Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
Skimming and Scanning. Skim reading is a technique to gain the most from reading something in the least amount of time. It is looking at chapter headings, bullet lists of key points in sidebars and key words in sentences.The first sentence of a chapter often is a abstract of the chapter. Scanning involves moving your finger down the page as you read. The object is to try to absorb at least 50% of the text. It is then compared to what was skimmed.

 Study Groups. Colleges and universities encourage students to form study groups. A study group can divide tasks and each member concentrate on one segment. Students who teach or share what they know with others learn more. A study group uses active learning, a very effective way to learn.
Taking effective notes. Note taking skills learned in high school are rarely adequate for college. In college, good note taking involves critical thinking. Professors often lecture at a fast pace. Do not try to write down everything, try to establish what are key points. A good clue to key or important points is that a teacher or lecturer may repeat them during the lecture. It is important to develop good listening skills. Key skills to good note taking are:
 Pre-reading the materials. This helps in understanding lectures.
 Review your previous class notes.
 Have everything you need at hand. Make sure you have pens, pencils, notebooks, and textbooks.

References

Other websites 
Study skills at Virginia Tech 
How to read in college, Swarthmore College
Active Reading: Comprehension and Rate, Dartmouth College
Learning - Visual vs. Auditory Learners. Kentucky Virtual Campus 
Study Tips for the Visual Learner, Staffordshire Learning Net 
5 Study Tips for Auditory Learners, Law School Toolbox
Learning
The head is the part of the body where the brain is. It is also where the face is. Different things may be worn on the head, for example a headband or a hat.

Some people get pains in their head occasionally, known as headaches. Also, some people have worse pains in their head called migraines.

A head in English can also mean a person in charge of something, such as the head of a company.

Also, the word head can also mean the front of something. An example of this is the word "Headline", meaning large words on the front page of a newspaper.

Basic English 850 words
Norway is a country in the north of Europe. It is the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula.  The mainland of Norway is surrounded by the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean on the west side, and borders Russia, Finland, and Sweden to the east.  The southern coast touches the Oslofjord, Skagerrak, and the North Sea.

The Monarchy of Norway has been independent since 1814. Its head of state is a king - Harald the 5th (as of 2022).  The national day is May 17, which celebrates Norway's constitution of 1814. The parliament is called Stortinget and its members are elected by the people every 4 years.

About 5 million people live in Norway.  The capital is the city of Oslo.

Norwegian is the national language. There are two official written versions of Norwegian called Bokmål and Nynorsk.

The Northern Sami language is spoken by around 90% of those who speak one of Norway's 3 Sami languages. Northern Sami is also an official language in a number of municipalities.

History
History 

The battle of Hafrsfjord (872 A.D.) resulted in small kingdoms becoming one larger kingdom, ruled by Harald Fairhair. After the king's death, again there were smaller kingdoms, inside Norway.

Stockfish (or fish that has been freeze-dried, outside in cold weather) has been traded and exported; this happened as early as either the  9th century, 10th century, or 11th century until 1066. Other sources say that the exporting was happening as early as the 12th century; stockfish is one of the country's oldest [type of] things to be sold for export.

In 1349 half of the Norwegian people died, getting sick from the bubonic plague (or Black Death).

When a Norwegian king died in 1387, there was no king in Norway until the 20th century.

In 1397, Denmark, Norway and Sweden began the Kalmar Union.

The first [known] map, where Norway is drawn, was made in 1482.
Sweden left the Kalmar Union in 1523. From 1536/1537, Denmark and Norway formed a personal union that by 1660 became the state called Denmark–Norway; Norway was the weaker part of the union with Denmark. That union lasted until 1814, when the Treaty of Kiel said that Norway be ceded (or given) to Sweden; Denmark did not cede the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland

The Norwegian constitution was written in 1814 and signed on 17th May that year. However, Denmark, on the losing side of the Napoleon wars, lost Norway to Sweden, on the winning side.

A Swedish–Norwegian War started on 26 July 1814. It ended on 14 August, because of an agreement, called the Convention of Moss.

The union with Sweden: It started on 14 August 1814, when the Convention of Moss (en) was signed; the union went on for 90 years.
The results of the election in 1882, led to parlamentarism becoming part of Norway's political system; the votes of the "swamp men" decided the outcome of the election; they included teachers, artists and craftsmen who were not poor but also did not own land; ownership of land or a contract to use land was necessary to get voting rights; the "swamp men" had bough cheap land which was nearly useless, except for getting a right to vote.

The right to vote in [ national and local ] elections, was given to the public (or the general public) in 1898.

The end of the Union of Sweden and Norway, was  on 7 June 1905, when Norway got its independence.

In 1905 Prince Carl of Denmark was elected King of Norway. His name as a king, was King Haakon VII.

In World War I, Norway was neutral and served as a trading nation.

Norway tried to stay neutral in World War II, but was occupied by German forces from 9 April 1940 to 8 May 1945.

In 1952 Norway became a member of NATO.
Oil was found in Norway's part of the North Sea, during the 1960s; the oil was found under the sea floor.

