open-index/open-wikipedia-markdown huggingface dataset:
Gymnastics

.]]

**Gymnastics** is a sport which involves doing exercises which need strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. This may include running, jumping, tumbling, somersaulting, flipping and balancing. Mental skills are also involved such as confidence, diet control and focus.  

In women's gymnastics, there are four activities: floor, uneven bars, balance beam, and vault.  In men's gymnastics, there are six activities: floor exercise, parallel bars, high bar, pommel horse, vault, and rings.

Gymnastics is a Summer Olympic sport. It began as a form of exercise in ancient Greece.  It was one of the first sports in the Ancient Olympic Games.

## Forms of gymnastics 
There are several forms of gymnastics, including rhythmic gymnastics, artistic gymnastics, acrobatics, trampolining, and wheel gymnastics and no handed gymnastics. In *artistic gymnastics*, gymnasts perform short routines using different pieces of equipment.  *Acrobatics* involves showing balance and performing flips on the floor or in the air.  In *trampolining*, gymnasts do routines using only the trampoline.  *Wheel gymnasts* exercise in a large wheel called a German wheel. 
  

File:Cervenkova.JPG|Rhythmic 
File:Girls Synchro WAGC 2007.jpg|Trampoline
File:Sportpressefest 1966 in der Ostseehalle (Kiel 77.669).jpg|Wheel

In *rhythmic gymnastics*, gymnasts perform with ribbons, rope, ball, hoop and clubs.  Usually, only females do rhythmic gymnastics because they are more flexible than males.

## Other websites 
* FM Gymnastics - a list of Techniques and free animated comic tutorials for Floor Gymnastics.

### Websites of the federations 
**Federation Internationale de Gymnastique**
*  Gimnasia Argentina
*  Gymnastics Australia 
*  Brazilian Gymnastics Federation
*  Gymnastics Canada 
*  Chinese Gymnastics Association 
*  Fédération Française de Gymnastique
*  Federazione Ginnastica d'Italia
*  Japan Gymnastic Association 
*  Mexican Gymnastics Federation 
*  Romanian Gymnastics Federation 
*  Russian Gymnastics Federation
*  British Gymnastics
*  USA Gymnastics
Brazilian Federal District

The **Federal District** ( ) is a part of Brazil, which is used to shelter Brasília, the federal capital. It is in the centre of the country.

## History
The capital of Brazil was transferred from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília on 21 April 1960 and its new territory, split off from state of Goiás on the border with the state of Minas Gerais, became the current Federal District. After the transfer the old Federal District, containing the city of Rio de Janeiro, became the state of Guanabara. This state existed from 1960 until 1975, when it merged with the state of Rio de Janeiro. With the merger the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro was transferred back from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro itself (as it had been until 1834 when the empire created the Neutral Municipality).

Originally, most of the people were local workers (called "Candangos"), who built the capital, and federal government workers who were sent to the new capital, Brasília. The capital is a planned city. It had areas built for homes, business, schools and other uses. Originally built for up to one million people, the city now has many more than one million people. Because of how the city was built, it has been hard for the city to grow. This has caused many people to live in cities around Brasília. A large percentage of the people of the Federal District live outside the city now.

## Flag
The white color is for peace. The green and yellow colors in the middle refer to the national colors of Brazil. The four yellow arrows are for the native people of Brazil. The arrows pointing into the four cardinal directions of the compass stands for the power moving out from the center. The yellow arrows also form a cross. This is a symbol of the Southern Cross carried by the explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral.

The flag was created by the poet Guilherme de Almeida, and was adopted by decree no. 1090 on August 25, 1969.

## References
## Other websites 
* Official homepage  
* Informative Federal District page, with aeroplane view  
*Feature article on CityMayors.com
*Distrito Federal at Google Maps
*Map of the Federal District
Military engineering

military engineers at work in Pakistan]]

A **military engineer** uses his skills in construction to build many different structures for warfare. These different structures can be made for either offense or defense. Other jobs include building and taking apart minefields and bridges. In some cases an engineer may have to destroy something that he has built before.  This may be to stop the enemy soldiers following them across the river for example. In many armies the military engineers are also called pioneers or sappers.

Today a military engineer that operates during battle is called a combat engineer.

Perhaps the first people who had a special force of military engineering specialists were the Roman army.  Roman military engineering was very good in its time.  They were able to build a double-wall of fortifications that was thirty miles (50 km) long in total (both walls together) to besiege a city in Gaul, in just six weeks.

The design, construction, and destroying of the works shown would be the task of a military engineer.

Image:GreatWallTower.jpg|Great Wall of China and watchtower (Ming Dynasty)
Image:Tarascon Castle on the Rhône.jpg|Castle at Tarascon, France
Image:Trebuchet.jpg|Replica Trebuchet siege engine
Image:Fortbourtange.jpg|Bourtange fortification
Image:Tarascon Castle (bridge).jpg|Tarascon Castle moat
Image:Cheshire Regiment trench Somme 1916.jpg|World War I trench works and shrapnel shelter
Image:Mines 501556 fh000026.jpg|Landmines (modern)

## Related pages
* Fortification
Takbir

**Takbir** is the name for the Arabic phrase **Allahu Akbar** which is a Muslim saying. The exact words in Arabic mean  "God is greater", but people know that saying "God is great" in the right time and place means the same as "*God is Greater*." "*Allahu Akbar*" is the first part of the Adhan, which people hear 5 times a day where Muslim people live together. Saying "God is Great" tells people in a few words what Islam believes and teaches. 

