title: History of the United States

paragraphs: The history of the United States is what happened in the past in the United States, a country in North America.

paragraphs: Native Americans lived in the Americas for thousands of years. English people in 1607 went to the place now called Jamestown, Virginia. Other European settlers went to the colonies, mostly from England and later Great Britain. France, Spain, and the Netherlands also colonized North America. In 1775, a war between the thirteen colonies and Britain began when the colonists were upset over paying taxation to their government in the UK, but were not being given any chance to vote in the UK/British elections, to contribute to how that money was spent.

paragraphs: Just after dawn on April 19, 1775, the British attempted to disarm the Massachusetts militia at Concord, Massachusetts, this beginning the war with the "" On July 4, 1776, Founding Fathers wrote the United States Declaration of Independence. They won the Revolutionary War and started a new country. They signed the constitution in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1791. General George Washington, who had led the war, became its first president. During the 19th century, the United States gained much more land in the West and began to become industrialized. In 1861, several states in the South attempted to leave the United States to start a new country called the Confederate States of America. This caused the American Civil War. After the war, Immigration resumed. Some Americans became very rich in this Gilded Age, and the country developed one of the largest economies in the world.

paragraphs: In the early 20th century, the United States became a world power, fighting in World War I and World War II. Between the wars, there was an economic boom called the Roaring Twenties, when many people became richer, and a bust, called the Great Depression, when most were poorer. The Great Depression ended with World War II.

paragraphs: The United States and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War. This included wars in Korea and Vietnam. During this time, African-Americans, Chicanos, and women sought more rights. In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States started to make fewer things in factories. The country then went through the worst recession it had since the Great Depression. In the late 1980s, the Cold War ended, helping the United States out of recession. The Middle East became more important in American foreign policy, especially after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

paragraphs: The Pre-Columbian Era is the time before Christopher Columbus went to the Americas in 1492. At that time, Native Americans lived on the land that is now controlled by the United States. They had various cultures: Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands hunted game and deer; Native Americans in the Northwest fished; Native Americans in the Southwest grew corn and built houses called pueblos; and Native Americans in the Great Plains hunted Bison. Around the year 1000, the Vikings visited Newfoundland. However, they did not settle there.

paragraphs: The English tried to settle at Roanoke Island in 1585. The settlement did not last, and no one knows what happened to the people. In 1607, the first lasting English settlement was made at Jamestown, Virginia, by John Smith, John Rolfe and other Englishmen interested in gold and adventure. In its early years, many people in Virginia died of disease and starvation. The colony in Virginia lasted because it made money by planting tobacco.

paragraphs: In 1621, a group of Englishmen called the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts. A bigger colony was built at Massachusetts Bay by the Puritans in 1630. The Pilgrims and the Puritans were interested in making a better society, not looking for gold. They called this ideal society a "city on a hill". A man named Roger Williams left Massachusetts after disagreeing with the Puritans, and started the colony of Rhode Island in 1636.

paragraphs: Great Britain was not the only country to settle what would become the United States. In the 1500s, Spain built a fort at Saint Augustine, Florida. France settled Louisiana, and the area around the Great Lakes. The Dutch settled New York, which they called New Netherland. Other areas were settled by Scotch-Irish, Germans, and Swedes. However, in time Britain controlled all of the colonies, and most American colonists adopted the British way of life. The growth of the colonies was not good for Native Americans. Many of them died of smallpox, a disease brought to America by the Europeans. The ones who lived lost their lands to the colonists.

paragraphs: In the early 1700s, there was a religious movement in the colonies called the Great Awakening. Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards preached sermons. One of them was called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". The Great Awakening may have led to the thinking used in the American Revolution.

paragraphs: By 1733, there were thirteen colonies. New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Charleston were the largest cities and main ports at that time.

paragraphs: From 1756 to 1763, England and France fought a war over their land in America called the Seven Years' War or the French and Indian War, which the British won. After the war, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 said that the colonists could not live west of the Appalachian Mountains. Many colonists who wanted to move to the frontier did not like the Proclamation.

paragraphs: After the French and Indian War, the colonists began to think that they were not getting their "rights as freeborn Englishman". This meant they wanted to be treated fairly by the English government. This was mainly caused by new taxes the British made the colonies pay to pay for the war. Americans called this "No taxation without representation", meaning that the colonists should not have to pay taxes unless they had votes in the British Parliament. Each tax was disliked, and replaced by another which led to more unity between the colonies. In 1770, colonists in Boston known as the Sons of Liberty got in a fight with British soldiers. This became known as the Boston Massacre. After the Tea Act, the Sons of Liberty dumped hundreds of boxes of tea in the sea. This was known as the Boston Tea Party (1773). This led to the British Army taking over Boston. After that, leaders of the 13 colonies formed a group called the Continental Congress. Many people were members of the Continental Congress, but some of the more important ones were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Roger Sherman and John Jay.

paragraphs: In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called "Common Sense". It argued that the colonies should be free of English rule. This was based on the English ideas of natural rights and social contract put forth by John Locke and others. On July 4, 1776, people from the 13 colonies agreed to the United States Declaration of Independence. This said that they were free and independent states, and were not part of England any more. The colonists were already fighting Britain in the Revolutionary War at this time. The Revolutionary War started in 1775 at Lexington and Concord. Though American soldiers under George Washington lost many battles to the British, they won a major victory at Saratoga in 1777. This led to France and Spain joining the war on the side of the Americans. In 1781, an American victory at Yorktown helped by the French led Britain to decide to stop fighting and give up the colonies. America had won the war and its independence.

paragraphs: In 1781, the colonies formed a confederation of states under the Articles of Confederation, but it lasted only six years. It gave almost all the power to the states and very little to the central government. The confederation had no president. It could not remove Native Americans or the British from the frontier, nor could it stop mob uprisings such as Shays' Rebellion. After Shays' Rebellion, many people thought the Articles of Confederation were not working.

paragraphs: In 1787, a constitution was written. Many of the people who helped write the Constitution, such as Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris, were among the major thinkers in America at the time. Some of these men would later hold important offices in the new government. The constitution created a stronger national government that had three branches: executive (the President and his staff), legislative (the House of Representatives and the Senate), and judicial (the federal courts).

paragraphs: Some states agreed to the Constitution very quickly. In other states, many people did not like the Constitution because it gave more power to the central government and had no bill of rights. To try and get the Constitution passed, Madison, Hamilton and Jay wrote a series of newspaper articles called the "Federalist Papers". Very soon after, the Bill of Rights was added. This was a set of 10 amendments (changes), that limited the government's power and guaranteed rights to the citizens. Like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution is a social contract between the people and the government. The main idea of the Constitution is that the government is a republic (a representative democracy) elected by the people, who all have the same rights. However, this was not true at first, when only white males who owned property could vote. Because of state laws as well as the 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th Amendments, almost all American citizens who are at least 18 years old can vote today.

paragraphs: In 1789, Washington was elected the first President. He defined how a person should act as President and retired after two terms. During Washington's term, there was a Whiskey Rebellion, where country farmers tried to stop the government from collecting taxes on whiskey. In 1795, Congress passed the Jay Treaty, which allowed for increased trade with Britain in exchange for the British giving up their forts on the Great Lakes. However, Great Britain was still doing things that hurt the U.S., such as impressment (making American sailors join the British Royal Navy).

paragraphs: John Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson in the election of 1796 to become the second President of the United States. This was the first American election that was between two political parties. As president, Adams made the army and navy larger. He also got the Alien and Sedition Acts passed, which were much disliked.

paragraphs: In the election of 1800, Jefferson defeated Adams. One of the most important things he did as President was to make the Louisiana Purchase from France, which made the United States twice as big. Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to map the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson also tried to stop trade with England and France so that the United States would not become involved in a war the two countries were fighting. Fighting broke out between the United States and England in 1812 when James Madison was President. This was called the War of 1812.

paragraphs: One of the problems of this period was slavery. By 1861, over three million African-Americans were enslaved in the South. This means that they worked for other people, but had no freedom and received no money for their work. Most worked picking cotton on large plantations. Cotton became the main crop in the South after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. There were a few slave rebellions against slavery, including one led by Nat Turner. All of these rebellions failed. The South wanted to keep slavery, but by the time of the Civil War, many people in the North wanted to end it. Another argument between the North and South was about the role of government. The South wanted stronger state governments, but the North wanted a stronger central government.

paragraphs: After the War of 1812 the Federalist Party faded away, leaving an "Era of Good Feelings" in which only one party was important, under Presidents James Madison and James Monroe. Under Monroe, the United States' policy in North America was the Monroe Doctrine, which suggested that Europe should stop trying to control the United States and other independent countries in the Americas. Around this time, Congress called for something called the "American System". The American System meant spending money on banking, transportation and communication. Due to the American System, bigger cities and more factories were built. One of the big transportation projects of this time was the Erie Canal, a canal in the state of New York. By the 1840s, railroads were built as well as canals. By 1860, thousands of miles of railroads and telegraph lines had been built in the United States, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest.

paragraphs: In the early 19th century, the industrial revolution came to America. Many factories were built in Northern cities such as Lowell, Massachusetts. Most of them made clothes. Many factory workers were women, and some were children or people from Ireland or Germany. Despite this industrialization, America was still a nation of farmers.