Royal family since 1905
King Haakon VII was already married, before he came to Norway (in 1905). His wife, Princess Maud, became Queen Maud. Their son, Prince Alexander of Denmark, became Crown Prince Olav and followed after his father as King Olav V in 1957. Olav and his wife, Crown Princess Märtha, had three children; Princess Ragnhild, Princess Astrid and Prince Harald (later Crown Prince Harald and in 1991 he followed his father as King Harald V).

King Harald is the first king born in Norway in over 600 years. He has two children; Princess Märtha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus.

Government

Ministry of Defence 
The Government has Norwegian soldiers working in Syria (as of 2017) and Afghanistan, together with soldiers from other countries that belong to NATO.
Economy 
Exports include :
natural gas, oil, hydroelectric power, and fish.
Other natural resources are  agriculture, forests, and minerals.

The government collects much money from various sources, and has policies intended to spread this wealth among Norwegians. This spread of wealth, is done both directly and indirectly.

[Including year 2020], the fishing industry is catching between 2.5  million tons and 3 million tons fish from the ocean per year; from fish farms around 1.5 million tons are slaughtered per year.

Norway's annual GDP is 482.4 billion in 2022

Ethnicity 

At the end of 2020, immigrants and people who were born in Norway, but who had two parents who were immigrants, they were 18.5 percent of the population; from those (two categories), 11.8% came from Poland.
Most people in Norway are ethnic Norwegians. Norwegians speak a language that is related to German and English. Swedish and Danish are so close to Norwegian that most Norwegians understand them. Across Norway, many different dialects are spoken. Norwegians disagree on how to make one correct written language. Therefore, there are two standard languages, Bokmål and Nynorsk. Nynorsk is used in writing in most of the western areas and in the central mountains. Bokmål is written by most people in the rest of the country.

A native population of Norway, the Sámi, has its home in the northern parts of the country. Their language is not at all related to Norwegian. In some parishes in the far north, they make up the majority of people. Many Sami now live outside the Sami homeland, mostly in Oslo and other big cities. Earlier, Sami people were forced to speak Norwegian in school. Now Sami is taught as the first language in school for Sami children, and Norwegian is the first foreign language.
Many immigrants have come to Norway in the last 30–40 years. They mostly live in and around Oslo, and in the other big cities. Many immigrants come from nearby countries, like Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Russia. There are also many from countries far away, such as Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq and Vietnam.

Traditionally, all Norwegians were Lutherans, a variety of the Protestant faith. Still, more than 80% of Norwegians are Lutherans. Other important faiths include Islam, other Protestant groups and Catholicism.

Tourism 
Among tourists to Norway, more come from Germany than from any other country. There are also many Swedes, Danes, British, Dutch and Italians visiting Norway. The Swedes and Danes often come in winter to go skiing. The others mainly come in summer. Many people visit Norway to see the Northern Lights, also known as the 'Aurora Borealis'.

Media 
The largest national newspapers in Norway are Verdens Gang (VG), Aftenposten and Dagbladet.
Culture 
Norwegian culture can be compared to English culture in the way that it is considered a bad thing to show off, as opposed to the US, where this is more acceptable. This is a big aspect of Norwegian culture, and it is related to the philosophy of egalitarianism. Because of this, people will understate things, for example if a Norwegian says something is good or nice, it can mean that it's really great.

Items from the Viking Age (in Norway), are shown in museums: One item is the Gokstad ship.

Museums in Norway includes The Ibsen Museum - named after Henrik Ibsen.

The farmers' culture (bondekulturen) was brutal.
Unwanted babies were "placed in the forest" (sette barn på skogen) to die, until the nineteenth century; in the end, the [rural] police authority - consisting of individuals called lensmann (en) - were able to control [and stop] these crimes.

Modern, cambered skis were invented in the Norwegian province of Telemark in the early 19th century.
Politics 
In Norway power is shared among three branches: The justice sector, the government and the parliament (Stortinget). Norway also has a king, Harald V, but he does not have any real power and acts as a symbol and ambassador. This form of government is called a constitutional monarchy. Elections are held every four years, and the winner of the election is the party or coalition of parties that gets the most votes and seats in the parliament. After the elections are done, the winners work together to find out who the prime minister should be, as well as who the other ministers should be.