This Arabic phrase was added to the Iraqi flag, which is claimed to be Saddam Hussein's handwriting, in 2001. Muslims say it before changing positions during their prayers. Allahu Akbar was the anthem of Libya during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

## References
Fairy Tail

***Fairy Tail*** is a shonen manga published in the *Weekly Shônen Magazine* from August 2, 2006 to July 26, 2017. It was created by Hiro Mashima. It has 545 chapters and 63 tankōbon volumes. The series is also aired. Some video games are released by Konami. In August 2012 The Phoenix Priestess, a Fairy Tail movie, was released, and in May 2012 a sequel Dragon Cry, a Fairy Tail sequel movie, was released.

## Story 
The story of Fairy Tail focuses around the adventures of main characters Natsu and Lucy, who are sometimes with the members of the Fairy Tail Guild.

In the beginning, Lucy is a  sorceress (a "mage"), who wants to join Fairy Tail Guild. On her trip, she meets Natsu, a young boy, who is looking for Igneel the Salamander. She offers Natsu and Happy (his partner) a lunch and Natsu explains that Igneel is a dragon. Lucy talks about her dream to join a famous guild, which she later told him was the Fairy Tail Guild. Later, she is tricked and taken by Bora of Prominence to be sold as a slave. She is rescued by Natsu, who is the real Salamander, and a true member of Fairy Tail Guild. He offers her to be a member of Fairy Tail. Lucy says yes and joins the guild. Since then, Natsu and Lucy formed a team. This is the beginning of the adventures that the two have while carrying out missions from the guild.

## Reception
According to Oricon, *Fairy Tail* was the eighth best-selling manga series in Japan for 2009. It became the fourth best in 2010 and 2011 and the fifth best of 2012. It also won the 2009 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga.

In 2012, the anime series won the "Meilleur Anime Japonais" (best Japanese anime) award and the best French dubbing award at the 19th Anime & Manga Grand Prix in Paris, France.

## References
## Other websites 
* Fairy Tail World (US)
Geir Ivarsøy

**Geir Ivarsøy** (June 27, 1957 – March 9, 2006) was the main programmer at Opera Software. He and Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner were part of a research group at the Norwegian state telephone company (now known as Telenor). They made browsing software called *MultiTorg Opera*. Telenor stopped them from working on the program, but in 1995, Ivarsøy and Stephenson von Tetzchner got the rights to the software. They created a company of their own, and continued working on it.

Now known as Opera, the Internet browser has become very popular. Opera Software has grown to more than 380 employees since it first moved to its offices in Oslo.

In January 2004, Geir Ivarsøy said he wanted to resign as a board member in Opera Software, though he kept working in the company after that. In June 2005 he was elected as a member of the   of the company.

Geir died in March 2006 of cancer.

## Other websites 
* Death in the Family—an obituary
Cherie Blair

**Cherie Blair** CBE  (née **Booth**; born 23 September 1954) is a British barrister. She is the wife of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair. She was born at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Lancashire, and grew up in Waterloo, Lancashire. She is a daughter of actor Antony Booth.

She gained a first class degree from the London School of Economics.

She qualified as a barrister in 1976, and took silk in 1995. In 1999 she became a Recorder in the County Court and Crown Court.

Blair specialises in Human Rights law. She is a Catholic.

## References 
## Other websites 
* Brief biog on her Chamber's website
Shire

A **shire** is an old term for a county in England. It is a kind of local government.

## History
The first shires were created by the Anglo-Saxons in central and southern England.  Shires were controlled by a royal official known as a "shire reeve" or sheriff. In modern English usage shires are sub-divided into districts.

Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland, the word is pronounced  (to rhyme with "fire"). As a suffix in an English or Welsh place name it is pronounced  (rhymes with "fir").

## Shires in Great Britain 
In England and Wales, the term "shire county" is used to refer to counties which are not metropolitan counties.

It can also be used in a narrower sense, referring only to traditional counties ending in "shire".  These counties are typically (though not always) named after their county town.

### Shires in England
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire.

Of these, all but Huntingdonshire and Yorkshire are also administrative counties (but with different boundaries).  Huntingdonshire is now administered as a district of Cambridgeshire, and Yorkshire is split between East, North, South and West Yorkshire.

### Shires in Wales
Brecknockshire, Caernafonshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire

In Wales, the counties of Merioneth and Glamorgan are occasionally referred to with the "shire" suffix. The only traditional Welsh county that never takes "shire" is Anglesey.

## Shires in Scotland
Aberdeenshire (traditional), Ayrshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire, Clackmannanshire, Cromartyshire, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, Fife, Inverness-shire, Kincardineshire, Kinross-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Lanarkshire, Morayshire, Nairnshire, Peeblesshire, Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Ross-shire, now called Ross and Cromarty, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Stirlingshire, Wigtownshire

## Shires in Australia
Shire is the most common word in Australia for the smallest local government areas by population. The states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia use shire for this unit. South Australia and Tasmania use district. A shire has the same powers as the next largest units, the town and city.  In NSW, the expression 'The Shire' commonly refers to the Sutherland shire.

