Raffles Institution is a highly regarded secondary school in Singapore, often considered the best school in the country. Only boys can go to this school. It has been performing well in studies and sports. It was founded in 1823 as Singapore Institution by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore. It is the school with the longest history in Singapore. Its name was changed to "Raffles Institution" in 1868. It has two sections, Raffles Institution and Raffles Institution Junior College.
The current principal of Raffles Institution is Mr Frederick Yeo, who replaced Mr Chan Poh Meng when he left the school at the end of 2017.
Sir Stamford Raffles founded Raffles Institution on 5 June 1823, making it the school with the longest history in Singapore. Raffles Institution was along Bras Basah Road at first, where Raffles City is now. The school moved to Grange Road in 1973, and then moved to its current location at Bishan in 1990. The Grange Road campus is now the MOE Teacher's Network.
Archipelago
An archipelago () is a chain or group of islands. The word "archipelago" means "chief sea", from Greek "arkhon" ("arkhi"-) ("leader") and "pelagos" ("sea").
Archipelagos are usually found in the open sea; less commonly, a big landmass may neighbor them, an example being Scotland which has more than 700 islands surrounding the mainland. Many archipelagos are volcanic, forming along mid-ocean ridges or hotspots. Others are island arcs neighboring an oceanic trench. Many other processes create archipelagos, including erosion, deposition, and land elevation.
The four biggest countries that are mainly archipelagos are Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Indonesia (the world's biggest archipelagic country according to the CIA World Factbook). The biggest archipelago in the world by size is in Northern Canada, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, which is in the Arctic Ocean.
Baltic states
The Baltic states are three countries in Northern Europe to the east of the Baltic Sea and the south of the Gulf of Finland. They are, from north to south, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The languages that are spoken in these countries are different: while Lithuanians and Latvians speak Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian), Estonians speak an Uralic language (Estonian).
By their culture and history, the Baltic countries are close to the Nordic countries. The biggest difference in the history was that the Baltic countries were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 (during the Second World War), but not the Nordic countries (with the exception of Karelia, a part of Finland which later joined the Russian SFSR). The three countries would become republics of the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR.
All three Baltic states had their freedom back in 1991, when the Soviet Union came to an end. However, the states all consider the Soviet occupation to be illegal, which has been supported by the United States, European Union, and United Nations. Today, the Baltic countries are some of the richest and most advanced countries which were part of the Soviet Union. They became members of the European Union and NATO in 2004, joined the Schengen Area in 2007, and became part of the eurozone by 2015.
Paganism was the religion of Baltic people before most of them took Christianity during the Middle Ages. Baltic paganism never died out and some people are still pagans.
Topography
Topography means "the description of shape". The word comes from Greek: ' "place" and ' "(I) write". It is an important part of earth science.
When you talk of the topography of the land, you refer to the landscape features like valleys, hills and mountains, rivers and lakes, or the coastline. Everything that describes the form of the landscape, is part of the topography. Topographic maps show topography.
Bornholm
Bornholm is a small, rocky island in the Baltic Sea. Bornholm is a Danish island.
The island is a popular holiday resort for Scandinavians, Germans and Poles. Many yachters come here in the summer.
At the end of World War II, the island was "liberated" by the Soviet red army, and held for several months after the German surrender. The island lies far east of the demarcation line between the allied forces in Europe. For some time the Soviet presence looked like an occupation. It was not until April 5th, 1946 that the island at last was free.
But then the Danish government took over and the island is today a Danish colony. But the struggle for a free island still goes on as it can be seen on this page Free Bornholm
Budapest
Budapest is the capital and the largest city of Hungary. It was made as such in 1873. In that year three towns on the River Danube, namely "Buda", "Óbuda (Old Buda)" and "Pest" were united. The city has a population of about 1.7 million people. Its highest place is "János Hill (527 m.)".
The history of the city started with Celtic tribes who settled here before 1 AD. Later Roman empire transformed the first settlements into the Roman town of Aquincum. The Hungarians arrived in the territory of modern Hungary only in the end of 9th century AD.
Budapest also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918 after World War I. The city was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
The main sights in Budapest are the Castle Hill (Várhegy), the Parliament House (Országház) and St. Stephen's Basilica. Budapest is also known for the ruins of Aquincum, the capital city of the Roman Province of Pannonia. The city has a great atmosphere with nice cafes, spas and the traditional Hungarian hospitality.
It has the oldest subway-line in Europe.
Budapest has a humid subtropical climate with relatively cold winters and quite warm summers.
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beach town in California. It is next to Los Angeles, California, US.
It was made a city in 1886. In 2000, there were 88,050 people living there.
It is famous for the Santa Monica Pier that has many fun rides.
Kuwait
Kuwait is a small Arab country (about 17,819 square kilometers) in the Middle East.
Kuwait is the most socially progressive country in the Gulf region. It has a small and rich economy. It has about 96 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. Crude oil reserves are the oil that is still under the ground and has not yet been cleaned up. Kuwait has 10% of all of the oil reserves in the world. The country makes a lot of money by selling oil. This money is almost half of all the money the country makes. The oil money is also 95% of the money made by selling things to different countries (people call that exports). Also, the oil money is 80% of the money the government makes. Kuwait is now talking with oil companies of other countries to make oil fields in the northern part of the country.
Kuwait's weather makes farming hard (too little rain). Instead of farming, the country catches fish and buys food from other countries. About 75% of the country's water to drink has to be distilled (have the salt removed) or purchased from other countries.
In 1990, Iraq invaded (brought an army in to fight against) Kuwait. This started the first Gulf War. Kuwait's official religion is Islam, although 15% of its population are Christian or Hindu. Arabic is mostly spoken in Kuwait but English is widespread among Kuwaitis (residents of Kuwait). Kuwait is one of the few nations that has education for every age.
Another interesting fact about Kuwait is that a lot of people speak English.
Population (in thousands) for 2004 2595.
CBR(per 1000) for 2004 19.4.
CDR (per 1000) for 2004 1.9. Growth Rate(%) for 1992-2002 2.1. the Total Fertility Rate for 2002 is 2.7. Percent population is living in urban in 2003 96.2.Per capita gross national income ($) 2002 612. Population Density( per square kilometer) in 2000 107.4