paragraphs: In the early and mid-1800s, there was a religious movement called the Second Great Awakening. Thousands of people gathered at large religious meetings called revivals. They thought they could bring about a Golden Age in America through religion. New religious movements such as the Holiness Movement and the Mormons started, and groups like the Methodist Church grew. The Second Great Awakening led to two movements in reform, that is, changing laws and behaviors to make society better. One of these was the Temperance Movement, which believed that drinking alcohol was evil. The other was abolitionism, which tried to end slavery. People such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Lloyd Garrison wrote books and newspapers saying that slavery should stop. They also formed political movements, which included the Liberty Party, the Free Soil Party and the Republican Party. Some abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass, were former slaves. By 1820, slavery was very rare in the North, but continued in the South.

paragraphs: In the 19th century, there was something called the “cult of domesticity” for many American women. This meant that most married women were expected to stay in the home and raise children. As in other countries, American wives were very much under the control of their husband, and had almost no rights. Women who were not married had only a few jobs open to them, such as working in clothing factories and serving as maids. By the 19th century, women such as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton thought that women should have more rights. In 1848, many of these women met and agreed to fight for more rights for women, including voting. Many of the women involved in the movement for women’s rights were also involved in the movement to end slavery.

paragraphs: In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected President. He was the first president elected from the Democratic Party. He changed the government in many ways. Since many of his supporters were poor people who had not voted before, he rewarded them with government jobs, which is called "spoils" or "patronage". Because of Jackson, a new party was formed to run against him called the Whigs. This was called the "Second Party System". Jackson was very much against the National Bank. He saw it as a symbol of Whigs and of powerful American businessmen. Jackson also called for a high import tax that the South did not like. They called it the "Tariff of Abominations". Jackson’s Vice-President, John C. Calhoun, was from the South. He wrote that the South should stop the tariff and perhaps leave the Union (secession). These words would be used again during the Civil War.

paragraphs: People started to move west of the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains at this time. The first people who moved west were people who caught and sold animal skins such as John Colter and Jim Bridger. By the 1840s, many people were moving to Oregon by wagon, and even more people went west after the California Gold Rush of 1849. Many new states were added to the first thirteen, mostly in the Midwest and South before the Civil War and in the West after the Civil War. During this period, Native Americans lost much of their land. They had lost military battles to the Americans at Tippecanoe and in the Seminole War. In the 1830s, Indians were being pushed out of the Midwest and South by events such as the Trail of Tears and the Black Hawk War. By the 1840s, most Native Americans had been moved west of the Mississippi River.

paragraphs: In 1845, Texas, which was a nation after it left Mexico, joined the United States After bribing Texans to join, this caused a civil war between the rebels and those who wanted to stay in Mexican territory, the US sent troops to kill the innocents and made it stay with .Texas: was one of the poorest states in Mexico.. United States did not like this, and the Americans wanted the land of Mexico had on the West Coast (“Manifest Destiny”). This led to the U.S. and Mexico fighting a war called the Mexican-American War. During the war, the U.S captured the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Monterrey, Veracruz and Mexico City. As a result of the war, the U.S. gained land in California and much of the American Southwest. Many people in the North did not like this war, because they thought it was just good for Southern slave states.

paragraphs: In the 1840s and 1850s, people in the Northern states and people in the Southern states did not agree whether slavery was right or wrong in the territories—parts of the United States that were not yet states. People in the government tried to make deals to stop a war. Some deals were the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, but they did not really work to keep the Union together. People in the South were angry at books like "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" that said that slavery was wrong. People in the North did not like a Supreme Court decision called Dred Scott that kept Scott a slave. People from the South and people from the North started killing each other in Kansas over slavery. This was called "Bleeding Kansas". One of the people from Bleeding Kansas, John Brown, took over a town in Virginia in 1859 to make a point about slavery being wrong and to try to get slaves to fight their owners.

paragraphs: In the election of 1860, the Democratic Party split and the Republican candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, was elected. After this, many Southern states left the Union. Eventually, eleven states left. They tried to start a new country called the Confederate States of America, or the "Confederacy". A war started between the Union (North) and the Confederacy (South). Not having factories made it harder for Southern soldiers to get guns or uniforms. The South could not get supplies because Northern ships blockaded the Southern coast.

paragraphs: Early in the war, Confederate generals such as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson won battles over Union generals such as George B. McClellan and Ambrose Burnside. In 1862 and 1863, the Union Army tried to take the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia several times, but failed each time. Lee's army invaded the North twice, but was turned back at Antietam and Gettysburg. In the middle of war, Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the Confederacy, and started letting black men fight in the Union Army. The war started going the Union’s way after the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg in 1863. Gettysburg stopped Lee from invading the North, and Vicksburg gave the Union control over the Mississippi River. In 1864, a Union Army under William T. Sherman marched through Georgia and destroyed much of it. By 1865, Union General Ulysses S. Grant had taken Richmond and forced Lee to give up the fight at Appomattox.

paragraphs: In April 1865, Lincoln was shot and killed while watching a play. The new president, Andrew Johnson, had to go through the process of reconstruction, which was putting the United States back together after the Civil War. During this time, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were passed, freeing slaves, making them citizens and allowing them to vote. Congress was run by "Radical Republicans", who wanted to punish the South after the Civil War. They did not like Johnson, and almost removed him from office. They also sent many soldiers to the South, installed unpopular "scalawag" governments, and made the South pass the 14th and 15th Amendments. The South did not like this, so they made "Jim Crow" laws that placed blacks in lower roles. White Southerners started a group called the Ku Klux Klan that attacked blacks and stopped them from voting.

paragraphs: During this time, many people moved to the United States from other countries, such as Ireland, Italy, Germany, Eastern Europe, and China. Many of them worked in large factories and lived in big cities, such as New York City, Chicago, and Boston, often in small, poor, close-together apartments called "tenements" or "slums". They often were used by "political machines", who gave them jobs and money in exchange for votes.

paragraphs: Major politicians were chosen by political machines and were corrupt. The government could do little and leaders of big businesses often had more power than the government. At this time, there were several very big businesses called trusts. People who ran trusts made millions of dollars while paying their workers low wages. Some of these people were John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan.

paragraphs: After the Civil War, people continued to move west where new states were formed. People now could get free land in the West due to an 1862 law called the Homestead Act. Most of the land in the West was owned by the government, railroads, or large farmers. The Transcontinental Railroad, finished in 1869, helped get people and goods from the west to the rest of the country. Chicago became the center of trade between West and East because many rail lines met there. There were problems between the white settlers and the native Indians as more people began to move west. Because of this, many more Indians were killed at battles such as Wounded Knee. Almost all the Indians' land was taken away by laws like the Dawes Act.

paragraphs: Many Americans thought the railroads charged farmers so much money that it made them poor. Workers led several strikes against the railroad that were put down by the army. Also, farmers started groups to fight the railroad, such as the Grange. These groups became the Populist Movement, which almost won the presidency under William Jennings Bryan. The Populists wanted reforms such as an income tax and direct election of Senators. The Populist Party died out after 1896. Many of the things the Populists wanted would happen during the Progressive Era.

paragraphs: In the United States, progressivism is the belief that the government should have a larger role in the economy to provide good living standards for people, especially workers. Imperialism was the belief that the U.S. should build a stronger navy and conquer land.

paragraphs: In the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries, the U.S. started being more active in foreign affairs. In 1898, the United States fought a war with Spain called the Spanish–American War. The United States won, and gained Puerto Rico, Guam, Guantanamo and the Philippines. Combined with the purchase of Alaska and the taking-over of Hawaii, the United States had gained all the territory it has today, plus some it would later lose after World War II. Around this time, the U.S. and European nations opened up trade with China. This was because they had beaten China in the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. The U.S. and Europe were able to trade with China through the Open Door Policy.

paragraphs: In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became President. He had been a soldier in the Spanish–American War. He called for a foreign policy known as the "Big Stick". This meant having a large navy and exercising control over Latin America. Between 1901 and 1930, the United States sent soldiers into Latin America several times. When Roosevelt was president, work was begun on the Panama Canal, a link between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans that made travel around the world much faster.

paragraphs: During this time, people started to notice the poor condition of American cities. A group of people called the “muckrakers” wrote books and newspaper articles about subjects like the power of big business, unclean practices in factories, and the condition of poor people. Roosevelt and Congress answered their concerns with laws such as the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Act controlled the way food was made to make sure it was safe. Another response to the muckrakers was something called "trust-busting", where big businesses were broken up into smaller ones. The biggest business broken up this way was the Standard Oil Company in 1911.

paragraphs: In 1912, Woodrow Wilson became President. He was a Progressive, but not quite the same as Roosevelt. He fought the "triple wall of privilege", which was big business, taxes, and fees on goods coming into the United States. During this time, the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed. They allowed for a federal income tax and direct election of U.S. Senators.

