital", is reintroduced today in the sense that several federal institutions were moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg recently. Solemn descriptive names like "the city of three revolutions" and "the cradle of the October revolution" used in Soviet era reminded the pivot events of national history which occurred here. For their part, poetic names of the city, like the "Venice of the North" and the "Northern Palmyra" emphasize town-planning and architectural features contrasting these parallels to the northern location of this megalopolis.[42] Petropolis is a translation of a city name to Greek, and is also a kind of descriptive name: Πέτρ~ is a Greek root for "stone", so the "city from stone" emphasizes the material which had been forcibly made obligatory for construction from the very first years of the city.[40] (Its official Greek name is Αγία Πετρούπολη.)
After 1991 a wave of re-namings started within the city. It affected not only toponyms of the Soviet era, but in some cases their pre-revolutionary ones (in 1993 Gogol Street which bore the name of Nikolai Gogol since 1902,[43] was renamed to Malaya Morskaya).
Demographics[link]
Main article: Demographics of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. Per the 2010 Census, the federal subject's population is 4,953,219,4 or 3.4% of the total population of Russia;[6] up from 4,661,219 (3.21%) recorded in the 2002 Census,[44] and down from 5,023,506 recorded in the 1989 Census.[45]
The 2010 Census recorded the ethnic composition as follows:[6][not in citation given] Russian 92.5%, Ukrainian 1.5%, Belarusians 0.9%, Jewish 0.6%, Tatar 0.7%, Uzbek 0.5%, Armenian 0.5%, Azeri 0.4%, Tajik 0.3%, Georgian 0.2%, Moldovan 0.2%, Finns 0.1%. Additionally, 652,827 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[46]
The 20th century saw hectic ups and downs in population. From 2.4 million in 1916 it had dropped to less than 740,000 by 1920 during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Russian Civil War. The minorities of Germans, Poles, Finns, Estonians and Latvians were almost completely transferred from Leningrad during the 1930s.[47] From 1941 to the end of 1943, population dropped from 3 million to less than 600,000, as people died in battles, starved to death during the Siege of Leningrad, or were evacuated. After the siege, some of the evacuees returned, but most influx was due to migration from other parts of the Soviet Union. The city absorbed about 3 million people in the 1950s and grew to over 5 million in the 1980s. From 1991 to 2006 the city's population decreased to the current 4.6 million, while the suburban population increased due to privatization of land and massive move to suburbs. Based on the 2010 census results the current population is over 4.8 million.[48][49] The birth rate remains lower than the death rate; people over 65 constitute more than twenty percent of the population; and the median age is about 40 years.[50]
People in urban Saint Petersburg live mostly in apartments. Between 1918 and the 1990s, the Soviets nationalised housing and forced residents to share communal apartments (kommunalkas). With 68% living in shared flats in the 1930s, Leningrad was the city in the USSR with the largest number of kommunalkas. Resettling residents of kommunalkas is now on the way out, albeit shared apartments are still not uncommon. As new boroughs were built on the outskirts in the 1950s–1980s, over half a million low income families eventually received free apartments, and about an additional hundred thousand condos were purchased. While economic and social activity is concentrated in the historic city centre, the richest part of Saint Petersburg, most people live in commuter areas. For the first half of 2007, the birth rate was 9.1 per 1000.[51]
Government[link]
Further information: Government in Saint Petersburg
The Smolny Institute, seat of the governor
The city assembly meets in the Mariinsky Palace
Saint Petersburg is a federal subject of Russia.[52] The political life of Saint Petersburg is regulated by the city charter adopted by the city legislature in 1998.[53] The superior executive body is the Saint Petersburg City Administration, led by the governor (mayor before 1996). Saint Petersburg has a single-chamber legislature, the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly.
According to the federal law passed in 2004, heads of federal subjects, including the governor of Saint Petersburg, are nominated by the President of Russia and approved by local legislatures. If the legislature disapproves the nominee, it is dissolved. The former governor, Valentina Matviyenko, was approved according to the new system in December 2006. She was the only woman governor in the whole of Russia till her resignation on August 22, 2011. Matviyenko stood for elections as member of the Regional Council of St. Petersburg and won comprehensively with allegations of rigging and ballot stuffing by the opposition. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has already backed her for the position of Speaker to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and her election qualifies her for that job. After her resignation, Georgy Poltavchenko was appointed as the new acting governor the same day.
Saint Petersburg city is currently divided into eighteen districts. Saint Petersburg is also the administrative centre of Leningrad Oblast, and of the Northwestern Federal District.[54] The Constitutional Court of Russia moved to Saint Petersburg from Moscow in May 2008.
Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, being two different federal subjects, share a number of local departments of federal executive agencies and courts, such as court of arbitration, police, FSB, postal service, drug enforcement administration, penitentiary service, federal registration service, and other federal services.
Economy[link]
Main article: Economy of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a major trade gateway, financial and industrial centre of Russia specialising in oil and gas trade, shipbuilding yards, aerospace industry, radio and electronics, software and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other military equipment, mining, instrument manufacture, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy (production of aluminium alloys), chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, publishing and printing, food and catering, wholesale and retail, textile and apparel industries, and many other businesses. It was also home to Lessner, one of Russia's two pioneering automobile manufacturers (along with Russo-Baltic), Lessner; founded by machine tool and boiler maker G. A. Lessner in 1904, with designs by Boris Loutsky, it survived until 1910.[55]
File:StPetersburgDocks.JPG
The Saint Petersburg docks at dawn
10% of the world's power turbines are made there at the LMZ, which built over two thousand turbines for power plants across the world. Major local industries are Admiralty Shipyard, Baltic Shipyard, LOMO, Kirov Plant, Elektrosila, Izhorskiye Zavody; also registered in Saint Petersburg are Sovkomflot, Petersburg Fuel Company and SIBUR among other major Russian and international companies.
Saint Petersburg has three large cargo seaports: Bolshoi Port Saint Petersburg, Kronstadt, and Lomonosov. International cruise liners have been served at the passenger port at Morskoy Vokzal on the south-west of Vasilyevsky Island. In 2008 the first two berths were opened at the New Passenger Port on the west of the island.[56] The new port is part of the city's "Marine Facade" development project[57] and is due to have seven berths in operation by 2010.
A complex system of riverports on both banks of the Neva river are interconnected with the system of seaports, thus making Saint Petersburg the main link between the Baltic sea and the rest of Russia through the Volga-Baltic Waterway.
The Saint Petersburg Mint (Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest mints in the world, it mints Russian coins, medals and badges. Saint Petersburg is also home to the oldest and largest Russian foundry, Monumentskulptura, which made thousands of sculptures and statues that are now gracing public parks of Saint Petersburg, as well as many other cities. Monuments and bronze statues of the Tsars, as well as other important historic figures and dignitaries, and other world famous monuments, such as the sculptures by Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg, Paolo Troubetzkoy, Pavel Antokolsky, and others, were made there.
In 2007, Toyota opened a Camry plant after investing 5 billion dollars in Shushary, one of the southern suburbs of Saint Petersburg. Opel, Hyundai and Nissan have signed deals with the Russian government to build their automotive plants in Saint Petersburg too. Automotive and auto-parts industry is on the rise there during the last decade.
Saint Petersburg is the location of a significant brewery and distillery industry. It is known as the "beer capital" of Russia, due to the supply and quality of local water, contributing over 30% of the domestic production of beer with its five large-scale breweries including Europe's second largest brewery Baltika, Vena (both operated by BBH), Heineken Brewery, Stepan Razin (both by Heineken) and Tinkoff brewery (SUN-InBev).
The city has a lot of local distilleries which produce a broad range of vodka brands. The oldest ones is LIVIZ (founded in 1897). Among the youngest is Russian Standard Vodka introduced in Moscow in 1998, which opened in 2006 a new $60 million distillery in Petersburg (an area of 30,000 square meters, production rate of 22,500 bottles per hour. In 2007 this brand was exported to over 70 countries.[58]
Saint Petersburg has the second largest construction industry in Russia, including commercial, housing and road construction.
In 2006 Saint Petersburg's city budget was 179.9 billion rubles (about 6.651 billion US$ at 2006 exchange rates),[59] and is planned to double by 2012. The federal subject's gross regional product as of 2005 was 667.905 billion Russian rubles (about 23.611 billion US$ at 2005 exchange rates), ranked 4th in Russia, after Moscow, Tyumen Oblast, and Moscow Oblast,[60] or 145,503.3 rubles per capita (about 5,143.6 US$ at 2005 exchange rates), ranked 12th among Russia's federal subjects,[61] contributed mostly by wholesale and retail trade and repair services (24.7%) as well as processing industry (20.9%) and transportation and telecommunications (15.1%).[62]
Budget revenues of the city in 2009 amounted to 294.3 billion rubles (about 10.044 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates), expenses – 336.3 billion rubles (about 11.477 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates). The budget deficit amounted to about 42 billion rubles.[63] (about 1.433 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates)
Cityscape[link]
Saint Petersburg has no skyscrapers and a relatively low skyline. Current regulations forbid construction of high buildings in the city centre. The 310-meter (1,020 ft) tall Saint Petersburg TV Tower is the tallest structure in the city, while the 122.5 meters (402 ft) Peter and Paul Cathedral is by far the highest building. However, there is a controversial project endorsed by the city authorities, and known as the Okhta Center, to build a 396 meters (1,299 ft) supertall skyscraper. In 2008, the World Monuments Fund included the Saint Petersburg historic skyline on the watch list of the 100 most endangered sites due to the expected construction, which threatens to alter it drastically.[64]
Unlike in Moscow, in Saint Petersburg the historic architecture of the city centre, mostly consisting of Baroque and neoclassical buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has been largely preserved; although a number of buildings were demolished after the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, during the Siege of Leningrad and in recent years.[citation needed] The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for Peter I in 1703 on the shore of the Neva near Trinity Square. Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The ensemble of Peter and Paul Fortress with the Peter and Paul Cathedral takes a dominant position on Zayachy Island along the right bank of the River Neva. Each noon a cannon fires a blank shot from the fortress. The Saint Petersburg Mosque, the largest mosque in Europe when opened in 1913, is situated on the right bank nearby. The Spit of Vasilievsky Island, which splits the river into two largest armlets, the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva, is connected to the northern bank (Petrogradsky Island) via the Exchange Bridge and occupied by the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns. The southern coast of Vasilyevsky Island along the Bolshaya Neva features some of the city's oldest buildings, dating from the 18th century, including the Kunstkamera, Twelve Collegia, Menshikov Palace and Imperial Academy of Arts. It hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University.
On the southern, left bank of the Neva, connected to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island via the Palace Bridge, lie the Admiralty building, the vast Hermitage Museum complex stretching along the Palace Embankment, which includes the baroque Winter Palace, former official residence of Russian emperors, as well as the neoclassical Marble Palace. The Winter Palace faces Palace Square, the city's main square with the Alexander Column.
Nevsky Prospekt, also situated on the left bank of the Neva, is the main avenue in the city. It starts at the Admiralty and runs eastwards next to Palace Square. Nevsky Prospekt crosses the Moika (Green Bridge), Griboyedov Canal (Kazansky Bridge), Garden Street, the Fontanka (Anichkov Bridge), meets Liteyny Prospekt and proceeds to Uprising Square near the Moskovsky railway station, where it meets Ligovsky Prospekt and turns to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The Passage, Catholic Church of St. Catherine, Book House (former Singer Manufacturing Company Building in the Art Nouveau style), Grand Hotel Europe, Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Great Gostiny Dvor, Russian National Library, Alexandrine Theatre behind Mikeshin's statue of Catherine the Great, Kazan Cathedral, Stroganov Palace, Anichkov Palace and Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace are all situated along that avenue.
The Alexander Nevsky Lavra, intended to house the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky, is an important centre of Christian education in Russia. It also contains the Tikhvin Cemetery with graves of many notable Petersburgers.
On the territory between the Neva and Nevsky Prospekt the Church of the Savior on Blood, Mikhailovsky Palace housing the Russian Museum, Field of Mars, St. Michael's Castle, Summer Garden, Tauride Palace, Smolny Institute and Smolny Convent are located.
Many notable landmarks are situated to the west and south of the Admiralty Building, including the Trinity Cathedral, Mariinsky Palace, Hotel Astoria, famous Mariinsky Theatre, New Holland Island, Saint Isaac's Cathedral, the largest in the city, and Senate Square, also known as Decemberist's Square with the Bronze Horseman, 18th century equestrian monument to Peter the Great, which is considered among the city's most recognisable symbols.
Other symbols of Saint Petersburg include the weather vane in the shape of a small ship on top of the Admiralty's golden spire and the golden angel on top of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The Palace Bridge drawn at night is yet another symbol of the city. Every night during the navigation period from April to November, 22 bridges across the Neva and main canals are drawn to let ships pass in and out of the Baltic Sea according to a schedule.[65] It wasn't until 2004 that the first high bridge across the Neva, which doesn't need to be drawn, Big Obukhovsky Bridge, was opened. There are hundreds of smaller bridges in Saint Petersburg spanning across numerous canals and distributaries of the Neva, some of the most important of which are the Moika, Fontanka, Griboyedov Canal, Obvodny Canal, Karpovka and Smolenka. Due to the intricate web of canals, Saint Petersburg is often called Venice of the North. The rivers and canals in the city centre are lined with granite embankments. The embankments and bridges are separated from rivers and canals by granite or cast iron parapets.
Southern suburbs of the city feature former imperial residences, including Petergof, with majestic fountain cascades and parks, Tsarskoe Selo, with the baroque Catherine Palace and the neoclassical Alexander Palace, and Pavlovsk, which contains a domed palace of Emperor Paul and one of the largest English-style parks in Europe. Some other residences situated nearby and making part of the world heritage site, including a castle and park in Gatchina, actually belong to Leningrad Oblast rather than Saint Petersburg. Another notable suburb is Kronstadt with its 19th century fortifications and naval monuments, occupying the Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland.
Since around the end of the 20th century a great deal of active building and restoration works have been carried out in a number of the city's older districts. The authorities have recently been compelled to transfer the ownership of state-owned private residences in the city centre to private lessors. Many older buildings have been reconstructed to allow their use as apartments and penthouses.
Some of these structures, such as the Saint Petersburg Commodity and Stock Exchange have been recognised as town-planning errors.[66]
Museums[link]
Saint Petersburg is home to more than two hundred museums, many of them hosted in historic buildings. The largest of the museums is the Hermitage Museum, featuring interiors of the former imperial residence and a vast collection of art. The Russian Museum is a large museum devoted to the Russian fine art specifically. The apartments of some famous Petersburgers, including Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Feodor Chaliapin, Alexander Blok, Vladimir Nabokov, Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Joseph Brodsky, as well as some palace and park ensembles of the southern suburbs and notable architectural monuments such as St. Isaac's Cathedral, have also been turned into public museums.
The Kunstkamera, with its collection established in 1714 by Peter the Great to collect curiosities from all over the world, is sometimes considered the first museum in Russia, which has evolved into the present-day Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. The Russian Ethnography Museum, which has been split from the Russian Museum, is devoted to the cultures of the people of Russia, the former Soviet Union and Russian Empire.
Other notable museums include the Central Naval Museum hosted in the building of the former stock exchange and Zoological Museum, the Railway Museum, Museum of the Siege of Leningrad, Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, the largest non-governmental Museum of contemporary art in Russia, Saint Petersburg Museum of History in the Peter and Paul Fortress and Artillery Museum, which in fact includes not only artillery items, but also a huge collection of other military equipment, uniform and decorations.
