Picard language

Picard (, , ) is a "langue d'oïl" of the Romance language family spoken in the northernmost part of France and southern Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian Wallonia along the border between both countries due to its traditional core being the districts of Tournai and Mons (Walloon Picardy).
Picard is referred to by different names as residents of Picardy simply call it , but it is more commonly known as ' or ' in the more populated (Romance Flanders around the metropolis of Lille and Douai, and northeast Artois around Béthune and Lens). It is also named ' around Valenciennes, ' around Roubaix, or simply in general.
As of 2008, Picard native speakers amount to 700,000 individuals, the vast majority of which are elderly people (aged 65 and over). Since its daily use had drastically declined, Picard was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) a "seriously endangered language".
Recognition.
Belgium's French Community gave full official recognition to Picard as a regional language along with Walloon, (Lorraine), (Champagne) and Lorraine German in its 1990 decree. The French government has not followed suit and has not recognized Picard as an official regional language (in line with its policy of linguistic unity, which allows for only one official language in France), but some reports have recognized Picard as a language distinct from French.
A 1999 report by Bernard Cerquiglini, the director of the (National Institute of the French Language) stated:
The gap has continued to widen between French and the varieties of , which today we would call "French dialects"; , Walloon, Picard, Norman, Gallo, , , , Lorrain must be accepted among the regional languages of France; by placing them on the list [of French regional languages], they will be known from then on as .
Even if it has no official status as a language in France, Picard, along with all the other languages spoken in France, benefits from actions led by the Culture Minister's General Delegation for the French language and the languages of France ().
Origins.
Picard, like French, is one of the "langues d'oïl" and belongs to the Gallo-Roman family of languages. It consists of all the varieties used for writing () in the north of France from before 1000 (in the south of France at that time the Occitan language was used). Often, the "langues d'oïl" are referred to simply as Old French.
Picard is phonetically quite different from the North-central "langues d'oïl", which evolved into modern French. Among the most notable traits, the evolution in Picard towards palatalization is less marked than in the central "langues d'oïl" in which it is particularly striking; or before , tonic and , as well as in front of tonic and (from earlier "*au"; the open of the French "porte") in central Old French but not in Picard:
The effects of palatalization can be summarised as this:
There are striking differences, such as Picard "cachier" ('to hunt') ~ Old French "chacier", which later took the modern French form of "chasser".
Because of the proximity of Paris to the northernmost regions of France, French (that is, the languages that were spoken in and around Paris) greatly influenced Picard and vice versa. The closeness between Picard and French made the former not always be recognised as a language in its own right, but rather a "distortion of French" as it is often viewed.
Dialectal variations.
Despite being geographically and syntactically affiliated according to some linguists due to their inter-comprehensible morphosyntactic features, Picard in Picardy, Ch'timi and Rouchi still intrinsically maintain conspicuous discrepancies.
Picard includes a variety of very closely related dialects. It is difficult to list them all accurately in the absence of specific studies on the dialectal variations, but these varieties can probably "provisionally" be distinguished:
 Amiénois, Vimeu-Ponthieu, Vermandois, Thiérache, Beauvaisis, "chtimi" (Bassin Minier, Lille), dialects in other regions near Lille (Roubaix, Tourcoing, Mouscron, Comines), "rouchi" (Valenciennois) and Tournaisis, Borain, Artésien rural, Boulonnais. The varieties are defined by specific phonetic, morphological and lexical traits and sometimes by a distinctive literary tradition.
The Ch'ti language was re-popularised by the 2008 French comedy film "Welcome to the Sticks" (French: "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis"; ]) which broke nearly every box office record in France and earned over $245,000,000 worldwide on an 11 million euro budget.
Verbs and tenses.
The first person plural often appears in spoken Picard in the form of the neutral third person "in"; however, the written form prioritizes "os" (as in French, where "on" is used for "nous"). On the other hand, the spelling of conjugated verbs will depend on the pronunciation, which varies within the Picard domain. For instance southern Picard would read "il étoait / étoét" while northern Picard would read "il étot". This is noted as variants in the following:
Vocabulary.
The majority of Picard words derive from Vulgar Latin.
Some phrases.
Many words are very similar to French, but a large number are totally specific to Picard—principally terms relating to mining or farming.
Here are several typical phrases in Picard, accompanied by French and English translations:
Numerals.
Cardinal numbers in Picard from 1 to 20 are as follows:
Use.
Picard is not taught in French schools (apart from a few one-off and isolated courses) and is generally only spoken among friends or family members. It has nevertheless been the object of scholarly research at universities in Lille and Amiens, as well as at Indiana University. Since people are now able to move around France more easily than in past centuries, the different varieties of Picard are converging and becoming more similar. In its daily use, Picard is tending to lose its distinctive features and may be confused with regional French. At the same time, even though most Northerners can understand Picard today, fewer and fewer are able to speak it, and people who speak Picard as their first language are increasingly rare, particularly under 50.
The 2008 film "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis", starring comedian Dany Boon, deals with Ch'ti language and culture and the perceptions of the region by outsiders.
Written Picard.
Today Picard is primarily a spoken language, but in the medieval period, there is a wealth of literary texts in Picard. However, Picard was not able to compete with French and was slowly reduced to the status of a regional language.
A more recent body of Picard literature, written during the last two centuries, also exists. Modern written Picard is generally a transcription of the spoken language. For that reason, words are often spelled in a variety of different ways (in the same way that English and French were before they were standardized).
One system of spelling for Picard words is similar to that of French. It is undoubtedly the easiest for French speakers to understand but can also contribute the stereotype that Picard is only a corruption of French rather than a language in its own right.
Various spelling methods have been proposed since the 1960s to offset the disadvantage and to give Picard a visual identity that is distinct from French. There is now a consensus, at least between universities, in favor of the written form known as Feller-Carton (based on the Walloon spelling system, which was developed by Jules Feller, and adapted for Picard by Professor Fernand Carton).
Learning Picard.
Picard, although primarily a spoken language, has a body of written literature: poetry, songs ("P'tit quinquin" for example), comic books, etc.
A number of dictionaries and "patois" guides also exist (for French speakers):


Heraklion (regional unit)

Heraklion () is one of the four regional units of Crete. The capital is the city of Heraklion.
Geography.
The regional unit of Heraklion borders on the regional units of Rethymno to the west and Lasithi to the east. Farmlands are situated in the central and the northern parts, at the coast and in valleys. The mountains dominate the rest of the regional unit, notably the south. The main mountains are parts of Ida or Idi Mountains to the west and Asterousia in the south. The regional unit includes the island of Dia to the north.
Except for the mountains which receive mild to cool winters unlike northern Greece, the warm to hot Mediterranean climate dominates the regional unit.
Ancient history.
Within the Heraklion regional unit's boundaries are a number of significant Neolithic and Minoan settlements, most notably the ancient palace complexes of Knossos and Phaistos. While both archaeological sites evince Neolithic habitation from 7000 BC, it is the rich finds of Minoan civilisation, which flourished approximately 2800 to 1450 BC, that command the greatest scholarly attention.
Important ancient cities are:
Administration.
The regional unit Heraklion is subdivided into 8 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):
Prefecture.
The Heraklion prefecture () was created in 1915, after Crete joined with the rest of Greece. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Heraklion was created out of the former prefecture Heraklion. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
Provinces.
"Note:" Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.
Communications.
The following television channels serve the prefecture:


North Tipperary

North Tipperary () was a county in Ireland. It was part of the Mid-West Region and was also located in the province of Munster. It was named after the town of Tipperary and consisted of 48% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. North Tipperary County Council was the local authority for the county. In 2011, the population of the county was 70,322. It was abolished on 3 June 2014, merged with South Tipperary under a new Tipperary County Council.
Geography and political subdivisions.
The county was part of the central plain of Ireland, but the diversified terrain contained several mountain ranges: the Arra Hills, Silvermine Mountains and the Devil's Bit. The county was landlocked. The southern part of the former county is drained by the River Suir; the northern part is drained by tributaries of the River Shannon which widens into Lough Derg. The centre of the county included much of the Golden Vale, a rich pastoral stretch of land in the Suir basin which extends into counties Limerick and Cork.
Its population centres included Nenagh (the county town), Borrisoleigh, Templemore, Thurles and Roscrea.
Baronies.
There were six historic baronies in North Tipperary: Eliogarty, Ikerrin, Ormond Upper, Ormond Lower, Owney and Arra and Kilnamanagh Upper.
Civil parishes and townlands.
Civil parishes in Ireland were delineated after the Down Survey as an intermediate subdivision, with multiple townlands per parish and multiple parishes per barony. The civil parishes had some use in local taxation and were included on the nineteenth century maps of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. For poor law purposes District Electoral Divisions replaced the civil parishes in the mid-nineteenth century. There were 86 civil parishes in the county.
Politics and local government.
The historic county of Tipperary was divided in 1898 when the administrative county of Tipperary (North Riding) was established. The North Riding had existed as a judicial county following the establishment of assize courts in 1838. The county's name changed to North Tipperary, and the council's name to North Tipperary County Council, under the Local Government Act 2001. The Council oversaw the county as an independent local government area. The Council was made up of 21 representatives, directly elected through the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
Under the provisions of the "Local Government Act 1991, (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order", 1993, the territory of North Tipperary was defined as being in the Mid-West Region. This region was a NUTS III region of the European Union. The county of South Tipperary, by contrast, was part of the South-East Region. At a NUTS II level, both counties were in the Southern and Eastern region.
The Council also claimed the title of "The Premier County", a title which was usually taken to refer to the undivided territory of both north and south Tipperary. Following the division of the original county, North Tipperary was not granted its own coat of arms.


Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland (; ; ; Sursilvan and Surmiran: "cantun"; Vallader and Puter: "Chantun"; Sutsilvan: "cantùn"; Rumantsch Grischun: "chantun") are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte. Two important periods in the development of the Old Swiss Confederacy are summarized by the terms "Acht Orte" ("Eight Cantons"; from 1353–1481) and "Dreizehn Orte" ("Thirteen Cantons", from 1513–1798).
Each canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy, formerly also (from before 1450), or ("estate", from c. 1550), was a fully sovereign state with its own border controls, army, and currency from at least the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848, with a brief period of centralised government during the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803). The term "Kanton" has been widely used since the 19th century.
The number of cantons was increased to 19 with the Act of Mediation (1803), with the recognition of former subject territories as full cantons. The Federal Treaty of 1815 increased the number to 22 due to the accession of former Old Swiss Confederacy Associates. The canton of Jura acceded as the 23rd canton with its secession from Bern in 1979. The official number of cantons was increased to 26 in the federal constitution of 1999, which designated former half-cantons as cantons.
The areas of the cantons vary from 37 km (canton of Basel-Stadt) to 7,105 km (canton of the Grisons); the populations (as of 2018) range from 16,000 (canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden) to 1.5 million (canton of Zürich). With a very few exceptions, the capital (seat of government) of each canton is also the largest city.
Terminology.
The term "canton", now also used as the English term for administrative subdivisions of other countries, originates in French usage in the late 15th century (recorded in Fribourg in 1467), from a word for "edge, corner", at the time the literal translation of Early Modern High German "ort".
After 1490, "canton" was increasingly used in French and Italian documents to refer to the members of the Swiss Confederacy.
English use of "canton" in reference to the Swiss Confederacy (as opposed to the heraldic sense) dates to the early 17th century.
In the Old Swiss Confederacy, the term "Ort" (plural: "Orte") was in use from the early 15th century as a generic term for the member cantons. The founding cantons specifically were also known as "Waldstätte" "forest settlements", "forest cantons" (singular: "Waldstatt").
The formulaic ' for the members of the early confederacy is recorded in the mid-14th century, used interchangeably with ' ("cities and lands", "city cantons and rural cantons") until the late 15th century.
"Ort" was increasingly replaced by "Stand" (plural: "Stände") "estate" about 1550, a term taken to imply liberty and sovereignty. Abolished in the Helvetic Republic, the term was revived in 1815 and remains in use today.
The French term "canton" adopted into German after 1648, and then only in occasional use until the early 19th century: prominent usage of "Ort" and "Stand" gradually disappeared in German-speaking Switzerland from the time of the Helvetic Republic. Only with the Act of Mediation of 1803 did German "Kanton" become an official designation, retained in the Swiss Constitution of 1848.
The term "Stand" (, ) remains in synonymous usage and is reflected in the name of the upper chamber of the Swiss Parliament, the Council of States (, , , ).
In the modern era, since Neuchâtel ceased to be a principality in 1848, all Swiss cantons can be considered to have a republican form of government.
Some cantons formally describe themselves as republics in their constitutions.
This applies to the Romance-speaking cantons in particular:
Geneva (formally "République et canton de Genève" "Republic and canton of Geneva"), Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais, Vaud and Ticino.
History.
In the 16th century, the Old Swiss Confederacy was composed of 13 sovereign confederate allies (the Thirteen Cantons; ), and there were two different kinds: five rural states () – Uri, Schwyz (which became eponymous of the confederacy), Unterwalden, Glarus, Appenzell – and eight urban states () – Zürich, Bern, Luzern, Zug, Basel, Fribourg, Solothurn, Schaffhausen.
Though they were technically part of the Holy Roman Empire, they had become "de facto" independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximilian I in 1499 in Dornach.
In the early modern period, the individual confederate allies came to be seen as republics; while the six traditional allies had a tradition of direct democracy in the form of the "Landsgemeinde", the urban states operated via representation in city councils, de facto oligarchic systems dominated by families of the patriciate.
The old system was abandoned with the formation of the Helvetic Republic following the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798. The cantons of the Helvetic Republic had merely the status of an administrative subdivision with no sovereignty. The Helvetic Republic collapsed within five years, and cantonal sovereignty was restored with the Act of Mediation of 1803. The status of Switzerland as a federation of states was restored, at the time including 19 cantons (the six accessions to the early modern Thirteen Cantons being composed of former associates and subject territories: St. Gallen, Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud). Three additional western cantons, Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva, acceded in 1815.
The process of "Restoration", completed by 1830, returned most of the former feudal rights to the cantonal patriciates, leading to rebellions among the rural population. The Liberal Radical Party embodied these democratic forces calling for a new federal constitution. This tension, paired with religious issues ("Jesuit question") escalated into armed conflict in the 1840s, with the brief Sonderbund War. The victory of the radical party resulted in the formation of Switzerland as a federal state in 1848. The cantons retained far-reaching sovereignty, but were no longer allowed to maintain individual standing armies or international relations. As the revolutions of 1848 in Western Europe had failed elsewhere, Switzerland during the later 19th century (and with the exception of the French Third Republic, until the end of World War I) found itself as an isolated democratic republic, surrounded by the restored monarchies of France, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Germany.
Constitutions and powers.
The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent that their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. Areas specifically reserved to the Confederation are the armed forces, currency, the postal service, telecommunications, immigration into and emigration from the country, granting asylum, conducting foreign relations with sovereign states, civil and criminal law, weights and measures, and customs duties.
Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, executive, police and courts. Similar to the Confederation, a directorial system of government is followed by the cantons.
Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between 58 and 200 seats. A few legislatures also involve or did involve general popular assemblies known as "Landsgemeinden"; the use of this form of legislature has declined: at present it exists only in the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. The cantonal executives consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see the list of cantonal executives and list of cantonal legislatures.
The cantons retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the federal constitution or law: most significantly the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement, public education, and retain the power of taxation. Each canton defines its official language(s). Cantons may conclude treaties not only with other cantons but also with foreign states (respectively Articles 48 and 56 of the Federal Constitution).
The cantonal constitutions determine the internal organisation of the canton, including the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws; some municipalities have their own police forces.
As at the federal level, all cantons provide for some form of direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. Other than in the instances of general popular assemblies in Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus, democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot. The right of foreigners to vote varies by canton, as does whether Swiss citizens living abroad (and registered to vote in a canton) can take part in cantonal voting.
Swiss citizens are citizens of a particular municipality (the place of origin) and the canton in which that municipality is part. Cantons therefore have a role in and set requirements for the granting of citizenship (naturalisation), though the process is typically undertaken at a municipal level and is subject to federal law.
Switzerland has only one federal public holiday (1 August); public holidays otherwise vary from canton to canton.
List.
The cantons are listed in their order of precedence given in the federal constitution. This reflects the historical order of precedence of the Eight Cantons in the 15th century, followed by the remaining cantons in the order of their historical accession to the confederacy.
The two-letter abbreviations for Swiss cantons are widely used, e.g. on car license plates. They are also used in the with the prefix "CH-" ("Confœderatio Helvetica"—Helvetian Confederation—"Helvetia" having been the ancient Roman name of the region). "CH-SZ", for example, is used for the canton of Schwyz.
Half-cantons.
Six of the 26 cantons are traditionally, but no longer officially, called "half-cantons" (, , , ). In two instances (Basel and Appenzell) this was a consequence of a historic division, whilst in the case of Unterwalden a historic mutual association, resulting in three pairs of half-cantons. The other 20 cantons were, and in some instances still are—though only in a context where it is needed to distinguish them from any half-cantons—typically termed "full" cantons in English.
The first article of the 1848 and 1874 constitutions constituted the Confederation as the union of "twenty-two sovereign cantons", referring to the half-cantons as "Unterwalden ( [‘above and beneath the woods’])", "Basel ( [‘city and country’])" and "Appenzell ( [‘both Rhoden’])".
The 1874 constitution was amended to list 23 cantons with the accession of the Canton of Jura in 1978.
The historic half-cantons, and their pairings, are still recognizable in the first article of the Swiss Federal Constitution of 1999 by being joined to their other "half" with the conjunction "and":
The 1999 constitutional revision retained the traditional distinction, on the request of the six cantonal governments, as a way to mark the historic association of the half-cantons to each other. While the older constitutions referred to these states as "half-cantons", a term that remains in popular use, the 1999 revision and official terminology since then use the appellation "cantons with half of a cantonal vote".
The ½, 1 and 2 francs coins as minted since 1874 represent the number of cantons by 22 stars surrounding the figure of Helvetia on the obverse.
The design of the coins was altered to show 23 stars, including Jura, beginning with the 1983 batch. The design has remained unchanged since, and does not reflect the official number of "26 cantons" introduced in 1999.
The reasons for the existence of the three pairs of half-cantons are varied:
With their original circumstances of partition now a historical matter, the half-cantons are since 1848 equal to the other cantons in all but two respects:
Between 1831 and 1833 the canton of Schwyz divided into half-cantons: (Inner) Schwyz and the break-away Outer Schwyz; in this instance the half-cantons were forced by the Confederation to settle their disputes and re-unite.
In the 20th century, some Jurassic separatists suggested a new canton of Jura to be divided into half-cantons of North Jura and South Jura. Instead, North Jura became the (full) canton of Jura while South Jura remains in the canton of Bern as the region of Bernese Jura.
Names in national languages.
The name of each canton in its own official language is shown in bold.
Admission of new cantons.
The enlargement of Switzerland by way of the admission of new cantons ended in 1815. The latest formal attempt considered by Switzerland was in 1919 from Vorarlberg but subsequently rejected. A few representatives submitted in 2010 a parliamentary motion to consider enlargement although it was widely seen as anti-EU rhetoric rather than a serious proposal. The motion was eventually dropped and not even examined by the parliament.