Here is a short summary of the biggest political parties in Norway, from left to right on the political axis:
Red (Rødt): A revolutionary socialist party which works for equality of income, labour rights, a controlled economy and feminism. 
 Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk venstreparti): The party is not very radical and is concerned with environmental issues as well as education. The party is traditionally regarded as the "teacher's party" because of their focus on learning and school. One might call SV more of a social democratic party than a socialist party, since their socialist views have faded over the years. They were more radical in the 1970s and 80s. 
 Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet): The Labour Party is the biggest party in Norway. They work for a strong economy with many regulations on private businesses, and are traditionally the party for workers, securing labour rights and the welfare state.
Centre Party (Senterpartiet): The Centre Party used to be known as the farmer's party; they no longer use this name, but still they are mostly popular in the countryside and other rural regions, since they work for the environment and protection of Norwegian farmers. For example, raising tariffs, or putting taxes on imports, to make foreign food cost more so that people will buy from Norwegian farmers. This is called protectionism. 
 Green Party (Miljøpartiet de Grønne): The Green party works for the environment only, and has recently been gaining a lot of popularity for its radical politics. They are mostly a left-side party, but will switch sides if it helps the environment.
Liberal Party (Venstre): Even though it is called Left in English, it is actually a social liberal party that belongs to the centre-right side of Norwegian politics. They work for liberal rights like freedom of speech, gender equality and they are also concerned with environment. Because of this they heavily support public transport.
 Kristelig Folkeparti: The Christian People's Party is at present more active in local than national politics.
 Conservative Party (Høgre): It is a conservative party and is the second biggest party in Norway. It works for a free market, liberal rights and equality of opportunity. They are friendly towards private businesses and support economic growth by making taxes smaller, so that more people can start businesses.
Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet): The Progress Party is a right-side party. It works for stronger immigration laws, a free market and tough penalties for crimes. They also support private schools and flat taxes.

Largest cities
The city with the most people living there (or inhabitants) is Oslo. The city of Bergen has 272,000 people living there; the city of Trondheim has 182,000 people in its population.

Some claim that Bergen and Trondheim, each had their time as Norway's capital during the Middle Ages.

Organisations associated with the Government of Norway 
 NATO : Norway was a founding member.
 United Nations

Related pages
 List of rivers of Norway
 Norway at the Olympics
 Norway national football team

References 

 
Nordic countries
Current monarchies
1945 establishments in Europe
Albania ( ; ), officially called the Republic of Albania is an independent country in Southeastern Europe, with an area of . It is a part of the Balkans. The capital is Tirana, and other important cities are Durrës, Elbasan and Vlora. Over 3 million people live in Albania. The majority of Albanians are Muslims with 55%, 23% Eastern Orthodox and 15% Roman Catholics.

Albania is next to  Montenegro, Serbia , North Macedonia and Greece. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea in the west, and a coast on the Ionian Sea in the southwest. The official language is Albanian. The national anthem is Hymni i Flamurit.

History
History

Albania was the southern part of Illyria during the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages the Albanians were ruled by many foreign countries, including the Byzantine and Venetian Empires and during the 16th century resistance to the Ottoman Empire's rule was led by the Albanian national hero Skanderberg but his real name was Gjergj Kastrioti. After four centuries of Turkish domination, finally in the 20th century an  independent Albania was created. In 1939 Albania was conquered by fascist Italy and was part of the Kingdom of Italy until 1943. After World War II Albania became independent again, under communist rule. It was ruled by Enver Hoxha, who died in 1985. Ramiz Alia took over and also later became president when, in 1992, Albania returned to democracy, and it now has friendly  relations with the European Union, which it has applied to join.

Divisions
Albania is divided into 12 counties. These counties include 36 districts and 373 municipalities

Cities
Cities 

This is a list of the largest cities in Albania.

Armed forces
The Albanian Armed Forces were first formed after independence in 1912. Albania reduced the number of active troops from 65,000 in 1988 to 14,500 in 2009. In 2010 forced conscription was abolished.

Geography
Albania has a total area of 28,748 square kilometers. Albania's coastline length is . It goes along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. On the coast there are mild, wet winters and warm, sunny, and rather dry summers.

70% of the country is mountains. The highest mountain is Korab.

Albania is bordered by Greece, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. A short stretch of sea separates Albania from the far southeast of Italy.

Flora and fauna

Although a small country, Albania has a lot of variety in plants and animals. The total number of plants is over 3250 species. There are over 350 bird species, 330 freshwater and marine fish and 80 mammal species. The Double-headed eagle is the national symbol of Albania.
Related pages
Albania at the Olympics
Albania national football team
List of rivers of Albania

References

Other websites 

 National Tourism Organization Albania's official website for travel & tourism information.

 
European Union candidate states
Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
[[Category:voetbalprimeur]]
Hungary ( ) is a landlocked country in the south-eastern region of Central Europe, bordering the Balkans. Its capital city is Budapest. Hungary is bordered by Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. The country’s official language is the Hungarian language. It has been a member of the European Union (EU) since 2018. In Hungarian, the country is called Magyarország (literally, "Hungarian country"), or Magyar Köztársaság (Hungarian Republic). This is named after the Magyar tribes who came to Hungary in the late 9th century.

History

Medieval Hungary, 896-1526 
The Magyars established Hungary in 896, after they had arrived there from their previous, Eastern European territories. Prince Árpád was their leader at the time; he also established the first royal house of the country, the Árpád-house. In 1000, after the first king, Saint Stephen had been crowned, the country became a Kingdom.
In 1241, the Mongol Empire invaded the country, causing the Hungarian king Béla IV to flee and approximately 500,000 Hungarians were killed, along with with heavy damage. In 1301, the Árpád-house died out. Later on, kings from various houses ruled over Hungary. The greatest of them is Matthias Corvinus, famous for taking Austrian terrirories like Vienna, etc. and protecting the country against Ottoman aggression. However, some decades after he had died (1490), the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent defeated the Hungarian king in the Battle of Mohács (1526). The Kingdom was cut up into three parts: the western and northern areas remained Hungary, the southern region fell under Ottoman rule, and the eastern part became an Ottoman vassal as the Principality of Transylvania.