Parks[link]
_Bridge_lake_obelisk.jpg)
Saint Petersburg is home to numerous parks and gardens, some of the most famous of which are situated in the southern suburbs, including one of the largest English gardens of Europe in Pavlovsk. Sosnovka is the largest park within the limits of the city proper, occupying 240 ha. The Summer Garden is the oldest one, dating back to the early 18th century and designed in the regular style. It is situated on the southern bank of the Neva at the head of the Fontanka and is famous for its cast iron railing and marble sculptures.
Among other notable parks are the Maritime Victory Park on Krestovsky Island and the Moscow Victory Park in the south, both commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War, as well as the Central Park of Culture and Leisure occupying Yelagin Island and the Tauride Garden around the Tauride Palace. The most common trees grown in the parks are the English oak, Norway maple, green ash, silver birch, Siberian larch, blue spruce, crack willow, limes, and poplars. Important dendrological collections dating back to the 19th century are hosted by the Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden and the Park of the Forestry Academy.
Tourism[link]
Saint Petersburg has significant historical and cultural heritage and is thus a highly attractive tourist destination.
The 18th and 19th century architectural ensemble of the city and its environs is preserved in virtually unchanged form. For various reasons (including large-scale destruction during World War II and construction of modern buildings during the postwar period in the largest historical centers of Europe), Saint Petersburg has now become a unique nature reserve of European architectural styles of the past three centuries. Saint Petersburg's loss of capital city status significantly helped the city in retaining many pre-revolutionary buildings, as modern architectural 'prestige projects' tended to be built in Moscow; this largely prevented the rise of mid-to-late-20th century architecture in the city and helped maintain the architectural appearance of the historic center.
Saint Petersburg is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes, and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture, history and culture. New tourist programs and sightseeing tours have been developed for those wishing to see Saint Petersburg's cultural heritage.
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The city has 221 museums, 2000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas, and around 80 other cultural establishments. Every year the city hosts around 100 festivals and various competitions of art and culture, including more than 50 international ones.
Despite the economic instability of the 1990s not a single major theatre or museum has been closed in Saint Petersburg; on the contrary many new ones have opened, for example, a private museum of puppets (opened in 1999) is the third museum of its kind in Russia, where collections of more than 2000 dolls are presented, including 'The multinational Saint Petersburg' and 'Pushkin's Petersburg'. The museum world of Saint Petersburg is incredibly diverse. The city is not only home to the world-famous Hermitage Museum and The Russian State Museum with its rich collection of Russian art, but also the palaces of Saint Petersburg and its suburbs, so-called small town museums and others like the museum of famous Russian writer Dostoyevsky; Museum of Musical Instruments, the museum of decorative arts and the museum of professional orientation.
.jpg)
The musical life of Saint Petersburg is rich and diverse, with the city now playing host to a number of annual carnivals.
Ballet performances occupy a special place in the cultural life of Saint Petersburg. The Petersburg School of Ballet is deservedly named as one of the best in the world. Traditions of the Russian classical school have been passed down from generation to generation amongst outstanding educators. The art of famous and prominent Saint Petersburg dancers like Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov was, and is, admired throughout the world. Contemporary Petersburg ballet is made up not only of traditional Russian classical school, but also ballets by those like Boris Eifman's, who expanded the scope of strict classical Russian ballet to almost unimaginable limits. Remaining faithful to the classical basis (he was a choreographer in Vaganova Academy of Dance), he combined classical ballet with the avant-garde style, and then, in turn, with acrobatics, rhythmic gymnastics, dramatic expressiveness, cinema, color, light, and finally with spoken word.
With a packed cultural program and a large number of world heritage sites, as well as a developing tourist infrastructure, Saint Petersburg has started to enter into the number of the world's leading centers of culture and tourism.
Transportation[link]
Saint Petersburg is a major transport hub. The first Russian railway was built here in 1837, and since then the city's transport infrastructure has continued to develop and keep pace with the growth of the city. Petersburg has an extensive system of local roads and railway services, maintains a large public transport system that includes the Saint Petersburg tram and the Saint Petersburg Metro, and is home to a number of riverine services that convey passengers around the city efficiently and in relative comfort.
The city is connected to the rest of Russia and the wider world by a number of federal highways and national and international rail routes. Pulkovo International Airport serves the majority of air passengers departing from or arriving to the city.
Roads and public transport[link]
Saint Petersburg has an extensive city-funded network of public transport (buses, trams, trolleybuses) and several hundred routes served by marshrutkas. Trams in Saint Petersburg used to be the main transport; in the 1980s, Leningrad had the largest tramway network in the world, but many tramway rail tracks were dismantled in the 2000s (decade).
Buses carry up to three million passengers daily, serving over 250 urban and a number of suburban bus routes. Saint Petersburg Metro underground rapid transit system was opened in 1955; it now has five lines with 64 stations, connecting all five railway terminals, and carrying 3.4 million passengers daily. Metro stations are often elaborately decorated; with examples of materials used being marble and bronze.
| Saint Petersburg Metro map |
|---|
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Traffic jams are common in the city, because of high daily traffic volumes between the commuter boroughs and the city centre, intercity traffic, and at times excessive snow in winter. The construction of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road was finished in 2011.
Saint Petersburg is part of the important transport corridor linking Scandinavia to Russia and Eastern Europe. The city is a node of the international European routes E18 towards Helsinki, E20 towards Tallinn, E95 towards Pskov, Kiev and Odessa and E105 towards Petrozavodsk, Murmansk and Kirkenes (north) and towards Moscow and Kharkiv (south).
Waterways[link]
The city is also served by the passenger and cargo seaports in the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea, the river port higher up the Neva, and tens of smaller passenger stations on both banks of the Neva river. It is a terminus of the Volga-Baltic and White Sea-Baltic waterways.
In 2004 the first high bridge that doesn't need to be drawn, a 2,824-meter (9,265 ft) long Big Obukhovsky Bridge, was opened. Meteor hydrofoils link the city centre to the coastal towns of Kronstadt, Lomonosov, Petergof, Sestroretsk, and Zelenogorsk from May through October. Throughout the city, smaller boats and water-taxis maneuver the many canals in the warmer months.
The shipping company St Peter Line operates two ferries which sails from Helsinki to St. Petersburg and from Stockholm to St Petersburg.
Railways[link]
Today, the city is the final destination of a web of intercity and suburban railways, served by five different railway terminals (Baltiysky, Finlyandsky, Ladozhsky, Moskovsky, and Vitebsky),[67] as well as dozens of non-terminal railway stations within the federal subject. Saint Petersburg has international railway connections to Helsinki, Finland, Berlin, Germany, and all former republics of the USSR. The Helsinki railway was built in 1870, 443 kilometers (275 mi), commutes three times a day, in a journey lasting about three and a half hours with the new Allegro train.
The Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway opened in 1851, 651 kilometers (405 mi); the commute to Moscow now requires from three and a half to nine hours.[68]
In 2009 Russian Railways launched a high speed service on the Moscow-Saint Petersburg route. The new train, known as Sapsan, is a deriative of the popular Siemens Velaro train; various versions of which are already in service in a number of European countries. It set records for the fastest train in Russia on May 2, 2009, travelling at 281 km/h[69] and on May 7, 2009, traveling at 290 kilometers per hour (180 mph).
Since December 12, 2010 Karelian Trains, a joint venture between Russian Railways and VR (Finnish Railways), has been running Alstom Pendolino operated high-speed services between Saint Petersburg's Finlyandsky and Helsinki's Central railway stations. These services are branded as 'Allegro' trains.
| Intercity and suburban rail terminals of Petersburg | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Air travel[link]
Saint Petersburg is also served by Pulkovo International Airport,[70] and by three smaller commercial and cargo airports in the suburbs. Lappeenranta Airport, which is located near Saint Petersburg in Finnish side of the border, is also popular among Russian travellers.
Pulkovo airport opened to passengers as a small aerodrome in 1931. As of 2011, the airport is the 3rd busiest in Russia after Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports. With two main terminals (one domestic, one international), Pulkovo is widely regarded as one of the larger and more modern airports in the Russian Federation. However, as it is anticipated that by 2025 Pulkovo airport will handle around 17 million passengers annually, plans have been laid out to build a new mid-field terminal extension directly to the north of Terminal 1 (domestic); it is planned to initially contain 18 gates, with the option of later extend the terminal by means of a mid-apron pier. Construction began in November 2010, and is scheduled to complete in 2013.[71]
There is a regular, 24/7, rapid-bus transit connection (marshrutka) between Pulkovo airport and the city center.
Education[link]
See also: Education in Russia and List of higher education and academic institutions in Saint Petersburg
As of 2006/2007 there were 1024 kindergartens, 716 public schools and 80 vocational schools in Saint Petersburg.[72] The largest of the public higher education institutions is Saint Petersburg State University, enrolling approximately 32,000 undergraduate students; and the largest non-governmental higher education institutions is the Institute of International Economic Relations, Economics and Law. Other famous universities are Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University, Herzen University and Saint Petersburg Military engineering-technical university. However, the public universities are all federal property and don't belong to the city.
Culture[link]
Main article: Society and culture in Saint Petersburg
Music[link]
Among the city's more than fifty theaters is the world-famous Mariinsky Theater (also known as the Kirov Theater in the USSR ), home to the Mariinsky Ballet company and opera. Leading ballet dancers, such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Rudolph Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Galina Ulanova and Natalia Makarova, were principal stars of the Mariinsky ballet.
Dmitri Shostakovich was born and brought up in Saint Petersburg, and dedicated his Seventh Symphony to the city, calling it the "Leningrad Symphony." He wrote the symphony while in Leningrad during the German siege. The 7th symphony was premiered in 1942; its performance in the besieged Leningrad at the Bolshoy Philharmonic Hall under the baton of conductor Karl Eliasberg was heard over the radio and lifted the spirits of the survivors.[73] In 1992 a reunion performance of the 7th Symphony by the (then) 14 survivors was played in the same hall as they done half a century ago.[74] The Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra remained one of the best known symphony orchestras in the world under the leadership of conductors Yevgeny Mravinsky and Yuri Temirkanov.
The Imperial Choral Capella was founded and modeled after the royal courts of other European capitals.
Saint Petersburg has been home to the newest movements in popular music in the country. The first jazz band in the Soviet Union was founded here by Leonid Utyosov in the 1920s, under the patronage of Isaak Dunayevsky. The first jazz club in the Soviet Union was founded here in the 1950s, and later was named jazz club Kvadrat. In 1956 the popular ensemble Druzhba was founded by Aleksandr Bronevitsky and Edita Piekha, becoming the first popular band in the 1950s USSR. In the 1960s student rock-groups Argonavty, Kochevniki and others pioneered a series of unofficial and underground rock concerts and festivals. In 1972 Boris Grebenshchikov founded the band Aquarium, that later grew to huge popularity. Since then "Peter's rock" music style was formed.
In the 1970s many bands came out from "underground" and eventually founded the Leningrad rock club, which has been providing stage to such bands as Piknik, DDT, Kino, headed by the legendary Viktor Tsoi, Alisa, Zemlyane, Igry, Mify,and many other popular groups. The first Russian-style happening show Pop mekhanika, mixing over 300 people and animals on stage, was directed by the multi-talented Sergey Kuryokhin in the 1980s.
Today's Saint Petersburg boasts many notable musicians of various genres, from popular Leningrad's Sergei Shnurov and Tequilajazzz, to rock veterans Yuri Shevchuk, Vyacheslav Butusov and Mikhail Boyarsky.
The White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg is famous for spectacular fireworks and massive show celebrating the end of school year.
Film[link]
Over 250 international and Russian movies were filmed in Saint Petersburg.[75] Well over a thousand feature films about tsars, revolution, people and stories set in Saint Petersburg were produced worldwide, but were not filmed in the city. First film studios were founded in Saint Petersburg in the 20th century, and since the 1920s Lenfilm has been the largest film studio based in Saint Petersburg. The first foreign feature movie filmed entirely in Saint Petersburg was the 1997 production of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, starring Sophie Marceau and Sean Bean, and made by international team of British, American, French and Russian filmmakers.
The cult comedy Irony of Fate[76] (also Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!) is set in Saint Petersburg and pokes fun at Soviet city planning. The 1985 film White Nights received considerable Western attention for having captured genuine Leningrad street scenes at a time when filming in the Soviet Union by Western production companies was generally unheard of. Other movies include GoldenEye (1995), Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996), and Brother (1997). Onegin (1999) is based on the Pushkin poem and showcases many tourist attractions. In addition, the Russian romantic comedy, Питер FM, showcases the cityscape significantly, almost as if it were a main character in the film.
Several international film festivals are held annually, such as the Festival of Festivals, St. Petersburg, as well as the Message to Man International Documentary Film Festival, since its inauguration in 1988 during the White Nights.[77]
Most of the exterior scenes from the 2004 German film Downfall (Der Untergang) were shot in St Petersburg.
Literature[link]
Saint Petersburg has a longstanding and world famous tradition in literature. Dostoyevsky called it “The most abstract and intentional city in the world," emphasizing its artificiality, but it was also a symbol of modern disorder in a changing Russia. It frequently appeared to Russian writers as a menacing and inhuman mechanism. The grotesque and often nightmarish image of the city is featured in Pushkin's last poems, the Petersburg stories of Gogol, the novels of Dostoyevsky, the verse of Alexander Blok and Osip Mandelshtam, and in the symbolist novel Petersburg by Andrey Bely. According to Lotman in his chapter, 'The Symbolism of Saint Petersburg' in Universe and the Mind, these writers were inspired from symbolism from within the city itself. The effect of life in Saint Petersburg on the plight of the poor clerk in a society obsessed with hierarchy and status also became an important theme for authors such as Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky. Another important feature of early Saint Petersburg literature is its mythical element, which incorporates urban legends and popular ghost stories, as the stories of Pushkin and Gogol included ghosts returning to Saint Petersburg to haunt other characters as well as other fantastical elements, creating a surreal and abstract image of Saint Petersburg.
20th century writers from Saint Petersburg, such as Vladimir Nabokov, Ayn Rand, Andrey Bely and Yevgeny Zamyatin, along with his apprentices, The Serapion Brothers, created entire new styles in literature and contributed new insights to the understanding of society through their experience in this city. Anna Akhmatova became an important leader for Russian poetry. Her poem Requiem focuses on the tragedies of living during the time of the Stalinist terror. Another notable 20th century writer from Saint Petersburg is Joseph Brodsky, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1987). While living in the United States, his writings in English reflected on life in Saint Petersburg from the unique perspective of being both an insider and an outsider to the city in essays such as, "A Guide to a Renamed City" and the nostalgic "In a Room and a Half".[78]
Sports[link]
Main article: Sport in Saint Petersburg
Leningrad hosted part of the association football tournament during the 1980 Summer Olympics. The 1994 Goodwill Games were held here.
The first competition here was the 1703 rowing event initiated by Peter the Great, after the victory over the Swedish fleet. Yachting events were held by the Russian Navy since the foundation of the city. Yacht clubs:[79] St. Petersburg River Yacht Club, Neva Yacht Club, the latter is the oldest yacht club in the world. In the winter, when the sea and lake surfaces are frozen and yachts and dinghies cannot be used, local people sail on ice boats.
Equestrianism has been a long tradition, popular among the Tsars and aristocracy, as well as part of the military training. Several historic sports arenas were built for equestrianism since the 18th century, to maintain training all year round, such as the Zimny Stadion and Konnogvardeisky Manezh among others.
