Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
The word “classic” tends to mean: an art which is so good that it will always be enjoyed by future generations. It is something that has become a model for future artists. The period of Ancient Greece and Rome is known as the Classical Period because, many centuries later, people looked back to those ancient civilizations and thought they were perfect. In recent European history the 18th century was known as the Classical Period because musicians, artists, writers and philosophers were inspired by the art forms of the Classical Period of Ancient Greece and Rome. Something that is a “classic” is therefore something that will always be remembered as something great. Famous books such as the novels of Charles Dickens are called "classics". “Classical music” therefore tends to mean music that will not be forgotten soon after it is written, but is likely to be enjoyed by many future generations.

Contrast with pop music and jazz
Although people sometimes think of classical music as the opposite of pop music, it can still be very popular. Like all kinds of music, classical music can be in many different moods: happy, sad, scary, peaceful, thoughtful, simple etc. Mozart wrote his serenades and divertimentos to entertain people at parties. Classical pieces of music can be quite short, but they can also be very long, like a big, musical story. A symphony by Mahler or Shostakovich can last for nearly an hour, and an opera is a whole evening’s entertainment also Classical music is nowadays fused with Rock music and EDM music and even some Rap music which also have subgenres related to pop music.
Classical music is also different from jazz because true jazz is improvised. However, the differences are not always obvious. Classical music has often been inspired by jazz, and jazz by classical music. George Gershwin wrote music which is both jazz and classical. Classical music, too, can be improvised. The great composers Bach, Mozart and Beethoven often improvised long pieces of music on the organ, harpsichord or piano. Sometimes they wrote these improvistions down. They were, in effect, compositions which were composed in one go.

Religious and non-Religious music
In Western countries a vast amount of music was written for Christian worship in churches and cathedrals. This is called “sacred” (religious) music. All other music is “secular” music. The word “secular” means things that are not sacred. Sacred and secular music have influenced one another in many ways during the course of music history. Secular music was largely influenced by dance, and this in turn changed the style of sacred music. For example: the church music of the 16th century composer Giovanni da Palestrina has nothing to do with dance music, but both the sacred and secular music of Johann Sebastian Bach two centuries later is full of dance rhythms. At some times in music history there have been different styles of composing for sacred and for secular music. Claudio Monteverdi uses two different styles for his church and for his non-church music
. When composers were experimenting with new ways of writing music they usually did this with secular music, and sacred music caught up later, Sacred classical music is used in a lot of different video games in order to show tonal themes and intensity as to whether something is good or bad is about to happen.
The Legend of Zelda series relies heavily on Religious classical music to convey the various goddesses of Hyrule and Thier prominence and influence in the society.
Use of the term "classical music" 

The term "classical music" was not used until the early 19th century. People then started talking about classical music in order to praise the great composers such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. In the 20th century many different ways of composing were used, including music played by electronic instruments or very modern music using strange sounds (experimental or "avant garde" music), for example the music of John Cage. Some people feel that this kind of music cannot really be described as "classical music".

Instruments used
Instruments used 

Classical music can be for instruments or for the voice. The symphony orchestra is the most common group of instruments for the playing of classical music. It has four families of instruments: the string instruments which include the violins, violas, cellos and piano, the woodwind instruments which include flutes, oboes,clarinets and bassoons together with related instruments of different sizes, the brass instruments: trumpet, trombone, tuba and French horn, and percussion instruments which nearly always includes timpani as well as many other possible instruments which are hit or shaken. This is very different from a typical rock band which has a drummer, a guitarist, one or two singers and an electric bass and keyboard. Instruments that play classical music are not normally amplified electronically.
The same applies to the voice. Singers may be sopranos, altos, tenors or basses, depending on their vocal range. Their voices are not amplified. Opera singers, in particular, have to develop very powerful voices which will be heard over the orchestra and project right to the back of an opera house.

The instruments used in classical music developed at different times. Some of the earliest were known in Medieval music. The trombone and the triangle have hardly changed for hundreds of years, but the violin family developed from folk instruments such as fiddles and gradually replaced the viols to form the basis of the modern orchestra. This was happening by the beginning of the 17th century, which was the time when opera was invented.
Form (shape) of classical music pieces 
Most popular music is based on song form, but classical music has many different forms, some of which can be used over a long time span to make big compositions. Classical music can have many forms, including the symphony, concerto, oratorio, opera, sonata, fugue or any combination of dance movements such as suites. In many of the longer compositions, short tunes are developed and changed during the course of the piece. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is a good example of a piece which develops from just four notes into a large piece lasting about half an hour.