Between 1526 and 1867
The Kingdom of Hungary became a Habsburg dependency, because an agreement made in Vienna in 1515 said that the Habsburg family would take over the territory of the Jagellion family in Bohemia and Hungary if the line of kings should die out. In 1686, the Ottomans were forced to leave, and the country was reunified. Many nationalities were living in the country at this time. Along with Hungarians, there were also the ancestors of modern Slovaks, Serbs, Romanians and Germans (known as Danube Swabians).

In 1703, Francis II Rákóczi, a Hungarian nobleman organized a revolution against the Habsburgs, as the Hungarians were not satisfied with them. However, his revolution failed in 1711, and he had to go into exile. The next most important event is the "Hungarian Revolution of 1848", when the inhabitants of the country mutinied again. Fighting ended in 1849, with Habsburg success. The leaders of the revolution were executed.
Austria-Hungary, 1867-1918 
The country tried to find the way towards consolidation: in 1867, the two most important Habsburg territories, Austria and Hungary signed a treaty, and they established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The new situation was feasible for both sides: the agreement brought massive economic growth.

Between 1918 and 1946 

In 1918 after the defeat in World War I, the Kingdom was abolished, and a republic was established, as people had enough of war. This republic was short-lived, and soon the Communists seized power (1919). Their rule was irresponsible and many people, including the peasants and the intelligentsia, were tortured. The communists had to abandon the country as Romanian troops invaded.
In late 1919, the Hungarian forces, led by Admiral Miklós Horthy, finally occupied the capital, Budapest. In response to the communist terror, they launched the "White Terror", in which they persecuted the communists and their supporters. The kingdom was re-established but there was no king. Horthy was elected as the regent of the country, as the assembly decided not to recall the Habsburgs.

Hungary lost the war. According to the Treaty of Trianon (1920), Hungary lost two thirds of its territory. In the majority of these territories, non-Hungarians were the majority; however, many Hungarians also found themselves outside their country, in the nation state of Romanians or Slovaks. Thus, the main political goal of the governments under Horthy was to revise this treaty, and at least, to regain the Hungarian-inhabited lands.
Communist Hungary, 1946-1989 
After the fall of Nazi Germany, Soviet troops occupied all of the country. So Hungary gradually became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union. After 1948, Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established Stalinist rule in the country. He forced collectivization and a planned economy. This led to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Hungary withdrew from the Warsaw Pact. But the Soviets sent in over 150,000 troops and 2,500 tanks. Nearly a quarter of a million people left the country during the brief time that the borders were open in 1956. János Kádár became leader of the communist party. In 1991 Soviet military presence in Hungary ended, and the transition to a market economy began.

Republic of Hungary, 1989 onwards 
Today, Hungary is a democratic republic. Elections are held every four years.

The current president of the country is Katalin Novák and the prime minister is Viktor Orbán. Orbán was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002, and was elected again in 2010.
Demographics 
Hungarians make up the largest part of the population but there are also several other ethnic communities. The largest of these are the Roma and Germans. Hungarian is the most widely used language in Hungary. Ethnic communities often use their own languages as well. The majority of Hungarians are religious, mainly Roman Catholic and Calvinist (in Hungarian 'református' - 'reformed'). There are Jews, often in intellectual and artistic occupations, and some Muslims. Orthodox Christianity is practised by ethnic minorities from eastern Europe.

Geography 

Hungary's highest point is Kékestető (1014 m; in the northeastern part of Hungary). The River Danube, one of Europe's largest rivers, divides Hungary into a western and an eastern part. The region west of the Danube is called Transdanubia (Dunántúl). Transdanubia has a hilly landscape and many small villages and towns. The large flat area in the eastern part is the Great Plains (Alföld). Along the Slovakian border there are mountains.
Lake Balaton, Central Europe's largest lake can be found in Hungary. This small country has several thermal spas too. Lake Hévíz is one of the world's largest thermal lakes. Hungary, however, is a landlocked country (it has no coastline).

Its biggest cities are Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged, Pécs, Győr, Nyíregyháza and Szolnok. Szolnok is found at the juncture of the Tisza River and the Zagyva River (stream).

Related pages
 Hungary at the Olympics
 Hungary national football team
 List of rivers of Hungary

References

Other websites 

 STELLA Hungarian  – free online course Hungarian for beginners (requires Macromedia Flash).