Tyneside

Tyneside is a conurbation of the urban areas on the north and south banks of the River Tyne in North East England. Centred on Newcastle upon Tyne, it incorporates the surrounding metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside. The population of Tyneside as published in the 2011 census was 774,891, making it the eighth most-populous urban area in the United Kingdom. In 2013, the estimated population was 832,469 and since then has significantly increased. Tyneside is considered to be the core conurbation of the Tyneside-Wearside metropolitan area.
Settlements.
The ONS 2011 census had 774,891 census respondents inside the "Tyneside Built-up Area" or "Tyneside Urban Area". These figures are a decline from 879,996; this loss was mainly due to the ONS reclassifying Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton-le-Spring, Chester-le-Street and Washington in the Wearside Built-up Area instead of Tyneside. In both the 2001 and 2011 census the area was given the following subdivisions; Gateshead, Jarrow and Tynemouth had boundary changes:
Geordies.
The people of the Tyneside area, called "Geordies", have a reputation for their distinctive dialect and accent. Tynesiders may have been given this name, a local diminutive of the name "George", because their miners used George Stephenson's safety lamp (invented in 1815 and called a "Georgie lamp") to prevent firedamp explosions, rather than the Davy lamp used elsewhere. An alternative explanation relates that during the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 the Tynesiders declared their allegiance to the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, George I and George II; whereas the rest of the county of Northumberland, to the north, stood loyal to James Francis Edward Stuart.
Coal production.
While Newcastle upon Tyne had been an important local centre since Roman times, and was a major local market town from the Middle Ages, the development of Newcastle and Tyneside is owed to coal mining. Coal was first known to be dug in Tyneside from superficial seams in around 1200, but there is some evidence from Bede's writings that it may have been dug as early as 800 AD. Coal was dug from local drift mines and bell pits, and although initially only used locally, it was exported from the port of Newcastle from the mid 14th century onwards. Tyneside had a strategic advantage as far as the coal trade was concerned, because collier brigs could be loaded with coal on the Tyne and could sail down the east coast to London. In fact, the burgesses of Newcastle formed a cartel, and were known as the Hostmen. The Hostmen were able gain a monopoly over all of the coal exported from Tyneside, a monopoly which lasted a considerable time. A well-known group of workers on the river were the keelmen who handled the keels, boats that carried the coal from the riverbanks to the waiting colliers.
Steel and shipbuilding.
The valley of the River Derwent, a major tributary of the Tyne that rises in County Durham, saw the development of the steel industry from around 1600 onwards. This was led by German immigrant cutlers and sword-makers, probably from around Solingen, who fled from religious persecution at home and settled in the then village of Shotley Bridge, near Consett.
The combination of coal and steel industries in the area was the catalyst for further major industrial development in the 19th century, including the shipbuilding industry; at its peak, the Tyneside shipyards were one of the largest centres of shipbuilding in the world and built an entire navy for Japan in the first decade of the 20th century. There is still a working shipyard in Wallsend.
Professional competitive rowing on the Tyne.
From early in the 19th century, it was a custom to hold boat races on the Tyne. The Tyne had a large number of keelmen and wherrymen, who handled boats as part of their jobs. As on the River Thames, there were competitions to show who was the best oarsman. As a wherryman did not earn very much, competitive rowing was seen as a quick way of earning extra money. Regattas were held, and provided modest prizes for professionals, but the big money was made in challenge races, in which scullers or boat crews would challenge each other to a race over a set distance for a side stake. The crews would usually have backers, who would put up the stake money, as they saw the chance of financial gain from the race. In the days before mass attendances at football matches, races on the river were enormously popular, with tens of thousands attending. Betting would go on both before and during a race, the odds changing as the fortunes of the contestants changed. Contestants who became champions of the Tyne would often challenge the corresponding champions of the River Thames, and the race would be arranged to take place on one of the two rivers.
Rivalry between the Tyne and the Thames was very keen, and rowers who upheld the honour of the Tyne became local heroes. Three such oarsmen, who came from humble backgrounds and became household names in the North East, were Harry Clasper, Robert Chambers and James Renforth. Clasper was a champion rower in fours, as well as an innovative boat designer and a successful rowing coach. Chambers and Renforth were oarsmen who excelled at sculling. Both held the World Sculling Championship at different times.
The popularity of all three men was such that when they died, many thousands attended their funeral processions, and magnificent funeral monuments were provided by popular subscription in all three cases. At the end of the 19th century professional competitive rowing on the Tyne began a gradual decline and would die out entirely leaving the amateur version.
Rapper dancing.
Despite its rapid growth in the Industrial Revolution, Tyneside developed one peculiar local custom, the rapper sword dance, which later spread to neighbouring areas of Northumberland and County Durham.
Industrial decline and regeneration.
During the 1970s and 1980s, there was major industrial decline in the traditional British heavy industries, and Tyneside was hit hard. High unemployment rates and the national [Thatcher] government's resolve to push through with economic transformation led to great social unrest with strikes and occasional rioting in depressed areas.
From the late 1980s onward, an improving national economy and local regeneration helped the area to recover, and although unemployment is still a problem compared with some other areas of Britain, expansion of new industries such as tourism, science and high-technology, has fuelled local development, especially in Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead.
Economy.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Tyneside at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.
 1). Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
 2). Includes hunting and forestry.
 3). Includes energy and construction.
 4). Includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured.


Northern Greece

Northern Greece () is used to refer to the northern parts of Greece, and can have various definitions.
Administrative term.
The term "Northern Greece" is widely used to refer mainly to the two northern regions of Macedonia and (Western) Thrace; thus the Thessaloniki-based Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace was known as "Ministry for Northern Greece" (Υπουργείο Βορείου Ελλάδος) until 1988.
Broader term and NUTS usage.
The term may also, according to context, incorporate the region Epirus. When Epirus is included, it is broadly coterminous with the "New Lands" (Νέες Χώρες), i.e. the territories added to the Kingdom of Greece after the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, as opposed to pre-1912 "Old Greece" (Παλαιά Ελλάδα). This distinction survives in the ecclesiastical domain, where the dioceses of the "New Lands" "de jure" still adhere to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but are "de facto" under the Church of Greece.
Voreia Ellada is also one of the four Greek NUTS regions, created for statistical purposes by the European Union. Until 2014, it encompassed the four administrative regions Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Central Macedonia, West Macedonia and Thessaly. Coming into effect in January 2015, the Greek NUTS regions were redefined, with Voreia Ellada now encompassing Epirus instead of Thessaly. This NUTS division is not used by Greece for any administrative purposes.
Linguistics.
In linguistics, Northern Greece refers to the areas where the Northern Greek dialect is traditionally spoken, encompassing in addition to the previous regions Central Greece except for Attica, and the North Aegean, except Chios.
Northern Greece statistics.
According to 2011 Eurostat data, Voreia Ellada, as defined until 2014, had a total population of 3,590,187 inhabitants.


Chania (regional unit)

Chania () is one of the four regional units of Crete; it covers the westernmost quarter of the island. Its capital is the city of Chania. Chania borders only one other regional unit: that of Rethymno to the east. The western part of Crete is bounded to the north by the Cretan Sea, and to the west and south by the Mediterranean Sea. The regional unit also includes the southernmost island of Europe, Gavdos.
Geography.
Chania regional unit, often informally termed 'Western Crete', is a part of the island which includes the districts of Apokoronas, Sfakia, and Selino in the far South West corner. Other towns in the Chania prefecture include Hora Sfakion, Kissamos, Palaiochora, Maleme, Vryses, Vamos, Georgioupolis and Kalives.
The natural park of Samariá Gorge, a tourist attraction and a refuge for the rare Cretan wild goat or "kri-kri", is in the South of the regional unit. The White Mountains or "Lefka Ori", through which the Samaria, Aradena, Imbros and other gorges run, are the limestone peaks topped by snow until May that occupy much of Chania regional unit. They contain more than 40 peaks over 2,000 meters high. The highest peak in this area is Pachnes, at 2,453 meters above sea level.
The regional unit also includes three headlands, known as the "three heads" of Crete. From east to west, they are: Akrotiri, Rodopos (also called Spatha) and Gramvousa.
Western Crete is popular with tourists for its spring flowers that linger on into early May in the mountains. Birdwatching is also common, with the lammergeier and golden eagle especially sought for. As an island, Crete has many endemic species of plant and animal.
Crete's only freshwater lake, Lake Kournas, is in the regional unit close to the border with Rethymno regional unit, 47 km from Chania. It is relatively large, with a perimeter of 3.5 km. The lake used to be called 'Korisia' after ancient 'Korion', a city thought to be in the area with a temple to Athena. The lake used to be reportedly full of eels but now is better known for its terrapins and tourists. Tavernas and pedalo rental shops line part of the shore.
Chania is the regional unit of Crete that receives the most precipitation. The Exkursionsflora von Kreta by Jahn & Schoenfelder has a precipitation map and text confirming that in general, western Crete (Chania prefecture) has more precipitation than any other region on an average basis.
Administration.
The regional unit Chania is subdivided into seven municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):
Prefecture.
The Chania prefecture () was created while Crete was still an autonomous state, and was preserved after the island joined Greece in 1913. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the Chania regional unit was created out of the former prefecture. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
Provinces.
The provinces were:


Insular Italy

Insular Italy ( or just , meaning "islands") is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. Insular Italy encompasses two of the country's 20 regions: Sardinia and Sicily.
Geography.
Insular Italy occupies one-sixth of the national territory in surface area. Territorially, both Sicily and Sardinia include several minor islands and archipelagoes administratively dependent on the mother islands.
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean (25,708 km2) and one of the largest of Europe, while Sardinia is only slightly less extensive (24,090 km2). The lowlands are generally limited in the geographic region and generally appear as narrow coastal belts. The only exceptions are the Campidano and Nurra in Sardinia and the Plain of Catania in Sicily that extend 1200 km2 and 430 km2 respectively. The rest of the area is prevalently hilly, with hills occupying 70% of the territory. Sicily is home to Mount Etna, Italy's highest non-Alpine peak and Europe's largest active volcano. Sardinia is home to the Gennargentu mountain range.
Demographics.
The population of Insular Italy totals combined over 6.7 million residents. Insular Italy has a population density of less than half the national average mainly because of the scarce population of Sardinia, one of the least densely populated regions of Italy and Europe. Sicily, on the other hand, has in fact a population density five times as high as Sardinia.
Overall, their combined populations total just one-tenth of the national population, making Insular Italy the least populated macro-region of the country.
Economy.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 123.9 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 7% of Italy's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 18,500 euros or 62% of the EU27 average in the same year.
Socio-economic situation.
The unemployment rate of Sicily is the highest in the country at 11.9%, while in Sardinia between 2006-07 it dropped for the first time below 10%, reaching 8.6%, the lowest of all the Mezzogiorno regions, excluding Molise and Abruzzo.
The low level of entrepreneurship in Sicily is tied to the local organized criminal activity, while in Sardinia it results from the rather expensive operating expenses (electricity, transportation, etc.), which are 20-50% higher than other regions due to its peripheral location from the Italian mainland and the lack of a proper territorial continuity ("continuità territoriale"). Such condition has been reduced in Sardinia with the development of information technologies, like Tiscali, low-cost carrier, like Ryanair, and some laws regarding fares and routes between the islands and mainland Italy.