## Related pages
*Counties of England
Regions of Slovakia

Since 1949 (except 1990-1996), Slovakia has been divided into a number of *kraje* (singular *kraj*, usually translated as **Regions**, but mean rather county). Slovakia is currently divided into 8 regions. Each kraj is then divided into many *okresy* (singular *okres*, usually translated as districts). Slovakia currently has 79 districts.

Each region is named after its capital.

The following list shows: name of the region, its capital, number of districts, population (as of 2001) and area.

# Bratislava Region, capital Bratislava - 8 districts, pop. 599,015, 2053km²
# Trnava Region, capital Trnava - 7 districts, pop. 550,103, 4108km²
# Trenčín Region, capital Trenčín - 9 districts, pop. 605,582, 4501km²
# Nitra Region, capital Nitra - 7 districts, pop. 713,442, 6343km²
# Žilina Region, capital Žilina - 11 districts, pop. 692,232, 6788km²
# Banská Bystrica Region, capital Banská Bystrica - 13 districts, pop. 662,121, 9455km²
# Prešov Region, capital Prešov - 13 districts, pop. 789,968, 8993km²
# Košice Region, capital Košice - 11 districts, pop. 766,012, 6753km²
Kendo

is a Japanese martial art.

## History
Kendo means the "way of the sword". The rules and gear of kendo were first created in the 18th century, and its modern rules and styles date to the 19th century.

## Rules
An opponent may be struck in seven places: either side or the top of the helmet (*men*), on either hand (gloves, *kote*) or either side of the body breastplate (*do*). There is also one legal thrust (*tsuki*) on throat.

The "men" can only be struck from the front, not from back. Only one of the two hands can be struck, depending on which kind of posture ("kamae") the opponent is using.

As incorrectly performing the "tsuki" thrust can be dangerous, low level practitioners are forbidden from performing it both in matches and daily training.

In a match, the attacker must name the location of each strike. Often, they are declared in Japanese ("men", "kote", "do", "tsuki"), but some people will name it in Korean or Chinese or another language, or even with a meaningless shout. All of these kinds of shouts are called "kiai". An effective attack must have "kiai" along with other essential factors.

## Equipment
The weapon used in kendo is a bamboo sword, called *shinai*. The kendo armour, which the players must wear, is called *bogu* and is made of a helmet (*men*), breastplate (*do*), waist protector (*tare*), and special gloves (*kote*).

## Lesson contents
Lesson is called *keiko* in kendo. keiko means that We think about past. kendo's keiko is distinguished between *shinai keiko* and *kata keiko*. the building which we do kendo is called *dojyo*. In particular *keiko* done in summer is *shochugeiko* and one done in winter is *kangeiko*.

shinaikeiko
keiko which use *shinai* and *bogu*
* *suburi* (waiving sword many times to improve your muscle)
* *kirikaeshi* (Striking partner's *men* consecutively and confirming sword handling)
* *uchikomi keiko* (Training basic strike like *men*, *kote*, *do*etc.)
* *oikomi keiko*
* *kakari geiko* (Striking where partner show a plow as many as possible in time)
* *ji geiko*
* *shiai geiko*

## Related pages 
* Fencing
* Sports in Japan

## References
Žilina

**Žilina** (German: *Sillein*, Hungarian: *Zsolna*) is a city in northwestern Slovakia.

## Geography 
The city is located in the northwestern Slovakia, at the confluence of Váh, Kysuca and Rajčanka rivers. It is surrounded by numerous mountains ranges, for example Lesser Fatra, Strážov Mountains and many others.

## History 
People have lived here since the Neolithic age. The Slavs started to move here in the 5th century. German colonists started to live here since the 13th century. When the Hussites burned the city down, it declined it for some time. It regained its position in the 19th century, when it became an important railway junction. Today, it is the fifth largest town in Slovakia and the third most important industrial centre in Slovakia.

## Population 
### Ethnic composition 
### Religion 
## Sights 
The centre of the city is the *Mariánske námestie*, with the city hall, baroque statue of the Virgin Mary and so on. Other sights include:

* The Budatín Castle
* Wooden church of St. George (one of the few outside north-eastern Slovakia)
* Church of St. Stephen the King
* Orthodox synagogue

## Economy 
Žilina is the main industrial and business centre of the Váh river. The biggest employer is the Kia Motors company, which invested here 1 billion dollars and created 3000 work positions.

## Twin towns 
*  Bielsko-Biała, Poland
*  Corby, England
*  Ferrara, Italy
*  Changchun, China
*  Maykop, Russia
*  Nanterre(part of Paris), France
*  Piatra Neamţ, Romania

## References
## Other websites 
* Official site
* Photo gallery of Žilina
* Žilina information
Renting

for lease in Hong Kong]]
 rental shop]]
 of rental boats in the Laacher See]]
**Renting** (also called **leasing**) is where someone pays money to use something for a definite amount of time. This can be anything from a car or house to a DVD. Car rental for example is usually short-term; the user returns the car in a few days. 

The document that has all the details written on it is called the *lease*. The person who owns the item that will be leased or rented is called the *lessor*. The person who is paying the money to use the item is called the *lessee*. If it is a house, building, or land that is being leased, the person who pays the money is called the *tenant*. For example, a tenant farmer rents a farm from its owner. Convict leasing was a historical practice of prisons in the United States and certain other countries offering convicted prisoners as ultra-cheap labor to private entities as a form of penal servitude.