Chess tradition was highlighted by the 1914 international tournament, in which the title "Grandmaster" was first formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II to five players: Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall, and which the Tsar had partially funded.
Kirov Stadium (now demolished) was one of the largest stadia anywhere in the world, and the home to FC Zenit St. Petersburg in 1950–1993 and 1995. In 1951 the attendance of 110,000 set the record for the Soviet football. In 1984, 2007, 2010 and 2011/2012 Zenit became champions of the Soviet and Russian leagues, respectively, won the Russian Cup in 1999 and 2010, won the UEFA Cup 2007–08 season and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup. Zenit currently plays their home games at Petrovsky Stadium. The new stadium, which will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches, is currently in construction, replacing the Kirov stadium.
Dual Grand Slam tennis player Svetlana Kuznetsova was born in Saint Petersburg.
Crime[link]
See also: Crime in Russia
The crime dynamic in Saint Petersburg is tightly associated with the general social situation in the country. A sharp spike in the crime level occurred at the end of the 1980s – beginning of the 1990s as a result of Perestroika-time turmoils (redistribution of property, privatization, decline of living standards, decrease of the effectiveness of militia etc.) By that time the city had fallen under the control of a number of organized criminal groups such as Tambov Gang, Malyshev Gang, Kazan Gang and ethnic criminal groups, engaged in racket, extortion, paying off local government, and violent clashes with each other.[80]
After the assassinations of City Property Committee Chairman and vice-Governor Mikhail Manevich(1997), State Duma deputy Galina Starovoytova (1998), acting City Legislature Speaker Viktor Novosyolov (1999) and a number of prominent businesspeople, Saint Petersburg was dubbed Capital of Crime in the Russian press.[81][82] There were a number of movies filmed in Saint Petersburg about the life of crime; Banditskiy Peterburg: Advocat,[83] Brother (1997)[84] reinforcing its image as the Crime Capital of Russia.
According to official sources the number of crimes committed by foreigners in Saint Petersburg in 2010 increased by 11.1%. Law enforcement authorities consider it is associated with an increased number of people from some CIS republics who live in Saint Petersburg illegally.[85] On the other hand, some media reported that in recent years there had been a notable increase in racially motivated violence, in particular towards foreign students.[86] One of the notable white supremacist groups, Belaya Energia (White Energy, inspired by US White Power group), has reportedly been one of the gangs involved in murdering foreign university students.[86]
The official portal of the Government of St. Petersburg provided data on significant improvement in the crime situation.[85] In particular, it is reported the number of crimes against tourists has decreased by more than half during 2009–2011.
In 2012, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs warned LGBT travellers about a vaguely worded law in St. Petersburg (which came into effect on March 17, 2012) that makes it a criminal offence to publicize acts of male or female homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgenderism. It is purportedly designed to protect minors. A Russian travel advisory on the Foreign Affairs website notes that while homosexuality is legal in Russia (it was decriminalized in 1993), LGBT Canadian travellers should avoid "displaying affection in public, as homosexuals can be targets of violence… Public actions (including dissemination of information, statements, displays or conspicuous behaviour) contradicting or appearing to contradict this law may lead to arrest, prosecution and the imposition of a fine."[87]
Twin towns and sister cities[link]
List of sister cities to Saint Petersburg, just like it appears on the official portal of the City Government, listing both sister cities and partnership ties.[88]:
| Non CIS/Baltic states sister cities of Saint Petersburg (from official government list) | ||
|---|---|---|
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|
|
Sister cities in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic states:
|
Other sisterhoods not on the government list:
| Sister cities of Saint Petersburg (not included on official government list) | ||
|---|---|---|
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|
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See also[link]
- List of consulates in Saint Petersburg
- List of museums in Saint Petersburg
- List of notable people from Saint Petersburg
- List of Saint Petersburg sister cities
- Flag of Saint Petersburg
- Hotels in Saint Petersburg
References[link]
Bibliography[link]
- Amery, Colin, Brian Curran & Yuri Molodkovets. St. Petersburg. London: Frances Lincoln, 2006. ISBN 0-7112-2492-7.
- Bater, James H. St. Petersburg: Industrialization and Change. Montreal: McGuill-Queen’s University Press, 1976. ISBN 0-7735-0266-1.
- Berelowitch, Wladimir & Olga Medvedkova. Histoire de Saint-Pétersbourg. Paris: Fayard, 1996. ISBN 2-213-59601-8.
- Brumfield, William Craft. The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. ISBN 0-520-06929-3.
- Buckler, Julie. Mapping St. Petersburg: Imperial Text and Cityshape. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005 ISBN 0-691-11349-1.
- Clark, Katerina, Petersburg, Crucible of Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
- Cross, Anthony (ed.). St. Petersburg, 1703–1825. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. ISBN 1-4039-1570-9.
- "San Pietroburgo, la capitale del nord" by Giuseppe D'Amato in Viaggio nell'Hansa baltica. L'Unione europea e l'allargamento ad Est. Greco&Greco editori, Milano, 2004. pp. 27–46. ISBN 88-7980-355-7. (Travel to the Baltic Hansa. The European Union and its enlargement to the East) Book in Italian.
- George, Arthur L. & Elena George. St. Petersburg: Russia's Window to the Future, The First Three Centuries. Lanham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-58979-017-0.
- Glantz, David M. The Battle for Leningrad, 1941–1944. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002. ISBN 0-7006-1208-4.
- Hellberg-Hirn, Elena. Imperial Imprints: Post-Soviet St. Petersburg. Helsinki: SKS Finnish Literature Society, 2003. ISBN 951-746-491-6.
- Hughes, Lindsey (2004). Peter the Great: a Biography. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10300-X.
- Knopf Guide: Sat. Petersburg. New York: Knopf, 1995. ISBN 0-679-76202-7.
- Eyewitness Guide: St. Petersburg.
- Lincoln, W. Bruce. Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia. New York: Basic Books, 2000. ISBN 0-465-08323-4.
- Orttung, Robert W. From Leningrad to St. Petersburg: Democratization in a Russian City. New York: St. Martin’s, 1995. ISBN 0-312-17561-2.
- Richardson, Daniel; Humphreys, Robert (February 26, 1998). St. Petersburg: The Rough Guide (September 2004 – Fifth ed.). Rough Guides – New York, London & Delhi. ISBN 978-1-85828-298-5. http://books.google.com/?id=mozWAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
- Ruble, Blair A. Leningrad: Shaping a Soviet City. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. ISBN 0-87772-347-8.
- Shvidkovsky, Dmitry O. & Alexander Orloff. St. Petersburg: Architecture of the Tsars. New York: Abbeville Press, 1996. ISBN 0-7892-0217-4.
- Volkov, Solomon. St. Petersburg: A Cultural History. New York: Free Press, 1995. ISBN 0-02-874052-1.
- St. Petersburg:Architecture of the Tsars. 360 pages. Abbeville Press, 1996. ISBN 0-7892-0217-4
- Saint Petersburg: Museums, Palaces, and Historic Collections: A Guide to the Lesser Known Treasures of St. Petersburg. 2003. ISBN 1-59373-000-4.
- Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School. – Saint Petersburg: NP-Print Edition, 2007. – 448 p. ISBN 5-901724-21-6, ISBN 978-5-901724-21-7.
- Нежиховский Р. А. Река Нева и Невская губа, Leningrad, Гидрометеоиздат, 1981.
- Vorhees, Mara (February 1, 2008). St. Petersburg (Fifth ed.). Footscray, Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet. ISBN 978-1-74059-827-9. http://books.google.com/?id=MYVCQYIJafsC. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
Notes[link]
- ^ Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №849 от 13 мая 2000 г. «О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе». Вступил в силу 13 мая 2000 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства РФ", №20, ст. 2112, 15 мая 2000 г. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #849 of May 13, 2000 On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District. Effective as of May 13, 2000.).
- ^ Госстандарт Российской Федерации. №ОК 024-95 27 декабря 1995 г. «Общероссийский классификатор экономических регионов. 2. Экономические районы», в ред. Изменения №5/2001 ОКЭР. (Gosstandart of the Russian Federation. #OK 024-95 December 27, 1995 Russian Classification of Economic Regions. 2. Economic Regions, as amended by the Amendment #5/2001 OKER. ).
- ^ Official website of St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg in Figures
- ^ Законодательное Собрание Санкт-Петербурга. Закон №555-75 от 26 октября 2005 г. «О праздниках и памятных датах в Санкт-Петербурге», в ред. Закона №541-112 от 6 ноября 2008 г. (Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg. Law #555-75 of October 26, 2005 On Holidays and Memorial Dates in Saint Petersburg. ).
- ^ Official website of St. Petersburg. Петербург в цифрах (St. Petersburg in Figures) (Russian)
- ^ a b c d Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2011). "Информационные материалы об окончательных итогах Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года (Information on the final results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/perepis_itogi1612.htm. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
- ^ The density value was calculated by dividing the population reported by the 2010 Census by the area shown in the "Area" field. Please note that this value may not be accurate as the area specified in the infobox is not necessarily reported for the same year as the population.
- ^ Правительство Российской Федерации. Постановление №725 от 31 августа 2011 г. «О составе территорий, образующих каждую часовую зону, и порядке исчисления времени в часовых зонах, а также о признании утратившими силу отдельных Постановлений Правительства Российской Федерации». Вступил в силу по истечении 7 дней после дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Российская Газета", №197, 6 сентября 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Resolution #725 of August 31, 2011 On the Composition of the Territories Included into Each Time Zone and on the Procedures of Timekeeping in the Time Zones, as Well as on Abrogation of Several Resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation. Effective as of after 7 days following the day of the official publication.).
- ^ Official the whole territory of Russia according to Article 68.1 of the Constitution of Russia.
- ^ McColl, R. W., ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of world geography. 1. N. Y.: Infobase Publishing. p. 1216. ISBN 0-8160-5786-9. http://books.google.com/?id=DJgnebGbAB8C&pg=PA633&dq=capital+moved+to+Moscow#v=onepage&q=capital%20moved%20to%20Moscow&f=false. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ V. Morozov. The Discourses of Saint Petersburg and the Shaping of a Wider Europe. Copenhagen Peace Research Institute. 2002. Ciaonet.org
- ^ "Exploring St. Petersburg / The Hermitage". Geographia.com. January 6, 1990. http://www.geographia.com/russia/peter02.htm. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
- ^ Williams, Harold (1914). Russia of the Russians. Pitman & Sons. p. 33. http://books.google.com/books?id=UMJoAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA33&dq.
- ^ Wilson, Derek. Peter the Great. Macmillan. p. 82. http://books.google.com/books?id=N-K6Fp445CIC&pg=PA150&dq=peter+the+great+maritime&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g59JT6vBK5PG0AHQr7WjDg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=maritime&f=false. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ^ Hughes, Lindsey (2004). Peter the Great: a Biography. Yale University Press. p. 66. ISBN 0-300-10300-X.
- ^ "Peter and Paul Fortress". Saint-Petersburg.com. http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/peter-paul-fortress.asp. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
- ^ "Consulate General of Sweden – Sweden and Saint Petersburg". Swedenabroad.com. October 17, 2005. http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____41937.aspx. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ^ "St Petersburg: Paris of the North or City of Bones?". The Independent. July 8, 2006
- ^ Wilson, Derek. Peter the Great. Macmillan. p. 82. http://books.google.com/books?id=N-K6Fp445CIC&pg=PA150&dq=peter+the+great+maritime&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g59JT6vBK5PG0AHQr7WjDg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=maritime&f=false. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ^ Matthew S. Anderson, Peter the Great (London: Thames and Hudson, 1978)
- ^ Rex A. Wade The Russian Revolution, 1917 2005 Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-84155-0
- ^ "The common characteristic of Saint-Petersburg". russia-travel.ws. 2005–2008. http://www.russia-travel.ws/regions/The_common_characteristic/. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ Leningrad: A Short Guide. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House. 1963. p. 286. http://books.google.com/?id=7TIaAAAAIAAJ&dq=Lenin%20places%20in%20Leningrad. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Ленинградская область в целом: Административно-территориальное деление Ленинградской области". Lenobltrans.narod.ru. http://lenobltrans.narod.ru/adm1.html. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ Stalin's Terror: High Politics and Mass Repression in the Soviet Union by Barry McLoughlin and Kevin McDermott (eds). Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p. 6
- ^ a b Siege of Leningrad. Encyclopædia Britannica[dead link]
- ^ Baldack, Richard H. "Leningrad, Siege of" World Book Encyclopedia, Chicago, 2002, vol.12, page 195
- ^ Hugh Ragsdale, ed. (1998). "Chronology of Major Events". Russia after the war: hopes, illusions, and disappointments, 1945–1957. N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.. p. 238. ISBN 0-7656-0227-X. http://books.google.com/?id=IsNPwrLwmIcC&pg=PA132&dq=leningrad+affair#v=onepage&q=leningrad%20affair&f=false.
- ^ a b Orttung, Robert W. (1995). "Chronology of Major Events". From Leningrad to Saint Petersburg. London, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 332. ISBN 0-312-12080-X. http://books.google.com/?id=UjbaxYyS2MYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=From+Leningrad+to+Saint+Petersburg#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ Ollman, Leah. "Russian Photos Trace Images of Mortality and Memory." Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2001
- ^ Aidan Dunne. "Camera in a City of Shadows." Irish Times, Dublin, May 5, 2007
- ^ Sergey Zagraevsky. Will Saint Petersburg share the same fate as Moscow? Zagraevsky.com
- ^ "Photos of the violations of the historical environment of Saint Petersburg". Rusarch.ru. http://rusarch.ru/attn_spb3.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ The level of flooding is measured near Saint Petersburg Mining Institute, which is normally 11 centimeters (4.3 in) a.s.l.
- ^ Нежиховский Р. А. Река Нева и Невская губа, Leningrad: Гидрометеоиздат, 1981.
- ^ See Historical weather records for Saint Petersburg (since 1932) and Historical weather in Saint Petersburg for further information.
- ^ "Pogoda.ru.net" (in Russian). http://pogoda.ru.net/climate/26063.htm. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
- ^ "Climatological Information for St.Petersburg, Russia". Hong Kong Observatory. http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/climat/world/eng/europe/russia/st_petersburg_e.htm. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
- ^ Cf. Sant Georg am See in an article written in Dutch.
- ^ a b Нестеров В. "Знаешь ли ты свой город" ("Do you know your city?"). Leningrad, 1958, p. 58.
- ^ "August 31, 1914 St.Petersburg renamed to Petrograd" (in ru). http://radiokarnaval.ru/news/show/3042?radio=bd09712698pcpirbfrg1bjne86. Retrieved January 14, 2011. [dead link]
- ^ "St Petersburg, the 'Venice of the North', gets its own fleet of gondolas". The Independent (UK). June 29, 2004. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/st-petersburg-the-venice-of-the-north-gets-its-own-fleet-of-gondolas-733899.html. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ FitzLyon, Kyril; Zinovieff, Kyril; Hughes, Jenny (2003). The companion guide to St Petersburg. Companion Guides. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-900639-40-8. http://books.google.com/?id=u8D75IzFL4YC&pg=PA103&dq=ulitsa+Gogolya#v=onepage&q=ulitsa%20Gogolya&f=false.