paragraphs: The United States did not want to enter World War I but wanted to sell weapons to both sides. In 1915 a German submarine sank a ship carrying Americans called the "Lusitania". This angered Americans, and Germany stopped attacking passenger ships. In January 1917 Germany started attacking them again, and sent the Zimmerman Telegram to Mexico about invading the U.S. The United States joined the war against Germany, and it ended a year later. Wilson worked to create an international organization called the League of Nations. The main goal of the League was preventing war. However, the United States did not join because isolationists rejected the peace treaty. At the end of World War I, a flu pandemic killed millions of people in the U.S. and Europe. After the war, the United States was one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world.

paragraphs: The 1920s were an era of growth and increased wealth for the United States. Many Americans began buying consumer products, such as Model T Fords and appliances. Advertising became very important to American life. During this time, many black people moved out of the South and into large cities such as New York City, Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles. They brought with them jazz music, which is why the 1920s are called the "Jazz Age". The 1920s were also the Prohibition Era after the Eighteenth Amendment passed. During the 1920s, drinking alcohol was illegal, but many Americans drank it anyway. This led to much rum-running and violent crime.

paragraphs: Racism was strong in the 1920s. The Ku Klux Klan was powerful once again, and attacked black people, Catholics, Jews and immigrants. People blamed the war and problems in business on immigrants and labor leaders, whom they said were Bolsheviks (Russian communists). Many people also thought that the United States had lost touch with religion. They handled that by changing religion, and some of them by attacking science.

paragraphs: After World War I, the United States had an isolationist foreign policy. That meant it did not want to enter into another global war. It passed laws and treaties that supposedly would end war forever, and refused to sell weapons to its former allies.

paragraphs: In 1921, Warren G. Harding became President. He believed that the best way to make the economy good was for the government to be friendly to big business by cutting taxes and regulating less. While the economy was doing very well under these policies, America had the largest difference between how much money the rich had and how much money the poor had. Harding's presidency had several problems. The biggest one was Teapot Dome over oil drilling in the Navy Oil Reserve. Harding died in 1923, and Calvin Coolidge became President. Coolidge believed that the government should keep out of business, just like Harding, and continued many of Harding's policies. Coolidge chose not to seek the presidency in 1928 and Herbert Hoover became president.

paragraphs: In 1929, a Great Depression hit the United States. The stock market crashed (lost much of its value). Many banks ran out of money and closed. By 1932, over a quarter of the nation had no jobs, and much of the nation was poor or unemployed. Many people were driven off farms, not only because of the Depression, but also because of a storm known as the "Dust Bowl" and because farmers had not been doing well during the 1920s.

paragraphs: President Hoover tried to do something about the Depression, but it did not work. In 1932, he was defeated and Franklin D. Roosevelt became President. He created the New Deal. It was a series of government programs which would give relief (to the people who were hurt by the bad economy), recovery (to make the economy better), and reform (to make sure a depression never happens again).

paragraphs: The New Deal had many programs such as Social Security, the National Recovery Administration (regulated wages), Works Progress Administration (built thousands of roads, schools, government buildings and works of art), the Civilian Conservation Corps (gave young people jobs to help the environment), and Tennessee Valley Authority (built dams and electric lines in the South). These programs put millions of Americans to work, though often at low pay. Many of these programs were started early in Roosevelt's term in a time called the "Hundred Days" or in 1935 in a time called the "Second New Deal". Programs like Social Security grew out of populist movements by people such as Huey Long that were called "Share Our Wealth" and "Ham and Eggs". The New Deal also led to the rise of worker's unions such as the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

paragraphs: The New Deal is often called the period that "saved capitalism", and stopped America from becoming a Communist or Fascist state. Although the New Deal improved the economy, it did not end the Great Depression. The Great Depression was ended by World War II.

paragraphs: As World War II was beginning, the United States said they would not get involved in it. Most Americans thought the United States should remain neutral, and some people thought the United States should enter the war on the side of the Germans. Eventually, the U.S. did try to help the Allied Powers (Soviet Union, Britain, and France) with the Lend Lease Act. It gave the Allies a lot of money and guns in trade for use of air bases throughout the world.

paragraphs: On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S.Naval base in Hawaii. The U.S. was no longer neutral, and it declared war on the Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, Italy). The U.S. entering World War II ended the Great Depression because the war created many jobs. While some of the battles the U.S. fought in were air and naval battles with Japan, the U.S. mainly fought in Europe and Africa. The U.S. opened up several fronts, including in North Africa and Italy. The U.S. also bombed Germany from airplanes, blowing up German cities and factories. On June 6, 1944 (D-Day), American and British forces invaded Normandy. A year later, the Allies had freed France and taken Berlin. In 1945, Roosevelt died, and Harry Truman became president. The U.S. decided to drop two atomic bombs on Japan. Japan gave up soon afterwards, and the war ended.

paragraphs: The war meant different things for women and minorities. During the war, many women worked in weapons factories. They were symbolized by a character called "Rosie the Riveter". Many African-Americans served in the army, but often in segregated units with white officers. Japanese-Americans on the West Coast were forced to live in internment camps, though a few also served in the Army.

paragraphs: After World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States were the two most powerful countries left in the world. The Cold War was a period of tension between the two countries over ways of life. The two countries tried to get other countries on their side. The Soviet Union tried to get countries to become Communist and the United States tried to stop them from being Communist. American and Soviet soldiers never fought in battles, but they fought indirectly in the Korean War (1950s) and the Vietnam War (1950s–1970s).

paragraphs: The Korean War lasted only a few years, but led to American soldiers being in Korea since then. The Vietnam War lasted much longer. It started with a few American troops in Vietnam, but by the 1960s thousands of Americans were being sent to Vietnam. Both wars were between a Northern Communist government helped by the Soviet Union and Communist China and a Southern government helped by the U.S. The Korean War resulted in a split Korea, but the Vietnam War resulted in a Communist Vietnam after the United States left due to American people wanting to end the war. Over a quarter million Americans died or were wounded in Vietnam, which was very much a military failure. The U.S. and Soviet Union argued about where they could place nuclear weapons. One of these arguments was the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. and Soviet Union came very close to attacking each other with nuclear weapons.

paragraphs: During the Cold War, the United States had a "Red Scare" where the government tried to find people it thought were Communist. The House of Representatives had a group called the House Un-American Activities Committee to deal with this, and Joseph McCarthy led hearings in the Senate. The Red Scare led to people losing their jobs, going to jail, and even being executed. Many actors and authors were put on blacklists, which meant they could not get jobs in movies or get credit for their writings.

paragraphs: The Cold War began with an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union to see who could have more and better weapons. This started after the Soviets were the second country to develop an atomic bomb. In the United States, this started something called the "Military Industrial Complex", which meant business and government working together to spend a lot of money on large-scale weapons projects. Business and government helped each other to get more money and more power. Part of the Complex was something called the Marshall Plan, which rebuilt Europe while making them buy American goods. The Complex allowed for a growing middle class, but also kept the Cold War going.

paragraphs: Besides the arms race, another part of the Cold War was the "Space Race". This started when the Soviets launched a satellite into space called "Sputnik" in 1957. Americans became worried that the United States was falling behind the Soviet Union, and made their schools focus more on mathematics and science. Within a few years, both the United States and the Soviet Union had sent satellites, animals and people into orbit. In 1969 the "Apollo 11" mission put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon.

paragraphs: United States foreign policy changed in the 1970s when the United States left Vietnam and Richard Nixon left office due to a political scandal called Watergate. In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States had a policy of "detente" with the Soviet Union. This meant that the two countries signed treaties to stop use of weapons. Under Nixon and Reagan, the United States sent troops and money to many Latin American governments to stop them from being Communist. This led to violence in Latin America. Around this time, the economy suffered because the United States was not making as many things as it used to, and because some countries in the Middle East were not giving the U.S. as much oil as it wanted (this was called an "oil embargo"). The Middle East became very important in American foreign policy after several Americans were kidnapped in Iran in 1979. In the 1980s, people in the U.S. government sold weapons to people in Iran and gave the money to "contra" soldiers in Nicaragua. This was called the "Iran-Contra affair". In the 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. normalized relations with China. The Cold War came to an end as Communist governments in the Soviet Union and other countries fell apart.

paragraphs: The United States once again had prosperity. Millions of white people moved out of the cities and into suburbs, and into Southern and Western states known as the "Sunbelt". They bought new cars and television sets. The birth rate in the 1940s and 1950s rose, in what was called the "Baby Boom" The "Space Age" inspired "Googie" style art and architecture. Many more people became part of the middle class, but there were still many people who were poor.

paragraphs: Poverty was most common among African-Americans. Most lived in poor neighborhoods in Northern cities, or in the South where they faced racism and "Jim Crow" segregation. These conditions led to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, led by Martin Luther King Jr. and others. In 1954, the Supreme Court found school segregation illegal in "Brown v. Board of Education", though it would be several years before school segregation was ended. In 1955, King led a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. In the late 1950s and 1960s, King got help from Presidents John F. Kennedy, who was shot, and Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1963, he led a march on Washington calling for civil rights. Soon after, Congress passed laws that made most segregation illegal. Johnson also passed a program called the Great Society that helped poor people and minorities.