There are many kinds of leases:

* Finance lease
* Operating least
* Hire purchase
* Rent-to-own
* Closed-end lease
Prešov

**Prešov** (; ) is a city in eastern Slovakia. With a population of approximately 91,000 it is the third-largest city in the country.

## Geography 
Prešov is a city lying in the Torysa river valley, in the historical Šariš region. It is located 33&nbsp;km north of Košice, connected by the motorway D1.

## History 
People have lived in the area since the Paleolithic period. Prešov is first mentioned in 1247. It became a free royal town in 1374. Salt mining started here in the 16th century, in the nearby town of Solivar (which is now part of Prešov).

## Population 
### Ethnic composition 
### Religion 
## Twin towns 
*  Nyíregyháza, Hungary
*  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
*  Nowy Sącz, Poland
*  Mukacheve, Ukraine
*  Prague 10, Czech Republic
*  Remscheid, Germany
*  Keratsini, Greece
*  La Courneuve, France
*  Comune di Brugherio, Italy

## References
## Other websites 
* Official site
Trnava

**Trnava** (German: *Tyrnau*, Hungarian: *Nagyszombat*) is a city in western Slovakia, around 50&nbsp;km from the capital Bratislava. Because it has so many churches with the town walls, it is commonly called Little Rome or Slovak Rome.

## History
The town was first mentioned in 1211. It received royal free town privileges as the first town in Slovakia in 1238. The town had its height as a cultural and religious centre, as it was seat of archbishopric  from 1541 to 1820. The first horse-drawn railway in the Kingdom of Hungary was built to Trnava from Bratislava in 1846. It is again an seat of archbishopric since 1978. In 2003, French car manufacturer PSA started construction of automobile plant. It was finished in 2006

## Population 
### Ethnic composition 
### Religion 
## Twin towns
* Scranton, Pennsylvania (United States)
* Varaždin, Croatia

## References 

## Other websites 
* Trnava Official website (in Slovak only)
* Trnava travel guide
Districts of Slovakia

An **okres** (in English district) is an administrative unit of Slovakia.

Several districts form one region. On the other hand, one district is made of several municipalities, which are further divided into cadastral areas. The current districts exist since 1996, which at first had their own offices, but in 2004, they were abolished and replaced by the Circuit Offices, which are usually responsible for several districts (except for the Nové Zámky District, which has two Circuit Offices), reducing districts to a little more than statistical units.

Slovakia currently has 79 districts, with the city of Bratislava divided into 5 districts and the city of Košice divided into 4 districts. 

## Alphabetical list of all Slovak districts 
*Banská Bystrica
*Banská Štiavnica
*Bardejov
*Bánovce nad Bebravou
*Brezno
*Bratislava I
*Bratislava II, Bratislava III
*Bratislava IV, Bratislava V
*Bytča
*Čadca
*Detva
*Dolný Kubín
*Dunajská Streda
*Galanta
*Gelnica
*Hlohovec
*Humenné
*Ilava
*Kežmarok
*Komárno
*Košice I

*Košice II
*Košice III
*Košice IV
*Košice - okolie
*Krupina
*Kysucké Nové Mesto
*Levice
*Levoča
*Liptovský Mikuláš
*Lučenec
*Malacky
*Martin
*Medzilaborce
*Michalovce
*Myjava
*Námestovo
*Nitra
*Nové Mesto nad Váhom
*Nové Zámky
*Partizánske

*Pezinok
*Piešťany
*Poltár
*Poprad
*Považská Bystrica
*Prešov
*Prievidza
*Púchov
*Revúca
*Rimavská Sobota
*Rožňava
*Ružomberok
*Sabinov
*Senec
*Senica
*Skalica
*Snina
*Sobrance
*Spišská Nová Ves
*Stará Ľubovňa
*Stropkov

*Svidník
*Šaľa
*Topoľčany
*Trebišov
*Trenčín
*Trnava
*Turčianske Teplice
*Tvrdošín
*Veľký Krtíš
*Vranov nad Topľou
*Zlaté Moravce
*Zvolen
*Žarnovica
*Žiar nad Hronom
*Žilina
Nitra

**Nitra** (Hungarian: *Nyitra* / *Nyitria* [archaic]; German: *Neutra* ()) is a city in western Slovakia (and the fifth largest urban settlement in Slovakia) at the base of Zobor Mountain in the Nitra River valley.

Nitra is one of the oldest cities in Slovakia. It existed as a town since at least the early 9th century.

## History 
Nitra is a city with special history. People have lived there for at least 6000 years. It was an important center of the Celts (in the last few hundred years BC), and later the seat of the first known rulers of what is today Slovak territory, i.e. of : 
* the Germanic Quadi around 396? (disputed) 
* the Slavic/Slovak Principality of Nitra:
** an independent state (late 8th century - 833)
** Principality of Nitra as part of Great Moravia (833 - ?907)
** Principality of Nitra under Hungarian rule (?925/970 - 1107) [between 1000 and 1030 temporarily under Polish rule ]

Nitra is also site of the first known Church in Central and Eastern Europe, built in 828.