- ^ Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек (Population of Russia, its federal districts, federal subjects, districts, urban localities, rural localities—administrative centers, and rural localities with population of over 3,000)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/1_TOM_01_04.xls. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
- ^ "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров. (All Union Population Census of 1989. Present population of union and autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and okrugs, krais, oblasts, districts, urban settlements, and villages serving as district administrative centers.)" (in Russian). Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года (All-Union Population Census of 1989). Demoscope Weekly (website of the Institute of Demographics of the State University—Higher School of Economics. 1989. http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus89_reg.php. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
- ^ "Перепись-2010: русских становится больше". Perepis-2010.ru. December 19, 2011. http://www.perepis-2010.ru/news/detail.php?ID=6936. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ Martin, Terry (1998). The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing. The Journal of Modern History 70.4, 813–861.[dead link]
- ^ Чистякова Н. Третье сокращение численности населения... и последнее? Демоскоп Weekly 163 – 164, August 1–15, 2004.
- ^ Russian source: "Encyclopedia of Saint Petersburg" Чистяков А. Ю. Население (обзорная статья). Энциклопедия Санкт-Петербурга
- ^ Russian statistics Основные показатели социально-демографической ситуации в Санкт-Петербурге[dead link]
- ^ "В первом полугодии продолжалось умеренное повышение числа рождений". Demoscope.ru. http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2007/0301/barom04.php. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ^ "The Constitution of the Russian federation". Constitution.ru. http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-01.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ "Russian source: Charter of Saint Petersburg City". Gov.spb.ru. http://gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8308279&prevDoc=8308279&spack=000listid%3D010000000100%26listpos%3D0%26lsz%3D1%26nd%3D9111570%26nh%3D0%26. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ "Official website of the Northwestern Federal District (Russian)". Szfo.ru. June 25, 2009. http://www.szfo.ru/. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ Georgano, G. N. Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985)
- ^ Discoverthebaltic.com[dead link] Discover the Baltic online guide to Baltic cruise ports
- ^ Mfspb.ru St Petersburg "Marine Facade" development project
- ^ Russian Standard Vodka Ranked 4th Fastest Growing Premium Spirits Brand Worldwide Impact, 2007.
- ^ "Budget of Saint Petersburg (Russian document)". City of Saint Petersburg. http://www.gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8421328&prevDoc=8421328&spack=000listid%3D010000000100%26listpos%3D0%26lsz%3D1%26nd%3D8372689%26nh%3D0%26.
- ^ "Валовой региональный продукт по субъектам Российской Федерации в 1998–2005гг. (в текущих основных ценах; млн.рублей)". Gks.ru. http://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b01_19/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d000/vrp98-05.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ "Валовой региональный продукт на душу населения (в текущих основных ценах; рублей)". Gks.ru. http://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b01_19/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d000/dusha98-05.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ "Отраслевая структура ВРП по видам экономической деятельности (по ОКВЭД) за 2005 год". Gks.ru. http://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b01_19/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d000/stru05.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ Data of the Government of Saint-Petersburg
- ^ "St. Petersburg Historic Skyline, Russian Federation". Wmf.org. http://wmf.org/watch2008/watch.php?id=S8352. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ Schedule for main drawbridges across the Neva river (Official Russian schedule): MR7.ru
- ^ Hudyakov Russian: Артём Худяков, Artiem (March 12, 2008). "Virtual protection of Petersburg Russian: Виртуальная защита Петербурга" (in ru). bn.ru/. http://www.bn.ru/articles/2008/12/03/39306.html. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
- ^ Until 2001, the Varshavsky Rail Terminal served as a major station; it now is a railway museum.Reconstruction of the Warsaw Railway Station
- ^ "Results of train ticket inquiry, Russian train schedules and Russian train tickets". RZD.com. http://www.rzd.ru/. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
- ^ "Sapsan claims Russian rail speed record". Railway Gazette International. May 7, 2009. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/sapsan-claims-russian-rail-speed-record.html. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
- ^ Rossiya (Pulkovo): Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise
- ^ "Pulkovo Airport Expansion, Pulkovo, Russia". http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/pulkovointnernationa/. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
- ^ "ОТЧЕТ за 2006/2007 учебный год". http://www.gov.spb.ru/Document/1193727839.doc. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ^ Close (October 16, 2005). "Where a symphony silenced guns". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/oct/16/classicalmusicandopera.russia.stpetersburg. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ Vulliamy, Ed (November 25, 2001). "Orchestral manoeuvres (part one)". London: Observer.guardian.co.uk. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,605454,00.html. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ International Movie Database
- ^ "the irony of fate sat in st.petersburg". http://traveldk.com/st-petersburg/topten/films-set-in-st-petersburg. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
- ^ "The XIX International "Message To Man" Film Festival". 2009 IFC Centaur. http://m2m.iffc.ru/index_E.htm. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
- ^ Joseph Brodsky. Less Than One: Selected Essays, 1986
- ^ "History of Yacht Clubs in Russia". Encspb.ru. http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804016491. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ Russian Mafia Shakes Down the Country by Steven R. Van Hook, Santa Barbara News-Press, November 20, 1994
- ^ Trumbull, Nathaniel S. (2003) The impacts of globalization on Saint Petersburg: A secondary world city in from the cold? The Annals of Regional Science 37:533–546
- ^ Powell, Bill & Brian Whitmore. The Capital Of Crime.(Saint Petersburg, Russia). Newsweek International, May 15, 2000.
- ^ ""Banditskiy Peterburg: Advokat" (2000)". Imdb.com. February 27, 2006. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0394150/. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ^ "Brat (1997)". Imdb.com. April 16, 1998. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118767/. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ^ a b Crime preventing measures have made good results. – An official portal of the administration of St. Petersburg
- ^ a b Russia: Racist Attacks Plague St. Petersburg Radio Free Europe September 30, 2005
- ^ Template:Http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries pays/report rapport-eng.asp?id=249000
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb "Saint Petersburg in figures – International and Interregional Ties". Saint Petersburg City Government. http://eng.gov.spb.ru/figures/ities. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
- ^ "Barcelona's Sister cities". 2008 Ajuntament de Barcelona (City council's webpage). http://w3.bcn.es/XMLServeis/XMLHomeLinkPl/0,4022,229724149_257215678_1,00.html. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "::Bethlehem Municipality::". bethlehem-city.org. http://www.bethlehem-city.org/Twining.php. Retrieved October 10, 2009.
- ^ "Coloful Daegu". http://english.daegu.go.kr/AboutDaegu/sister.asp. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Dresden Twin cities". 2008 Landeshauptstadt Dresden (City of Dresden: www.Dresden.de). http://dresden.de/en/02/11/c_03.php. Retrieved December 1, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Tenerife
- ^ "Edinburgh – Twin and Partner Cities". 2008 The City of Edinburgh Council, City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ Scotland. http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/internet/city_living/CEC_twin_and_partner_cities. Retrieved December 21, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Gdańsk Official Website: 'Miasta partnerskie'" (in Polish & English). 2009 Urząd Miejski w Gdańsku. http://www.gdansk.pl/samorzad,62,733.html. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ "Stadt Graz: Sister Cities". http://www.graz.at/cms/beitrag/10099866/606819. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Twin Towns – Graz Online – English Version". graz.at. http://www.graz.at/cms/beitrag/10045157/606819/. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
- ^ "Sister Cities of Istanbul". http://www.greatistanbul.com/sister_cities.htm. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
- ^ Erdem, Selim Efe (November 3, 2003). "İstanbul'a 49 kardeş" (in Turkish). Radikal. http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=94185. Retrieved November 2, 2008. "49 sister cities in 2003"
- ^ "Le Havre Website – Twin Towns".
(in English) 2006–2008 Ovidio Limited.. http://www.lehavre.eu/#Twin_towns. Retrieved November 30, 2008. - ^ "Los Angeles City Council: Sister cities of Los Angeles". http://www.lacity.org/sistercities/html/08.htm. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Partner Cities of Lyon and Greater Lyon". 2008 Mairie de Lyon. http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/villes_partenaires/villes_partenaires_2/?aIndex=1. Retrieved October 21, 2008.
- ^ "Friendship Agreements". Manchester City Council. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080611021612/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=100002&documentID=2632&pageNumber=3. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "International relations: Saint Petersburg". http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=161&pg=2979. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "City of Melbourne — International relations — Sister cities". City of Melbourne. http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=161&pg=2979. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
- ^ "Milano – Città Gemellate". 2008 Municipality of Milan (Comune di Milano). http://www.comune.milano.it/portale/wps/portal/CDM?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/ContentLibrary/In%20Comune/In%20Comune/Citt%20Gemellate. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
- ^ "Official Website of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai". Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. http://www.mcgm.gov.in/. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Osaka and the World, the official website of the Osaka city". http://www.city.osaka.jp/english/more_about_osaka/osaka_world/index.html. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Paris Partners: 'Les pactes d'amitié et de coopération'". Mairie de Paris. http://www.paris.fr/portail/accueil/Portal.lut?page_id=6587&document_type_id=5&document_id=16468&portlet_id=14974. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Paris International relations : special partners". Mairie de Paris. http://www.paris.fr/en/city_government/international/special_partners.asp. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ ~Plovdiv Sister cities
- ^ "Prague Partner Cities" (in Czech). 2009 Magistrát hl. m. Prahy. http://magistrat.praha-mesto.cz/72647_Partnerska-mesta. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
- ^ "Twinning Cities". City of Thessaloniki. http://www.thessalonikicity.gr/English/twinning-cities.htm. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ (Polish) "Miasta partnerskie Warszawy". um.warszawa.pl. Biuro Promocji Miasta. May 4, 2005. http://um.warszawa.pl/v_syrenka/new/index.php?dzial=aktualnosci&ak_id=3284&kat=11. Retrieved August 29, 2008.
- ^ "Zagreb Sister Cities". http://www.zagreb.hr/mms/en/index.html. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Yerevan Municipality – Sister Cities". 2005–2009 www.yerevan.am. http://yerevan.am/main.php?lang=3&page_id=194. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
- ^ "Guide to Vilnuis". http://www.vilniushostels.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Twin cities of Riga". Riga City Council. http://www.riga.lv/EN/Channels/Riga_Municipality/Twin_cities_of_Riga/default.htm. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ About Daugavpils
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg
- ^ "Online Directory: Russian Federation, Eurasia". Sister Cities International. http://www.sister-cities.org/icrc/directory/NIS/Russia. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Sister cities:Saint Petersburg, Russia". http://www.lansingsc.org/pages/stpetersburg.cfm. Retrieved December 1, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Maribor sister cities
- ^ "US Africa Sister Cities Conference". U.S. Africa sister cities foundation, inc.. http://www.usasc.org/misc-docs/SA_Conf_Tour%20package.pdf. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "Sister cities international". http://www.glosk.com/LH/Republic_of_Lithuania/-3599695/pages/List_of_twin_towns_and_sister_cities/4519_en.htm. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Sister partners of Oslo". http://www.oslo.kommune.no/the_city_of_oslo/international_cooperation/. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Rishon LeZion". http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Rishon_LeZion. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "Partnership towns of the City of Košice" (in Slovak). 2007–2009 City of Košice Magistrát mesta Košice, Tr. SNP 48/A, 040 11 Košice. http://www.kosice.sk/clanok.asp?file=gov_s_c-00.html. Retrieved July 12, 2009.
- ^ Haifa agreement with partner
- ^ "The city of Lviv, and its sister cities". http://www.ukrainians.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=279&Itemid=2. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ Hungary-Russia sister cities
- ^ "Porto Alegre's International Sister Cities Program". Porto Alegre, RS. http://www2.portoalegre.rs.gov.br/captare/default.php?p_secao=36. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Petersburg |
This audio file was created from a revision of the "Saint Petersburg" article dated August 11, 2011, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
- "Официальный портал администрации Санкт-Петербурга [The Official Portal of the Saint Petersburg City Authority]" (in ru). The Saint Petersburg City Authority: 191060, St. Petersburg, Smolny [Администрация Санкт-Петербурга 191060, СПб., Смольный]. 2001–2011. http://eng.gov.spb.ru/. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- "City Tourist Portal". http://visit-petersburg.ru/?lang=en.
- Committee for Investment and Strategic Projects (2010). "Saint Petersburg – open city". The Government of St. Petersburg. http://st-petersburg.ru/en/. Retrieved February 9, 2011 [Analytical materials and white papers upon economy, business and social environment, comfort and doing business in St. Petersburg]
- "Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg". St. Petersburg: The Likhachov Foundation. 2004. http://www.encspb.ru/en/. Retrieved February 9, 2011 [3500 entries, 9200 personalities, 3500 addresses, 2000 pictures and 40 geographical maps, 3800 bibliographical references from the original "Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg" (SPb., Rosspen, 2004)]
- Marina Sidyakina (April 10, 2008). "Destination: St Petersburg". Helsinki Times. http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=545:destination-st-petersburg&catid=155:travel&Itemid=185/. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- Saint Petersburg (Russia) travel guide from Wikitravel
- St Petersburg on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)
- Official list of foreign partner cities and regions on the website of the city government's Committee for External Relations (in Russian)
- Bob Atchinson (2010). "Saint Petersburg, 1900: a photographic travelogue of the capital of Imperial Russia". http://www.alexanderpalace.org/petersburg1900/. Retrieved February 9, 2011 [50 photographs of St. Petersburg from «Travelogues» of Burton Holmes (Vol. 8, 1914) and other sources]
- Life of Saint Petersburg in photos
- Saint Petersburg sights and attractions
- Over 1600 pre-Revolution postcard views of Saint Petersburg
- Saint Petersburg city landscapes
- St-Petersburg, Virtual Tour • 360° Aerial Panorama
http://wn.com/Saint_Petersburg
Related pages:
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http://pt.wn.com/São Petersburgo
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For other people named Michael Jackson, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation).
| Michael Jackson | |
|---|---|
 Jackson at the White House in 1984 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Joseph Jackson[1] |
| Also known as | King of Pop, MJ |
| Born | (1958-08-29)August 29, 1958 Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | June 25, 2009(2009-06-25) (aged 50) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1964–2009 |
| Labels | Motown, Epic, Legacy, MJJ Productions |
| Associated acts |
 Michael Jackson's Signature |
| Website | www.michaeljackson.com |
Michael Joseph Jackson[1] (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ,[2] Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.[3] He was also one of the world's most prominent humanitarians and philanthropists; personally, and through his Heal the World Foundation, he donated more than $300 million in charity, and held the Guinness World Record for having supported the most charities out of any pop star.[4][5]
Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series titled This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.[6]
Contents
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Life and career[link]
Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)[link]
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana,[7] an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy.[8] A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.[9]
Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.[10][11][12] Joseph acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a boy.[12] Jackson stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, though he also credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success.[10] Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast in February 1993. He admitted that he had often cried from loneliness and he would vomit on the sight of his father. Jackson's father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson, saying that he had a fat nose on numerous occasions.[13] In fact, Michael Jackson's deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant especially with his father, and to remain child-like throughout his adult life are in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child.[14]
In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the 2003 broadcast of Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson acknowledged that his father hurt him when he was a child, but was nonetheless a "genius", as he admitted his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success. When Bashir dismissed the positive remark and continued asking about beatings, Jackson put his hand over his face and objected to the questions. He recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you".[15][16]
In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine. Jackson later began performing backup vocals and dancing. When he was eight, Jackson began sharing the lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5.[8] The band toured the Midwest extensively from 1966 to 1968, frequently performing at a string of black clubs known as the "chitlin' circuit", where they often opened stripteases and other adult acts. In 1966, they won a major local talent show with renditions of Motown hits and James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)", led by Michael.[17]
The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy", for the local record label Steeltown in 1967, before signing with Motown Records in 1968.[8] Rolling Stone magazine later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts," writing that he "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer."[18] The group set a chart record when its first four singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[8] Between 1972 and 1975, Michael released four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben, released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise, and producing successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin".