paragraphs: Gays and lesbians, who had often been persecuted, also started to ask for rights, beginning with the Stonewall riots in 1969. Chicanos, Native Americans, old people, consumers, and people with disabilities also fought for rights, as did women. Though women had had jobs during World War II, most of them went back to the home after the war. Women did not like that they often held jobs that paid less than men or that fewer opportunities were open to them. People like Betty Freidan and Gloria Steinem founded groups such as the National Organization for Women to try and solve these problems. NOW and other groups wanted an Equal Rights Amendment that would guarantee them equality in all areas. In the 1970s and 1980s, many more jobs and opportunities were opened to women. There were some women like Phyllis Schlafly who opposed Freidan and Steinem and were known as "anti-feminists". It was partly because of the anti-feminists that the Equal Rights Amendment was defeated, but also because women had already gained equality in many areas and they did not want to be drafted into the army.

paragraphs: In the 1960s, the counterculture was created. Some of the followers of the counterculture were called hippies. They had long hair, and lived communally, smoking marijuana and practicing free love. The counterculture, along with college students, were the groups most against the Vietnam War. They also were the groups that listened to new music known as rock and roll.

paragraphs: In 1973, the Supreme Court issued a decision called "Roe v. Wade", which made many abortions legal. The many changes led to a reaction by Jerry Falwell and other conservatives who called themselves the "Religious Right" and the "Moral Majority".

paragraphs: Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980. He defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter by winning 44 out of the 50 American states. During the Reagan Era, the country was facing through inflation, a bad economy, and the American foreign policy were not as good. When Ronald Reagan became president, he signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 which lowered taxes for corporations, supposedly so they could reinvest the surplus profits back into business. During Reagan's presidency, he expanded the American military creating more jobs, but also raising the deficit due to overspending. During his first term, the economy went from a 4.5% to 7.2%.

paragraphs: In 1984, Reagan won in a major landslide by winning 49 out of the 50 American states. During his second term, Reagan focused on ending the Cold War. He held many meetings between Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. They first met at the Geneva Summit in 1985. Later they both discovered their passion of ending the war. Reagan met four times with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who ascended to power in 1985, and their summit conferences led to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

paragraphs: Also during his second term, Reagan's Invasion of Grenada and bombing of Libya were popular in the US, though his backing of the Contras rebels was mired in the controversy over the Iran–Contra affair that revealed Reagan's poor management style.

paragraphs: Since leaving office in 1989, Reagan became one of the most popular Presidents of the United States.

paragraphs: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Cold War came to an end. This was due to the Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev starting a policy called perestroika, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Soviet Union breaking into different countries. Around this time, the United States cut down on its production of cheap goods, and had many people working in service jobs. Part of these service jobs were in computers and the internet, which came into wide use in the 1990s. By this time, the United States had a very large trade deficit, meaning it received more goods from other countries, such as China, than it sent to other countries.

paragraphs: The Middle East became the main focus of U.S. foreign policy. In 1991, the United States fought a war with Iraq called the First Gulf War or Operation Desert Storm. This was to stop Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from occupying Kuwait, a small oil-producing country.

paragraphs: In 1992, Bill Clinton became President. Under Clinton, the United States sent soldiers into Bosnia as part of a United Nations mission. The United States also agreed to a trade pact called the North American Free Trade Agreement (and repealed Glass–Steagall Legislation). Clinton was impeached for lying in court about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, but the Senate voted against removing him as President.

paragraphs: In 2000, George W. Bush was elected President. Terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Thousands of people died. Soon after the attacks, the U.S. and NATO went to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden and others who they believed planned the September 11 attacks. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have lasted many years. By 2011, most American soldiers had left Iraq, and combat there was over.

paragraphs: In 2005, the southern United States was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Much of the city of New Orleans was destroyed. In 2006, the Democrats won back Congress because Americans did not like the way Bush dealt with War in Iraq or Katrina. At the end of Bush's term, the United States entered the worst recession since the Great Depression.

paragraphs: Barack Obama was elected President in 2008. He became the first African-American President of the United States. During his first years in office, Obama and Congress passed reforms on health care and banking. They also passed a large stimulus bill to help the economy during the recession. During the recession, the government used large amounts of money to keep the banking and auto industries from falling apart. There was also a large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2010, Congress passed the Patient Protecton and Affordable Care Act, a sweeping overhaul of the health care system. Dubbed "Obamacare", it was faced with fierce criticism from conservative media.

paragraphs: A "Tea Party movement" started during Obama's presidency. This group opposes Obama's health care plan and other policies they see as "big government." Due to the recession, the Tea Party and a dislike of what Obama did, Republicans won a large number of House and Senate seats in the 2010 election. In 2011, Tea Party members of Congress almost shut down the government and sent the U.S. into default (not being able to pay people the government owes money). A few months later, many young people protested against organized and concentrated wealth during the Occupy movement. In 2012, Obama was reelected to a second term. Following reelection, Obama faced major obstruction from Congressional Republicans. This polarization in the political atmosphere and the media, lead to events such as the 2013 Federal Government Shutdown and the stalling of Obama's Supreme Court pick, Judge Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonio Scalia. In 2014, Republicans took control of both houses of Congress, further adding to the gridlock. In foreign policy, President Obama helped crafted the Paris Climate Agreement, a major global commitment to fighting climate change. He also forged the Iran Nuclear Agreement and opened relations with Cuba for the first time in fifty years.

paragraphs: The United States presidential election, 2016 attracted much attention. Main popular candidates of the election were Republicans Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. Trump and Clinton won their respective primaries. On November 9, 2016, Trump defeated Clinton. Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017. Afterwards, there were many protests against Trump across the country.

paragraphs: On January 27, President Trump signed an executive order that stopped refugees from entering the country for 120 days and denied entry to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days, citing security concerns about terrorism. The next day, thousands of protesters gathered at airports and other locations throughout the United States to protest the signing of the order and detainment of the foreign nationals. Later, the administration seemed to reverse a portion of part of the order, effectively exempting visitors with a green card.

paragraphs: On April 7, 2017, Trump ordered the launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea into Syria, aimed at Shayrat Air Base as a defense after the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

paragraphs: On May 3, 2017, Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy after a massive debt and weak economy. It is the largest bankruptcy case in American history.

paragraphs: On September 24, 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would begin an impeachment inquiry into Trump. On October 31, 2019, the House voted 232–196 to created procedures for public hearings. On December 16, the House Judiciary Committee released a report specifying criminal bribery and wire fraud charges as part of the abuse of power charge. The house voted to impeach Trump on December 18, 2019, making him the third president in American history to be impeached.

paragraphs: The United States faces many political issues. One of these is what kind of government the United States should become. Liberals want a large government, while the Tea Party and other groups want a smaller government. One of these debates is over health care. Health care costs have risen. Conservatives and liberals also disagree on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Many more people have come to accept gays and gay marriage as an acceptable part of American society. There are also many trends and developments that the U.S. must deal with. One of these is immigration. Many people are coming to the U.S. from Latin America and Asia, especially Mexico. This is called the "browning of America". Baby Boomer Americans are getting older and a larger fraction of the people are retired. Other issues facing the United States are a growing concern about the environment. This has led to the creation of many "green jobs," or jobs that create clean or renewable energy.


title: Exponential function

paragraphs: In mathematics, the exponential function is a function that grows quicker and quicker. More precisely, it is the function formula_1, where e is Euler's constant, an irrational number that is approximately 2.71828.

paragraphs: Because exponential functions use exponentiation, they follow the same exponent rules. Thus,

paragraphs: The natural logarithm is the inverse operation of an exponential function, where:

paragraphs: The exponential function satisfies an interesting and important property in differential calculus:

paragraphs: This means that the slope of the exponential function is the exponential function itself, and as a result has a slope of 1 at formula_6. These properties are the reason it is an important function in mathematics.

paragraphs: The general exponential function, where the base is not necessarily formula_7, is among the most useful of mathematical functions. It is used to represent exponential growth, which has uses in virtually all scientific disciplines and is also prominent in finance. Another application of the exponential function is exponential decay, which occurs in radioactive decay and the absorption of light.

paragraphs: One example of an exponential function in real life would be interest in a bank. If a person deposits £100 into an account which gets 3% interest a month, then the balance each month (assuming the money is untouched) would be as follows:

paragraphs: Here, notice how the extra money from interest increases each month, in that the greater the original balance, the more interest the person will get.

paragraphs: Two mathematical examples of exponential functions (with base "a") are shown below.

paragraphs: Even though the base (formula_8) can be any number bigger than zero, for example, 10 or 1/2, often it is a special number called e. The number "e" cannot be written exactly, but it is almost equal to 2.71828.

paragraphs: The number "e" is important to every exponential function. For example, a bank pays interest of 0.01 percent every day. One person takes his interest money and puts it in a box. After 10,000 days (about 30 years), he has 2 times as much money as he started with. Another person takes his interest money and puts it back into the bank. Because the bank now pays him interest on his interest, the amount of money is an exponential function.

paragraphs: In fact, after 10,000 days, he does not have 2 times as much money as he started with, but he has 2.718145 times as much money as he started with. This number is very close to the number "e". If the bank pays interest more often, so the amount paid each time is less, then the number will be closer to the number "e".