## Population 
### Ethnic composition 
### Religion 
## Sister cities 
* Bački Petrovac, Serbia
* České Budějovice, Czech Republic
* Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
* Kroměříž, Czech Republic
* Naperville, Illinois, USA
* Osijek, Croatia
* Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia
* Zielona Góra, Poland
* Zoetermeer, Netherlands

## References
## Other websites 
* Official site
Trenčín

**Trenčín** (German: *Trentschin*; Hungarian:  *Trencsén*; Latin: *Laugaritio*) is a town in western Slovakia (close to the Czech border) on the Váh river.

## History 
The site is inhabited since time immemorial. Trenčín is best known for Roman writing below the Trenčín castle. In the 13th century, the castle was home to the legendary Matthew Csák, "Lord of the river Váh and the Tatra mountains".

## Population 
### Ethnic composition 
### Religion 
## Partner towns 
*  Cran-Gevrier, France
*  Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic
*  Zlín, Czech Republic
*  Tarnów, Poland
*  Casalecchio di Reno, Italy
*  Békéscsaba, Hungary
*  Kragujevac, Serbia

## References 
## Other websites 
* Official site
Social realism

]] 

**Social realism** is a style of art, fiction, movies and plays. It describes the daily life of workers and poor people. Social realist artists try to show people and their lives in a realistic way. This means that they often show things which are not beautiful or attractive. They may show people who are elderly, sick, sad, insane or have a disability. This does not mean that a Realist work of art or literature is ugly. It can be made beautiful by the way that the artist or writer creates it.

Social realism art does not belong to one period of history, but has been the style of some artists in different centuries and different countries. Caravaggio, who was a late Renaissance artist, painted "Realist" pictures. Several Spanish painters were "Realists": Velazquez, Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Goya. There were many realist painters in the 19th century, including Gustave Courbet in France and Luke Fildes in England. 

Social Realism was popular in Russian art and literature. In the 20th century it became the main type of literature in the Soviet Union.  It was also used by David Siqueiros to depict daily struggles of the people in his country, Mexico. 

## Gallery
 
File:Michelangelo Caravaggio 056.jpg|Caravaggio, *St Jerome*, (1608) Italy 
File:A Mad Woman.jpg|Eugene Delacroix, *Woman in a Hospital for the Insane*, (early 1800s) France 
File:Gustave Courbet 040.jpg|Courbet, *The Stone Breaker*. (1849) France 
Image:Ilya Repin - Fisher girl.jpg|Ilya Repin, *Fisher Girl* (1874) Russia
Image:Edouard Manet 022.jpg|Manet, *Execution of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico,* 1868 
File:Giovanni Fattori 052.jpg|Giovanni Fattori, *Tired old horse*, (about 1885) Italy 
File:Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg|Vincent van Gogh, *The Potato Eaters*, (1885) Netherlands 
File:Bellows George Dempsey and Firpo 1924.jpg|George Bellows, *Dempsey and Firpo*, (1928) US 

## Related pages
* Gustave Courbet
* Edouard Manet 
* Impressionism
Metropolitan county

There are six **metropolitan counties** in England, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million. They were created in 1974 and are each divided into several metropolitan districts. 

There are no county councils any more since 1986. Most of their functions were taken over by the individual boroughs. So the boroughs became unitary authorities. The remaining functions were taken over by so-called *joint-boards*.

The metropolitan counties have population densities of between 838 (South Yorkshire) and 28 (West Midlands) people/km². Individual metropolitan districts range from 4 people/km² in Liverpool to only 500 people/km² in Doncaster.

## Counties and districts
The six metropolitan counties and their metropolitan districts are:

The structure of Greater London is similar to the metropolitan counties, but it is not one.  It was created earlier in 1965, by the London Government Act 1963.
The idea for creating administrative areas based upon the large conurbations outside London based on the model of the County of London or Greater London.  

The metropolitan counties were established by the Local Government Act 1972, the county councils were first elected in 1973, and were formally established in April 1974.

Since 1995, the cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield have come together in the *English Core Cities Group*. This organisation has no distinct legal status but seems to move towards a role of these cities as regional capitals outside of London.

## References
Banská Bystrica

**Banská Bystrica** (German: *Neusohl*, Hungarian: *Besztercebánya*, Latin: *Villa Nova*), is a large town in central Slovakia, on the Hron river.

## History 
It was first mentioned in 1255 as a royal free mining town. The town had rich ore deposits, mainly copper, and to a lesser extent silver, gold and iron. As the deposits were depleted, the town has reoriented to the industry. During the World War II, the Slovak National Uprising broke out in the town.

## Population 
### Ethnic composition 
### Religion 
## Sister cities 
*  - Durham, England
*  - Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
*  - Salgótarján, Hungary
*  - Tula, Russia
*  - Herzliya, Israel
*  - Larissa, Greece
*  - Montana, Bulgaria
*  - Tarnobrzeg, Poland
*  - Zadar, Croatia
*  - Ascoli Piceno, Italy
*  - Halberstadt, Germany
*  - Dabas, Hungary
*  - Budva, Montenegro
*  - Radom, Poland
*  - Kovačica, Serbia
*  - Vršac, Serbia

## References
## Other websites 
* Official site
Unitary authority

A **unitary authority** is a type of local authority that is responsible for all local government functions within its area. This is different from a system where local government functions are divided between different authorities.