 
European Union member states
Netherlands (or Holland) is a country that is part (of a constituent country) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Most of it is in Western Europe, but there are also some parts in the Caribbean. More than 17 million people live there. To the north and west of the European part of the Netherlands is the North Sea, and to the east is Germany, and to the south is Belgium. The Netherlands is one of the countries that started the European Union. People who live in the Netherlands are called "Dutch". The language of the Netherlands is also called Dutch. The official capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam. However, the government is in The Hague.
Name 
"The Netherlands" means "the low lands". The land only rises, on average, 1 meter above sea level. One third of the land is below sea level. The Netherlands is also - incorrectly - referred to as Holland. Holland is a very rich area (two provinces) in the western part of the Netherlands, thus causing people to be mistaken. Most people who do not live in the western part of the Netherlands do not like it when people call the country Holland. The name "Holland" originates from the old Dutch words "Holt land" which means "wood lands". Holt eventually changed into hout, the current Dutch word for wood.
History 
At the end of the Middle Ages the dukes of Burgundy, a country that is now part of France, united seventeen areas. Those areas were called the Netherlands. When the daughter of a duke married Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1477, the Netherlands became part of Spain. In the 16th century many Dutch people became Protestant. The king of Spain did not like it, he wanted all Dutch to be Roman Catholic. Of course the Dutch people did not like this, and after violent excesses by the Spanish they started a war against Spain in 1568, also for reasons of taxation. The war lasted until 1648, therefore it is called the Eighty Years' War. An important leader of the Dutch in this war was Willem van Oranje (William of Orange) also called William the Silent.

In 1648 the Netherlands and Spain signed peace. The Dutch people were allowed to keep all the areas they conquered. The part of the Netherlands that was not conquered by the Dutch stayed part of Spain. Later this part became the country Belgium.
Some people again thought the Dutch king had too much power. They wanted to give him less power and vote for the government themselves. In 1848 there were violent revolts against the kings of many European countries. The Dutch king was afraid the same would happen in the Netherlands. Therefore, he allowed Johan Rudolf Thorbecke to write a constitution. From then on people were allowed to vote. At first only rich men were allowed to vote. From 1919 on all adults were allowed to vote.

In World War I, the Netherlands did not fight and were not invaded. The Dutch wanted to stay neutral in World War II as well, but in 1940 the country was invaded and occupied by Germany. Like in other countries they had occupied, the German authorities started to kill Jews. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who lived in the Netherlands. Her family hid from the Nazis and she wrote a diary. She died in a Nazi concentration camp and her diary became famous.
In 1944 the American, Canadian, Polish and British armies liberated the south of the Netherlands from Nazi Occupation. They wanted to cross the Rhine river in Operation Market Garden to liberate the rest of the country, but they were defeated. It took until May 1945 before the entire country was liberated. During the five years of Nazi occupation, 250,000 people had died in the Netherlands.

Shortly after the war, Indonesia declared its independence. The Dutch sent soldiers to fight in Indonesia. After other countries, including the United States, told the Dutch to leave Indonesia, they finally did so in 1949.

After the war the Netherlands became one of the richest countries in the world. In 2004 the United Nations said that the Netherlands was the 5th best country to live in.
Politics 
The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. That means the country has a king, but the real power is in the hands of a parliament, chosen by the Dutch people. All Dutch people at least 18 years old or older are allowed to vote. The Dutch parliament consists of two chambers: the Second Chamber (Dutch: Tweede Kamer, this is the House of Representatives, elected every four years), and the First Chamber (Dutch: Eerste Kamer, this is the Senate, elected by provincial politicians every four years). After the Second Chamber elections, parties that have had a majority of the votes create a cabinet. The cabinet consists of a prime minister and several other ministers and deputy ministers. Currenty the cabinet (Government) has fallen. the mosnt reacent cabinet was: the liberal-Christian democratic Fourth Rutte cabinet, consisting of VVD, D66, CDA, and CU politicians. Prime Minister is Mark Rutte (VVD).
The latest general elections were held on March 17, 2021. Winners were liberal parties like VVD (also the biggest party), D66 (second biggest party) and Volt, and populist parties like FVD and JA21. Losers were left parties like SP and GL, Christian democratic party CDA, populist party PVV, and senior citizen party 50+.

The Netherlands is known for tolerance in politics. The Netherlands is the only country where soft drugs are not entirely considered illegal. Furthermore, the Netherlands is one of the few countries that allow same-sex marriages, euthanasia and prostitution to a certain extent.

More information: Politics of the Netherlands.

Subdivisions 
The Netherlands is subdivided in provinces and municipalities.

Provinces 

In the Netherlands there are 12 provinces:
These provinces are all located in the part of the Netherlands that is in Europe. The country also includes three special municipalities in the Caribbean: Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius. They are not part of any province, but together are known as the Caribbean Netherlands. The Netherlands (both the European part and the Caribbean Netherlands), together with Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, also in the Caribbean, form a sovereign state called the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

When the Kingdom was formed in 1954, the territories in the Caribbean became part of the Netherlands Antilles. At that time it also included Suriname in South America, which became an independent country in 1975. Aruba left the Antilles in 1986, and Curaçao and Sint Maarten did the same in 2010. The rest of the islands then became the Caribbean Netherlands which is part of the Netherlands proper.