paragraphs: A person can also look at the picture to see why the number "e" is important for exponential functions. The picture has three different curves. The curve with the black points is an exponential function with a base slightly smaller than "e". The curve with the short black lines is an exponential function with a base slightly bigger than "e". The blue curve is an exponential function with a base exactly equal to "e". The red line is a tangent to the blue curve. It touches the blue curve at one point without crossing it. A person can see that the red curve crosses the "x"-axis, the line that goes from left to right at -1. This is true only for the blue curve. This is the reason that the exponential function with the base "e" is special.


title: Computer file

paragraphs: A computer file is a means to store information that belongs together. Computer files can be opened (read and written) by computer programs. Usually they are stored on some kind of file system.

paragraphs: There are different kinds of computer files that hold different kinds of data (information):

paragraphs: The way the information is organized in a file is called the file format.


title: Data format

paragraphs: Data format in information technology can mean:


title: File (tool)

paragraphs: A file is a tool used to shape materials, by wearing away some of it. Today, files are usually made of a steel bar that has a rough surface. By rubbing the surface against a material, some of the material is scraped away. There are also nail files used to shape a person's fingernails. Files can also make a surface smooth so that there are no gaps, which is useful when two surfaces need to be attached to each other. A file is "blunt" if it is the same size on both ends, and "tapered" if one end is smaller than the other.


title: Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

paragraphs: Sheffield Wednesday F.C. is an English football club. They are based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. They play their home matches at a stadium called Hillsborough Stadium. They originally played at a stadium called Olive Grove Stadium and were called The Wednesday.

paragraphs: The club plays in the English Football League Championship.

paragraphs: Fans of Sheffield Wednesday are referred to as Owls. The team's symbol is an owl.


title: De Wallen

paragraphs: De Wallen (""thin walls"") are the biggest and most famous red-light district in Amsterdam. It is in the very old (14th century) part of the city around the Oude Kerk and Oudezijds Achterburgwal/Vorburgwal.

paragraphs: In December 2007, the mayor of Amsterdam and his government decided to buy many of brothelhouses within De Wallen. By doing this, the area used for prostitution and coffee shops gets smaller and smaller.


title: Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

paragraphs: Wolverhampton Wanderers are an English association football club. They are based in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. The club started in 1877 and play their home games at a stadium called Molineux Stadium. They have won the FA Cup four times.

paragraphs: According to Football365, Wolves are the fourth most successful team in the history of English football. They have only twice been in the lowest of the league system.

paragraphs: In 2009 they won the Football League Championship. This meant they were promoted into the Premier League for the following season. Also promoted were runners-up Birmingham City F.C., and Burnley F.C. from the play-offs.


title: A.F.C. Bournemouth

paragraphs: A.F.C. Bournemouth are an English football club. They are based in Bournemouth and play their home games at a stadium called the Vitality Stadium. They started in 1899 and have had Harry Redknapp as a manager and his son Jamie Redknapp as a player. In the 2015–2016 season, Bournemouth are playing in The English Premier League.


title: Jamie Redknapp

paragraphs: Jamie Redknapp (born 25 June 1973) is an English footballer. He was born in Barton on Sea, Hampshire. He played for Liverpool F.C., Tottenham Hotspur F.C., A.F.C. Bournemouth and Southampton F.C.. His father, Harry Redknapp, is the manager of Portsmouth F.C.

paragraphs: Redknapp married R&B singer Louise Nurding in 1998.


title: Bradford City A.F.C.

paragraphs: Bradford City A.F.C. is an English football club. They are based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. They began in 1903 and play their home games in a stadium called Valley Parade. They have the greatest set of fans


title: Arenal Volcano National Park

paragraphs: Arenal Volcano National Park is a national park in the northwest region of Costa Rica. It is between the mountain pass of the Tilarán Mountain Range and the Plains of San Carlos. A part of the park belongs to San Ramón.

paragraphs: The main characteristic of this national park is the Arenal Volcano. It is an almost perfect cone with a height of 1633 m. The volcano has regular eruptions which create one of the most extraordinary natural landscapes of Costa Rica.

paragraphs: The park many different types of plants and animals. Some of the more interesting plants are Guayabo mountain, Ceiba, Cirri, Laurel, Higuerones, Pilon, Guarumo, Balsa, different species of palms, heliconias, orchids, ferns and bromeliads including "Pitcaimia Funkiae".

paragraphs: The main species of animals are sloths, birds like lapas, parrots and quetzals, snakes like lora snake, velvet snake and the boa constrictor, 35 species of fish and 135 species of reptiles including turtles. There are also tapirs, deers, jaguars, sahínos, pizotes, Congo monkeys, and cappuccino monkeys. Most of the animals that live in the park are birds. This makes the park a very good place for bird watchers.

paragraphs: This national park has a great tourist attraction because of the beautiful scenery and forests. It is also a very good place for extreme sports practice like canopy which hundreds of peoples both foreigners and locals like a lot. Many people like to watch the view created by the volcano when it is making small eruptions at night.


title: Faded (song)

paragraphs: "Faded" is a 2006 song by Kate DeAraugo, the winner of "Australian Idol" in 2005.


title: Emergency (song)

paragraphs: Emergency is a 2005 song by Paramore. It came off the album "All We Know Is Falling".

paragraphs: The song is about Hayley Williams' parents, and she could remember standing between them yelling at them to shut up.


title: Roger D. Kornberg

paragraphs: Roger David Kornberg (born ) is an American biochemist and Nobel prize winner. Kornberg got the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006 for studying eukaryote transcription (the copying of information from DNA to RNA).

paragraphs: Kornberg is a professor of Structural Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. His father, Arthur Kornberg, was also a professor at Stanford University, and got the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959.

paragraphs: Kornberg was born in St. Louis, Missouri to a Jewish family. He was the first of three children born to Arthur Kornberg and his wife, Sylvy. The parents worked together as biochemists. Roger Kornberg earned his bachelors degree from Harvard University in 1967 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1972. He then became a Fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge, England.

paragraphs: All heredity is controlled by genes. For the cells to make use of the information in the genes, a copy of part of the gene must be made. The copying is called transcription. Transcription makes an RNA copy of part of the DNA. The RNA is moved out of the cell nucleus, to ribosomes, where it does its work. This is called messenger RNA and it gives the amino acid sequence for protein production. This second process is called translation. It works in all eukaryotes, including all plants and animals.

paragraphs: Kornberg worked with Aaron Klug and Francis Crick at the MRC in the 1970s. He discovered the nucleosome, a very important protein structure in chromosomes. Nucleosomes form the basic repeating units of eukaryotic chromatin. This packs the large eukaryotic genomes into the nucleus and allows it to be controlled.

paragraphs: Kornberg made the discovery that signals to the RNA are made by a complex of proteins that they called "mediator". The Nobel Prize committee said, "the great complexity of eukaryotic organisms is enabled by the fine interplay between tissue-specific substances, enhancers in the DNA and mediator. The discovery of mediator is therefore a true milestone in the understanding of the transcription process".

paragraphs: After long effort, Kornberg was able to use X-ray crystallography to take 3D pictures of RNA molecules, lipids and proteins. With these studies, Kornberg has created a picture of how DNA works. The Nobel Prize committee said, "the truly revolutionary aspect of the picture Kornberg has created is that it captures the process of transcription in full flow. What we see is an RNA-strand being constructed, and hence the exact positions of the DNA, polymerase and RNA during this process".

paragraphs: In 1959, Roger Kornberg's father, Arthur Kornberg, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for studies of how genetic information moves from one DNA molecule to another. This is called DNA replication. Arthur Kornberg found the first enzyme that could make DNA. This was the first known enzyme to take its instructions from a DNA copy. Roger Kornberg's younger brother, Thomas Bill Kornberg, discovered DNA polymerases II and III in 1970 and is now a geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco. All three Kornbergs have worked to understand how genetic information is used in cells. Arthur and Roger Kornberg are the sixth father and son to win Nobel Prizes.

paragraphs: Professor Kornberg has received these awards:


title: All We Know Is Falling

paragraphs: All We Know Is Falling is the first album of the band Paramore. It was recorded in just three weeks. In April 2006, the CD was released in the UK. In 2005, a Japanese version was released, with the bonus track "O, Star".

paragraphs: Paramore released three videos from this album. The first was for the single "All We Know", followed by "Pressure", and "Emergency".


title: Businessperson

paragraphs: A businessperson (also businessman or businesswoman) is someone who works at a job that focuses on making money. Very broadly it can mean anyone who works in industry or commerce. More narrowly, it is someone who works in the management (at high level, when the term is used even more narrowly) of a company. Sometimes the word means an entrepreneur or a merchant.

paragraphs: Many businessmen wear standard business clothes: a suit with collar, shirt, and necktie. However, this depends on the company, the local culture, and the country. In more informal places, neckties need not be worn.

paragraphs: Businesswomen clothes have gone through many changes. Dresses and suits are common today.


title: Werl

paragraphs: Werl is a town found in the district of Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

paragraphs: Werl is made up of the following districts:

paragraphs: Werl was the birthplace of Franz von Papen (1879–1969), German soldier, politician and diplomat.