Musical training and general use of classical music 

People who want to be good at performing classical music have to practice hard for many years. They normally have formal training at a music college or conservatoire and have lessons from well-known music teachers.
Classical music is often heard in popular culture. It is used as background music for movies, television programs, advertisements and even for mobile phone ringing tones. Most people in the Western world recognize many classical tunes, possibly without even realizing it. Some classical pieces of music have become enormously popular, e.g. the song Nessun dorma from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot which was sung by the three tenors Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, and used as the theme tune for the 1990 Soccer World Cup. This made many people who had never been interested in opera start to become curious about it.

Outline of the history of classical music

Middle Ages
Middle Ages 

The history of classical music really started in the late Middle Ages. Music written for the church was almost always vocal (singing),  because instruments were thought to be wicked. This is because the devil played them, and because they were used for dancing. There was a lot of dance music, but most of it is lost because it was never written down.
  
Medieval composers who are remembered today include Léonin, Pérotin and Guillaume de Machaut

Renaissance 
The Renaissance was from the 15th century until the 17th century. This period saw a massive increase in the composition of music, both sacred and secular. Many great cathedrals had been built in Europe and composers wrote music for them, mostly vocal music. Secular music also became extremely popular, especially songs and madrigals, which would sometimes be accompanied by instruments.

The greatest composers of this period include: Giovanni da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
Baroque period 
The Baroque period was from about the 17th century until the mid-18th century. This was the time when the modern orchestra was formed, more or less as we know it. It was also the time when opera was invented. Most musicians worked either for the church or for rich people who had their own orchestras. Many of them also started to work for opera houses.

The greatest composers of this time include: Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti and Georg Philipp Telemann

Classical period 
The years between 1760 - 1825 was known as the Classical period. Composers thought a lot about the forms of their pieces and were influenced by the classical art of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The symphony was invented and various forms of chamber music including the string quartet.
The greatest composers include: Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Antonio Salieri, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert .

Romantic period 
From 1820 to 1910 was known as the Romantic period. Composers continued to use the forms that had been invented in the 18th century, but they also thought that personal feeling and emotion were very important. Music for orchestra sometimes told a story (programme music). Musicians who played their instruments brilliantly (such as Paganini) were worshipped like heroes. Beethoven and Schubert belong, in many ways, to this period as well as to the Classical period. It was a time when there were a lot of changes in society. After the wars that Napoleon had waged, there were not so many ruling aristocratic families. There was a lot of feeling of nationalism as countries united. 19th century music is often nationalistic: composers wrote music that was typical of their own country.
Some of the greatest composers include: Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Hector Berlioz, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.

20th century 
What is known as 20th century classical music (or “modern music”) is music from about 1910 onwards. At this time many composers felt that everything had already been done by the composers of the past, so they wanted to find new ways of composing. Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, in particular, found new ways of writing music which was not necessarily tonal (in any particular key). Classical music was influenced by jazz, especially with American composers. Later in the century people such as Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen experimented in many other ways, including with electronic music (tape recorders etc.). Today’s composers have combined some of these ideas to develop their own styles.
Some of the most important composers are: Claude Debussy, Jean Sibelius, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten, Dmitri Shostakovich, Leonard Bernstein, Philip Glass, Dmitri Kabalevsky, James MacMillan, Judith Weir, Peter Maxwell Davies

Conclusion 
It has never been possible to say exactly what is meant by “classical music”. Many different kinds of music influence one another. Since 1970 it has been even harder to make clear dividing lines between rock, pop, classical, folk, jazz and world music. This shows that classical music, like other kinds of music, continues to develop and reflect the society from which it comes.

References 
The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie; 1980; 

Music genres
SNAFU or snafu is an acronym that the United States Military first used. Civilians now use it as well. It stands for Situation Normal: All (Fucked/Fouled/Francis) Up.

In modern times, it means a situation that was occurring normally but then suddenly began to go wrong. For example:

The general's visit this week-end went well until we hit a snafu. Everything went wrong after that.

Snafu is used mostly as a noun. It can also be used as a verb but usually in the passive sense. For instance, someone would say:

The general's visit this week-end went well until it snafued.  Everything went wrong after that.

But they would probably not say:

The general's visit this week-end went well until we snafued it.

Figures of speech
Acronyms
Atlanta is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is one of the South's largest cities. Atlanta is known as a major business city. It is the home of Coca-Cola Company, CNN, AT&T, and Home Depot, as well as many other Fortune 500 companies. Atlanta's airport, called Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, is the busiest airport in the world. Atlanta is near the center of Georgia and is on the Chattahoochee River.