Typically unitary authorities cover large towns or cities, which are large enough to be independent of county or regional administration. Sometimes they consist of counties which have no lower level of administration.

## United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, "Unitary Authorities" are English councils which are responsible for almost all local government functions within their areas.

This is opposed to the system of local government which still exists in most of England, where local government functions are divided between county councils and district councils.

Until 1996 a similar system existed in Scotland and Wales but this has now been replaced by a fully unitary system. The unitary system has existed in Northern Ireland since 1973. when the administrative responsibilities of the counties of Northern Ireland were replaced by a system of 26 unitary authorities.

### England
Some cities, large towns and groups of neighbouring towns are unitary authorities and independent from county councils and some English counties, such as Rutland, Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight, have so small populations that the entire county is a unitary authority.

In practice most unitary authorities in the UK are not entirely unitary, as they often run some services on a joint basis with other authorities, these typically include policing, fire services, and sometimes waste disposal and public transport. In addition, some unitary authorities contain civil parishes, which effectively form another limited  of local government.

When the metropolitan councils were abolished in 1986 their functions were given to the boroughs. These became unitary authorities in all but name.

## Other countries
Similar institutions exist in other countries, which although not called unitary authorities, are similar in concept.

### United States
In the United States an Independent city or a consolidated city-county is roughly equivalent to a unitary authority. The city might be separate from any county government, as in Virginia, or merged with a county government, as in San Francisco, California, or as is common in Florida. Another type of local government that is roughly equivalent to a unitary authority is a county when there are no municipal or township governments in the county. That is the case in Arlington County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland.

### Canada
Unitary authorities or *single-tier municipalities* exist as a single level of government in a province that otherwise has two levels of local government. One should not confuse municipalities in provinces with no upper-level of local government as single-tier municipalities, as these are the *only* level of local government in that province.

### Germany
In Germany a kreisfreie Stadt is the equivalent term for a city which is responsible for the local and the Kreis (district) administrative level.
Administrative division

An **administrative division** is a term for an administrative region within a country that is created for the purposes of managing of land and the affairs of people. The area typically has a local government with a certain degree of autonomy, and is on a level below that of the sovereign state.
** Central African Republic : 14 *préfectures*
* 2nd level:
** Greece : 51 *nomes*

### Provinces 
* 1st level:
** Algeria: 48 *wilayas*
** Angola: 18 *províncias*
** Argentina: 23 *provincias*
** Canada: 10 provinces
** China (PRC): 22 *shěng*
** China (ROC): 2 provinces
** Congo: 11 provinces
** Costa Rica: 7 *provincias*
** Dominican Republic: 31 *provincias*
** Gabon: 9 provinces
** Indonesia: 33 *propinsi* and special territories
** Iran: 30 *ostan*
** Ireland (Including the North): 4 *cúigí*
** Kenya: 7 *mkoa*
** Kyrgyzstan: 7 *oblastar*
** Mongolia:  *aymguud*
** Netherlands:  12 *provincies*
** Pakistan: 4 *provinces*
** South Africa: 9 provinces
* 2nd level: 
** Belgium: 10 *provincies* or *provinces*
** Bolivia:   *provincias*
** Burkina Faso: 45 provinces
** Spain:  50 *provincias*
** Italy: 107 provinces
** Oman:  *wilayat*
** Peru: 180 *provincias*

### Regions 
* 1st level :
** Belgium : 3 *Gewesten* or *régions* ot 
** Burkina Faso : 13 *régions*
** Chile : 13 *regiones*
** Ethiopia : 9 *kililoch*
** France : 25 *régions*
** Italy : 20 *regioni*
** Oman : 5 *mintaqah*
** Peru : 25 *regiones*'
** Poland : 16 *wojewodtzwo*
* 2nd level:
** Finland : 20 *Liittot* or *Förbunder*
** Serbia :  7 regions

### States 
* 1st level:
** Australia : 6 states
** Austria : 9 *Länder*
** Brazil : 26 *estados*
** Germany : 16 *Länder*
** India : 28 states
** Malaysia : 13 *negeri*
** Mexico : 31 *estados*
** Myanmar : 7 *chiu*
** Nigeria : 36 states
** Palau : 16 'states
** Sudan : 26 *wilayat*
** United States : 50 states
** Venezuela : 23 *estados*

### Territories 
*1st level :
** Australia : 9 territories
** Canada : 3 territories
** Pakistan : 5 territories
** Republic of India : 8 territories
** United States: 14 territories

## Compare 
* Country (a national or supra-national entity)
* Empire (a supra-national entity)
* State (a national or supra-national entity)

## Related pages 
* ISO 3166-2 *Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 2*

## References
## Other websites 
* United Nations' Second Administrative Level Boundaries (SALB) dataset
L. Ron Hubbard

**Lafayette Ronald Hubbard ** (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was the founder of Dianetics and Scientology. He started as a pulp fiction and science fiction writer. Hubbard was born in Tilden, Nebraska to Harry Ross Hubbard and Ledora May Hubbard. He died of a stroke in Creston, California.

## References
East Midlands

The **East Midlands** is one of the regions of England and is the eastern half of the Midlands. 

The counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and most of Lincolnshire belong to this region.

The highest point in the region is Kinder Scout, in Derbyshire at 2,088 ft (636 m).