Municipalities 
The Netherlands has 342 municipalities (2023) and also three special municipalities in the so-called Caribbean Netherlands.
Almost every year the amount of municipalities decrease.

Cities 
Cities aren't actually a subdivision of the Netherlands. Cities are also municipalities or they make part of municipalities.

This is a list of the cities/municipalities with over 120,000 people.

For all municipalities with more population numbers,<br/ >
see: List of municipalities of the Netherlands.
Geography 
In fact a large part of the Netherlands (the province Flevoland) was created by the sand that came from the many rivers flowing through it. Notable Dutch rivers are the Rhine, the Maas, the IJssel and the Scelt. A large part of the Netherlands is below sea level. This is because the Dutch have made many lakes and parts of the sea dry, creating polders. Therefore, there is a saying "God created the earth, but the Dutch created the Netherlands." This makes the Netherlands very flat. In the very south-east of the Netherlands, in Limburg, there are some hills. Therefore, this region is a tourist-attraction for many Dutch people. The highest point in the European portion of the Netherlands, the Vaalserberg, is 323 metres above sea level. The highest point in both the Netherlands proper and the Kingdom of the Netherlands is Mount Scenery, on the Caribbean island of Saba, at 887 metres.
The Netherlands is a small flat country; about 300 kilometers from north to south, and about 170 kilometers from east to west. It has an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification).

Climate 
The Netherlands has an oceanic climate, with a yearly average temperature of .

The highest temperature ever recorded in the Netherlands was , on 25 July 2019 in Gilze-Rijen.

The lowest temperature ever recorded in the Netherlands was , on 27 January 1942 in Winterswijk.

Top 5 warmest days

People 

The Netherlands is a small country, but many people live there. It is one of the most densely populated countries of the world.

Most people in the Netherlands speak Dutch. In Friesland, about 200,000 people speak Frisian. Frisian is the language with the most similarities to English. Some Dutch people speak dialects. The Saxon dialects spoken in the northeastern part of the Netherlands are somewhat similar to Low German.
According to a survey done in 2010, 23% of the Dutch people are Christian and 6% is islam and 71% believe in another organised religion, like Judaism, Islam or Hinduism. Twenty-six percent are 'unbounded spiritual' (have their own beliefs and are not tied to a religion). The other 44% are not religious.

Trains
Nederlandse Spoorwegen () or NS is the main passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. The rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split from NS in 2003. Freight services, formerly operated by NS Cargo, merged with the DB Schenker group in 2000.

NS runs 4,800 scheduled trains daily. In addition, NS provides international rail services from the Netherlands to other European destinations and carries out concessions on a number of foreign rail markets through its subsidiary Abellio such as Abellio Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and ScotRail.
Arriva is another passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a subsidiary of the German company Deutsche Bahn. Their local headquarters is based at Heerenveen. They have been active since 1998.

Related pages
 List of rivers of the Netherlands
 Netherlands at the Olympics
 Netherlands national football team

References 

Notes

 
European Union member states
Benelux
Current monarchies
Dutch-speaking countries
Ukraine (, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. Russia is to the north-east of Ukraine, Belarus is to the north-west, Poland and Slovakia are to the west, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and self-proclaimed Transnistria are to the south-west and the Black Sea is to the south.

Ukraine is a republic.
The capital of Ukraine is Kyiv (). It was a part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991.

Official language
The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian (, [ukrajin’s’ka mova]). In the 2001 census, about 29% of people in Ukraine said that they consider Russian to be their main language. These two East Slavic languages are similar in some ways but different in other ways.

Division of Ukraine
Ukraine is divided into 24 oblasts and one Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

The largest cities of Ukraine
The largest cities in Ukraine are:
Kyiv (from the late 9th century was the capital of Kyivan Rus; the capital of Ukraine since the restoration of the independent Ukrainian state in 1919)
 Kharkiv (was the capital of USSR in 1919—1934)
 Dnipro
 Odesa
 Zaporizhia
 Lviv

Name origin 
The name "Ukraine" (u-krayina) has usually been interpreted as "edge" or "borderland", but this an alternative interpretation as "territory" has been proposed. Language specialists are still searching for evidence of the history of the meaning of the word.

It was first used in reference to a core part of the territory of Kyivan Rus in the 12th century. In English, the historical region was usually known as "the Ukraine". Since independence in 1991, adding "the" is no longer proper style for referring to the country.

History
History

Ancient times
Many different tribes lived on the territory of modern Ukraine since pre-historical times. Most historians believe that the Great Steppe at the North of the Black Sea was a homeland of all Indo-European and Indo-Iranian languages. Some believe it was also the birthplace of the whole European population. Wends, Goths, Huns, Sclaveni, Avars, and other tribes and tribal groups fought among themselves, joined unions, terminated, and assimilated each other.