The Jackson 5 "became a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists... five working-class black boys with afros and bell bottoms, and they really didn't have to trade any of that stuff in order to become mainstream stars."[19]
The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.[20]
[edit] Move to Epic and Off the Wall (1975–81)
In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records[20] and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career.[21] They continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Michael was the lead songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel", and "Can You Feel It".[17] In 1978, he starred as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall.[22] In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.[23]
Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first solo album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You".[24][25] It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide.[26] In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".[27][28] That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".[24] Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist.[29] Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release.[30] In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.[31]
[edit] Thriller and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (1982–83)
In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows.[32][33] These awards were thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which was 1983's best-selling album worldwide[34][35] and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States,[36] as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies so far.[37] The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[38] Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work.[39] Jackson's attorney John Branca noted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12.[40] Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple."[41] In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform.[32] In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video ever to be inducted.[42][43][44]
Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too".[40] The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[45]
On March 25th 1983, Michael Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalamar member Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before. The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.[46] Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing."[47]
Pepsi, "We Are the World" and business career (1984–85)[link]
On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi Cola commercial, overseen by executive Phil Dusenberry,[48] from ad agency BBDO and Pepsi's Worldwide Creative Director, Alan Pottasch at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In front of a full house of fans during a simulated concert, pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire. He suffered second-degree burns to his scalp. Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars on his scalp, and he also had his third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter.[23] Jackson never recovered from this injury. Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated his $1.5 million settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, which now has a "Michael Jackson Burn Center" in honor of his donation.[49] Dusenberry later recounted the episode in his memoir, Then We Set His Hair on Fire: Insights and Accidents from a Hall of Fame Career in Advertising.
On May 14, 1984, Jackson was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse.[50] Jackson won eight awards during the Grammys that year. Unlike later albums, Thriller did not have an official tour to promote it, but the 1984 Victory Tour, headlined by The Jacksons, showcased much of Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. He donated all the funds (around $8 million) raised from the Victory Tour to charity.[51] He also co-wrote the charity single "We Are the World" in 1985 with Lionel Richie, which was released worldwide to aid the poor in the U.S. and Africa. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 30 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine relief. In 1986, "We Are the World" won four Grammys (one for Jackson for Song of the Year). American Music Award directors removed the charity song from the competition because they felt it would be inappropriate, but recognized it with two special honors (one for the creation of the song and one for the USA for Africa idea). They are the only AMAs that Jackson won as non-solo artist.[52][53][54][55]
In 1984, ATV Music Publishing, which had the copyrights to nearly 4000 songs, including the Northern Songs catalog that contained the majority of the Lennon–McCartney compositions recorded by The Beatles, was put up for sale by Robert Holmes à Court.[56] Jackson had become interested in owning music catalogs after working with Paul McCartney in the early 1980s: Jackson had learned McCartney made approximately $40 million a year from other people's songs.[57] In 1981,[58] McCartney was offered the ATV music catalog for £20 million ($40 million).[57][59] According to McCartney, he contacted Yoko Ono about making a joint purchase by splitting the cost equally at £10 million each, but Ono thought they could buy it for £5 million each.[57][59] When they were unable to make the joint purchase, McCartney let the offer fall through, not wanting to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs.[58][59]
According to a negotiator for Holmes à Court in the 1984 sale, "We had given Paul McCartney first right of refusal but Paul didn't want it at that time."[60] Also, an attorney for McCartney assured Jackson's attorney, John Branca, that McCartney was not interested in bidding: McCartney reportedly said "It's too pricey".[57][58] But there were several other companies and investors bidding. In September 1984, Jackson was first informed about the sale by Branca and sent a bid of $46 million on November 20, 1984.[56] Jackson's agents thought they had a deal several times, but encountered new bidders or new areas of debate.[56] In May 1985, Jackson's team walked away from talks after having spent over $1 million on four months of due diligence and on the negotiations.[56]
In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned that Charles Koppelman's and Marty Bandier's The Entertainment Co. had made a tentative agreement with Holmes à Court to buy ATV Music for $50 million.[56] But in early August, Holmes à Court's team contacted Jackson and talks resumed. Jackson raised his bid to $47.5 million and it was accepted because he could close the deal more quickly, having already completed due diligence of ATV Music.[56] He also agreed to visit Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon.[56][60] Jackson's purchase of ATV Music was finalized August 10, 1985.[56]
[edit] Appearance, tabloids, Bad, films, autobiography and Neverland (1986–90)
See also: Michael Jackson's health and appearance
File:Michael Jackson King of Pop 1988.jpg
Jackson two years after he was diagnosed with vitiligo, here in the early stages of the disease
Jackson's skin had been a medium-brown color for the entire duration of his youth, but starting in the mid 1980s, it gradually grew paler. The change gained widespread media coverage, including rumors that he might be bleaching his skin.[61] According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography, in 1986, Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus; the vitiligo partially lightened his skin, and the lupus was in remission; both illnesses made him sensitive to sunlight. The treatments he used for his condition further lightened his skin tone, and, with the application of pancake makeup to even out blotches, he could appear very pale.[62] Jackson was also diagnosed with vitiligo in his autopsy.[63] By the mid 1990s several surgeons speculated that he had undergone various nasal surgeries, a forehead lift, thinned lips, and cheekbone surgery—although Jackson denied this and insisted that he only had surgery on his nose.[64] Jackson claimed that he had only two rhinoplasties and no other surgery on his face, although at one point he mentioned having a dimple created in his chin.[65] Jackson lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet and a desire for "a dancer's body".[65] Witnesses reported that he was often dizzy and speculated that he was suffering from anorexia nervosa; periods of weight loss would become a recurring problem later in life.[66]
During the course of his treatment, Jackson made two close friends: his dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, and Klein's nurse Debbie Rowe. Rowe eventually became Jackson's second wife and the mother of his two eldest children. Long before becoming romantically involved with her, Jackson relied heavily on Rowe for emotional support. He also relied heavily on Klein, for medical and business advice.[67]
Jackson became the subject of increasingly sensational reports. In 1986, the tabloids ran a story claiming that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow the aging process; he was pictured lying down in a glass box. Although the claim was untrue, according to tabloid reports that are widely cited, Jackson had disseminated the fabricated story himself.[68][69] When Jackson bought a chimpanzee called Bubbles from a laboratory, he was reported to be increasingly detached from reality.[70] It was reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick (the "elephant man") and although untrue, Jackson did not deny the story.[68][69] Although initially he saw these stories as opportunities for publicity, he stopped leaking untruths to the press as they became more sensational. Consequently the media began making up their own stories.[69][71][72] These reports became embedded in the public consciousness, inspiring the nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson came to despise.[73] Responding to the gossip, Jackson remarked to Taraborrelli:
Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars? Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you're a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight," people would say, "Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He's cracked up. You can't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth."[74]
Jackson collaborated with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola on the 17-minute 3-D film Captain EO, which debuted in September 1986 at both the original Disneyland and at EPCOT in Florida, and in March 1987 at Tokyo Disneyland. The $30 million movie was a popular attraction at all three parks. A Captain EO attraction was later featured at Euro Disneyland after that park opened in 1992. All four parks' Captain EO installations stayed open well into the 1990s: Paris' installation was the last one to close, in 1998.[75] The attraction would later return to Disneyland in 2010 after Jackson's death.[76]
In 1987, Jackson disassociated himself from the Jehovah's Witnesses, in response to their disapproval of the Thriller video.[77] With the industry expecting another major hit, Jackson's first album in five years, Bad (1987), was highly anticipated.[78] It did not top Thriller as a commercial or artistic triumph, but Bad was still a substantial success in its own right.
The Bad album spawned seven hit singles in the U.S., five of which ("I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana") reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. This was a record for most number one Hot 100 singles from any one album, including Thriller.[79] Although the title track's video was arguably derivative of the video for the earlier single "Beat It", the "Bad" video still proved to be one of Jackson's iconic moments. It was a gritty but colorful epic set against the backdrop of the New York City Subway system, with costuming and choreography inspired by West Side Story. As of 2012, the album sold between 30 and 45 million copies worldwide.[80][81][82][83][84][85][86] Thanks to the Bad album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989.[32][39] In the same year, Jackson won an Award of Achievement at the American Music Awards because Bad is the first album ever to generate five number one singles in the US, the first album to top in 25 countries and the best-selling album worldwide in 1987 and in 1988.[87][88][89][90] In 1988, "Bad" won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single.[91]
The Bad World Tour began on September 12 that year, finishing on January 14, 1989.[92] In Japan alone, the tour had 14 sellouts and drew 570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record of 200,000 in a single tour.[93] Jackson broke a Guinness World Record when 504,000 people attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. He performed a total of 123 concerts to an audience of 4.4 million people. The Bad Tour turned out to be the last of Jackson's concert tours to include shows in the continental United States, although later tours did make it to Hawaii.
In 1988, Jackson released his first and only autobiography, Moonwalk, which took four years to complete and sold 200,000 copies.[94] Jackson wrote about his childhood, The Jackson 5, and the abuse he had suffered.[95] He also wrote about his facial appearance, saying he had had two rhinoplastic surgeries and a dimple created in his chin.[65] He attributed much of the change in the structure of his face to puberty, weight loss, a strict vegetarian diet, a change in hair style, and stage lighting.[65] Moonwalk reached the top position on The New York Times best sellers' list.[96] The musician then released a film called Moonwalker, which featured live footage and short films that starred Jackson and Joe Pesci. The film was originally intended to be released to theaters but due to financial issues, the film was released direct-to-video. It saw a theatrical release in Germany, though. It debuted atop the Billboard Top Music Video Cassette chart, staying there for 22 weeks. It was eventually knocked off the top spot by Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues.[97]
In March 1988, Jackson purchased land near Santa Ynez, California, to build Neverland Ranch at a cost of $17 million. He installed Ferris wheels, a menagerie, and a movie theater on the 2,700-acre (11 km2) property. A security staff of 40 patrolled the grounds. In 2003, it was valued at approximately $100 million.[18][98] In 1989, his annual earnings from album sales, endorsements, and concerts was estimated at $125 million for that year alone.[99] Shortly afterwards, he became the first Westerner to appear in a television ad in the Soviet Union.[97]
His success resulted in his being dubbed the "King of Pop".[100][101][102][103] The nickname was popularized by Elizabeth Taylor when she presented him with the Soul Train Heritage Award in 1989, proclaiming him "the true king of pop, rock and soul."[104] President George H. W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist of the Decade".[105] From 1985 to 1990, he donated $500,000 to the United Negro College Fund, and all of the profits from his single "Man in the Mirror" went to charity.[106][107] Jackson's live rendition of "You Were There" at Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th birthday celebration received an Emmy nomination.[97]
[edit] Dangerous, Heal the World Foundation and Super Bowl XXVII (1991–93)
In March 1991, Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for $65 million, a record-breaking deal at the time,[108] displacing Neil Diamond's renewal contract with Columbia Records.[109] He released his eighth album Dangerous in 1991. As of 2008, Dangerous had shipped seven million copies in the U.S. and had sold 32 million copies worldwide. The Dangerous album was co-produced by Teddy Riley, one of the pioneers of "new jack swing" which convinced Michael to feature a rapper on his album for the first time, the act worked and it turned out to be the best-selling album associated with that movement.[110][111][112] In the United States, the album's first single "Black or White" was its biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and remaining there for seven weeks, with similar chart performances worldwide.[113] The album's second single "Remember the Time" spent eight weeks in the top five in the United States, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[114] At the end of 1992, Dangerous was awarded 1992's best-selling album worldwide and "Black or White" was awarded 1992's best-selling single worldwide at the Billboard Music Awards. Additionally, he won an award as best-selling artist of the '80s.[115] In 1993, Jackson performed the song at the Soul Train Music Awards in a chair, saying he had suffered an injury in rehearsals.[116] In the UK and other parts of Europe, "Heal the World" was the biggest hit from the album; it sold 450,000 copies in the UK and spent five weeks at number two in 1992.[114]
Jackson founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992. The charity organization brought underprivileged children to Jackson's ranch to enjoy theme park rides that Jackson had built on the property. The foundation also sent millions of dollars around the globe to help children threatened by war, poverty, and disease. In the same year Jackson published his second book, the bestselling collection of poetry, Dancing the Dream. While it was a commercial success and revealed a more intimate side to Jackson's nature, the collection was mostly critically unacclaimed at the time of release. In 2009, the book was republished by Doubleday and was more positively received by some critics in the wake of Jackson's untimely death. The Dangerous World Tour grossed $100 million. The tour began on June 27, 1992, and finished on November 11, 1993. Jackson performed to 3.5 million people in 67 concerts.[114][117] He sold the broadcast rights to his Dangerous world tour to HBO for $20 million, a record-breaking deal that still stands.[118]
Following the illness and death of Ryan White, Jackson helped draw public attention to HIV/AIDS, something that was still controversial at the time. He publicly pleaded with the Clinton Administration at Bill Clinton's Inaugural Gala to give more money to HIV/AIDS charities and research.[119][120] In a high-profile visit to Africa, Jackson visited several countries, among them Gabon and Egypt.[121] His first stop to Gabon was greeted with a sizable and enthusiastic reception of more than 100,000 people, some of them carrying signs that read, "Welcome Home Michael."[121] In his trip to Côte d'Ivoire, Jackson was crowned "King Sani" by a tribal chief.[121] He then thanked the dignitaries in French and English, signed official documents formalizing his kingship and sat on a golden throne while presiding over ceremonial dances.[121]