History 
Atlanta was built on Cherokee Native American land. It was called Terminus until 1843, when the name was changed to Marthasville. In 1845 the name was changed again to Atlanta.
During the American Civil War, Atlanta was where several battles happened. Some of the battles were the Battle of Peachtree Creek, the Battle of Atlanta, and the Battle of Ezra Church. The city was burnt down and almost entirely destroyed. After the war, the city was built again, and got a nickname because it was built so fast: "the Phoenix City", after the bird which burns itself then rises from the ashes in old myths. A picture of the bird is on the city seal.

Atlanta became the state capital in 1868.
There have been racial problems in Atlanta. During riots in 1906, at least 12 people died and more than 70 other people were hurt. In 1913, a Jewish man named Leo Frank was tried in court for raping and killing a girl in a factory where he worked. He was found guilty, but then the government decided not to execute him because not everyone was convinced he had done it. This upset people who thought he had killed the girl, and there were more riots in 1915 and Frank was lynched (hanged with a rope until he died).

In the 1930s, the Great Depression came to Atlanta. Many people did not have jobs and were hungry. The city government was almost out of money and the Coca-Cola company gave the city some money to help. In 1935, the government built the first federal housing project in the United States.
Atlanta's airport is named Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. It is the busiest airport in the world. Delta Air Lines is an airline that has its main office in Atlanta, and it uses Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for many of its flights.

Turner Broadcasting, which broadcasts CNN, has their main office in Atlanta. The Coca Cola Company also has their main office in Atlanta.

Annie Wersching (San Luis, Misuri; 28 de marzo de 1977-Los Ángeles, California; 29 de enero de 2023) fur una actriz estadounidense, muy conocida por su actuación en la telenovela General Hospital y por su papel como la agente del FBI Renee Walker en la serie de TV 24.

Education
The City of Atlanta is home to two colleges. Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech for short, and Georgia State University.

TV stations
WGCL
WXIA
WAGA 
WSB
WUPA 
WATL

Events

Images

References
References 

 
Fulton County, Georgia
County seats in Georgia
State capitals in the United States
Olympic cities
1837 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Niccolò Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine Renaissance man, statesman, and writer. He was a diplomat and government official in the Medici period of the Florentine Republic. Machiavelli is best known for writing about political philosophy. He also wrote poetry, plays, carnival songs, history books, military science books, and some of the best-known personal letters in the Italian language. His best known book is The Prince from 1513. It was not published until 1532, which was five years after he died.

Many people use the word Machiavellian to mean "evil" because his ideas have been viewed by some as wicked. Many historians today still have debates on what he really thought. Nevertheless, Machiavelli is remembered for being an important realism theorist. But realism theory was actually already a big trend in Florence at the time. Machiavelli's ideas are focused mostly on a unique understanding of virtue, statesmanship, and fortune ().

Thoughts
There are many interpretations of his thoughts. Some of his main thoughts were:
 Virtue doesn't always come from being morally good. A stable country or government also doesn't come from being morally good.
 Free will controls almost half of human life, and the rest is controlled by chance or fortune ().
 A leader needs useful leadership virtues rather than ordinary virtues. Ordinary virtues can often be wrong for leaders.
 Weaker virtues are less needed than stronger ones. Fortune () only respects strong virtues, and so do soldiers.
 Greatness and excellence are the best examples to follow.
 When people look at the past as it should have been and give up on the past as it was, they are giving up on survival. 
 Being hated is always worse than just being feared.
 Relying less on things you can not control is a virtue. It is always best to know what limits you (including morals).
 Knowing when to be good and when to be bad is a virtue. A leader should only use cruelty when they have to.
Trying to always be morally good usually ends badly. For leaders, it is better to be well liked.
 A leader should not try to oppress people or interfere with their women and belongings. Otherwise things will end badly for them.
 Leaders will not even listen to advice unless they are partly wise.
 In times of peace, it is best to prepare for upcoming danger. It can be wise to choose situations where people's hard work is needed for survival.
The Prince 

The Prince is a political book by Niccolò Machiavelli. He first shared the book privately in 1513. But it was not published until 1532. The book gives instructions for how a prince or ruler should do politics.

He looks especially at what he calls the "new prince", saying that a prince from a royal family has an easier job because the people are used to his family and the way of life. All that such a hereditary prince needs to do is carefully stick to the traditional ways of working that the people are used to. A new prince has a much more difficult job because he must get people used to his new power and build up new ways of working that people can get used to. This job means that the new prince has to act in a way people would not quickly criticize, but Machiavelli says this may mean doing bad but necessary things which people do not see or remember. Otherwise a new prince will find it difficult to get anything important done, or even to keep ruling.
Other books 
 The Discourses on Livy online 1772 edition 
 The Seven Books on the Art of War online 1772 edition 
 History of Florence online 1901 edition
 Reform of Florence online 1772 edition 
 The Private Correspondence of Niccolò Machiavelli, ed. Orestes Ferrara; 1929. online edition 
  Bilingual edition of The Woman from Andros, The Mandrake, and Clizia, edited by David Sices and James B. Atkinson.