By the middle of the 4th century AD, Antes joined other tribes and established a state under their rule.  Their state fell under the pressure of  Avars in 602 AD and their name was longer mentioned.  Since the 7th century over 10 tribal groups joined under the name "Slavs" and made their own state named Rus.  The chronicles mention three centers that formed this state: Kuyavia (Kyiv land with Kyiv itself), Slavia (Novgorod land), and Artania (exact location unknown).
Historians still argue about whether Kyiv was founded by Slavs themselves, or they just captured the Khazar fortress which was located on the bank of the Dnieper river, but since the 10th century, it became the capital of the largest and most powerful state in Europe.

Kyivan Rus 
Kyivan Rus, is the medieval state of Eastern Slavs.  Established by the Slavic with the help of the Varangian squads whose force was used to integrate separate tribes and their lands into one powerful state. Varangian princes, who ruled Rus from its first years were gradually assimilated by natives, but the dynasty started by semy-legendary Rurik survived and continued to govern their separate principalities even after the collapse of Rus.

At an early stage of its existence Rus destroyed such powerful states as the Khazar Khaganate and Old Great Bulgaria.  Rus princes successfully fought against the Byzantine Empire, whose emperors had to pay tribute to them.  Rus' finally disintegrated into separate principalities.
In the reign of Volodymyr the Great (980-1015) the Kyivan State almost finished its expansion. It occupied the territory from Peipus, Ladoga and Onega lakes in the north to the River Don, Ros, Sula, Southern Bug in the south, from the Dniester, the Carpathians, the Neman, Western Dvina River in the west to the Volga and the Oka River in the east, its area became about 800,000 km2. Although some of his predecessors already accepted Christianity for themselves, Volodymyr decided to convert the entire population of the state to the new religion. Partially with the help of Byzantine missionaries preachers, partly by the brutal violence, he finally made all Kyiv population to be baptized. For this action, the Ukrainian, and later the Russian Orthodox Churches canonized him under the name of Vladimir the Baptist.
During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, (1019–1054), Rus reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power. Rus raised the prestige of Eastern Slavs in Europe, improved the international significance of Kyiv. Rus influenced the political relations in all of Europe, Western Asia, and the Middle East. Kyivan princes supported the political, economic, dynastic relations with France, Sweden, England, Poland, Hungary, Norway, Byzantium.

The Rus state also ruled non-Slavic people (Finno-Ugric population of the North, Turkic of the East and South, Balts of the West, etc.).  Those people gradually assimilated with the Slavs, and with each other, establishing a framework for the future emergence of three new Eastern-Slavic peoples.

The Kyivan State was an eastern outpost of European Christendom, it kept the movement of nomad hordes to the West, and reduced their onslaught against Byzantium and Central European countries.
Major political conditions of fragmentation were:
 The succession among the princes of Kyivan State was different: in some regions lands passed from father to son, in others from the older to the younger brother, etc.
 The political relationship between individual fiefdoms and private lands was weakened, and the better development of certain lands led to the formation of local separatism;
 In some regions the local aristocracy required a strong prince to rule, in order to protect their rights. On the other hand,  while the feudal princes and boyars real power increased, and the power of the Grand Prince decreased, more and more nobles felt priority of their local interests above national ones;
 There was not created their own dynasty  in the Kyiv principality, because all the princely families struggled with each other for possession of Kyiv ;
 Nomads dramatically intensified their expansion to Kyivan lands.
While Kyiv was the center of all social, economic, political, cultural, and ideological life in the country for a long time before, other centers have competed with it since the mid-12th century. There were old powers (Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk), as well as new ones...

Numerous princely feuds, large and small wars between different lords, were tearing Rus. However, the ancient Ukrainian state did not fall apart.  It only changed the form of its government: The personal monarchy was replaced by the federal one, Rus came to be co-ruled by the group of the most influential and powerful princes. Historians call this way of governing "the collective suzerainty." The Principality of Kyiv remained a national center and the residence of bishops.
In 1206 the new powerful military-feudal Mongolian state headed by Genghis Khan started the war of conquest against his neighbors. In 1223 in the battle near the Kalka River, 25,000 Tatar-Mongols won a crushing victory over the squads of Southern Rus Princes, who were unable to come together even in the face of grave danger. Under the leadership of Batu, Genghis Khan's grandson, from 1237 to 1238, they conquered Riazan, Volodymir, Suzdal, and Yaroslavl lands.