In January 1993, Jackson made a memorable appearance at the halftime show at Super Bowl XXVII. The performance began with Jackson catapulting onto the stage as fireworks went off behind him. As he landed on the canvas, he maintained a motionless "clenched fist, standing statue stance", dressed in a gold and black military outfit and sunglasses; he remained completely motionless for a minute and a half while the crowd cheered. He then slowly removed his sunglasses, threw them away and sang four songs: "Jam", "Billie Jean", "Black or White" and "Heal the World". It was the first Super Bowl where the audience figures increased during the half-time show, and was viewed by 135 million Americans alone; Jackson's Dangerous album rose 90 places up the album chart.[61] Jackson was given the "Living Legend Award" at the 35th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. "Black or White" was Grammy-nominated for best vocal performance. "Jam" gained two nominations: Best R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.[114] The Dangerous album won a Grammy for Best Engineered – Non Classical, awarding the work of Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley. In the same year, Michael Jackson won three American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Dangerous), Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Remember the Time") and was the first to win the International Artist Award, for his global performances and humanitarian concerns. This award will bear his name in the future.[32][39][122]
First child sexual abuse allegations and first marriage (1993–94)[link]
Jackson gave a 90-minute interview to Oprah Winfrey on February 10, 1993, his second television interview since 1979. He grimaced when speaking of his childhood abuse at the hands of his father; he believed he had missed out on much of his childhood years, admitting that he often cried from loneliness. He denied tabloid rumors that he had bought the bones of the Elephant Man, slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or bleached his skin, stating for the first time that he had vitiligo. The interview was watched by an American audience of 90 million. Dangerous re-entered the album chart in the top 10, more than a year after its original release.[16][61][114]
In the summer of 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler and his father, Dr. Evan Chandler, a dentist.[123][124][125] The Chandler family demanded payment from Jackson, and the singer initially refused. Jordan Chandler eventually told the police that Jackson had sexually abused him.[126] Dr. Chandler was tape-recorded discussing his intention to pursue charges, saying, "If I go through with this, I win big-time. There's no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever ... Michael's career will be over". Jordan's mother was, however, adamant that there had been no wrongdoing on Jackson's part.[125] Jackson later used the recording to argue that he was the victim of a jealous father whose only goal was to extort money from the singer.[125]
Later that year, on December 20, Jackson's home was raided by the police, and Jackson submitted to a 25-minute strip search.[127] Jordan Chandler had reportedly given police a description of Jackson's intimate parts, notably claiming that his bleach-damaged penis was circumcised; the strip search revealed, to the contrary, that Jackson was actually uncircumcised,[128] a fact confirmed in his autopsy.[129] His friends said he never recovered from the humiliation of the strip search. The investigation was inconclusive and no charges were ever filed.[130][131] Jackson described the search in an emotional public statement, and proclaimed his innocence.[123][127][132] On January 1, 1994, Jackson's insurance carrier settled with the Chandlers out of court for $22 million. A Santa Barbara County grand jury and a Los Angeles County grand jury disbanded on May 2, 1994 without indicting Jackson.[133] After which time the Chandlers stopped co-operating with the criminal investigation around July 6, 1994.[134][135][136] The out-of-court settlement's documentation specifically stated Jackson admitted no wrongdoing and no liability; the Chandlers and their family lawyer Larry Feldman signed it without contest.[137] The Chandlers' lawyer Mr. Feldman also explicitly stated "nobody bought anybody's silence".[138] A decade after the fact, during the second round of child abuse allegations, Jackson's lawyers would file a memo stating that the 1994 settlement was done without his consent.[135]
In May 1994, Jackson married the daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie Presley. They had first met in 1975, when a seven-year-old Presley attended one of Jackson's family engagements at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and were reconnected through a mutual friend.[139] According to a friend of Presley's, "their adult friendship began in November 1992 in L.A."[140] They stayed in contact every day over the telephone. As the child molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on Presley for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and addiction to drugs.[141] Presley explained, "I believed he didn't do anything wrong and that he was wrongly accused and yes I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it."[142] She eventually persuaded him to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover.[141]
Jackson proposed to Presley over the telephone towards the fall of 1993, saying, "If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?"[141] They married in the Dominican Republic in secrecy, denying it for nearly two months afterwards.[143] The marriage was, in her words, "a married couple's life ... that was sexually active".[144] At the time, the tabloid media speculated that the wedding was a ploy to prop up Jackson's public image.[143] The marriage lasted less than two years and ended with an amicable divorce settlement.[145] In a 2010 interview with Oprah, Presley admitted that they spent four more years after the divorce "getting back together and breaking up", until she decided to stop.[146]
[edit] HIStory, second marriage and fatherhood (1995–99)
In 1995, Jackson merged his ATV Music catalog with Sony's music publishing division creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Jackson retained half-ownership of the company, earned $95 million upfront as well as the rights to even more songs.[147][148] He then released the double album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The first disc, HIStory Begins, was a 15-track greatest hits album, and was later reissued as Greatest Hits: HIStory, Volume I in 2001, while the second disc, HIStory Continues, contained 15 new songs. The album debuted at number one on the charts and has been certified for seven million shipments in the US.[149] It is the best-selling multiple-disc album of all-time, with 20 million copies (40 million units) sold worldwide.[113][150] HIStory received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.[151]
The first single released from the album was the double A-side "Scream/Childhood". "Scream" was a duet, performed with Jackson's youngest sister Janet. The song fights against the media, mainly for what the media made him out to be during his 1993 child abuse allegations. The single had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number five, and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".[151] "You Are Not Alone" was the second single released from HIStory; it holds the Guinness World Record for the first song ever to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[99] It was seen as a major artistic and commercial success, receiving a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance".[151] In late 1995, Jackson was rushed to a hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for a televised performance; the incident was caused by a stress-related panic attack.[152] "Earth Song" was the third single released from HIStory, and topped the UK Singles Chart for six weeks over Christmas 1995; it sold a million copies, making it Jackson's most successful single in the UK.[151] The track "They Don't Care About Us" became controversial when the Anti-Defamation League and other groups criticized its allegedly antisemitic lyrics. Jackson quickly put out a revised version of the song without the offending lyrics.[153] In 1996, Jackson won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Scream" and an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist.[32][154]
The album was promoted with the successful HIStory World Tour. The tour began on September 7, 1996, and finished on October 15, 1997. Jackson performed 82 concerts in 58 cities to over 4.5 million fans, and grossed up a total of $165 million. The show, which visited five continents and 35 countries, became Jackson's most successful in terms of audience figures.[92] During the tour, Jackson married his longtime friend Deborah Jeanne Rowe, a dermatology nurse, in an impromptu ceremony in Sydney, Australia. Rowe was approximately six months pregnant with the couple's first child at the time. Originally, Rowe and Jackson had no plans to marry, but Jackson's mother Katherine persuaded them to do so.[155] Michael Joseph Jackson Jr (commonly known as Prince) was born on February 13, 1997; his sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson was born a year later on April 3, 1998.[145][156] The couple divorced in 1999, and Jackson got full custody of the children. The divorce was relatively amicable, but a subsequent custody suit was not settled until 2006.[157][158]
In 1997, Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which contained remixes of hit singles from HIStory and five new songs. Worldwide sales stand at 6 million copies as of 2007, it is the best selling remix album ever released.[159] It reached number one in the UK, as did the title track.[159][160] In the US, the album was certified platinum, but only reached number 24.[110][151] Forbes placed his annual income at $35 million in 1996 and $20 million in 1997.[98] Throughout June 1999, Jackson was involved in a number of charitable events. He joined Luciano Pavarotti for a benefit concert in Modena, Italy. The show was in support of the nonprofit organization War Child, and raised a million dollars for the refugees of Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia, as well as additional funds for the children of Guatemala.[161] Later that month, Jackson organized a set of "Michael Jackson & Friends" benefit concerts in Germany and Korea. Other artists involved included Slash, The Scorpions, Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, A. R. Rahman, Prabhu Deva Sundaram, Shobana, Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti. The proceeds went to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Red Cross and UNESCO.[162]
[edit] Label dispute, Invincible and third child (2000–03)
At the turn of the century, the American Music Awards honored Jackson as Artist of the '80s.[163] Throughout 2000 and 2001, Jackson worked in the studio with Teddy Riley and Rodney Jerkins, as well as other collaborators. These sessions would result in the album Invincible, released in October 2001. Invincible was Jackson's first full-length album in six years, and it would be the last album of new material he released while still alive. The release of the album was preceded by a dispute between Jackson and his record label, Sony Music Entertainment. Jackson had expected the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert to him sometime in the early 2000s. Once he had the licenses, he would be able to promote the material however he pleased and he would also be able to keep all the profits. However, due to various clauses in the contract, the revert date turned out to be many years away. Jackson discovered that the attorney who represented him in the deal was also representing Sony.[160] Jackson was also concerned about the fact that for a number of years, Sony had been pressuring him to sell his share in their music catalog venture. Jackson feared that Sony might have a conflict of interest, since if Jackson's career failed he would have to sell his share of the catalog at a low price.[164] Jackson sought an early exit from his contract.[160] Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed the head of Sony Music Entertainment, Tommy Mottola, that he was leaving Sony.[160] As a result, all singles releases, video shootings and promotions concerning the Invincible album were suspended.
In September 2001, two 30th Anniversary concerts were held at Madison Square Garden to mark the singer's 30th year as a solo artist. Jackson appeared onstage alongside his brothers for the first time since 1984. The show also featured performances by Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, 'N Sync, Destiny's Child, Monica, Luther Vandross, and Slash, among other artists.[165] The second of the two shows took place the night before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.[166] After 9/11, Jackson helped organize the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit concert at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The concert took place on October 21, 2001, and included performances from dozens of major artists, including Jackson, who performed his song "What More Can I Give" as the finale.[164] Jackson's solo performances were omitted from the televised version of the benefit concert, although he could still be seen singing background vocals. This omission happened because of contractual issues related to the earlier 30th Anniversary concerts: those concerts were boiled down into a two-hour TV special titled Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration: The Solo Years which debuted in November 2001.
In spite of the events preceding its release, Invincible came out in October 2001 to much anticipation. Invincible proved to be a hit, debuting atop the charts in 13 countries and going on to sell approximately 13 million copies worldwide. It received double-platinum certification in the US.[110][113][167] However, the sales for Invincible were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general.[164] The album cost $30 million to record, not including promotional expenditures.[168] Invincible spawned three singles, "You Rock My World", "Cry" and "Butterflies", the latter without a music video. Jackson alleged in July 2002 that Mottola was a "devil" and a "racist" who did not support his African-American artists, using them merely for his own personal gain.[164] He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a "fat nigger".[169] Sony refused to renew Jackson's contract, and claimed that a $25 million promotional campaign had failed because Jackson refused to tour in the United States.[168]
In 2002, Michael Jackson won his 22nd American Music Award for Artist of the Century.[170] In the same year, Jackson's third child, Prince Michael Jackson II (nicknamed "Blanket") was born.[171] The mother's identity is unknown, but Jackson has said the child was the result of artificial insemination from a surrogate mother and his own sperm.[157] On November 20 of that year, Jackson brought his newborn son onto the balcony of his room at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, as fans stood below, holding him in his right arm, with a cloth loosely draped over the baby's face. The baby was briefly extended over a railing, four stories above ground level, causing widespread criticism in the media. Jackson later apologized for the incident, calling it "a terrible mistake".[172] Sony released Number Ones, a compilation of Jackson's hits on CD and DVD. In the US, the album was certified triple platinum by the RIAA; in the UK it was certified six times platinum for shipments of at least 1.2 million units.[110][173]
Second child sexual abuse allegations and acquittal (2003–05)[link]
Further information: Living with Michael Jackson and People v. Jackson
Beginning in May 2002, Jackson allowed a documentary film crew, led by British TV personality Martin Bashir, to follow him around just about everywhere he went. Bashir's film crew was with Jackson during the "baby-dangling incident" in Berlin. The program was broadcast in March 2003 as Living with Michael Jackson, and painted an extraordinarily unflattering portrait of the singer.
In a particularly controversial scene, Jackson was seen holding hands and discussing sleeping arrangements with a young boy.[174] As soon as the documentary aired, the Santa Barbara county attorney's office began a criminal investigation. Jackson was arrested in November 2003, and was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in relation to the 13 year old boy shown in the film.[174] Jackson denied the allegations, saying the sleepovers were not sexual in nature. The People v. Jackson trial began on January 31, 2005, in Santa Maria, California, and lasted five months, until the end of May. On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all counts.[175][176][177] After the trial, in a highly publicized relocation he moved to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah.[178] Bahrain was also where the family intended to send Jackson if he was convicted (though Jackson did not know about the plan), according to a statement by Jermaine Jackson printed in The Times of London in September 2011.[179]
[edit] Closure of Neverland, final years and This Is It (2006–09)
In March 2006, the main house at the Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure.[180] There were numerous reports around that time that Jackson was having financial problems. Jackson had been delinquent on his repayments of a $270 million loan secured against his music publishing holdings, even though those holdings were reportedly making him as much as $75 million a year.[181] Bank of America sold the debt to Fortress Investments. Sony reportedly proposed a restructuring deal which would give them a future option to buy half of Jackson's stake in their jointly owned publishing company (leaving Jackson with a 25% stake).[148] Jackson agreed to a Sony-backed refinancing deal in April 2006, although the exact details were not made public.[182] Jackson did not have a recording contract in place with Sony or any other major record label at the time.