title: Tangent (geometry)

paragraphs: In geometry, a tangent is a straight line that touches a curve at one point. At the place where they touch, the line and the curve both have the same slope (they are both "going in the same direction"). For this reason, a tangent line is a good approximation of the curve near that point. The curve and the tangent line are almost exactly the same near the intersection point.tangent is straight line

paragraphs: A straight line which touches a circle at a single point is perpendicular to the circle's radius and is considered tangent to the circle.

paragraphs: Tangent lines are useful in calculus because they can magnify the slope of a curve at a single point. The slope of some curve at the point P is often called the instantaneous rate of change of the curve at P. The instantaneous rate of change at a specific point on the curve can be found by evaluating the derivative function for the curve at that point.


title: History of North America

paragraphs: The History of North America deals with an area where humans came to live relatively recently, compared to Africa, Europe, and Asia.

paragraphs: Scientists have different theories as to the origins of the early human population of the continent. The indigenous peoples of North America themselves have many creation stories, that tell that native Americans have been present on the land since its creation.

paragraphs: Before contact with Europeans the natives of North America were divided into many different communities, from small bands of a few families to large empires. They lived in several culture areas, which roughly correspond to geographic and biological zones of North America and give a good indication of the main occupation of the people who lived there (e.g. the Bison hunters of the Great Plains, or the farmers of Mesoamerica). Native groups can also be classified by their language family. It is important to note that peoples with similar languages did not always share the same material culture, nor were they always allies.

paragraphs: Scientists believe that the Inuit people of the high Arctic came to North America much later than other native groups, as evidenced by the disappearance of Dorset culture artifacts from the archaeological record, and their replacement by the Thule people.

paragraphs: During the thousands of years of native inhabitation on the continent, cultures changed and shifted. Archaeologists often name different cultural groups they discover after the site where they are first found. One of the oldest cultures yet found is the Clovis culture of modern New Mexico. A more recent example is the group of related cultures called the Mound builders (e.g. the Fort Walton Culture), found in the Mississippi river valley. They flourished from 3000 BC to the 1500s AD.

paragraphs: The more southern cultural groups of North America were responsible for the domestication of many common crops now used around the world, such as tomatoes and squash. Perhaps most importantly they domesticated one of the world's major staples, maize (corn).

paragraphs: As a result of the development of agriculture in the south, important cultural development was possible there. For example, the Maya civilization developed a writing system, built huge pyramids, had a complex calendar, and developed the concept of zero 500 years before anyone in the Old World. The Mayan culture was still present when the Spanish arrived in Central America, but political dominance in the area had shifted to the Aztec Empire farther north.

paragraphs: Upon the arrival of the Europeans in the "New World", native peoples found their culture changed drastically. As such, their affiliation with political and cultural groups changed as well, several linguistic groups went extinct, and others changed quite quickly. The name and cultures that Europeans recorded for the natives were not necessarily the same as the ones they had used a few generations before, or the ones in use today.

paragraphs: There was limited contact between North American peoples and the outside world before 1492. Several theoretical contacts have been proposed, but the earliest physical evidence comes to us from the Norse or Vikings. Norse captain Leif Erikson is believed to have reached the Island of Newfoundland circa 1000 AD. They named their new discovery Vinland. The only Norse site yet discovered in North America is at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Norse colonies were later abandoned.

paragraphs: The Viking voyages did not become common knowledge in the Old World, and Europeans remained ignorant of the existence of the Americas, until 1492. As part of a general age of discovery Italian sailor Christopher Columbus proposed a voyage west from Europe to find a shorter route to Asia. He eventually received the backing of Isabella I and Ferdinand II, Queen and King of newly united Spain. In 1492 Columbus reached land in the Bahamas.

paragraphs: Almost 500 years after the Norse, John Cabot explored the east coast of what would become Canada in 1497. Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the East Coast of America from Florida to presumably Newfoundland in 1524. Jacques Cartier made a series of voyages on behalf of the French crown in 1534 and penetrated the St. Lawrence River.

paragraphs: Initially, European activity consisted mostly of trade and exploration. Eventually Europeans began to establish settlements. The three principal colonial powers were Spain, England, and France, although eventually even small powers like the Netherlands and Sweden received minor holdings on the continent.

paragraphs: Settlement by the Spanish started the European colonization of the Americas, involving genocide of the native Indians. They gained control of most of the largest islands in the Caribbean and conquered the Aztecs, gaining control of present-day Mexico and Central America. This was the beginning of the Spanish Empire in the New World. The first successful Spanish settlement in continental North America was Veracruz in 1519, followed by many other settlements in colonial New Spain and Spanish Florida.

paragraphs: The first successful English settlements were at Jamestown (1607) (along with its satellite, Bermuda in 1609) and Plymouth (1620), in what are today Virginia and Massachusetts respectively. The first French settlements were Port Royal (1604) and Quebec City (1608) in what is now Nova Scotia and Quebec. The Fur Trade soon became the primary business on the continent and as a result transformed the Native Americans lifestyle.

paragraphs: Farther to the south, plantation slavery became the main industry of the West Indies, and this gave rise to the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade.

paragraphs: By 1663 the French crown had taken over control of New France from the fur-trading companies, and the English charter colonies gave way to more metropolitan control. This ushered in a new era of more formalized colonialism in North America.

paragraphs: Rivalry between the European powers created a series of wars on the North American landmass that would have great impact on the development of the colonies. Territory often changed hands multiple times. Peace was not achieved until French forces in North America were vanquished at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City, and France ceded most of her claims outside of the Caribbean.

paragraphs: Viceroyalty of New Spain was the name of the viceroy-ruled territories of the Spanish Empire in Asia, North America and its peripheries from 1535 to 1821.

paragraphs: The coming of the American Revolution had a great impact across the continent. Most importantly it directly led to the creation of the United States of America. However, the associated American Revolutionary War was an important war that touched all corners of the region. The flight of the United Empire Loyalists led to the creation of English Canada as a separate community. Meanwhile, Spain's hold on Mexico was weakening. Independence was declared in 1810 by Miguel Hidalgo, starting the "Mexican War of Independence". In 1813, José María Morelos and the Congress of Anáhuac signed the Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America, the first legal document where the separation of the New Spain with respect to Spain is proclaimed. Spain finally recognized Mexico's independence in 1821.

paragraphs: From the time of independence of the United States, that country expanded rapidly to the west, acquiring the massive Louisiana territory in 1803. An attempt at northern expansion was blocked by Britain during the War of 1812. At the same time, British settlement in Canada increased.

paragraphs: US expansion was complicated by the division between "free" and "slave" states, which led to the Missouri Compromise 1820. Likewise, Canada faced a division between French and English communities that led to the outbreak of civil strife in 1837. Mexico faced constant political tensions between liberals and conservatives, as well as the rebellion of the English-speaking region of Tejas, which declared itself the Republic of Texas 1836. In 1845 Texas joined the United States, which would later lead to the Mexican–American War. As a result of conflict with Mexico, the United States made further territorial gains in California and the Southwest.

paragraphs: In Mexico, the entire era was dominated by the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz.

paragraphs: As part of the British Empire, Canada immediately was at war in 1914. Canadian troops bore the brunt of several major battles during the early stages of the war including the use of poison gas attacks at Ypres. Newfoundland troops suffered a devastating loss on July 1, 1916, the First day on the Somme. Losses became grave, and the government eventually brought in conscription, despite the fact this was against the wishes of the majority of French Canadians. In the ensuing Conscription Crisis of 1917, riots broke out on the streets of Montreal.

paragraphs: The United States stayed apart from the conflict until 1917, joining the Entente powers. The United States was then able to play a crucial role at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that shaped interwar Europe.

paragraphs: Mexico was not part of the war as the country was embroiled in the Mexican Revolution at the time.

paragraphs: The 1920s brought an age of great prosperity in the United States, and to a lesser degree Canada. But the Wall Street Crash of 1929 combined with drought ushered in a period of economic hardship in the United States and Canada.

paragraphs: From 1936 to 1949, this was a popular uprising against the anti-Catholic Mexican government of the time, set off specifically by the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917.

paragraphs: Once again Canada found itself at war before its neighbours, however even Canadian contributions were slight before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

paragraphs: The entry of the United States into the war helped to tip the balance in favour of the allies.

paragraphs: Two Mexican tankers, transporting oil to the United States, were attacked and sunk by the Germans in the Gulf of Mexico waters, in 1942. The incident happened in spite of Mexico's neutrality at that time. This led Mexico to declare war to the Axis nations and entered the conflict.

paragraphs: The devastation of Europe in the war led North American countries to more important roles in world affairs. The United States especially emerged as a "superpower".

paragraphs: The early Cold War era saw the United States as the most powerful nation in a Western coalition of which Mexico and Canada were also a part. At home, the United States witnessed convulsive change especially in the area of race relations. In Canada this was mirrored by the Quiet Revolution and the emergence of Quebec nationalism.

paragraphs: Mexico experienced an era of huge economic growth after World War II, a heavy industrialization process and a growth of its middle class, a period known in Mexican history as the ""El Milagro Mexicano"" (Mexican miracle).

paragraphs: The Caribbean saw the beginnings of decolonization, while on the largest island the Cuban Revolution introduced Cold War rivalries into Latin America.


title: Brentford F.C.

paragraphs: Brentford F.C. is an English football club. They are based in Brentford in London and they play their home games at a stadium called Griffin Park. Brentford were formed in 1889 and have the nickname "The Bees".