## Population and settlement
Its main cities are Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, Derby, and Northampton. Leicester is officially the largest city in the region, although the largest area is the Nottingham Urban Area.

East Midlands Airport is situated between the three main cities of Derby, Leicester and Nottingham.

Midland Mainline and GNER trains go to London and to Birmingham and the South West. 

The M1 motorway serves the three largest cities.

## History
A historical basis for such an area exists in the Five Burghs of the Danelaw. The current government office region was created in 1994.

## Local government
The official region consists of the following subdivisions:

## Other websites 
* East Midlands Development Agency 
* East Midland Directory  
* East Midlands Regional Assembly 
* Government Office for the East Midlands 
* Government's list of councils in the East Midlands 
* East Midland Network Exchange
County council

A **county council** is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.

## British Isles
County councils were responsible for more strategic services in a region, with smaller urban district councils and rural district councils responsible for other activities. The new system was a major modernisation, which became necessary because of the increase of functions carried out by local government in late Victorian Britain.

### England and Wales
In England and Wales, a **county council** is the local government that governs a county.

County Councils were introduced in 1889 in England and Wales by the *Local Government Act 1888*. They took over the administrative functions of the unelected *Quarter Sessions*.

### Scotland 
The system was soon extended to Scotland, by the *Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889*, and the island of Ireland by the *Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898*.  Except in Scotland, the areas they covered were called administrative counties and were not always the same as the traditional shire counties.

## United States
In the United States, most of the individual states have counties as a form of local government; in nine states, they are headed by a county council.  In other states, each county is headed by a county commission or a county board of supervisors.

## References
Hanau

**Hanau** is a town in Hesse, Germany. It is  east of Frankfurt am Main, where the little river Kinzig joins the river Main. About 100,000 people live in Hanau. 

## History
Hanau was first mentioned in 1143 and became a city in 1303.

During World War II, Hanau was almost completely destroyed by British airstrikes in March 1945.

Nine people were killed in two shootings in Hanau on 19 February 2020.

## Famous people
* Brothers Grimm
* Rudi Völler
* Paul Hindemith

  Image:Frankfurter Tor (Hanau)1.jpg|The 'Frankfurter Tor', a former town gate
  File:Hanau Neust.Rathaus Grimm.jpg|Hanaus town hall, the 'Neustädter Rathaus'
  Image:Goldschmiedehaus Hanau.jpg|The German Goldsmiths House (German: Deutsches Goldschmiede Haus), the former town hall
  Image:Grimm-Hanau.JPG|The Brothers Grimm monument in front of the town hall
  File:Philippsruhe Park.JPG|The castle Schloss Philippsruhe
  File:Hanau Wilhelmsbad Kuranlage.jpg|The historic health establishment in Hanau-Wilhelmsbad
  File:Hafen-hanau003.jpg|The port of Hanau
  File:Steinheimer-bruecke-hanau001.jpg|The bridge 'Steinheimer Brücke'

## References
## Other websites
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich

**John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich** was born on November 3, 1718 and died on April 30, 1792 in Great Britain. He is known for the person the sandwich is named after.

## References
Greater Nottingham

**Greater Nottingham** is a conurbation based around the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England.  

Unlike Greater Manchester, which is a metropolitan county and Greater London, which is a region, Greater Nottingham not officially an administrative area.  But it is an own **Nottingham Urban Area** with a population of 666,358 at the time of the 2001 census.

The Nottingham Urban Area includes Nottingham itself and the surrounding towns and villages of Arnold, Beeston, Breaston, Carlton, Clifton,  Eastwood, Heanor, Hucknall, Ilkeston, Kimberley,  Long Eaton, Ripley, Ruddington, Stapleford, and West Bridgford.  This Nottingham Urban Area is separated from the Derby Urban Area only by a narrow gap between Breaston and Borrowash.  Similar narrow gaps exist between the Nottingham urban area and the Mansfield Urban Area and Alfreton Urban Area.

## Other websites 
*Greater Nottingham partnership (GNP) 
*Office for National Statistics: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas
*map depicting ONS definition
Nottingham (disambiguation)

**Nottingham** is the name of several places in the world:

UK:
*Nottingham, England

USA:
*Nottingham, Maryland
*Nottingham, New Hampshire
*Nottingham Township, Harrison County, Ohio
*Nottingham Township, Pennsylvania
*East Nottingham Township, Pennsylvania
*West Nottingham Township, Pennsylvania

and a succession of Royal Navy destroyers:

*HMS Nottingham

**Nottingham** also refers to a housing cooperative in Madison, WI.
Dettelbach

**Dettelbach** is a town in Kitzingen in the Regierungsbezirk Unterfranken in Bavaria, Germany. It is on the right edge of the Main, 20&nbsp;km east of Würzburg, and 8&nbsp;km north of Kitzingen. It includes surrounding villages as administrative subdivisions, namely Bibergau, Brück, Dettelbach-Bahnhof, Effeldorf, Euerfeld, Mainsondheim, Neuses am Berg, Neusetz, Schernau und Schnepfenbach.

## References
## Other websites
* Dettelbach website
* 
* Neuses am Berg
* Euerfeld
* 
*
Kitzingen

**Kitzingen** () is a town in Bavaria, capital of Kitzingen. It is part of the Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 residents. Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County is the largest wine producer in Bavaria. It is said to be Franconia's wine trade center.