Verwaltungsverband


Pleven Province

Pleven Province ( or Plevenska Oblast , former name Pleven okrug) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions, called municipalities, that embrace a territory of with a population, as of February 2011, of 269 752 inhabitants. The province's capital is the city of Pleven.
Naming.
The following Bulgarian terms may be used:
Geography.
The province is part of the central Danubian Plain. It is crossed from south to north by the rivers Iskar, Vit and Osam (in west-east order); the river valleys are separated by limestone plateaus.
Municipalities.
The Pleven province (област, "oblast") contains 11 municipalities ( - plural: ). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town (in bold) or village, and the population of each as of December 2009.
Population.
As of February 2011, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 266 144 of which are inhabitants aged over 60 years.
The following table represents the change of the population in the province after World War II:
Ethnic groups.
Total population (2011 census): 269 752
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 240 265 persons:
A further 30,000 persons in Pleven Province did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
According to the 2001 census, the population of the province was 312,018, of which Bulgarians constitute an overwhelming majority of 280,475. 16,931 signed as Turks (though this number very likely also includes Muslim Roma) and 9,777 as Roma.
Languages.
According to the 2001 census 283,626 people specified Bulgarian as their mother tongue, 14,947 declared to speak Turkish at home, while the native speakers of Romani were 8,861.
Religion.
Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:


Xanthi (regional unit)

Xanthi (, ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Region of East Macedonia and Thrace. The capital is Xanthi. Together with the regional units Rhodope and Evros, it forms the geographical region of Western Thrace.
Geography.
Xanthi borders the Bulgarian provinces of Smolyan and Kardzhali to the north, and the Aegean Sea to the south. The regional unit of Kavala lies to the west, Drama to the northwest and Rhodope to the east. The Rhodope Mountains cover the northern part of the regional unit. The highest point is "Koula", at 1,827m.
The coastal area has a predominantly Mediterranean climate, whereas the northern mountainous part has a colder continental climate.
Administration.
The regional unit Xanthi is subdivided into 4 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):
Prefecture.
Xanthi was established as a prefecture in 1944 (), when it was split off from the Rhodope Prefecture. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the prefecture was transformed into a regional unit within the East Macedonia and Thrace region, with no change in its boundaries. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
Culture.
The remains of the ancient city of Abdera have been excavated. Subterranean Macedonian tombs from the 2nd century BC have been discovered in Komnina.
There is a Byzantine castle near the old town of Xanthi. During the 19th century, local tobacco production and commerce developed rapidly. The manors of the old city Xanthi, many of which are still intact, testify to the prosperity of the tobacco merchants during this period.


Province of Ascoli Piceno

The province of Ascoli Piceno () is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ascoli Piceno, and the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the province of Macerata to the north, and it faces the regions of Umbria and Abruzzo (Abruzzi) to the south. There are 33 "comuni" in the province, see Comunes of the Province of Ascoli Piceno.
The first settlers of the province were located on the banks of River Tronto by the Picentes tribe. It was later conquered by the Romans and became known as Asculum Picenum by 268 BCE. From 91-88 BCE the Picentes revolted against the Romans and attempted to re-claim the land, but Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo besieged and sacked the city. The town of Ascoli Piceno managed to revive, but after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, it was conquered many times. King of the Ostrogoths Totila invaded the town in 545. Ascoli Piceno was then under strong control from the church and was made free in 1185, but the bishop declared it under his control in 1212.