Other websites 

 The complete Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli with cliff notes

References 

1469 births
1527 deaths
16th-century philosophers
Civil servants
Italian philosophers
Italian playwrights
Writers from Florence
A supply line is a large line of military supply vehicles, usually in convoy format. The line is useful for transporting needed supplies (food, medical supplies, ammo) to the front line. Without the supply line, a deployed army far from home would not be able to fight for long, as supplies would soon run out. 
The enemy is most likely to target the supply line if not heavily defended, since once the supplies are cut off, the army will soon be unable to fight, and unable to reinforce, and so they will be forced to surrender or die. 

Military terminology
Michigan is one of the fifty states in the United States of America. It is the 11th largest state in the United States.  It is made up of two peninsulas (connected by the Mackinac Bridge), the only state to be so. It borders the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois. Its borders with Minnesota and Illinois are only by water.  It also borders Canada by water.  It was the 26th state to join the union on January 26, 1837.  In 1847, Michigan became the first U.S. state to abolish the death penalty.

History
Native American tribes first settled in Michigan before the arrival of Europeans.

Economy
Michigan is noted as the place where many automobiles were made, and it still shows today. Michigan is 50% forest, which makes it very useful to the lumber industry. It also borders four of the Great Lakes, which are some of the largest reservoirs of fresh water in the world.  Lake Superior is the largest body of freshwater in the world.
Culture and weather
The state experiences four seasons, with the winter being predominant and severe in the north, while the south has more mild, equally long seasons. The northern areas are very popular for skiing in the winter. The National Ski Hall of Fame can be found in Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula. It is surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes. It is also home to the largest mosque in North America, the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Due to the large amount of water surrounding the state, boating is very popular in the warmer months. There are more private boats registered in Michigan than in any other state.
Famous Michiganders
Many famous people have come from Michigan.  They include the singer Madonna, the comedian Andy Richter, singer Stevie Wonder, Anthony Kiedis, former president Gerald Ford, singer Kid Rock, rapper Eminem, the former Reverend Jim Bakker, basketball legend Magic Johnson,  Diana Ross, and Aretha Franklin, as well as being the home of Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company.

Cities
The capital city of Michigan is Lansing, and large cities include Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw. Marquette is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula.

Education
Michigan has several state universities including Michigan State University, University of Michigan, Saginaw Valley State University, Grand Valley State University, Northern Michigan University and Western Michigan University. The state also has many private colleges.
Politics
The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who took office in January 2019, and its two national senators are Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, both Democrats. Out of its 14 congressmen, 7 are Democrats, 6 are Republicans and Justin Amash is a Libertarian. In any event, Michigan had once been reliably blue in presidential elections, having voted for the Democrat in presidential elections since 1988, but then in 2016 it swung red to support Donald Trump. It will be regarded in future as a Swing State.

In comparison to the Midwest 
In general, Michigan is more liberal than the states of Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio, about as liberal as Pennsylvania and Iowa, and less liberal than Illinois and Minnesota. In the State Legislature, Democrats control both houses by a slim majority.

Related pages
 List of counties in Michigan

References

Other websites

 
1837 establishments in the United States
Caenorhabditis elegans is a species of roundworm or nematode. It is important because much research has been done on its genetics and development.

C. elegans is about 1 mm long. The worms are not parasites, they are free-living. They live in soil and feed on bacteria. C. elegans is a model organism, used to study animal development and behavior. It is the first multicellular organism for which scientists have been able to sequence its whole genome.

C. elegans has two types of sex: hermaphrodite and male. A hermaphrodite makes sperms when its in a larval stage and makes ova in an adult stage.  A male can only make sperm. Males are a little smaller than hermaphrodites.

Study using C. elegans was begun in 1965 by Sydney Brenner. In laboratories, they are easy to keep alive. At 25ºC, they spend 14 hours as an embryo.  Animals like C. elegans that do not take long to grow and are easy to feed are usually good organisms for research.
In 2002, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Sydney Brenner, Robert Horvitz, and John Sulston for their work on how C. elegans's genes cause it to grow and cause some of its cells to die.

References

Nematodes
Model organisms
Saxe-Weimar () was a duchy in Thuringia, Germany. The chief town and capital was Weimar.

History 
Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Gotha were the two original Ernestine Duchies. They both gradually shrank in size as land in Thuringia was divided among sons..