In 1240, they attacked Kyiv.  The city was plundered and destroyed. According to the legend, the enemy saved governor Dimitri's life for his personal courage in the battle. Then Kamenetz, Iziaslav, Volodymyr, and Halych lost against invaders.  Batu was able to attach most of Rus to his empire, the Golden Horde, which covered the whole territory from the Urals to the Black Sea,
After the fall of Kyivan State, the political, economic, and cultural center of Ukrainian lands was transferred to the Halycian-Volyn Land.  In 1245 Prince Danylo of Halych had to admit his dependence on the Golden Horde.  Hoping to get help from Catholic Europe in his struggle for independence, he also made a secret alliance with Poland, Hungary, Masovia, and the Teutonic Knights.  In 1253 he received the crown from Pope Innocent IV and became a King of Rus. In 1259, due to the lack of military aid from the West, the king was forced to re-recognize the supremacy of the Horde. His successor, Lev I had to take part in the Tartar campaigns against Poland and Lithuania.
In 1308 the government moved to Danylo's grandchildren - Andrew and Lev II, who started the new struggle against the Golden Horde allied with the Teutonic knights and princes of Mazowia. However, after their death the last monarch Yuri II again had to claim himself as the Golden Horde vassal. He was murdered in 1340 and his death gave the rise to Poland and Lithuania (the neighbors who had a  dynastic right for the throne of Rus) to start a war for the Halycian-Volyn heritage. In 1392 Galicia, with Belz and Chelm Lands were finally incorporated to the Kingdom of Poland and Volhynia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
At the end of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were divided between different states. Lithuania seized Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Volyn Lands. Poland ruled in Halycian and Podolian. Southern Ukraine was under the rule of the Crimean Khanate (formed in 1447) and the Eastern under the power of Muscovy. In 1569 Lithuania and Poland merged to the united state called Commonwealth (Polish: Rzeczpospolita) to deal with neighbors, as a result, the central Ukrainian lands of Lithuania came under Polish control.

Etymology 
Rus, or The Kyivan State, , ; often misspelled as "Kievan State" or even "Kievan Rus", using Russian spelling of its capital Kyiv ( [ˈkiɛf]).
As for the origin and definition of the name "Rus", there is no consensus among researchers. Several versions exist:
 Normans (Vikings), tribes who called themselves Ruses, and founded a state among Slavs, which naturally was called 'Rus Land'. This theory originated in the 17th century and was called the 'Norman theory'. Its authors are German historians G. Bayer and G. Miller, their followers and associates are called 'Normanists';
 Ruses were a Slavic tribe that lived in the middle reaches of the Dnieper;
 Rusa - the Proto-Slavic language word which means 'river';
Ukrainian historians generally adhere to anti-Norman opinion, while not denying the contribution Varangians in the process of formation of the Rus state system. Russ, or The Rus Land in their opinion means:
 The name of the territory where Kyiv, Chernigov and Pereiaslav are located (Polans, Severians, Drevlians tribes);
 The name of the tribes who lived on the banks of the rivers Ros, Rosava, Rostavytsia, Roska, etc.
 The name of the Kyivan state itself since the 9th century.
Cossackian State
At the end of the 15th century, the groups of warriors who called themselves Cossacks appeared on the territory between the borders of Lithuania, Muscovy, and the Crimea, in the "wild steppes" of Zaporizhia.  From the 16th century, the Sich became their military centre. Zaporizhian Cossacks participated in the wars on the side of the Commonwealth: the Livonian War (1558-1583), the Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618), Khotyn war (1620-1621), and Smolensk war (1632-1634).  Cossacks also organized their own campaigns in Moldavia, Muscovy, and Crimea, on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria and in Asia Minor for looting. They willingly became mercenaries, particularly during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).
Due to the legal and social oppression of the nobility Cossacks repeatedly revolted. The largest rebellions were raised under the guidance of Kosynskiy (1591-1593), Nalyvaiko (1594-1596), Zhmaylo (1625), Fedorovych (1630), Sulima (1635), Pavlyuk (1637), and Ostryanin (1638). Cossacks, again and again, defended the rights of the Ukrainian population in the Commonwealth who experienced religious and national oppression regularly.

For the conflict in the 1850s see Crimean War.

20th century 
In 1917 an independent Ukrainian People's Republic was established.  The Red Army captured it and made it into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Soviet Russia in the 1920s encouraged the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture.  In the 1930s this policy changed to making the Ukrainians into Russians.  There were mass repressions of Ukrainian poets, historians, and linguists.  As in other parts of the Soviet Union millions of people starved to death in 1932 and 1933.
In 1986, the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded as a result of an improper test. The accident contaminated large portions of northern Ukraine and southern Belarus with uranium, plutonium, and radioactive isotopes. It was one of only two INES level 7 accidents (the worst level) in the history of nuclear power, the other being the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

Under the second Soviet occupation repressions against Ukrainian nationalists continued and lasted till the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In the Soviet epoch, Ukraine was renamed to so-called a "Soviet Socialist Republic" incorporated into Soviet Union.
Independence day — 24 August 1991

Modern independence 
President elections: 1 December 1991, July 1994, October-November 1999, October-December 2004, January 2010

Parliament elections: March 1994, March 1998, March 2002, March 2006, September 2007 (prematurely), October 2012
Constitution of Ukraine was adopted by Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) 28 July 1996 with changes 8 December 2004.

The political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 after the Presidential elections gathered millions of people all over the country. On November 26, 2004, Victor Yuschenko lost the Ukrainian presidential election (Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner). However, Yuschenko and his followers argued that the election had been corrupted. They argued that the election results had been falsified by the Ukrainian government, in support of the opposing candidate Victor Yanukovych. They organized political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 that gathered millions of people all over the country. They called the demonstrations The Orange Revolution (). Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was an important ally of Victor Yuschenko during the demonstrations. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ordered the second round of elections, which Yuschenko won.