Dodecanese

The Dodecanese (, ; , "Dodekánisa" , literally "twelve islands") are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the wider Southern Sporades island group.
Rhodes has been the area's dominant island since antiquity. Of the others, Kos and Patmos are historically the more important; the remaining twelve are Agathonisi, Astypalaia, Chalki, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Leipsoi, Leros, Nisyros, Symi, Tilos, and Kastellorizo. Other islands in the chain include Alimia, Arkoi, Farmakonisi, Gyali, Kinaros, Levitha, Marathos, Nimos, Pserimos, Saria, Strongyli, Syrna and Telendos.
Name.
The name "Dodecanese" (older form ἡ Δωδεκάνησος, "hē Dōdekanēsos"; modern τα Δωδεκάνησα, "ta Dōdekanēsa"), meaning "The Twelve Islands", denotes today an island group in the southeastern Aegean Sea, comprising fifteen major islands (Agathonisi, Astypalaia, Chalki, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastellorizo, Kos, Lipsi, Leros, Nisyros, Patmos, Rhodes, Symi, and Tilos) and 93 smaller islets. Since Antiquity, these islands formed part of the group known as the "Southern Sporades" (Νότιες Σποράδες).
The name "Dōdekanēsos" first appears in Byzantine sources in the 8th century, as a naval command under a "droungarios", encompassing the southern Aegean Sea, which eventually evolved into the Theme of Samos. However it was not applied to the current island group, but to the twelve Cyclades islands clustered around Delos. The name may indeed be of far earlier date, and modern historians suggest that the 12 islands mentioned by Strabo ("Geographica" Χ.485) was the origin of the term. The term remained in use throughout the medieval period and was still used for the Cyclades in both colloquial usage and scholarly Greek-language literature until the 18th century.
The transfer of the name to the present-day Dodecanese has its roots in the Ottoman period. Following the Ottoman conquest in 1522, the two larger islands, Rhodes and Kos, came under direct Ottoman rule, while the others, of which the twelve main islands were usually named, enjoyed extensive privileges pertaining to taxation and self-government. Concerted attempts to abolish these privileges were made after 1869, as the Ottoman Empire attempted to modernize and centralize its administrative structure, and the last vestiges of the old privileges were finally abolished after the Young Turks took power in 1908. It was at that time that the press in the independent Kingdom of Greece began referring to the twelve privileged islands (Astypalaia, Chalki, Ikaria, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastellorizo, Leros, Nisyros, Patmos, Symi, Tilos), in the context of their attempts to preserve their privileges, collectively as the "Dodecanese". Shortly after, in 1912, most of the Southern Sporades were captured by the Italians in the Italo-Turkish War, except for Ikaria, which joined Greece in 1912 during the First Balkan War, and Kastellorizo, which came under Italian rule only in 1921. The place of the latter two was taken by Kos and Rhodes, bringing the number of the major islands under Italian rule back to twelve. Thus, when the Greek press began agitating for the cession of the islands to Greece in 1913, the term used was still the "Dodecanese". The Italian occupation authorities helped to establish the term when they named the islands under their control "Rhodes and the Dodecanese" ("Rodi e Dodecaneso"), adding Leipsoi to the list of the major islands to make up for considering Rhodes separately.
By 1920, the name had become firmly established for the entire island group, a fact acknowledged by the Italian government when it appointed the islands' first civilian governor, Count , as "Viceroy of the Dodecanese". As the name was associated with Greek irredentism, from 1924 Mussolini's Fascist regime tried to abolish its use by referring to them as the "Italian Islands of the Aegean", but this name never acquired any wider currency outside Italian administrative usage. The islands joined Greece in 1947 following as the "Governorate-General of the Dodecanese" (Γενική Διοίκησις Δωδεκανήσου), since 1955 the "Dodecanese Prefecture" (Νομός Δωδεκανήσου).
History.
Pre-history and the Archaic period.
The Dodecanese have been inhabited since prehistoric times. In the Neopalatial period on Crete, the islands were heavily Minoanized (contact beginning in the second millennium BC). Following the downfall of the Minoans, the islands were ruled by the Mycenaean Greeks from circa 1400 BC, until the arrival of the Dorians circa 1100 BC. It is in the Dorian period that they began to prosper as an independent entity, developing a thriving economy and culture through the following centuries. By the early Archaic period Rhodes and Kos emerged as the major islands in the group, and in the 6th century BC the Dorians founded three major cities on Rhodes (Lindos, Kameiros and Ialyssos). Together with the island of Kos and the cities of Knidos and Halicarnassos on the mainland of Asia Minor, these made up the Dorian Hexapolis.
Classical period.
This development was interrupted around 499 BC by the Persian Wars, during which the islands were captured by the Persians for a brief period. Following the defeat of the Persians by the Athenians in 478 BC, the cities joined the Athenian-dominated Delian League. When the Peloponnesian War broke out in 431 BC, they remained largely neutral although they were still members of the League.
By the time the Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC, the Dodecanese were mostly removed from the larger Aegean conflicts, and had begun a period of relative quiet and prosperity. In 408 BC, the three cities of Rhodes had united to form one state, which built a new capital on the northern end of the island, also named "Rhodes"; this united Rhodes was to dominate the region for the coming millennia. Other islands in the Dodecanese also developed into significant economic and cultural centers; most notably, Kos served as the site of the school of medicine founded by Hippocrates.
However, the Peloponnesian War had so weakened the entire Greek civilization's military strength that it lay open to invasion. In 357 BC, the islands were conquered by the king Mausolus of Caria, then in 340 BC by the Persians. But this second period of Persian rule proved to be nearly as short as the first, and the islands became part of the rapidly growing Macedonian Empire as Alexander the Great swept through and defeated the Persians in 332 BC, to the great relief of the islands' inhabitants.
Following the death of Alexander, the islands, and even Rhodes itself, were split up among the many generals who contended to succeed him. The islands formed strong commercial ties with the Ptolemies in Egypt, and together they formed the Rhodo-Egyptian alliance which controlled trade throughout the Aegean in the 3rd century BC. Led by Rhodes, the islands developed into maritime, commercial and cultural centers: coins of Rhodes circulated almost everywhere in the Mediterranean, and the islands' schools of philosophy, literature and rhetoric were famous. The Colossus of Rhodes, built in 304 BC, perhaps best symbolized their wealth and power.
In 164 BC, Rhodes signed a treaty with Rome, and the islands became aligned to greater or lesser extent with the Roman Republic while mostly maintaining their autonomy. Rhodes quickly became a major schooling center for Roman noble families, and, as the islands (and particularly Rhodes) were important allies of Rome, they enjoyed numerous privileges and generally friendly relations. These were eventually lost in 42 BC, in the turmoil following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, after which Cassius invaded and sacked the islands. Thereafter, they became part of the Roman Empire proper. Titus made Rhodes capital of the "Provincia Insularum", and eventually the islands were joined with Crete as part of the 18th Province of the Roman Empire.
In the 1st century, Saint Paul visited the islands twice, and Saint John visited numerous times; they succeeded in converting the islands to Christianity, placing them among the first dominantly Christian regions. Saint John eventually came to reside among them, being exiled to Patmos, where he wrote his famous "Revelation".
Middle Ages.
As the Roman Empire split in AD 395 into Eastern and Western halves, the islands became part of the Eastern part, which later evolved into the Byzantine Empire. They would remain there for nearly a thousand years, though these were punctuated by numerous invasions. It was during this period that they began to re-emerge as an independent entity, and the term "Dodecanese" itself dates to around the 8th century. Copious evidence of the Eastern Roman period remains on the islands today, most notably in hundreds of churches from the period which can be seen in various states of preservation.
In the 13th century, with the Fourth Crusade, Italians began invading portions of the Dodecanese, which had remained under the nominal power of the Empire of Nicea; Venetians (Querini, Cornaro) and Genoese families (Vignoli) each held some islands for brief periods, while Orthodox monks ruled on Patmos and Leros. Finally, in the 14th century, the Byzantine era came to an end when the islands were taken by forces of the Knights Hospitaller (Knights of St John): Rhodes was conquered in 1309, and the rest of the islands fell gradually over the next few decades. The Knights made Rhodes their stronghold, transforming its capital into a grandiose medieval city dominated by an impressive fortress, and scattered fortresses and citadels through the rest of the islands as well.
These massive fortifications proved sufficient to repel invasions by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and Mehmed II in 1480. Finally, however, the citadel at Rhodes fell to the large army of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522, and the other islands were overrun within the year. The few remaining Knights fled to Malta.
Ottoman rule.
Thus began a period of several hundred years in the Ottoman Empire. The Dodecanese formed a separate province within the Eyalet of the Archipelago. The population was allowed to retain a number of privileges provided it submitted to Ottoman rule. By Suleiman's edict, they paid a special tax in return for a special autonomous status that prohibited Ottoman generals from interfering in their civil affairs or mistreating the population. These guarantees, combined with a strategic location at the crossroads of Mediterranean shipping, allowed the islands to prosper. The overwhelmingly Greek population (only Rhodes and Kos had Turkish communities) leaned heavily towards Greece following its declaration of independence in 1822, and many of the islanders joined the Greek War of Independence, with the result that the northern portion of the Dodecanese (including Samos) became briefly the Greek provinces of the Eastern Sporades and Southern Sporades. Kasos in particular played a prominent role due to its skilled mariners, until its destruction by the Egyptians in 1824. Most of the islands were slated to become part of the new Greek state in the London Protocol of 1828, but when Greek independence was recognized in the London Protocol of 1830, the islands were left outside the new Kingdom of Greece. Indeed, the 19th century turned out to be one of the islands' most prosperous, and a number of mansions date from this era.
Turks of the Dodecanese.
There is a Turkish Muslim minority living in Rhodes and Kos. Sources have variously estimated the Turkish population of Kos and Rhodes to be 5,000, 6,000, or 7,000.
Italian rule.
After the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish war over Libya, in early 1912 Italy, in order to apply pressure on the Ottoman government closer to its metropolitan territories, occupied all the present-day Dodecanese except for Kastellorizo.
After the end of the war according to the Treaty of Ouchy, Italy maintained the occupation of the islands as guarantee for the execution of the treaty. The occupation continued after Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire (21 August 1915) during the First World War.
During the war, the islands became an important naval base for Britain and France; Italy was allied with both nations during World War I. The Dodecanese were used as a staging area for numerous campaigns, most famously the one at Gallipoli. Some of the smaller islands were occupied by the French and British, but Rhodes remained under Italian occupation. In 1915, the French also occupied Kastellorizo.
Following the war, the Tittoni–Venizelos agreement, signed on 29 July 1919, called for the smaller islands to join with Greece, while Italy maintained control of Rhodes. The treaty further outlined an exchange where Italy would receive Antalya for southwest Anatolia. The Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War and the foundation of modern Turkey prevented the exchange. Italy formally annexed the Dodecanese as the "Possedimenti Italiani dell'Egeo" under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne. Mussolini embarked on a program of Italianization, hoping to make Rhodes a modern transportation hub that would serve as a focal point for the spread of Italian culture in the Levant. The islands were overwhelmingly Greek-speaking, with a Turkish-speaking minority and an even smaller Ladino-speaking Jewish minority. Immigrant Italian speakers were a marginal language community.
Although the Italian state placed the islands under the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, governance of them was strongly tied to the project for an Italian empire in the Mediterranean and to the Italian colonies in Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, and after 1936, in Ethiopia.
As part of securing sovereignty in the islands, Italy created and applied a form of imperial citizenship for the local population unique to its overseas empire. Called Italian Aegean citizenship (cittadinanza egea italiana), this form of citizenship was inclusive of local political rights and exclusive of military service. After 1934, Dodecanese citizens could complete military service and apply to become full Italian citizens, an option which many locals chose while supporting Italian Fascism and seeing the Italian empire as promoting their financial well-being. Italian Aegean citizenship also ensured the islands were exempted from the exchange of Greek and Turkish minority populations in the Aegean, a provision of the Second Lausanne Treaty that ended the Greco-Turkish War following World War One the collapse of the Ottoman empire. After 1934, it was also possible to acquire Italian Aegean citizenship from abroad and to transmit Italian Aegean citizenship on the principle of patrilineal descent. This reform mirrored the principle of jus sanguinis which provides the basis of Italian citizenship and it was especially intended for the large Greek speaking Dodecanese-origin emigrant community residing in Egypt.
The Fascist program, in its many attempts to modernize the islands, eradicated malaria, and constructed hospitals, aqueducts, a power plant to provide Rhodes' capital with electric lighting, and established the Dodecanese Cadastre. The main castle of the Knights of St. John was also rebuilt. The concrete-dominated Fascist architectural style detracted significantly from the islands' picturesque scenery (and also reminded the inhabitants of Italian rule), and has consequently been largely demolished or remodeled, apart from the famous example of the Leros town of Lakki, which remains a prime example of the architecture.
From 1936 to 1940 Cesare Maria De Vecchi acted as Governor of the Italian Islands of the Aegean promoting the official use of the Italian language and favoring a process of italianization, interrupted by the beginning of World War II. In the 1936 Italian census of the Dodecanese islands, the total population was 129,135, of which 7,015 were Italians.
World War II.
During World War II, Italy joined the Axis Powers, which used the Dodecanese as a naval staging area for their invasion of Crete in 1941. After the surrender of Italy in September 1943, the islands briefly became a battleground between the Germans and Allied forces, including the Italians. The Germans prevailed in the Dodecanese Campaign, and although they were driven out of mainland Greece in 1944, the Dodecanese remained occupied until the end of the war in 1945, during which time nearly the entire Jewish population of 6,000 was deported and killed. Only 1,200 of these Ladino-speaking Jews survived by escaping to the nearby coast of Turkey. On 8 May 1945 the German garrison commander Otto Wagener surrendered the islands to the British on Rhodes handing over 5,000 German and 600 Italian military personnel.
Post-World War II.
Following the war, the islands became a British military protectorate, and were almost immediately allowed to run their own civil affairs, upon which the islands became informally united with Greece, though under separate sovereignty and military control. Despite objections from Turkey, which desired the islands as well, they were formally united with Greece by the 1947 Peace Treaty with Italy.
As a legacy of its former status as a jurisdiction separate from Greece, it is still considered a separate "entity" for amateur radio purposes, essentially maintaining its status as an independent country "on the air." Amateur radio call signs in the Dodecanese begin with the prefix SV5 instead of SV for Greece.
The 70th anniversary of the Dodecanese enosis was marked in 2017, with the Greek Parliament holding a special celebratory session for the event.
Today, Rhodes and the Dodecanese are popular travel destinations.
Administration.
The Dodecanese Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis reform, the prefecture was abolished, and its territory was divided into four regional units, within the South Aegean administrative region:
Municipalities and communities.
The prefecture was subdivided into the following municipalities and communities. These have been reorganised at the 2011 Kallikratis reform as well.
Provinces.
Until 1997, the Prefecture of the Dodecanese was subdivided into provinces:
Cuisine.
Local specialities of the Dodecanese include:


County Longford

County Longford () is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 40,873 at the 2016 census. The county is based on the historic Gaelic territory of Annaly ("Anghaile"), formerly known as Teffia ("Teathbha").
Geography.
Most of Longford lies in the basin of the River Shannon with Lough Ree forming much of the county's western boundary. The north-eastern part of the county, however, drains towards the River Erne and Lough Gowna. Lakeland, bogland, pastureland, and wetland typify Longford's generally low-lying landscapes: the highest point of the county is in the north-west - Carn Clonhugh (also known as Cairn Hill) near Drumlish at 279 m (916 feet). Cairn Hill is the site of a television transmitter broadcasting to much of the Irish midlands.
In the list of Irish counties by highest point, Longford ranks third lowest. Only Meath and Westmeath have lower maxima. In general, the northern third of the county is hilly, forming part of the drumlin belt and Esker Riada stretching across the northern midlands of Ireland. The southern parts of the county are low-lying, with extensive areas of raised bogland and the land being of better quality for grazing and tillage. The River Shannon marks the county's border with Roscommon while the Rivers Inny and Tang form much of the boundary with Westmeath.
The Royal Canal flows through the south of the county terminating at Cloondara at the Shannon. The canal was refurbished and reopened in 2010. Notable lakes include Kinale Lough and Lough Gowna on the Cavan border, Lough Forbes on the Roscommon border and of course Lough Ree in the south where Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon meet.
Political Subdivisions.
The county is one half of the Dáil constituency of Longford–Westmeath.
There are six historical baronies:
Towns and villages.
With a population of 10,008, Longford Town is the largest town in the county followed by Edgeworthstown (2,072), Ballymahon (1,877), Lanesborough (1,454) and Granard (816).
Townlands are the smallest officially defined geographical divisions in Ireland, with 944 townlands in the county.
History.
The territory corresponding to County Longford was presumably a frontier colony of the Kingdom of Meath in the first millennium. Between the fifth and twelfth centuries the territory was called the kingdom of Tethbae ruled by various tuath such as the Cairpre Gabra in the north. Tethbae () originally referred to an area north of the River Inny approximating to present day County Longford.
In the year AD 1070, Tethbae was conquered by the Ó Cuinns, Ó Fearghails, and other Conmhaícne tribes, henceforth being known as Muintir Annaly, so named after "Anghaile" the great-grandfather of Fearghail O'Farrell. Furthermore, County Longford was often called Upper Conmaicne, to distinguish it from south Leitrim, then called Lower Conmaicne, because both districts were ruled by the descendants of Conmac, son of Fergus and Queen Meadbh of Connacht.
Following the Norman invasion of the 12th century, Annaly was granted to Hugh de Lacy as part of the Liberty of Meath. An English settlement was established at Granard, with Norman Cistercian monasteries being established at Abbeylara and Abbeyshrule, and Augustinian monasteries being established at Abbeyderg and at Saints' Island on the shore of Lough Ree. Monastic remains at Ardagh, Abbeylara, Abbeyderg, Abbeyshrule, Inchcleraun Island in Lough Ree, and Inchmore Island in Lough Gowna are reminders of the county's long Christian history. However, by the 14th century, English influence in Ireland was on the wane. The town of Granard was sacked by Edward Bruce's army in 1315, and the O'Farrells soon recovered complete control over the territory. Annaly later became Longphoirt, now Longford, after O'Farrell's fortress of this name.
The county was officially shired in 1586 in the reign of Elizabeth I from the northern portion of Westmeath, but English control was not fully established until the aftermath of the Nine Years' War. County Longford was added to Leinster by James I in 1608 (it had previously been considered part of Connacht), with the county being divided into six baronies and its boundaries being officially defined. The county was planted by English and Scottish landowners in 1620, with much of the O'Farrell lands being confiscated and granted to new owners. The change in control was completed during the Cromwellian plantations of the 1650s. On these lands in County Longford, are the historic ruins of the Coolamber Hall House, which was besieged by one of the Cromwells.
The county was a centre of the 1798 rebellion, when the French expeditionary force led by Humbert which had landed at Killala were defeated outside the village of Ballinamuck on 8 September by a British army led by Cornwallis.General Humbert had hoped to amalgamate his forces with other rebels located in Granard but Cornwallis aware of the danger had defeated these forces in the second battle of Granard prior to defeating General Humbert in Ballinamuck. Considerable reprisals were inflicted by the British on the civilian inhabitants of the county in the aftermath of the battle.
A revolutionary spirit was again woken in the county during the Irish War of Independence when the North Longford flying column, led by Seán Mac Eoin, became one of the most active units on the Irish side during that war.
Education.
There are many national and secondary schools located in the county such as Moyne Community School, St. Mels and the Convent (Longford, Granard, Ballymahon, Lanesborough).
Demographics.
With an area of and a population of 40,873, Longford is the fourth smallest of the 32 counties in area and second smallest in terms of population. It is also the fourth smallest of Leinster's 12 counties by size and smallest by population. It borders counties Cavan to the northeast, Westmeath to the southeast, Roscommon to the southwest and Leitrim to the northwest.
Longford's population growth during the period 2002-2006 (10.6%) has been stronger than the National average (8.2%).
Agriculture is an important facet in the way of life and for the economy in County Longford. There are 73,764 hectares of area (67.6% of the county's total area) farmed in the county. There are approximately 126,904 cattle in the county too.


Upper Bavaria

Upper Bavaria (, ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany.
Geography.
Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat of the district government. Because of this, it is by far the most populous administrative division in Bavaria. It is subdivided into four planning regions ("Planungsverband"): Ingolstadt, Munich, Bayerisches Oberland (Bavarian Highland), and Südostoberbayern (South East Upper Bavaria). The name 'Upper Bavaria' refers to the relative position on the Danube and its tributaries: downstream Upper Bavaria is followed by Lower Bavaria, Upper Austria, Lower Austria.
"Landkreise" (districts):
"Kreisfreie Städte" (district-free cities):
Population.
Historical Population of Upper Bavaria:
Economy.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 273.7 billion € in 2018, accounting for 8.2% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 53,900 € or 179% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 134% of the EU average. This makes Upper Bavaria one of the richest regions in Europe.
History.
The duchy of was created for the first time with the "First Bavarian partition" in 1255 under duke Louis II but there was no exact correlation between this duchy and the current territory. After the reunification in 1340 Bavaria was divided again in 1349, and in 1392 the duchies Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Ingolstadt were created in Upper Bavaria. In 1505 Bavaria was permanently reunited. For administrative purposes, Bavaria was split into "Rentämter" (plural of ""). Upper Bavaria consisted of the Rentamt Munich and Rentamt Burghausen.
After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally reorganised and, in 1808, divided into 15 administrative districts (Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk)), in Bavaria called (Kreise (singular Kreis)). They were created in the fashion of the French departements, quite even in size and population, and named after their main rivers. In the following years, due to territorial changes (e. g. loss of Tyrol, addition of the Palatinate), the number of districts was reduced to 8. One of these was the Isarkreis (Isar District). In 1837 king Ludwig I of Bavaria renamed the Kreise after historical names, and tribes. This also involved border changes or territorial swaps. Thus, the Isarkreis changed to Upper Bavaria.
Instead of a Rentamt-style mere administrational unit, the newly created districts became predecessors of modern regional self-government, building a political and administrational link in-between the Bavarian state as a whole and the local authorities.
Main sights.
Featured former residence cities are the capital Munich, Ingolstadt and Neuburg an der Donau and the diocesan towns of Freising and Eichstätt. Interesting townscapes are found at Landsberg am Lech, Wasserburg am Inn and Burghausen and further south Bad Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden.
The highest mountain in Upper Bavaria, Zugspitze, offers an incomparable panoramic view of the Alps. Nestled in forested mountain ranges, the lakes Tegernsee, Schliersee, and Spitzingsee, are idyllically situated. The larger lakes, like Starnberger See, Ammersee (south-west of Munich), and Chiemsee further to the east, all situated in the pre-alpine uplands, offer regular Passenger services on steamers.
Sacred art treasures can be found in the monasteries Andechs, Schäftlarn, Fürstenfeld, Benediktbeuern, Polling and Ettal and in the Wieskirche. Among popular excursions in Upper Bavaria are the Koenigssee with the Sanctuary of St Bartholomew's and mount Watzmann, the royal castles of Ludwig II, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee in Chiemsee, the Burghausen Castle and the castle Hohenaschau. The most important places of pilgrimage are Altoetting and Tuntenhausen.