In 1741 Duke Ernest Augustus I of Saxe-Weimar inheritated the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. Ernest Augustus II, who succeeded in 1748, died in 1758, and his young widow, Anna Amalia, became regent for her infant son, Charles Augustus. The regency of Anna Amalia and the reign of Charles Augustus were important in the history of Saxe-Weimar. Both intelligent patrons of literature and art, Anna Amalia and Charles Augustus attracted to their court the leading scholars in Germany, including Goethe, Schiller and Herder, and made Weimar an important cultural centre.
Charles Augustus joined Prussia in the Napoleonic Wars.  After France won the Battle of Jena, Saxe Weimar was forced to join the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. In 1809 Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been separate duchies with the same duke became one country as the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

Dukes of Saxe-Weimar 
 Johann Wilhelm (1554 – 73)
 Frederick Wilhelm I (1573 – 1602), son of Johann Wilhelm
 Johann (1602 – 05), son of Johann Wilhelm
 Johann Ernst I (1605 – 20), son of Johann
 Wilhelm (1620 – 62), son of Johann.
 Johann Ernst II (1662 – 83), son of Wilhelm
 Wilhelm Ernst (1683 – 1728), son of Johann Ernst II
 Johann Ernst III (1683 – 1707), son of Johann Ernst II
 Ernst August I (1707 – 48), son of Johann Ernst III
 Ernst August II (1748 – 58), son of Ernst August I
 Karl August (1758 – 1809), son of Ernst August II

Merged with Saxe-Eisenach to form Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Related pages
 Ernestine duchies
References 
 
 Saxe-Weimar , The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Columbia University Press (2001 – 2005), accessed December 22 2005

Other websites 
 German genealogies
 Genealogy of Dukes of Saxe-Weimar 

States of the Confederation of the Rhine
States of the Holy Roman Empire
Thuringia
Weimar
Oldham is a town in the North West of England. It is to the north-east of Manchester. It is part of Greater Manchester. Oldham was part of Lancashire until 1 April 1974.

There were riots in Oldham in May 2001. It is the centre of the Borough of Oldham.

Oldham Council achieved dubious notoriety in 2009 when in ran up a bill of £8 million carrying out a failed prosecution of kitchen tycoon Vance Miller. The Judge threw out the case and lambasted the council for the frivolity of the prosecution.

The town has an association football team, called Oldham Athletic. It also has a cricket club, called Oldham Cricket Club.

The composer, William Walton was born in Oldham.

The first test tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, was born in Oldham General Hospital on 25 July 1978.

Schools 
 The Blue Coat School
 Crompton House
 Hulme Grammar School
 Saddleworth School

Other websites 
 Oldham Council
Pakistan is a country in South Asia. It is next to India, Iran, Afghanistan, and China. It is officially called the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It has a long coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south. Pakistan has the fifth largest population (207.77 million) in the world. Pakistan has a total land area of  (including the Pakistani controlled territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan). This makes Pakistan the 34th largest country in the world. Pakistan has the seventh largest army in the world. The capital of Pakistan is Islamabad. Before 1960, it was Karachi, which is now the country's largest city. While the current capital, Islamabad, was being constructed, the city of Rawalpindi was set as a temporary capital from 1959 to 1967.

The name Pākistān means Land of the Pure in Persian and Urdu.
The name Pakistan (English pronunciation:  or ;   ) means Land of (the) Spiritually Pure in both Urdu and Persian languages. Many South-central Asian states and regions end with the element -stan, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Balochistan, Kurdistan, and Turkistan. This -stan is formed from the Iranian root *STA "to stand, stay," and means "place (where one stays), home, country". Iranian peoples have been the main inhabitants of the various land regions of the Ancient Persian Empires now owned by the states for over a thousand years. The names are compounds of -stan and the name of the peoples living there. Pakistan is a bit different; its name was coined on 28 January 1933 as  by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his paper Now or Never. by using the suffix -istan from Balochistan preceded by the first letters of Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir and Sindh
. The name is actually an acronym that stands for the "thirty million Muslim brethren who lived in Pakistan—by which we mean the Five Northern units of India viz: Punjab, (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan". The letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and forms the linguistically correct and meaningful name.
National Anthem

The lyrics of the national anthem of Pakistan was written by Hafeez Jalandhary, composed by Ahmed Ghulam Ali Chagla and was adopted as the country's national anthem on 13 August 1954. The music had actually been composed nearly three years before the lyrics were written to fit the tune.

Flag

The flag is a green field with a white crescent moon and five-rayed star at its centre, and a vertical white stripe at the hoist side. Though the green colour is mandated only as 'dark green', its official and most consistent representation is Pakistan green, which is shaded distinctively darker.