title: Harry Redknapp

paragraphs: Harry Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English association football manager. He was born in Poplar, London. He is currently in charge of English club Queens Park Rangers football club. Before he became a manager he used to play football, mainly for West Ham.

paragraphs: He managed A.F.C. Bournemouth, West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton and Portsmouth again before he got an offer to manage Tottenham Hotspur.

paragraphs: Redknapp is related to two Premier League stars. He is the father of Jamie Redknapp who played under him at Bournemouth and Southampton. He is also the uncle by marriage of Frank Lampard who played under him at West Ham United.


title: Cough

paragraphs: A cough, also known as tussis, is an action the body takes to get rid of anything that irritates the lungs or throat. To do this, muscles in the thoracic cavity contract to make air leave the lungs with a lot of force. Coughs often happen quickly and more than once, and are usually accompanied by a unique sound, also called a cough.

paragraphs: Coughs are more likely to happen when a person is sick, because infections often irritate breathing passages. Another cause of coughs is a person breathing air that is not clean like dust.


title: Creation

paragraphs:
Creation may refer to:
In religion and philosophy:


title: Creation myth

paragraphs: A creation myth or creation story explains how the universe started, how the earth came to be, and why there are humans. Creation myths are usually part of religions and mythologies. Very often, creation myths say that humans were made by a god, spirit or other supreme being.

paragraphs: In the beginning, there was just water. All the animals lived above it and the sky was overcrowded. They were all curious about what was beneath the water and one day Dayuni'si, the water beetle, volunteered to explore it. He explored the surface but could not find any solid ground. He explored below the surface to the bottom and all he found was mud which he brought back to the surface. After collecting the mud, it began to grow in size and spread outwards until it became the Earth as we know it.

paragraphs: In the beginning nothing existed, darkness was all around. Suddenly from the darkness came a thin disc, one side yellow and the other side white, appearing suspended in midair. Within the disc sat a small bearded man, Creator, the "One Who Lives Above". When he looked into the endless darkness, light appeared above. He looked down and it became a sea of light. To the east, he created yellow streaks of dawn. To the west, tints of many colors appeared everywhere. There were also clouds of different colors. He also created three other gods: a little girl, a sun god and a small boy. Then he created celestial phenomena, the winds, the tarantula, and the earth from the sweat of the four gods mixed together in the Creator's palms, from a small round, brown ball, not much larger than a bean. The world was expanded to its current size by the gods kicking the small brown ball. Creator told Wind to go inside the ball and to blow it up. The tarantula, who knew what to do, spun a black cord and, attaching it to the ball, crawled away fast to the east, pulling on the cord with all his strength. Tarantula repeated with a blue cord to the south, a yellow cord to the west, and a white cord to the north. With mighty pulls in each direction, the brown ball stretched to immeasurable size--it became the earth! No hills, mountains, or rivers were visible; only smooth, treeless, brown plains appeared. Then the Creator created the rest of the beings and features of the Earth.

paragraphs: In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic story, it is believed that an entity referred to as God created the universe in six days.

paragraphs: Christians that believe God created the Universe in exactly the way described in the Bible are called "creationists". Other Christians think that the biblical creation story has fundamental truths and messages, but should not be taken literally.

paragraphs: Many cultures have stories describing the origin of the world, which may be roughly grouped into common types. In one type of story, the world is born from a world egg; such stories include the Finnish epic poem "Kalevala", the Chinese story of Pangu or the Indian Brahmanda Purana. In related stories, the creation is caused by a single entity emanating or producing something by his or herself, as in the Tibetan Buddhism concept of Adi-Buddha, the ancient Greek story of Gaia (Mother Earth), the Aztec goddess Coatlicue myth, the ancient Egyptian god Atum story, or the Genesis creation myth. In another type of story, the world is created from the union of male and female deities, as in the Maori story of Rangi and Papa. In other stories, the Universe is created by crafting it from pre-existing materials, such as the corpse of a dead god — as from Tiamat in the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish or from the giant Ymir in Norse mythology – or from chaotic materials, as in Izanagi and Izanami in Japanese mythology. In another type of story, the world is created by the command of a divinity, as in the ancient Egyptian story of Ptah or the Genesis creation myth as a part of Jewish and Christian mythology. In other stories, the universe emanates from fundamental principles, such as Brahman and Prakrti, or the yin and yang of the Tao.

paragraphs: Although Heraclitus argued for eternal change, his quasi-contemporary Parmenides made the radical suggestion that all change is an illusion, that the true underlying reality is eternally unchanging and of a single nature. Parmenides denoted this reality as το εν (The One). Parmenides' theory seemed implausible to many Greeks, but his student Zeno of Elea challenged them with several famous paradoxes. Aristotle resolved these paradoxes by developing the notion of an infinitely divisible continuum, and applying it to space and time.

paragraphs: The Indian philosopher Kanada, founder of the Vaisheshika school, developed a theory of atomism and proposed that light and heat were varieties of the same substance. In the 5th century AD, the Buddhist atomist philosopher Dignāga proposed atoms to be point-sized, durationless, and made of energy. They denied the existence of substantial matter and proposed that movement consisted of momentary flashes of a stream of energy.

paragraphs: The theory of temporal finitism was inspired by the doctrine of creation shared by the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Christian philosopher, John Philoponus, presented the philosophical arguments against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past. Philoponus' arguments against an infinite past were used by the early Muslim philosopher, Al-Kindi (Alkindus); the Jewish philosopher, Saadia Gaon (Saadia ben Joseph); and the Muslim theologian, Al-Ghazali (Algazel). They employed two logical arguments against an infinite past, the first being the "argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite", which states:

paragraphs: The second argument, the "argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition", states:

paragraphs: Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians, and the second argument in particular became more famous after it was adopted by Immanuel Kant in his thesis of the first antinomy concerning time.

paragraphs: Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209) criticized the idea of the Earth's centrality within the universe. In the context of his commentary on the Qur'anic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds," he raises the question of whether the term "worlds" in this verse refers to "multiple worlds within this single universe or cosmos, or to many other universes or a multiverse beyond this known universe." He rejected the Aristotelian and Avicennian notions of a single universe revolving around a single world, and instead argued that there are more than "a thousand thousand worlds ("alfa alfi 'awalim") beyond this world such that each one of those worlds be bigger and more massive than this world as well as having the like of what this world has." He argued that there exists an infinite outer space beyond the known world, and that God has the power to fill the vacuum with an infinite number of universes.


title: Tarantula

paragraphs: Tarantula is the common name for a group of "hairy" and often very large spiders belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been found. Some tarantulas hunt prey in trees and some hunt on the ground. All tarantulas can make silk. They use silk to make shelters like tube tents in trees, to line burrows if they live on the ground, and they all use silk to wrap up prey before they eat it. It is easy to see a tarantula turning around and around in one spot with the prey in its mouth, but it is hard to see the silk coming out because it is small in diameter (thickness) and transparent. These spiders are found in warmer regions around the world.

paragraphs: Tarantulas' predators are normally big snakes or creatures such as the Tarantula Eating Wasp. Defenses are camouflage and fangs.


title: Hunter-gatherer

paragraphs: A hunter-gatherer society is one who lives from edible plants and animals from the wild, by foraging and hunting.

paragraphs: The line between hunter-gatherers and other people is often not clear-cut. Nomadic people often practice a mix of hunting, gathering and herding, and others spend some of their time in farming.


title: File format

paragraphs: File formats are also known as file types. A computer stores data in a computer file in the shape of a file format. For example: images are stored in a different shape than music files.

paragraphs: Also, most types of data (for example text, image or sound) have many varieties of file formats, all with their own special strengths and weaknesses.

paragraphs: There are, for example, more than five ways to store text as a file. Two of the most known ways are: the plain ".txt" format and the simplest of the "HTML" formats. The difference is that a .txt file can only store a sequence of characters but an HTML file can also store links to other files and the formatting of the text, for example whether the text is bold, underlined or italic (but usually HTML should say whether the text is very important, a link, or not very important; whether important text should be bold, italic or red is then specified using a file in a special format called CSS).

paragraphs: Often a file in a file which can store more information is bigger than a file in a format which can only store simple basic data. But the file in the more functional (complex, with can store more information) format can be more difficult to use with more simple programs, and a faster computer can be needed to use it.

paragraphs: File formats made for commercial proprietary software are sometimes a secret, so that people who do not work in the company which made the proprietary software cannot use their own and others' files in the format without buying their software. That action is called vendor lock-in, and can be used to make a monopoly. Because of that, it is sometimes a crime.


title: Lascaux

paragraphs: Lascaux is the name given to a cave in the Vézère Valley of southwestern France. The Lascaux cave is famous for its cave paintings.

paragraphs: There are a number of caves near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne "département". One of these caves contains some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. Most of the paintings are realistic images of large animals. Many of these animals are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. The site of Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979, under the name of the Vézère Valley.

paragraphs: Montignac is about from Périgueux, and about from Sarlat-la-Canéda

paragraphs: Unfortunately, none of the colors used in Lascaux are coal based. Therefore, a direct dating of the paintings is not possible. Despite this, Lascaux was one of the first sites where radiocarbon dating was used. That way, the coal in the fireplaces was dated to about 17,000 years ago. H.Breuil himself thought that the site was older, about 31.000 to 22.000 years old.