County Clare

County Clare () is a county in Ireland, in the Mid-West Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 at the 2016 census. The county town and largest settlement is Ennis.
Geography and political subdivisions.
Clare is north-west of the River Shannon covering a total area of . Clare is the 7th largest of Ireland's 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population. It is bordered by two counties in Munster and one county in Connacht: County Limerick to the south, County Tipperary to the east and County Galway to the north. Clare's nickname is "the Banner County".
Baronies, parishes and townlands.
The county is divided into the baronies of Bunratty Lower, Bunratty Upper, Burren, Clonderalaw, Corcomroe, Ibrickan, Inchiquin, Islands, Moyarta, Tulla Lower and Tulla Upper. These in turn are divided into civil parishes, which are divided into townlands. These divisions are cadastral, defining land boundaries and ownership, rather than administrative.
Physical geography.
Bodies of water define much of the physical boundaries of Clare. To the south-east is the River Shannon, Ireland's longest river, and to the south is the Shannon Estuary. The border to the north-east is defined by Lough Derg which is the third largest lake on Ireland. To the west is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north is Galway Bay.
County Clare contains The Burren, a unique karst region, which contains rare flowers and fauna. At the western edge of The Burren, facing the Atlantic Ocean, are the Cliffs of Moher. The highest point in County Clare is Moylussa, , in the Slieve Bernagh range in the east of the county.
The following islands lie off the coast of the county:
History.
County Clare hosts the oldest known evidence of human activity in Ireland. The patella of a bear, which was subject to butchering close to the time of death, was found in the Alice and Gwendoline Cave, near Edenvale House, Clarecastle. The bone features a number of linear-cut marks, and has been dated to circa 10,500 BC, from the Paleolithic era. This discovery, publicized in 2017, pushed back Ireland's occupation by 2,500 years - what was previously regarded as the oldest site of occupation was the Mesolithic site of Mount Sandel, County Londonderry. This bear bone was discovered in 1903 during an archaeological excavation but was not studied until over a century later.
There was a Neolithic civilization in the Clare area – the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen: single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones. Clare is one of the richest places in Ireland for these tombs. The most noted one is in The Burren area; it is known as "Poulnabrone dolmen", which translates to "hole of sorrows". The remains of the people inside the tomb have been excavated and dated to 3800 BC.
Ptolemy created a map of Ireland in his "Geographia" with information dating from 100 AD; it is the oldest written account of the island that includes geographical features. Within his map, Ptolemy names the Gaelic tribes inhabiting it and the areas in which they resided; in the area of Clare, he identified a tribe known as the "Gangani". Historians have found the tribes on the west of Ireland the most difficult to identify with known peoples; however, historians William Camden and Charles O'Conor speculated a possible connection between the Gangani and the "Concani", one of the eleven tribes in the confederacy of the Cantabri in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
During the Early Middle Ages, the area was part of the Kingdom of Connacht ruled by the Uí Fiachrach Aidhne. In the Middle Ages, it was annexed to the Kingdom of Munster to be settled by the Dalcassians. It was renamed Thomond, meaning North Munster. Brian Boru became a leader from here during this period, perhaps the most noted High King of Ireland.
From 1118 onwards the Kingdom of Thomond was in place as its own petty kingdom, ruled by the O'Brien Clan. After the Norman invasion of Ireland, Thomas de Clare established a short-lived Norman lordship of Thomond, extinguished at the Battle of Dysert O'Dea in 1318 during Edward Bruce's invasion.
There are two main hypotheses for the origins of the county name "Clare". One is that the name is derived from Thomas de Clare who was deeply embroiled in local politics and fighting in the 1270s and 1280s. An alternative hypothesis is that the county name "Clare" comes from the settlement of Clare (now Clarecastle), whose Irish name (plank bridge) refers to a crossing over the River Fergus.
English colonization.
In 1543, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, Murrough O'Brien, by surrender and regrant to Henry VIII, became Earl of Thomond within Henry's Kingdom of Ireland. Henry Sidney as Lord Deputy of Ireland responded to the Desmond Rebellion by creating the presidency of Connaught in 1569 and presidency of Munster in 1570. He transferred Thomond from Munster to Connaught, which he shired, Thomond becoming County Clare.
About 1600, Clare was removed from the presidency of Connaught and made a presidency in its own right under the Earl of Thomond. When Henry O'Brien, 5th Earl of Thomond died in 1639, Lord Deputy Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford decreed Clare should return to the presidency of Munster, but the Wars of the Three Kingdoms delayed this until the Restoration of 1660.
Clare's county nickname is the "Banner County", for which various origins have been suggested: the banners captured by Clare's Dragoons at the Battle of Ramillies; or the banner of "Catholic emancipation" raised by Daniel O'Connell's victory in an 1828 by-election for County Clare that led to Parliament passing the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.
Scattery Island, in the Mouth of the Shannon off the Clare coast, was transferred to Limerick Corporation and the county of the city of Limerick after the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-16th century. It was assigned to County Clare after the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840. Under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, part of the judicial county of Galway (Drummaan, Inishcaltra North and Mountshannon electoral divisions) was transferred to county Clare. This area contains the village of Mountshannon on the north-western shore of Lough Derg.
Local government and Dáil Éireann representation.
The county seat is at Ennis, which also serves as a major regional hub for County Clare. Among its emergency services, it contains the Ennis Hospital, the HQ of the Clare Divisional Garda, the Clare Fire Brigade and Civil Defence.
Since independence in 1921, Clare is represented by its own parliamentary constituency in Dáil Éireann, the powerful lower house of the Irish parliament, known as Oireachtas. Clare is currently served by four Teachtaí Dála, representatives referred to as TDs. Briefly a small area of Clare was in the Clare–Galway South constituency during the 1970s before its abolition.
The second tier of local governance is represented by the town councils—Clare has four in the form of Ennis, Kilrush, Kilkee and Shannon.
The constituency has historically been a Fianna Fáil stronghold. However Fianna Fáil lost its overall majority on the council in 2004. As of the 2009 local elections, Fine Gael is the largest party, controlling 12 seats. It won 40% of the vote in the Clare constituency in the 2011 Irish general election.
Prominent historic TDs for Clare include Éamon de Valera, who became Taoiseach and President, former president Patrick Hillery, and former Cabinet Minister Brendan Daly.
Demography.
The population of Clare was 118,817 people at the 2016 census. The main urban areas are Ennis with a population of 25,276 and Shannon with 9,729.
The demographic profile for Clare in general is fairly young: 22% are under age 14, while 12% are over 65, compared to the national average of 20% and 11%, respectively. There is a slightly higher percentage of males with 50.5%, while females number 49.5%.
English is the main language spoken in Clare. The vast majority of the population are Irish people, accounting for 86%. Most immigrants are Europeans, totalling an additional 7,520; there is also a small African minority of 1,124 people, while other ethnic groups are very small in number.
In addition, Clare had a large diaspora due to vast emigration during the 19th century. There are millions of people around the world who can trace their family background to Clare; such descendants are found mostly in North America, Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand. Many people from the Irish diaspora visit the Clare area to trace their family roots and background.
Most of the names in Clare are derived from sept members of the Dalcassian race of Gaels. Some of the most common examples are O'Brien, O'Dea, McMahon, McInerney, McNamara, McGarry, Moloney, O'Grady, Hogan, Considine, Griffey/Griffin and Lynch. Names of assimilated Norman origin include Burke, Dalton, and Comyn.
Religion.
The great majority of the population follow Christianity; at least 92% of the people in the area polled as part of the Ireland Census 2006 identified as Christians. There are numerous abbeys and priories in Clare. Some of the ruins of such structures, such as Scattery Island, Bishop's Island, and Drumcliff monasteries, are ancient, dating to the 6th century when Christianity was first introduced to Ireland. The former was founded by Saint Senan, who was born locally near Kilrush in 488 and is counted amongst the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Numerous other saints came from Clare, such as Flannan, Mochulleus, Moula, Caimin, Maccreiche, Munchin and more. In the present day, the Catholic Church still commands a large majority, with 88% of the populace declaring themselves as followers of the religion. This percentage is slightly higher than the national average.
Most of Clare falls under the Catholic Diocese of Killaloe, which is part of the ecclesiastical province of Cashel and Emly. The Bishop of Killaloe is seated at the St Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ennis. A small portion of the north-western part of Clare falls under the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora.
As part of the local council's architectural conservation project, around eighty Christian churches have been designated as protected structures. Among the more notable structures are the ruins of Corcomroe Abbey, Quin Abbey, and Dysert O Dea Monastery.
The largest religious minority is the Church of Ireland, which is part of the Anglican Communion. It has just under 2000 adherents in Clare. The county is part of the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, one of the three cathedrals of the diocese being St Flannan's Cathedral in Killaloe. Other religious communities in Clare are very small in comparison. A minority declare no religion.
Places of interest.
Places of interest include:
Gaeltacht.
West Clare and some pockets in East Clare were recognised as part of the Gaeltacht, or Irish-speaking area, by the Irish Free State government in the original "Coimisiún na Gaeltachta" in 1926. The most prominent of these areas with native Irish language speakers were west of Ennis in Kilmihil, Kilrush, Doonbeg, Doolin, Ennistimon, Carrigaholt, Lisdoonvarna and Ballyvaughan. However, by the time of the second "Coimisiún na Gaeltachta" in 1956, the decline in the number of Gaelic speakers had been such that West Clare was removed from the list. It remained covered by the Gaeltacht (Housing) Acts until 2001.
Close geographic proximity to the Aran Islands (which were once part of Thomond) and local trade with fishermen from there meant that the language was used by residents of Fanore, Murroogh, Doolin and Quilty more than in other places. The last native Clare Irish speaker, the "seanchaí" Paddy Pháraic Mhíchíl Ó Sionáin (Shannon) of Fisherstreet, Doolin, died in the early 1990s.
In the early 21st century, the pressure group "Coiste Forbartha Gaeltachta Chontae an Chláir" has sought to restore the official status of West Clare as a Gaeltacht area. They are encouraging immersion classes to revive use of the language.
Music.
County Clare has a strong history of Traditional music. It is the home of the Kilfenora Céilí Band, the Tulla Céilí Band, Stockton's Wing, Sharon Shannon, Noel Hill, Peadar O'Loughlin, Martin Hayes and legendary tin-whistler Micho Russell. Ennis in County Clare is also the birthplace of Grammy-nominated songstress Maura O'Connell whose grandmother started a fish market in the town. The county has many traditional music festivals and one of the most well known is the Willie Clancy Summer School, which is held every July in the town of Milltown Malbay in memory of the renowned uilleann piper, Willie Clancy.
Andy Irvine has written two songs celebrating County Clare: one is "West Coast of Clare" (recorded with Planxty in 1973), in which he mentions Spanish Point and Milltown Malbay. The other is "My Heart's Tonight in Ireland" (recorded on his solo album "Rain on the Roof" in 1996, and again on "Changing Trains" in 2005), in which he mentions several towns and villages in County Clare: Milltown Malbay, Scariff, Kilrush, Sixmilebridge, Kilkishen, Lahinch, Ennistymon, Liscannor and Kilkee, and also makes two references to the music of Willie Clancy:
<poem>In the town of Scarriff the sun was shining in the sky
When Willie Clancy played his pipes and the tears welled in my eyes
Many years have passed and gone since the time we had there
But my heart's tonight in Ireland in the sweet County Clare.
Lahinch and Ennistymon, Liscannor and Kilkee
But best of all was Milltown when the music flowed so free
Willie Clancy and the County Clare I'm ever in your debt
For the sights and sounds of yesterday are shining memories yet.</poem>
Milltown Malbay is home to Oidhreacht an Chlair, an institute for higher education in all aspects of Irish tradition, history and literature.
Sport.
The Clare hurling team has one of the best records of success in the country in recent years with many cups such as the Liam MacCarthy Cup having been won in 1914, 1995, 1997 and 2013 and also finalists in 2002. Clare won the Munster Final in football in 1992 beating Kerry. There is a strong Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) presence in County Clare with the founder of the GAA, Michael Cusack, having been born in Carron which is situated in the heart of The Burren in North Clare. Irish rugby internationals from Clare include Keith Wood, Anthony Foley & Marcus Horan.
Transport.
Clare is served by two national primary roads—a classification referring to the major routes between major urban centres in Ireland. This includes the N18 connecting Limerick to Galway, which passes through Ennis and by route of the N19—Shannon. These two roads are part of the wider Western and Southern Corridor connecting many of the major settlements right across the island in these areas. There are also some significant national secondary roads—across the coast, stretching from Ballyvaughan, through Ennistymon and Kilkee, before arriving at Kilrush is the N67. In addition to this the N68 connects Kilrush to Ennis, while Ennis is connected to Ennistymon via the N85.
Mainland public transport is mostly limited to buses ran by Irish Government owned company Bus Éireann; there are around 25 buses running frequent routes which pass through the majority of large settlements in Clare. Clare Bus, runs a limited number of "accessible buslines". The Ennis railway station operated by government owned Iarnród Éireann is the most significant railway station in Clare today; it was opened on 2 July 1859. By route of Limerick the trains run from Ennis to Dublin and it generally takes 3 hours to complete the journey. There was previously a far more extensive local railway network in Clare, laid while part of the United Kingdom, the West Clare Railway was in existence from its opening in 1887 by Charles Stewart Parnell until 1961 covering much of the county. It was quite inefficient however, leading Percy French to write the song "Are Ye Right There Michael?" about his experience. Much of it was dug up and dismantled by the Irish government from the 1950s—1970s after being deemed uneconomic, however there remains local advocacy groups who wish to conserve and restore parts of it.
The third busiest airport in Ireland is located in Clare with the Shannon Airport, which officially opened in 1945. Along with Dublin Airport and Cork Airport it is one of the three primary airports in the country, handling 3.62 million passengers in 2007. Shannon was the first airport in Ireland to receive transatlantic flights. Ryanair is the main airline handling flights with Great Britain and Continental European countries such as Spain, France, and Germany as the primary destinations. Much traffic from the United States is received, which Aer Lingus mostly handles; it is sometimes used as a military stopover which has caused some controversy in the country, but nonetheless has generated significant revenue for the airport. There are some local ferry services as much of the county is surrounded by water; there is one from Killimer to Tarbert Island in Kerry and also from Doolin to the Aran Islands of Inisheer and Inishmore.