The flag was designed by Syed Amir uddin Kedwaii and was based on the original flag of the Muslim League. It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, just days before independence. The white colour on the flag represents the minorities and the green the Muslim majority. The crescent on the flag represents progress while the five-rayed star represents light and knowledge.
Government and politics 

Pakistan has a federal parliamentary system. The head of state is an indirectly elected ceremonial President. The Electoral college of the country, (composed of the Senate, the National Assembly, and the four Provincial Assemblies) chooses a leadership representing the President of Pakistan for a five-year term. The president is also the Commander in Chief of the Joint Armed Forces. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is also indirectly elected.

The President's appointment and term are constitutionally independent of the Prime Minister’s term. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly or of a coalition in the National Assembly.

The Prime Minister is the head of government. Pakistan's legislature is made of a 100-member Senate (upper house) and a 342-member National Assembly (lower house). The Chief Justice of Pakistan is the chief judge who oversees the judicature's court system at all levels of command.
On 17 August 2018 Ex-cricketer Imran Khan was elected as the New Prime Minister of Naya Pakistan. Because In 2018, Imran Khan (the chairman of PTI) Won the 2018 Pakistan general election with 116 general seats and so became the current 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan in election of National Assembly of Pakistan for Prime Minister by getting 176 votes against Shehbaz Sharif (the chairman of PMLN) who got 96 votes. Pakistan is also headed by a "President", the Prime Minister Acts as the Leader of Pakistan.

Politics 
Pakistan is officially a federal republic, but during a long period in its history it changed to a democratic state and a military dictatorship. Military dictators include Ayub Khan in the 1960s, General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s.

Pakistan's two largest political parties are the Pakistan People's Party and the government party Pakistan Muslim League (N).Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has also gained popularity in the past years.
On 27 December 2007, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated. The reason is yet to be determined.

Administrative divisions 

Pakistan is made up of four provinces, two territories and two special areas. Both special areas are in Kashmir. The provinces and territories are divided into 26 divisions with now 147 districts directly divided from the provinces. Each district is divided into several tehsils and each tehsil is divided into several union councils. There are around 596 tehsils and over 6,000 union councils in Pakistan.

Provinces:
  Balochistan
  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly NWFP)
  Punjab
  Sindh
Among the four provinces, Punjab has the most people but Balochistan is the largest province by area.
(Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also have Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) which are going to be regular districts.)
Territories:
<li>  Islamabad Capital Territory
<li>  Federally Administered Tribal Areas
Administrative Areas (Pakistan-administered Kashmir)
<li>  Azad Kashmir
<li> Gilgit Baltistan

India, Pakistan and China separately control parts of the Kashmir region. India and Pakistan's parts are divided by a Line of Control. The Pakistan–China border is internationally recognized. Trade is common between the 2 countries.

National symbols

Economy

Pakistan has a semi-industrialized economy. The growth poles of the Pakistani economy are situated along the Indus River. Diversified economies of Karachi and Punjab's urban centres, coexist with less developed areas in other parts of the country. Despite being a very poor country in 1947, Pakistan's economic growth rate has been better than the global average during the following four decades, but incautious policies led to a slowdown in the late 1990s.
Recently, large economic reforms have resulted in a stronger economic outlook and sped up growth especially in the manufacturing and financial services sectors. Since the 1990s, there has been great improvement in the foreign exchange market position and rapid growth in hard currency reserves.

The 2005 estimate of foreign debt was close to US$40 billion. However, this decreased with help from the International Monetary Fund and significant debt-relief from the United States. Pakistan's gross domestic product, as measured by purchasing power parity, is estimated to be $475 billion while its per capita income stands at $1,842. The poverty rate in Pakistan is estimated to be between 23% and 38%.

History
Pakistan became Independent in 1947 from the United Kingdom which was known as the British Raj. The first organised people in Ancient Pakistan lived 9000 years ago. These people were the ones who made up the Indus Valley Civilization, which is one of the oldest civilizations on Earth. After that, the Vedic period came. This also included parts of north-western Republic of India. Then after the Muslim conquest, Pakistan began to be Islamized and it slowly turned into a Muslim majority region. The British Empire had effectively conquered the entire territories of modern day Pakistan by the year 1850 and after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the region was officially absorbed into the British Crown and came under direct British rule. Pakistan gained independence from British rule in 1947 however the Monarch of the United Kingdom (King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II) remained the monarch of Pakistan up until it officially became a republic in 1956
. Until 1971, Pakistan also included an area in the North-east India region. This is now called Bangladesh. It lost that area after a war with the Indian Army and the joint militant group of Indo-Bangladeshi alliance of Mitro Bahini of West Bengal. During recent times Pakistan has been in the centre of world politics. This is first because of its support to guerrillas in Afghanistan, following a Soviet invasion 1979, and later during the 1990s because of its cooperation with and support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. However, since 2000 Pakistan has supported the West in their war against fundamentalist terrorism, including the removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Despite not being part of the organization itself, Pakistan has developed close ties with and closely cooperated with the NATO organization assisting it in many of its military campaigns such as those in Bosnia and Somalia.
Pakistan is a member of the Commonwealth. However, after the war in East Pakistan the country was excluded (between 1972 and 1989). It was also a member between 1999 and 2007, it was excluded in 2007 for a time but again became a member in 2008.