## References
## Other websites
*
Geiselwind

**Geiselwind** is a market town in Lower Franconia (Bavaria) in Kitzingen in Germany. It has a population of around 2,300.

## Geography
### Place
Geiselwind is in the region of Lower Franconia (Würzburg). Until administrative reform Geiselwind belonged to the region of Middle Franconia. On the edge of the municipal area is the Dreifrankenstein ("Three Franconia Stone"), where the regions of Lower Franconia and Middle Franconia and Upper Franconia meet.

### Subdivision
Geiselwind has the following *Ortsteile*: Burggrub, Dürrnbuch, Ebersbrunn, Füttersee, Geiselwind, Gräfenneuses, Holzberndorf, Ilmenau, Langenberg, Rehweiler, Wasserberndorf and Freihaslach.

## References
## Other websites
* Municipal website
Markt Einersheim

**Markt Einersheim** is a market town and municipality in Kitzingen in Bavaria, Germany.

## References
## Other websites
*Official website
Mainbernheim

**Mainbernheim** is a municipality in Bavaria, Germany,4 kilometers to the south of Kitzingen (*Landkreis*, district of Kitzingen) in the direction of Nürnberg.

## References
Robert College

**Robert College**, also called **RC**, is an American high school in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the most prestigious, private high school in Turkey. The institution was founded by Cyrus Hamlin, with the financial help of Christopher Rhinelander Robert, in 1863 (during the Ottoman Empire). Robert College is also the first American educational institution founded outside the United States. It was founded as a boys' college for Christian minority of the empire. Later the girls section was opened as American College for Girls. Then the Muslims were allowed to be educated in the schools. Hüseyin Pektaş became the first Muslim boy to graduate from college. In 19th century, many additions were made to college including, middle school and high school.

After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the school continued to educate young people, who later became the leaders of the country. Prime ministers Bülent Ecevit and Tansu Çiller are among the school's graduates.

In 1971, Robert College donated one of its two campuses (Boys' campus or Bebek campus) to the Republic of Turkey. A new, public university was founded on this campus. The other campus (Girls' campus or Arnavutköy campus) has since been serving the society as a coeducational high school.

## Other websites 
* Robert College
Paleontology

**Palæontology** or **paleontology** is the study of fossils of living things, and their phylogeny (evolutionary relationships). It depends on basic sciences such as zoology, botany and historical geology. The term **palaeobiology** implies that the study will include the palaeoecology of the groups in question.

In *palaeozoology*, the evolution of those  animal phyla with fossil records are studied. In *palaeobotany*, fossil plants are studied. In historical geology the formation, sequence and dating of rock strata give information about past environments.

A fossil is any kind of life that is more than ten thousand years old and preserved in any form that we can study today. The fossil record is always incomplete, and later discoveries may extend the known survival of a group. See Lazarus taxon.

Some palaeontologists study fossils of microorganisms, living things that are too small to see without a microscope, while other palaeontologists study fossils of giant dinosaurs.

***Vertebrate palaeontology**: the palaeontology of vertebrate animals
***Invertebrate palaeontology**: the palaeontology of invertebrate animals

## Related pages 
* Lagerstätte
* Paleoanthropology
* Palaeoclimatology

## References
Neuhof

**Neuhof** may refer to:

## Places 
### In Austria 
* Neuhof, Austria, a part of Untersiebenbrunn

### In the Czech Republic 
* Neuhof, the old German name of Nový Dvůr, near Nymburk

### In France 
* Neuhof, Strasbourg, a district in the south of Strasbourg

### In Germany 
* Neuhof (Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg), a district in the port area of Hamburg, Germany
* Neuhof, Hesse, a municipality near Fulda, Hesse
* Neuhof, Lower Saxony, in the Hildesheim district, Lower Saxony
* Neuhof an der Zenn, in the Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim district, Bavaria
* Penkun-Neuhof, a part of Penkun in the Uecker-Randow district, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
* Neuhöfer Karpfenteiche, ponds in the west of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
* Neuhofer See, a lake in Landkreis Nordwestmecklenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
* Neuhof Substation, was a 110 kV electrical substation in Neuhof, Bad Sachsa, Lower Saxony
* Bahnhof Neuhof bei Zossen station, a railway station in the village of Neuhof, Brandenburg

### In Romania 
* *Neuhof*, the German name for Bogda Commune, Timiș County

### In United States 
* Neuhof Hutterite Colony in Mountain Lake Township, Cottonwood County, Minnesota

## Related pages 
* Neuhofen
* Neuenhof (disambiguation)
Pete Maravich

**Peter Press Maravich** (June 22, 1947 - January 5, 1988), also known as "Pistol Pete" Maravich, was an American basketball player. He played for Louisiana State University and averaged 44.2 points per game. That is the highest average ever in the history of college basketball. Then Maravich played for ten seasons in the NBA. He played for the Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Jazz, Utah Jazz, and the Boston Celtics.  He once scored 68 points in an NBA game against the New York Knicks.

He was known for his great dribbling, passing and shooting abilities. Maravich died from a heart attack on January 5, 1988.

Maravich's father, Press Maravich, also played in the NBA.

## Other websites 
*ESPN biography
*Maravich Book (Jackie Maravich)
*Rare Pete Maravich Film and Video Clips