Nitra Region

The Nitra Region (, ; ) is one of the administrative regions of Slovakia. It was first established in 1923 and from 1996 exists in its present borders. It consists of seven districts () and 354 municipalities, from which 16 have a town status. The economy of the region focuses more on agriculture, than in other Slovak regions. Nitra is its seat, largest city, and cultural and economic center.
Geography.
This region with a long history is situated in the southwest of Slovakia, mostly in the eastern part of the Danubian Lowland. It is divided into two sub-units: the Danubian Flat in the south-west, with eastern part of the Žitný ostrov island, and the Danubian Hills in the north, centre and east. Mountain ranges reaching into the region are: Považský Inovec in the north-west, where the region's highest point, Veľký Inovec, is located, Tribeč in the north from Nitra, Pohronský Inovec in the north-east and Štiavnické vrchy in the east. Major rivers are the Danube in the south, Váh in the south-west, Nitra in the western-central part, Hron in the east and Ipeľ in the south-east. As for administrative divisions, the region borders Trenčín Region in the north, Banská Bystrica Region in the east, Hungarian Pest in the south-east, Komárom-Esztergom in the south, and Győr-Moson-Sopron county in the south-west and Trnava Region in the west.
Demographics.
The population density in the region is 113 inhabitants per km2, which is very similar to the country's average (110 per km2). The largest towns are Nitra, Komárno, Nové Zámky and Levice. According to the 2001 census, there were 713,422 inhabitants in the region, with a majority of Slovaks (68.3%), but there is a numerous Hungarian minority (27.6%) in the southern districts, forming a majority in the Komárno District (72%) and there are small minorities of Czechs and Roma (<1%).
Economy and climate.
The city of Nitra is also the centre of whole region. The region - which is the warmest in Slovakia - reaches a high production of wheat, rye and vegetables. Significant industries are: the food industry, with breweries in Topoľčany, Nitra and Hurbanovo, are machinery (fridges in Zlaté Moravce, shipyards in Komárno) and energy (Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant).
Administrative division.
The Nitra Region consists of 7 districts. There are 350 municipalities, of which 16 are towns.


Florina (regional unit)

Florina (, "Perifereiakí Enótita Flórinas") is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, Greece. Its capital is the town of Florina with a population of around 49.500 (2019)
Geography.
Florina borders the regional units of Pella to the east, Kozani to the south and Kastoriá to the southwest. At the Greek international borders, it is adjacent to Albania (Korçë County) to the west, North Macedonia (Bitola and Resen municipalities) to the north and Lake Prespa to the northwest, where the two borders cross each other. Lake Vegoritida is situated in the east.
Mountains in the regional unit include Verno (), Varnous () and Voras ().
Administration.
As from 2011 the regional unit of Florina is subdivided into 3 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):
Prefecture.
Florina was created as a prefecture (, "Nomós Flórinas") in 1915. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Florina was created out of the former prefecture Florina. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
Demographics.
The demographic composition of the area the 19th and early 20th centuries is unclear as many factors contributed to the ethnic orientation of the people; out of these religion was particularly important thus giving rise to a proselytism struggle between the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Bulgarian Exarchate (established in 1870). In 1886, 78.4% of the Christian population of the Florina "kaza" (district) - a part of Manastir Vilayet (province) - was aligned with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and 21.6% with the Bulgarian Exarchate, however by 1900 the Patriarchatists had dropped to 50.9% and Exarchatists had risen to 49.1%.
In 1914 the majority of the Christian population of the Florina district was recorded as Bulgarian (59%), 70% of whom were monolingual in Bulgarian only. The 1920s was a period of deportation and migration, during which the Greek government aimed the systematic removal of the Bulgarophone population. In 1925, according to the Prefect of Florina 52% of the population were schismatics(up from about 20% in 1886), 25% were Patriarchists, 15% were refugees, 6% were Vlachs and 3% were indigenous Greeks. According to government source in 1925 there were 45,527 Slav speakers, of whom 34,234 former Exarchists and 11,293 former Patriarchists; 7449 Greek refugees; 3590 Vlachs; 1882 native Greeks; 349 Jews and 27 Muslims Albanians. According to Kollopoulos in 1925 the recorded Slav Macedonians were 64,465 and constituted 64% of the population of the district of Florina, of whom 28,673 were schismatic.
The 1928 census showed 38,562 Slavic speakers in the nome of Florina or 31% of the population, but according to contemporary Greek authors the numbers of this census "clearly" do not reflect the actual strength as a result of official policy of the Greek government of reluctance. According to the Prefect of Florina P. Kalligas in 1930 there were 76,370 (61%), of whom 61,950 (49% of the population) lacked Greek consciousness, while his successor V. Balkos estimates those speaking Bulgarian as 75-80% of the population of the nome in 1931. According to the Prefect of Florina, in 1935 of 11,683 families 56% had Slavic national consciousness , while 41.3% were "foreign speakers" with Greek national consciousness
According to the 2011 census, the population of Florina regional unit was 51,414 people. The local Greek population includes a linguistic minority of bilingual Slavophones, who in the early 1990s formed about 64% of the rural population and about 16% of the prefecture's total population. Anastasia Karakasidou estimated that 80% of the population of Florina Prefecture is either Slavic-speaking or descended from Slavic-speaking families. There are also around 1,200 Slavophones—approximately 2% of the local population—who profess an ethnic Macedonian identity. There also exist smaller communities of Aromanians and Arvanites, which today mostly have an ethnic Greek identity.
A diverse range of dialects are spoken in the regional unit alongside the official standard and local Macedonian varieties of Greek. A minority of people speak the local Macedonian Slavic dialects and especially the Lower Prespa dialect and the Prilep-Bitola dialect.
Agriculture.
Florina is rich in agriculture. The main production are peppers, beans and peaches. Beans are produced near Lake Prespa.
Transport.
The main roads of Florina regional unit are Greek National Road 2 (Albania - Krystallopigi - Florina - Edessa - ...), Greek National Road 3 (North Macedonia - Niki - Florina - Amyntaio - Kozani - ...) and Greek National Road 15 (Agios Germanos - Kastoria - ...). The Thessaloniki–Bitola railway runs through the regional unit, as of 2014 used by passenger trains between Florina and Thessaloniki.