Russian language

Russian (ру́сский язы́к, russkiy yazyk, pronounced [ˈruskʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]) is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many unrecognised territories. It is an unofficial but widely-spoken language in Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, and to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics of the Soviet Union and former participants of the Eastern Bloc. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the three living members of the East Slavic languages. Written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards.

It is the most geographically-widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. It is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers and the seventh by total number of speakers. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as VU, Dutch: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is a university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. VU is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

The literal translation of the Dutch name Vrije Universiteit is "Free University". "Free" refers to independence of both state and church. Both within and outside the University, the institution is commonly referred to as "the VU" (pronounced somewhat like "vew" as in "new").

Though founded as a private institution, VU has received government funding on a parity basis with public universities since 1970. Over the past decades, VU has transformed from a small institution into a broad, research-intensive university attended by a wide variety of students of diverse backgrounds. While the Netherlands does not have an official ranking system, according to the "CWTS Leiden Ranking", the Vrije Universiteit was recognized as the second best university, nationally.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam (English /ˈæmstərdæm/ or /ˌæmstərˈdæm/;Dutch: [ɑmstərˈdɑm]) is the capital city and most populous city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the Dutch capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands though it is not the seat of the Dutch government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 834,119 within the city proper, 1,329,779 in the urban area and 1,603,531 in the metropolitan area. The city region has an approximate population of 2,431,000. The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country, and is also North Holland's largest city. It comprises much of the northern part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe, with a population of approximately 7 million.

Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin as a dam of the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age (17th century), a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading center for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Master

Master, masters and the Master may refer to:

Ranks and titles