Geography and climate 

There are many earthquakes in the area. The earthquake in 2005 with its earthquake center in Kashmir is the strongest recorded so far. Over 100,000 people were killed or wounded on 8 October 2005.

Pakistan covers , roughly similar to the combined land areas of France and the UK. Its eastern regions are located on the Indian plate and the western and northern regions on the Iranian plateau and Eurasian landplate. Apart from the  Arabian Sea coastline, Pakistan's land borders total — with Afghanistan to the northwest,  with China to the northeast,  with India to the south and east, and  with Iran to the southwest.
The northern and western highlands of Pakistan contain the towering Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges, which include some of the world's highest peaks, including K2  and Nanga Parbat . The Balochistan Plateau lies to the west, and the Thar Desert and an expanse of alluvial plains, the Punjab and Sindh, lie to the east. The  Indus River and its tributaries flow through the country from the disputed territory of Occupied Kashmir to the Arabian Sea.

Pakistan has four seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. The beginning and length of these seasons vary somewhat according to location. Rainfall can change radically from year to year, and consecutive patterns of flooding and drought are also not uncommon.

People

Languages
People

Languages 

Urdu is replacing English as the national language of the country. English is still spoken among the Pakistani elite and in most government ministries. Many people also speak Saraiki, Punjabi, Hindko, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Brahui and Khowar.

Shina is also one of the regional languages of Pakistan. It is spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Religion 
Most (95-97%) of the people are Muslim. Most of the Muslims in Pakistan are Sunni Muslims (>90%) and some are Shia Muslims (5%). However a few minority groups exist. Pakistan also has some Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Zoroastrians and animist minority groups in the northern parts of the country.

After the end British India, Hinduism had much less importance in the newly created state of Pakistan, but has played an important role in its culture and politics as well as the history of its regions. In fact, Pakistan has the 5th largest population of Hindus, after Sri Lanka.
The word Hindu comes from the Sindhu (Indus River) of Pakistan. The Sindhu is one of the holy rivers of Hinduism. Thus, in many ways, the land which is today's heavily Muslim Pakistan has played an important part in the origin of Hinduism. There are about 3 million Hindus living in Pakistan.

Poverty 
Poverty in Pakistan is a growing concern because of population growth in the country. Although the middle-class has grown in Pakistan, nearly 50% of the population is classified poor as of September 2023.

Sports
Sports 

The national sport of Pakistan is field hockey, although cricket is the most popular game across the country. The national cricket team has won the Cricket World Cup once (in 1992), were runners-up once (in 1999), and co-hosted the games twice (in 1987 and 1996). Pakistan were runners-up in the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa and were the champions at the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 held in England. The team also won two Asia Cups in 2000 and 2012. Lately however, Pakistani cricket has suffered heavily due to teams refusing to tour Pakistan after militants attacked the touring Sri Lankan team in March 2009, after which no international cricket was played until May 2015, when the Zimbabwean team agreed to tour. However, now, with increased security, the Sri Lankan cricket team came for a tour as recently as 2019.
In addition to sports like field hockey, cricket, squash rackets, football and others, Pakistanis are also very keen on equestrianism of various types,and equestrian sports such as Polo and the traditional Tent pegging are played by many. Other traditional rural sports include two types of Wrestling, Kabbadi and a martial art called Gatka.

Related pages
 History of Pakistan
 Religions of Pakistan
 List of rivers of Pakistan
 Political families of Pakistan
 Transportation in Pakistan
 Pakistan at the Olympics
 National symbols of Pakistan

References 

Notes

Other websites
 Pakistan - CIA World Factbook

 
1947 establishments in Asia
English-speaking countries
Federations
Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Commonwealth member states
New Zealand (known as  in the Māori language) is an island country in Oceania. It is a sovereign state in the south-western part of the Pacific Ocean. It is made up of two large islands (the North Island and the South Island) and many smaller islands. These islands are located to the southeast of Australia. New Zealand was one of the last places in the world that humans discovered, because it is a long way away from most of the world. During its time without humans, New Zealand was a great place for an unusual range of plants and animals to develop.