In early 2006, there was an announcement that Jackson had signed a contract with a Bahrain-based startup called Two Seas Records. However, nothing ever came of that deal, and the CEO of Two Seas, Guy Holmes, later stated that the deal had never been finalized.[183][184] Throughout 2006, Sony repackaged 20 singles from the 1980s and 1990s as the Michael Jackson: Visionary series, which subsequently became a box set. Most of those singles returned to the charts as a result. In September 2006, Jackson and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe confirmed reports that they had settled their long-running child custody suit. The terms were never made public. Jackson continued to be the custodial parent of the couple's two children.[158] In October 2006, Fox News entertainment reporter Roger Friedman said that Jackson had been recording at a studio in rural Westmeath, Ireland. It was not known at the time what Jackson might be working on, or who might be paying for the sessions, since his publicist had recently issued a statement claiming that he had left Two Seas.[184][185]
In November 2006, Jackson invited an Access Hollywood camera crew into the studio in Westmeath, and MSNBC broke the story that he was working on a new album, produced by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas.[113] Jackson performed at the World Music Awards, in London on November 15, 2006, and accepted a Diamond Award for selling over 100 million records.[113][186] Jackson returned to the United States after Christmas 2006 to attend James Brown's funeral in Augusta, Georgia. He gave one of the eulogies, saying that "James Brown is my greatest inspiration."[187] In the spring of 2007, Jackson and Sony teamed up to buy yet another music publishing company: Famous Music LLC, formerly owned by Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira and Beck, among others.[188] Jackson recorded extensively during this period in New York with songwriter and producer will.i.am and also in Las Vegas with producers Akon and RedOne.[189][190] In March 2007, Jackson gave a brief interview to the Associated Press in Tokyo, where he said, "I've been in the entertainment industry since I was 6 years old, and as Charles Dickens would say, 'It's been the best of times, the worst of times.' But I would not change my career ... While some have made deliberate attempts to hurt me, I take it in stride because I have a loving family, a strong faith and wonderful friends and fans who have, and continue, to support me."[191]
In September 2007, Jackson was reportedly still working with will.i.am, but the album was apparently never completed.[192] However, in 2008, Jackson and Sony released Thriller 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the original Thriller. This album featured the previously unreleased song "For All Time" (an outtake from the original sessions) as well as remixes, where Jackson collaborated with younger artists who had been inspired by his work.[193] Two of the remixes were released as singles with only modest success: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" (with will.i.am) and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" (with Akon). The first single was based on an early demo version, without Paul McCartney. The album itself was a hit, however.[193][194][195][196] In anticipation of Jackson's 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a series of greatest-hits albums called King of Pop. Slightly different versions were released in various countries, based on polls of local fans.[197] King of Pop reached the top 10 in most countries where it was issued, and also sold well as an import in other countries (such as the United States.)[198][199]
In the fall of 2008, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson used as collateral for loans running into many tens of millions of dollars. However, Fortress opted to sell Jackson's debts to Colony Capital LLC. In November, Jackson transferred Neverland Ranch's title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, which was a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital LLC. This deal cleared Jackson's debt, and he reportedly even gained an extra $35 million from the venture. At the time of his death, Jackson still owned a stake in Neverland/Sycamore Valley, but it is unknown how large that stake was.[200][201][202] In September 2008, Jackson entered negotiations with Julien's Auction House to display and auction a large collection of memorabilia amounting to approximately 1,390 lots. The auction was scheduled to take place between April 22 and April 25.[203] An exhibition of the lots opened as scheduled on April 14, but the actual auction was eventually cancelled at Jackson's request.[204]
In March 2009, Jackson held a press conference at London's O2 Arena and announced a series of comeback concerts titled This Is It. The shows would be Jackson's first major series of concerts since the HIStory World Tour finished in 1997. Jackson suggested possible retirement after the shows; he said it would be his "final curtain call". The initial plan was for 10 concerts in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York City and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, president and chief executive of AEG Live, stated that the first 10 dates alone would earn the singer approximately £50 million.[205] The London residency was increased to 50 dates after record breaking ticket sales: over one million were sold in less than two hours.[206] Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG.[207] The concerts would have commenced on July 13, 2009, and finished on March 6, 2010. Less than three weeks before the first show was due to begin in London and with all concerts being sold out, Jackson died after suffering cardiac arrest.[208] Some time before his death, it was widely stated that he was starting a clothing line with Christian Audigier; due to his death, the current status of the label remains unknown.[209][210]
Jackson's first posthumous single was a song titled "This Is It" which Jackson cowrote in the 1980s with Paul Anka. It was not on the set lists for the concerts, and the recording was based on an old demo tape. The surviving brothers reunited in the studio for the first time since 1989 to record backing vocals. On October 28, 2009, a documentary film about the rehearsals titled Michael Jackson's This Is It was released.[211] Even though it ran for a limited two-week engagement, it became the highest grossing documentary or concert movie of all time, with earnings of more than $260 million worldwide.[212] Jackson's estate received 90% of the profits.[213] The film was accompanied by a compilation album of the same name. Two versions of the new song appear on the album, which also featured original masters of Jackson's hits in the order in which they appear in the movie, along with a bonus disc with previously unreleased versions of more Jackson hits as well as a spoken-word poem titled "Planet Earth".[214] At the 2009 American Music Awards Jackson won four posthumous awards, two for him and two for his album Number Ones, bringing his total American Music Awards to 26.[215][216]
Death and memorial[link]
Main articles: Death of Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson memorial service
File:MJ's tomb.jpg
Michael Jackson's Tomb in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
On June 25, 2009, Jackson died while in his bed at his rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. Attempts at resuscitating him by Conrad Murray, his personal physician, were unsuccessful.[217] Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics received a 911 call at 12:22 (PDT, 19:22 UTC), arriving three minutes later at Jackson's location.[218][219] He was reportedly not breathing and CPR was performed.[220] Resuscitation efforts continued en route to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and for more than an hour after arriving there at 1:13 (20:13 UTC). He was pronounced dead at 2:26 local time (21:26 UTC).[221][222] Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief.[217]
The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload. Both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times suffered outages.[223] Google initially believed that the input from millions of people searching for "Michael Jackson" meant that the search engine was under DDoS attack, and blocked searches related to Michael Jackson for 30 minutes. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia at 3:15 p.m. PDT (22:15 UTC).[224] The Wikimedia Foundation reported nearly a million visitors to Jackson's biography within one hour, probably the most visitors in a one-hour period to any article in Wikipedia's history.[225] AOL Instant Messenger collapsed for 40 minutes. AOL called it a "seminal moment in Internet history", adding, "We've never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth."[226]
Around 15% of Twitter posts—or 5,000 tweets per minute—reportedly mentioned Jackson after the news broke,[227][228] compared to the 5% recalled as having mentioned the Iranian elections or the flu pandemic that had made headlines earlier in the year.[228] Overall, web traffic ranged from 11% to at least 20% higher than normal.[227][229] MTV and Black Entertainment Television (BET) aired marathons of Jackson's music videos.[230] Jackson specials aired on multiple television stations around the world. The British soap opera EastEnders added a last-minute scene, in which one character tells another about the news, to the June 26 episode.[231] Jackson was the topic of every front-page headline in the daily British tabloid The Sun for about two weeks following his death.[232] During the same period, the three major U.S. networks' evening newscasts—ABC World News, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News—devoted 34% of their broadcast time to him.[233] Magazines including Time published commemorative editions.[234] A scene that had featured Jackson's sister La Toya was cut from the film Brüno out of respect toward Jackson's family.[235]
Jackson's memorial was held on July 7, 2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty. Jackson's casket was present during the memorial but no information was released about the final disposition of the body. While some unofficial reports claimed a worldwide audience as high as one billion people,[236][237] the U.S. audience was estimated by Nielsen to be 31.1 million, an amount comparable to the estimated 35.1 million that watched the 2004 burial of former president Ronald Reagan, and the estimated 33.1 million Americans who watched the 1997 funeral for Princess Diana.[238]
Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Jermaine Jackson, and Shaheen Jafargholi performed at the event. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson gave eulogies, while Queen Latifah read "We had him", a poem written for the occasion by Maya Angelou.[239] The Reverend Al Sharpton received a standing ovation with cheers when he told Jackson's children, "Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway."[240] Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris Katherine, cried as she told the crowd, "Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine ... I just wanted to say I love him ... so much."[166] Reverend Lucious Smith provided a closing prayer.[241] On August 24, several news outlets quoted anonymous sources as stating that the Los Angeles coroner had decided to treat Jackson's death as a homicide; this was later confirmed by the coroner on August 28.[242][243] At the time of death, Jackson had been administered propofol, lorazepam and midazolam.[244] Law enforcement officials conducted a manslaughter investigation of his personal physician, Conrad Murray.[245] On February 8, 2010, Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles.[246] Jackson was entombed on September 3, 2009, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[247]
On June 25, 2010, the first anniversary of Jackson's death, fans traveled to Los Angeles to pay their tribute to him. They visited Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and his family’s home, as well as Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Many of the fans were carrying sunflowers and other tribute items to drop off at the sites. Members of the Jackson family and close friends arrived to pay their respects.[248][249] Katherine returned to Gary, Indiana to unveil a granite monument constructed in the front yard of the family home. The memorial continued with a candlelight vigil and a special performance of "We Are the World".[250][251] On June 26, there was a protest march in front of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division at the old Parker Center building and a petition with thousands of signatures demanding justice was delivered.[252][253] The Jackson Family Foundation in conjunction with Voiceplate presented "Forever Michael", an event bringing together Jackson family members, celebrities, fans, supporters and the community to celebrate and honor his legacy. A portion of the proceeds were presented to some of Jackson's favorite charities. Katherine also introduced her new book "Never Can Say Goodbye".[254][255][256]
Death aftermath[link]
After his death, Jackson became the best-selling albums artist of 2009. In the United States selling over 8.2 million albums and a total of 35 million albums worldwide in the 12 months that followed his death.[257][258] Following this surge in sales, Sony announced that they had extended their relationship with his material. The distribution rights held by Sony Music were due to expire in 2015.[259] On March 16, 2010, Sony Music Entertainment, in a move spearheaded by its Columbia/Epic Label Group division, signed a new deal with the Jackson estate to extend their distribution rights to his back catalogue until at least 2017, as well as to obtain permission to release ten new albums with previously unreleased material and new collections of released work. On November 4, 2010 Sony announced the release of Michael, the first posthumous album set to be released on December 14, with the promotional single released to the radios on November 8, titled "Breaking News".[260] The deal was unprecedented in the music industry as it is the most expensive music contract pertaining to a single artist in history; it reportedly involved Sony Music paying $250 million for the deal, with the Jackson estate getting the full sum as well as its share of royalties for all works released.[259][261] Video game developer Ubisoft announced it would release a new dancing-and-singing game featuring Michael Jackson for the 2010 holiday season. The game titled Michael Jackson: The Experience will be among the first to use Kinect and PlayStation Move, the respective motion-detecting camera systems for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 due out later that year.[262]
On November 3, 2010, the theatrical performing company Cirque du Soleil announced that it would launch "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" in October 2011 in Montreal, while a permanent show will reside in Las Vegas.[263] The 90-minute US$57M production will combine Jackson's iconic musical oeuvre and choreography with the Cirque's signature artistry, dance and aerial displays involving 65 artists.[264] The tour was written and directed by Jamie King[265] and centers on Jackson's "inspirational Giving Tree – the wellspring of creativity where his love of music and dance, fairy tale and magic, and the fragile beauty of nature are unlocked."[266] On October 3, 2011, the accompanying compilation soundtrack album Immortal was announced to have over 40 Jackson’s original recordings re-produced by Kevin Antunes.[267]
In April 2011, Jackson's longtime friend and billionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, chairman of Fulham F.C., unveiled a statue of Jackson outside the club's stadium, Craven Cottage.[268] Fulham fans were however bemused by the statue and failed to understand the relevance of Jackson to the club.[269] Al Fayed however defended the statue and told the fans to 'go to hell' if they didn't appreciate the statue.[270]
Artistry[link]
Influences[link]
Jackson's music took root in R&B, pop and soul. He had been influenced by the work of contemporary musicians such as Little Richard, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Diana Ross, David Ruffin, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis, Jr., The Isley Brothers, the Bee Gees and the West Side Story dancers, to whom he made a tribute in "Beat It" and in the "Bad" video.[271] According to David Winters, who met and befriended Jackson while choreographing the 1971 Diana Ross TV Special "Diana!", (which was also Jackson's first solo debut outside of The Jackson 5), Jackson watched West Side Story almost every week and it was his favorite film.[272][273][274] While Little Richard had a substantial influence on Jackson,[275][276] James Brown was Jackson's greatest inspiration. In reference to Brown, Jackson declared: "Ever since I was a small child, no more than like six years old, my mother would wake me no matter what time it was, if I was sleeping, no matter what I was doing, to watch the television to see the master at work. And when I saw him move, I was mesmerized. I had never seen a performer perform like James Brown, and right then and there I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James Brown."[277]
The young Michael Jackson owed his vocal technique in large part to Diana Ross. Not only a mother figure to him, she was often observed in rehearsal as an accomplished performer. He later expressed: "I got to know her well. She taught me so much. I used to just sit in the corner and watch the way she moved. She was art in motion. I studied the way she moved, the way she sang – just the way she was." He told her: "I want to be just like you, Diana." She said: "You just be yourself."[278] But Jackson owed part of his enduring style—especially his use of the oooh interjection—to Ross. From a young age, Jackson often punctuated his verses with a sudden exclamation of oooh. Diana Ross had used this effect on many of the songs recorded with The Supremes.[279]
Musical themes and genres[link]
Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write his songs on paper. Instead he would dictate into a sound recorder, and when recording he would sing the lyrics from memory.[280] In most of his songs, such as "Billie Jean", "Who Is It", and "Tabloid Junkie", he would beatbox and imitate the instruments using his voice instead of playing the actual instruments, along with other sounds. Jackson noted that it is easier to sing a drum line, or sing a bass, instead of playing a drum line or a bass with an instrument. Several critics have said that Jackson's distinct voice was able to replace any instrument convincingly. Steve Huey of Allmusic said that, throughout his solo career, Jackson's versatility allowed him to experiment with various themes and genres.[281] As a musician, he ranged from Motown's dance fare and ballads to techno and house-edged new jack swing to work that incorporates both funk rhythms and hard rock guitar.[18][282][283]
According to Huey, Thriller refined the strengths of Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful.[281] Notable tracks included the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature" and "The Girl Is Mine"; the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"; and the post-disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".[281][282][283][284][285] With Thriller, Christopher Connelly of Rolling Stone commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery.[285] Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[283] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers.[281] In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media.[285] "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to West Side Story, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey.[18][281] He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years.[281] In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona.[281]
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One of Jackson's signature pieces, "Thriller", released as a single in 1984, utilizes cinematic sound effects, horror film motifs and vocal trickery to convey a sense of danger.[22]
A single from the album Bad, released 1988, "Smooth Criminal" features digital drum sounds, keyboard-created bass lines and other percussion elements designed to give the impression of a pulsing heart.[286]
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In Bad, Jackson's concept of the predatory lover can be seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana".[290] The lead single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, while "Man in the Mirror" is an anthemic ballad of confession and resolution.[78] "Smooth Criminal" was an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder.[78] Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that Dangerous presents Jackson as a very paradoxical individual.[291] He comments the album is more diverse than his previous Bad, as it appeals to an urban audience while also attracting the middle class with anthems like "Heal the World".[291] The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "Jam" and "Remember the Time".[292] The album is Jackson's first where social ills become a primary theme; "Why You Wanna Trip on Me", for example, protests against world hunger, AIDS, homelessness and drugs.[292] Dangerous contains sexually charged efforts such as the multifaceted love song, "In the Closet".[292] The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire.[292] The second half includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There", "Heal the World" and "Keep the Faith"; these songs show Jackson opening up about various personal struggles and worries.[292] In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his friend Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS.[293]
HIStory creates an atmosphere of paranoia.[294] Its content focuses on the hardships and public struggles Jackson went through just prior to its production. In the new jack swing-funk-rock efforts "Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", along with the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against the injustice and isolation he feels, and directs much of his anger at the media.[295] In the introspective ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson laments over his "fall from grace", while songs like "Earth Song", "Childhood", "Little Susie" and "Smile" are all operatic pop pieces.[294][295] In the track "D.S.", Jackson launched a verbal attack against Tom Sneddon. He describes Sneddon as an antisocial, white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". Of the song, Sneddon said, "I have not—shall we say—done him the honor of listening to it, but I've been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot".[296] Invincible found Jackson working heavily with producer Rodney Jerkins.[281] It is a record made up of urban soul like "Cry" and "The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of Dawn" and "Butterflies" and mixes hip-hop, pop and R&B in "2000 Watts", "Heartbreaker" and "Invincible".[297][298]
Vocal style[link]
Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed noticeably. Between 1971 and 1975, Jackson's voice descended from boy soprano to high tenor.[299] His vocal range as an adult was F2-E♭6. Jackson first used a technique called the "vocal hiccup" in 1973, starting with the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time" from The Jackson 5's G.I.T.: Get It Together album.[300] Jackson did not use the hiccup technique— somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping— fully until the recording of Off the Wall: it can be seen in full force in the "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" promotional video.[20] With the arrival of Off the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded. At the time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly".[301][302] 1982 saw the release of Thriller, and Rolling Stone was of the opinion that Jackson was then singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".[285]
A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used frequently by Jackson, occasionally spelled "cha'mone" or "shamone", is also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him.[303] The turn of the 1990s saw the release of the introspective album Dangerous. The New York Times noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers with anxiety or drops to a desperate whisper, hissing through clenched teeth" and he had a "wretched tone".[292] When singing of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals.[292] When commenting on Invincible, Rolling Stone were of the opinion that—at the age of 43—Jackson still performed "exquisitely voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal harmonies".[304] Nelson George summed up Jackson's vocals by stating "The grace, the aggression, the growling, the natural boyishness, the falsetto, the smoothness—that combination of elements mark him as a major vocalist".[286]
Music videos and choreography[link]
Jackson has also been referred to as the King of Music Videos,[305] Steve Huey of Allmusic observed how Jackson transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances; simultaneously breaking down racial barriers.[281] Before Thriller, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American.[306] Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black music artists gain recognition.[307] MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to change their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of race.[308] The popularity of his videos on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B.[309][307] His performance on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever changed the scope of live stage show; "That Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean' is, in itself, not extraordinary, but the fact that it did not change the impact of the performance is extraordinary; whether the performance was live or lip-synced made no difference to the audience" thus creating an era in which artists re-create the spectacle of music video imagery on stage.[310] Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated.[311] The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines.[312] The Thriller short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and has been named the most successful music video ever by the Guinness World Records.[99]
In the 19-minute music video for "Bad"—directed by Martin Scorsese—Jackson began using sexual imagery and choreography not previously seen in his work. He occasionally grabbed or touched his chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Oprah in the 1993 interview about why he grabbed his crotch, he replied, "I think it happens subliminally" and he described it as something that was not planned, but rather, as something that was compelled by the music. "Bad" garnered a mixed reception from both fans and critics; Time magazine described it as "infamous". The video also featured Wesley Snipes; in the future Jackson's videos would often feature famous cameo roles.[71][313] For "Smooth Criminal", Jackson experimented with an innovative "anti-gravity lean" in his performances. The maneuver required special shoes for which he was granted U.S. Patent No. 5,255,452.[314] Although the music video for "Leave Me Alone" was not officially released in the US, in 1989, it was nominated for three Billboard Music Video Awards;[315] the same year it won a Golden Lion Award for the quality of the special effects used in its production. In 1990, "Leave Me Alone" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form.[97]
He received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988 and the MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the Decade Award in 1990 to celebrate his accomplishments in the art form in the 1980s; in 1991 the first award was renamed in his honor.[114] "Black or White" was accompanied by a controversial music video, which, on November 14, 1991, simultaneously premiered in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million people, the largest viewing ever for a music video.[113] It featured scenes construed as having a sexual nature as well as depictions of violence. The offending scenes in the final half of the 14-minute version were edited out to prevent the video from being banned, and Jackson apologized.[316] Along with Jackson, it featured Macaulay Culkin, Peggy Lipton and George Wendt. It helped usher in morphing as an important technology in music videos.[317]
"Remember the Time" was an elaborate production, and became one of his longest videos at over nine minutes. Set in ancient Egypt, it featured groundbreaking visual effects and appearances by Eddie Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson, along with a distinct complex dance routine.[318] The video for "In the Closet" was Jackson's most sexually provocative piece. It featured supermodel Naomi Campbell in a courtship dance with Jackson. The video was banned in South Africa because of its imagery.[114]
The music video for "Scream", directed by Mark Romanek and production designer Tom Foden, is one of Jackson's most critically acclaimed. In 1995, it gained 11 MTV Video Music Award Nominations—more than any other music video—and won "Best Dance Video", "Best Choreography", and "Best Art Direction".[319] The song and its accompanying video are a response to the backlash Jackson received from the media after being accused of child molestation in 1993.[320] A year later, it won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form; shortly afterwards Guinness World Records listed it as the most expensive music video ever made at a cost of $7 million.[151][321]
"Earth Song" was accompanied by an expensive and well-received music video that gained a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form in 1997. The video had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution and war. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, wars end, and the forests re-grow.[151][322] Released in 1997 and premiering at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, Michael Jackson's Ghosts was a short film written by Jackson and Stephen King and directed by Stan Winston. The video for Ghosts is over 38 minutes long and holds the Guinness World Record as the world's longest music video.[151][160][323][324]
Legacy and influence[link]
Jackson throughout his career transformed the art of the music video and paved the way for modern pop music. Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley described Jackson in 2003 as "extremely important" and a "genius".[239] For much of his career, he had an "unparalleled" level of worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian contributions.[153] Jackson's music and videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster, helped to put the relatively new channel into public awareness, and steered the channel's focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's work continues to influence numerous hip hop, rock, pop and R&B artists, including Patrick Stump,[325] Jennifer Lopez,[326] Beyoncé,[327] Mariah Carey,[328] Mýa,[329] Usher,[330] Adam Lambert,[331] Green Day,[332] Justin Timberlake,[333] Britney Spears,[334] Madonna,[335] Alien Ant Farm[164] and Ludacris, among others.[336]
Allmusic's Steve Huey describes Jackson as "an unstoppable juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star power".[281] In the mid-1980s, Time magazine's pop music critic, Jay Cocks, noted "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever".[40] In 1990, Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business.[97] In 2007, Jackson said, "Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever."[337]
Shortly after Jackson's death, on June 25, 2009, MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate and pay tribute to his work.[338] The channel aired many hours of Jackson's music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV's programming culminated the following week in the channel's live coverage of Jackson's memorial service.[339] At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as "the greatest entertainer that ever lived".[340][341][342]
In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended into academia, and was detectable in scholarly literature pertaining to a range of subject matter.[343][344] The two researchers combed through various scholars' writings, and compiled an annotated bibliography of those writings that appeared to meet at least one of several criteria. Among these criteria were appearance in a peer-reviewed journal, and the provision of insight into the nature of "popular icons including Jackson".[345] The bibliography located references to Jackson in research reports concerning music, popular culture, and an array of other topics. The bibliographers identified as their most peculiar finding an argument that certain aspects of chemistry can be effectively taught by altering and imitating elements of Jackson's singing.[346] One of the research librarians later reflected that "the fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson's influence".[343]
Honors and awards[link]
Michael Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 as member of The Jacksons and in 1984 as solo artist. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award.[165][347] He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also inducted in several other hall of fames, including Vocal Group Hall of Fame (as The Jackson 5 member) in 1999, Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and Hit Parade Hall of Fame (with his brothers) in 2009.[165][348] In 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll.[349] His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone),[350] 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era[351]—and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best selling male solo pop artist.[32][99][113][163][215][216][352][353][354][355][356] On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized Jackson's death as a "moment of significance" saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This Is It."[357] Michael Jackson also received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the United Negro College Fund[358] and also an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fisk University.[359]
Lifetime earnings[link]
His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at US$500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars.[98][360] This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth was $236 million.[361] Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.[362]
Discography[link]
Main articles: Michael Jackson albums discography, Michael Jackson singles discography, and Michael Jackson videography
See also: Jackson 5 discography
- Got to Be There (1972)
- Ben (1972)
- Music & Me (1973)
- Forever, Michael (1975)
- Off the Wall (1979)
- Thriller (1982)
- Bad (1987)
- Dangerous (1991)
- HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
- Invincible (2001)
Filmography[link]
Main article: Michael Jackson videography
| Year | Film | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | The Wiz[363] | Scarecrow | Lumet, SidneySidney Lumet |
| 1986 | Captain EO[364] | Captain EO | Coppola, Francis FordFrancis Ford Coppola |
| 1988 | Moonwalker[365] | Himself | Kramer, JerryJerry Kramer |
| 1997 | Michael Jackson's Ghosts[366] | Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul/Skeleton | Winston, StanStan Winston |
| 2002 | Men in Black II[367] | Agent M (cameo) | Sonnenfeld, BarryBarry Sonnenfeld |
| 2004 | Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls[368] | Agent MJ (cameo) | Stoller, Bryan MichaelBryan Michael Stoller |
| 2009 | Michael Jackson's This Is It[369] | Himself | Ortega, KennyKenny Ortega |
Tours[link]
- Bad World Tour (1987–89)
- Dangerous World Tour (1992–93)
- HIStory World Tour (1996–97)
- This Is It (2009–10) (cancelled)
See also[link]
 |
Book: Michael Jackson |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
- Honorific nicknames in popular music
- Michael Jackson-related games
- List of awards received by Michael Jackson
- List of best-selling albums
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of best-selling music artists in the United States
- List of most expensive music videos
- List of unreleased Michael Jackson material
- List of cover versions of Michael Jackson songs
References[link]
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- ^ Lewis, p. 47
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- ^ a b c Cocks, Jay (March 19, 1984). "Why He's a Thriller". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950053-1,00.html. Retrieved April, 25 2010.
- ^ Taraborrelli, p. 226
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- ^ Alex Dobuzinskis (December 30, 2009). "Jackson "Thriller" film picked for U.S. registry". Reuters (Thomas Reuters). http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/12/30/us-thriller-idUSTRE5BT43W20091230?type=musicNews. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
- ^ Dave Itzkoff (December 30, 2009). "'Thriller' Video Added to U.S. Film Registry". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/arts/music/31arts-THRILLERVIDE_BRF.html. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
- ^ Pareles, John. Michael Jackson at 25: A Musical Phenomenon, The New York Times, January 14, 1984.
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- ^ Taraborrelli, pp. 279–287
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- ^ "Bruce shows who's Boss". The Montreal Gazette. (January 28, 1986). http://news.google.co.uk/newspapers?id=MRgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7aUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1658,3425033&dq=american+music+awards&hl=en. Retrieved June 16, 2010.
- ^ Lisa D. Campbell (1993). Michael Jackson: the King of Pop. Branden Books. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-8283-1957-7. http://books.google.com/?id=BVC9zltjf-EC&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq=Michael+Jackson+won+American+Music+Awards+Appreciation&q=Michael%20Jackson%20won%20American%20Music%20Awards%20Appreciation. Retrieved June 16, 2010.
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- ^ a b c "Paul McCartney refused an offer to buy the ATV Catalog for £20 million". Audio & transcript of McCartney at a 1990 press conference. November 13, 2010. http://mjjinfo.blogspot.com/2010/11/paul-mccartney-refused-to-buy-atv.html.
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- ^ a b c Campbell (1995), pp. 14–16
- ^ Taraborrelli, pp. 434–436
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- ^ a b Taraborrelli, pp. 355–361
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- ^ Goldberg, 1Michael; Handelman, David (September 24, 1987). "Is Michael Jackson for Real?". Rolling Stone (Wenner Media LLC).
- ^ a b Taraborrelli, pp. 370–373
- ^ "Newswatch Magazine – The Man, His Weird Ways". Newswatchngr.com. July 5, 2009. http://www.newswatchngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1080&Itemid=1. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
- ^ Jackson, Michael (September 12, 1997). Interview with Barbara Walters. 20/20. ABC.
- ^ Taraborrelli, p. vii
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- ^ "Captain EO is Back to Change the World – Movies News at IGN". Movies.ign.com. February 23, 2010. http://movies.ign.com/articles/107/1071393p1.html?RSSwhen2010-02-23_111800&RSSid=1071393. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
- ^ Ebony, Vol. 42, No. 11, September 1987, and Vol. 45, No. 12, October 1990.
- ^ a b c Cocks, Jay. The Badder They Come, Time, September 14, 1987.
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- ^ "50 fastest selling albums ever". NME.com. 2011. http://www.nme.com/photos/50-fastest-selling-albums-ever/213617/40/1. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
- ^ Gil Kaufman (2010). "Michael Jackson's New Album Cover Decoded Painting is packed with iconic MJ images". mtv.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1651633/michael-jacksons-new-album-cover-decoded.jhtml. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
- ^ Piya Sinha-Roy (2012). "Michael Jackson is still "Bad," 25 years after". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/21/entertainment-us-michaeljackson-bad-idUSBRE84K0Z120120521. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
- ^ Piya Sinha-Roy (2012). "Michael Jackson is still "Bad", 25 years after album". Chicagotribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-22/entertainment/sns-rt-us-michaeljackson-bad25bre84l17s-20120522_1_conrad-murray-dirty-diana-grammy-winning-album. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
- ^ "25th Anniversary Of Michael Jackson’s Landmark Album Bad Celebrated With September 18 Release Of New Bad 25 Packages". Yahoo. 2012. http://news.yahoo.com/25th-anniversary-michael-jackson-landmark-album-bad-celebrated-140242006.html. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
- ^ contactmusic (2012). "Michael Jackson - Michael Jackson's Bad To Get 25Th Anniversary Release". contactmusic. http://www.contactmusic.com/news/michael-jacksons-bad-to-get-25th-anniversary-release_1330641. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
- ^ "Michael, Travis top Music Award winners". Lodi News-Sentinel. (January 30, 1989). http://news.google.co.uk/newspapers?id=lZozAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lTIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=4477,3617735&dq=american+music+awards&hl=en. Retrieved June 16, 2010.
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- ^ Lisa D. Campbell (1993). Michael Jackson: the King of Pop. Branden Books. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-8283-1957-7. http://books.google.com/?id=BVC9zltjf-EC&pg=PA251&dq=Michael+Jackson+Moonwalker+251&q=Michael%20Jackson%20Moonwalker%20251. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
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- ^ a b Lewis, pp. 95–96
- ^ Harrington, Richard.Jackson to Make First Solo U.S. Tour, The Washington Post, January 12, 1988.
- ^ Shanahan, Mark and Golstein, Meredith (June 27, 2009). "Remembering Michael". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2009/06/27/writer_stephen_davis_remembers_michael_jackson. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
- ^ Jackson, pp. 29–31
- ^ George, p. 42
- ^ a b c d e George, pp. 43–44
- ^ a b c Gunderson,, Edna (February 19, 2007). "For Jackson, scandal could spell financial ruin". USA Today (Gannett Co. Inc). http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-11-24-jackson-finances_x.htm. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Jackson receives his World Records". Yahoo!. (November 14, 2006). http://uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/dyna/article.html?a=/14112006/344/jackson-receives-world-records.html&e=l_news_dm. Retrieved November 16, 2006. [dead link]
- ^ Press references to Jackson as a music "king" appeared as early as 1984 after he swept the Grammy Awards, and "king of pop" appeared as early as 1987. MTV and Fox used the title in joint press releases and ads for the "Black or White" video at Jackson's request, but MTV denied a report that VJs were required to use it on-camera. Writers described the title as self-proclaimed from then on.
- ^ Arar, Yardena (February 29, 1984). "Michael Jackson coronated latest king of rock 'n' roll". Boca Raton News: p. 7A.
- ^ Staff writer (July 27, 1987). "Is the thrill gone for singer Michael Jackson?". Sacramento Bee: p. B3.
- ^ Browne, David (November 29, 1991). "Michael Jackson's Black or White Blues". Entertainment Weekly.
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- Bibliography
- Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Fireside. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- Campbell, Lisa (1993). Michael Jackson: The King of Pop. Branden. ISBN 0-8283-1957-X.
- Campbell, Lisa (1995). Michael Jackson: The King of Pop's Darkest Hour. Branden. ISBN 0-8283-2003-9. http://books.google.ca/books?id=BVC9zltjf-EC&lpg=PP1&dq=michael%20jackson&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. Sony BMG.
- Guinness World Records (2003). Guinness World Records 2004. Guinness. ISBN 1-892051-20-6.
- Guinness World Records (2005). Guinness World Records 2006. Guinness. ISBN 1-904994-02-4.
- Jackson, Michael (2009) [First published 1988]. Moonwalk. Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-71698-9. http://books.google.ca/books?id=E9sGl5P8vQMC&lpg=PP1&dq=Moonwalk&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Ramage, John D.; Bean, John C.; Johnson, June (2001). Writing arguments: a rhetoric with readings. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0-205-31745-6.
- Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2009). Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958–2009. Terra Alta, WV: Grand Central Publishing, 2009. ISBN 0-446-56474-5, 9780446564748.
Further reading[link]
- Dineen, Catherine (1993). Michael Jackson: In His Own Words. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-3216-6. http://books.google.ca/books?id=DEspWj_IN_UC&lpg=PP1&dq=Michael%20Jackson%3A%20In%20His%20Own%20Words&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Grant, Adrian (1994, 1997, 2002 and 2005). Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-432-2.
- Jackson, Michael (2006). My World, The Official Photobook, Vol. 1. Triumph International. ISBN 0-9768891-1-0.
- Jones, Bob (2005). Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask. Select Books Inc. ISBN 1-59079-072-3. http://books.google.ca/books?id=8j4ILUllObsC&lpg=PP1&dq=Michael%20Jackson%3A%20The%20Man%20Behind%20the%20Mask&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Jefferson, Margo; Brown (2007). On Michael Jackson. Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-307-27765-7. http://books.google.com/?id=WJiPk-3oPGkC&lpg=PP1&dq=Michael%20Jackson&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Noonan, Damien (1994) (Audio book). Michael Jackson. Carlton Books. ISBN 1-85797-587-1.
External links[link]
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Jackson, Michael Joseph |
| Alternative names | Jackson, Michael Joe; Jackson, Michael J. |
| Short description | Singer |
| Date of birth | August 29, 1958 |
| Place of birth | Gary, Indiana, United States |
| Date of death | June 25, 2009 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles, California, United States |
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