paragraphs: Norbert Anjoulat looked at the style and the theme of the paintings, and found these were close to Solutréen, rather than Magdalénien.

paragraphs: There are some disagreements about dating the site. The paintings seem to date from 17,000 to 15,000 years ago. Artifacts were also found in the cave, which seem to be older. The original dating was to about 26,000 years ago.

paragraphs: Most archaeologists believe that the age of about 17,000 years is accurate for the following reasons:

paragraphs: The caves were discovered on 12 September 1940. By 1955, about 2000 people visited them every day. In 1968, the original cave was closed to the public, and a system of air conditioning was installed. The cave paintings were restored and replicas of several paintings were created in other caves nearby, known as Lascaux II and Lascaux III. Today, the original cave is no longer accessible to the public.

paragraphs: In 2000, another problem emerged: Certain kinds of fungi started to grow in the original cave. These are extremely resistant to the usual fungicides used, even to formaldehyde. The fungus lives in symbiosis with a bacterium which is capable of destroying the fungicide. Therefore, the fungicide needs to be combined with an antibiotic to kill the bacterium as well.

paragraphs: As of 2006, the situation is more or less under control. The original caves are now sprayed with the fungicide/antibiotic every fortnight. Special workers need to clear the cave walls by hand, removing the mycelium which grows despite the treatment.


title: Bobby Charlton

paragraphs: Sir Robert Charlton, (born 11 October 1937) is a retired English footballer who played for the England national team. He played over 600 times for Manchester United. He also played for England over 100 times and scored more goals than any other player. He played for England when they beat Germany in the World Cup final in 1966. He is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time.

paragraphs: He is the last survivor of the Munich air disaster, where his life was saved by fellow teammate Harry Gregg.


title: Gary Lineker

paragraphs: Gary Lineker (born 30 November 1960) is an English retired footballer. He has played for the English national team. He scored 48 goals for the English national team. He is now on television on the BBC on Match of the Day.


title: Geoff Hurst

paragraphs: Geoff Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English retired professional footballer. He was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire and moved to Chelmsford, Essex when he was eight. He played football for West Ham United F.C. over 400 times. He also played for the England national football team and scored a hat trick (three goals) in the 1966 World Cup final which England won 4–2.


title: Parliament of Scotland

paragraphs: The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland.

paragraphs: The parliament of Scotland had only one house (cf. House of Commons, House of Lords) and was mentioned for the first time during the early thirteenth century, and the first meeting one knows of was in 1235, during the reign of Alexander II of Scotland.

paragraphs: The parliament, which is also referred to as the Estates of Scotland, the Three Estates the Scots Parliament or the auld Scots Parliament (), met until the Acts of Union in 1707.


title: Coco Islands

paragraphs: Coco Island is a tropical island. The island covers . It has two bays in the north. It is southwest of Costa Rica. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1997 for its animals and its beauty.

paragraphs: Today, the only people who live there are four national park guards who patrol the park. Ships leave from Puntarenas, a port in the Pacific Ocean. The island is one of the world's best diving spots. It is famous for its massive schools of different fish, hammerhead sharks, manta rays, and whale sharks. The island is also famous because of the legend about pirates. It is said that this island was chosen by them to hide their treasures. Many people have gone there to look for this hidden treasures but they didn’t find any.

paragraphs: The island has waterfalls, some of them high. There are also a few animals which were brought from other places because there are no native mammals. Also some birds were brought. The island has just one kind of butterfly and two lizard species. The highest point, called Mount Iglesias, is high.


title: Decoritidae

paragraphs: Decoritidae is one of five families of the Gastriocerataceae superfamily. They are an extinct group of ammonoid, which are similar to squids and cuttlefish.


title: Gastrioceratoidea

paragraphs: Gastrioceratoidea is one of 17 superfamilies of the Goniatitina suborder. They are an extinct group of ammonoid, which are similar to squids and cuttlefish.


title: Goniatitina

paragraphs: Goniatitina is one of 2 suborders of the Goniatitida order. They are an extinct group of ammonoid, which are similar to squids and cuttlefish.


title: Alf Ramsey

paragraphs: (Sir) Alf Ramsey (22 January 1920 - 28 April 1999) was an English footballer and football manager. He was born in 1920 and played for Southampton F.C. and Tottenham Hotspur F.C. He also played for the England national football team 32 times and scored three goals. Alf Ramsey was in charge of Ipswich Town F.C. for nearly ten years, Ipswich are the only team to win the First Division title in their first season in the top division. Ramsey then became manager of the England team. He was manager when England beat Germany 4–2 in the World Cup final at Wembley Stadium. He is the only England manager to win a World Cup.

paragraphs: In recognition of his achievement in leading England to victory in the World Cup Alf Ramsey was knighted in 1967.

paragraphs: In tribute to Ramsey, Ipswich Town F.C. commissioned a life-size statue of him which is positioned directly in front of Portman Road (home ground of Ipswich Town F.C.).


title: Qom Province

paragraphs: Qom is one of the 30 provinces of Iran with an area 11,237 km². About 2 million people live in the Qom Province. The capital of the province is Qom.

paragraphs: The following lists some of the sights of the Qom Province of Iran that are the most visited:


title: Qom County

paragraphs: Qom County (Persian: قم) is a county of the Qom Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Qom.


title: Markazi Province

paragraphs: Markazi (Persian: استان مرکزی) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. The word "markazi" means "central" in Persian. There are about 1,350,000 people living in the Markazi Province currently.

paragraphs: Some of the biggest cities of the province are: Saveh, Arak, Mahallat, Khomein, Delijan, Tafresh, Ashtian, and Shazand.

paragraphs: The Markazi Province is split into 10 different counties:


title: Ashtian County

paragraphs: Ashtian County () is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Ashtian.


title: Arak County

paragraphs: Arak County () is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Arak.


title: Delijan County

paragraphs: Delijan County () is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Delijan.


title: Khomein County

paragraphs: Khomein County () is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Khomein.


title: Komeijan County

paragraphs: Komeijan County () is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Komeijan.


title: Mahallat County

paragraphs: Mahallat County (Persian: شهرستان محلات) is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Mahallat.


title: Saveh County

paragraphs: Saveh County (Persian: شهرستان ساوه) is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Saveh.


title: Shazand County

paragraphs: Shazand (Persian: شهرستان شازند) is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Shazand.


title: Tafresh County

paragraphs: Tafresh County (Persian: شهرستان تفرش) is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Tafresh.


title: Zarandieh County

paragraphs: Zarandieh County () is a county of the Markazi Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Zarandieh.


title: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

paragraphs: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction movie directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It follows the eponymous alien, who is stranded on Earth. A boy and his family keep it hidden from the group of government agents, while bringing it home. "E.T." became the highest-grossing movie of all time, a record it held for ten years. It did better than "".

paragraphs: Having worked with Cary Guffey on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", Spielberg felt confident in working with a cast of mostly child actors.

paragraphs: The major voice work for E.T. was Pat Welsh, an elderly woman who lived in Marin County, California. Welsh smoked two packets of cigarettes a day, which gave her voice a quality that sound effects creator Ben Burtt liked. Burtt also recorded 16 other people and various animals to create E.T.'s "voice". These included Spielberg; Debra Winger; Burtt's sleeping wife, who had a cold; a burp from his USC movie professor; and raccoons, sea otters, and horses.

paragraphs: Doctors working at the USC Medical Center were recruited to play the doctors who try to save E.T. Spielberg felt that actors in the roles, performing lines of medical talking, would come across as unnatural.

paragraphs: The movie was first shown at the closing gala of the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. It started in the United States on June 11, 1982. It opened at number one with a gross of $11 million. The movie was re-released in 1985 and 2002.

paragraphs: On September 17, 1982, the movie was shown at the United Nations, and Spielberg received the U.N. Peace Medal.

paragraphs: The movie was nominated for nine Oscars at the 55th Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It won four Academy Awards: Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects. At the Golden Globes, the movie won Best Picture in the Drama category and Best Score; it was also nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best New Male Star for Henry Thomas. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded the movie Best Picture, Best Director, and a "New Generation Award" for Melissa Mathison. The movie won Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Writing, Best Special Effects, Best Music, and Best Poster Art, while Henry Thomas, Robert McNaughton, and Drew Barrymore won Young Artist Awards. Composer John Williams won a Grammy and a BAFTA for the score. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.

paragraphs: In 1994, "E.T." was selected to keep in the U.S. National Film Registry.


title: Alex Ferguson

paragraphs: Sir Alex Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a retired Scottish football manager. He has managed Manchester United, Aberdeen and St. Mirren. He was born in 1941 and has won more trophies than anyone else in the history of English football. Sir Alex Ferguson is most commonly known for being runner up in manager of the year 2010. He came second behind John Burgess of Cuffley FC.


title: Tocharians

paragraphs: The Tocharians were an ancient people who lived in the Tarim Basin. They spoke an Indo-European language. The region they live in was closer to the Far East than that of any other Indo-European-speaking regions.