The current capital city of the country is Wellington, and the largest city is Auckland. Both of these cities are on the North Island. The largest city on the South Island is Christchurch.

The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand sign language. English has never been granted official language status in the NZ laws,  but it is used as a default official language due to its wide usage.
In 2010, a newspaper in NZ said that New Zealand was the 8th happiest country in the world.

Name 
In the Māori language, the country is called Aotearoa, which means "Land of the Long White Cloud". Ao means “cloud”, tea means “white”, and roa means “long”. The name "New Zealand" comes from “Zeeland” (which translates to "Sealand") in Dutch, after the islands were seen by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands.

Government and politics 
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The head of state is Charles III. The Prime Minister is Chris Hipkins, leader of the Labour Party.

New Zealand has made itself a Nuclear Free Zone: They do not use nuclear power and do not allow nuclear weapons or nuclear powered vessels in their territory.

Elections are held every 3 years.
People 
As of the 2018 census, 4,699,755 people lived in New Zealand. Most of them have European ancestors. The indigenous people of New Zealand, the Māori, have a population of 775,836, or 16.5%.

The people of New Zealand often call themselves Kiwis. This name is derived from the kiwi, a flightless native bird that is considered the country's national bird.

The North Island is smaller than the South Island, but most people (more than 3 million) live there. This might be because the North Island is usually warmer, and has more big cities.

About half of the people in New Zealand are religious. As of the 2018 census, 48.2% had no religion. The main religion in New Zealand is Christianity. Just over 2 million New Zealanders are Christian. The second most common religion is Hinduism, with 2.6%.

Cities 
Most New Zealanders live in urban areas, with the other 27% living in small towns or farming communities.
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. Auckland is the largest city, with around 1 million people.
Other cities in the North Island include Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier/Hastings, New Plymouth, Whanganui, and Palmerston North. South Island cities include Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, Invercargill and Timaru.

Geological origin 

New Zealand sits at the boundary between the Australian and Pacific continental plates. When these two plates bumped into each other ('collided'), the Pacific plate moved under the Australian plate, north of the South Island. As a result, there has been lots of volcanic activity. South of the South Island, the Australian plate moves under the Pacific plate instead. The plates slide past each other in the South Island, where they have pushed up the Southern Alps.  Because of these two colliding plates, New Zealand often has earthquakes. One of the best known is the 2010-2011 group of earthquakes that hit the Christchurch area.
The diagram shows that the North Island is on the Australian plate, but most of the South Island is on the Pacific plate. New Zealand is still geologically active, and will remain so as long as the islands are sitting above the plate boundary.

Ancient geology 
The oldest rocks in New Zealand date from the Cambrian period, 512 million years ago. New Zealand became part of the global super-continent Pangaea. When that split (End-Triassic/early Jurassic), New Zealand became part of the southern super-continent Gondwana. Finally Gondwana broke up, leaving the continents rather as they are today.
Natural history 
New Zealand was isolated from the rest of the world for a long time. It split from Australia 83 million years ago. Because of this, there are many plants and animals that only live in New Zealand. Before humans came to New Zealand, there were no mammals, except three species of bat and marine mammals such as seals, dolphins, and whales. Instead, New Zealand has many different kinds of bird. New Zealand has several species of flightless bird, including the kiwi and Kakapo. For the lizards, especially important is the Tuatara, the only living member of a whole order of reptiles.
New Zealand used to have more rare species, but some, mostly birds, were hunted to extinction early in its history. The giant Moa, Dinornis, is a famous example. The group of birds which the moa belongs to had been in existence since the Cretaceous period. Humans arrived in New Zealand about a thousand years ago, when many moa were living, especially on the South Island. Archaeological sites with evidence of moa hunting are all over New Zealand. The moa became extinct about five hundred years ago. Extinctions closer to today have been caused by habitat change and introduced species like rats, dogs, cats, and possums, which kill the native birds and lizards, or eat their eggs.

Other information
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb to the top of Mount Everest, was from New Zealand.
 New Zealand has become more popular since New Zealander Peter Jackson made the Lord of the Rings movies there.
 Many farmers in New Zealand breed sheep. There are many more sheep than people in New Zealand (20 sheeps for 1 human).
 Many New Zealanders are interested in sports. Their national sport is usually considered to be rugby (in winter). They have impressive athletes in rowing, cycling, shotput, discus, iron man, triathlon, yachting, climbing, surfing, cricket, netball, softball, wind surfing, gliding, and more.