Flemish Region

The Flemish Region (, ; ; ), usually simply referred to as Flanders ( ; ; ), is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. It occupies the northern part of Belgium and covers an area of (44.4% of Belgium). It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around .
The Flemish Region should not be confused with the Flemish Community: the latter encompasses both the inhabitants of the Flemish Region and the Dutch-speaking minority living in the Brussels-Capital Region.
Politics.
Immediately after its establishment in 1980, the region transferred all its constitutional competencies to the Flemish Community. Thus, the current Flemish authorities (Flemish Parliament and Flemish Government) represent all the Flemish people, including those living in the Brussels-Capital Region. Hence, the Flemish Region is governed by the Flemish Community institutions. However, members of the Flemish Community parliament elected in the Brussels-Capital Region have no right to vote on Flemish regional affairs.
Administrative divisions.
The Flemish Region comprises five provinces, each consisting of administrative arrondissements that, in turn, contain municipalities (in total 300 municipalities in Flanders).
The seat of the Flemish parliament is located in Brussels, which is an enclave withinbut not part ofthe Flemish region, being specified that the Brussels-Capital Region is established as an administrative region of Belgium in its own right. In contrast, the Walloon parliament has established its parliament in the territory of Wallonia, specifically in the city of Namur, Namur Province.
Both the Flemish Community (which is a different entity from the Flemish Region) and French Community (which is a different entity from Wallonia) have jurisdiction over the area of the Brussels-Capital Region. Consequently, these constituent constitutional linguistic communities, unlike their somewhat related regions, do not have a defined number of inhabitants. Both of these communities have their institutions in Brussels.
Economy.
Flanders is home to a diversified modern economy, with emphasis put on research and development. Many enterprises work closely with local knowledge and research centres to develop new products and services. The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 269.9 billion € in 2018, accounting for 59% of Belgiums economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 36,300 € or 136% of the EU27 average in the same year.
Transport.
"De Lijn" serves as the main public transport company, run by the Flemish government. It consists of buses and trams. TEC is the equivalent company in Wallonia, and MIVB-STIB in Brussels. The railway network run by the NMBS, however, is a federal responsibility.
The Flemish government is also responsible for about 500 kilometers of regional roads (Dutch: "gewestwegen") and about 900 kilometers of highways in the territory of the Flemish Region. Other types of roads are provincial roads and municipal roads.
Demographics.
Cities.
Largest cities in the region include (with population figures as of 1 January 2018):
The Flemish Diamond (Dutch: "Vlaamse Ruit") is the name of the central, populous area in Flanders and consists of several of these cities, such as Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen. Approximately 5,500,000 people live in the area.
Language.
The official language of the Flemish Region is Dutch. The dialect cluster spoken in the region is sometimes colloquially referred to as Flemish ("Vlaams"), Flemish Dutch ("Vlaams-Nederlands"), Belgian Dutch ("Belgisch-Nederlands"), or Southern Dutch ("Zuid-Nederlands"). Spelling and grammar are regulated by a single authority, the Dutch Language Union ("Nederlandse Taalunie"), comprising a committee of ministers of the Flemish and Dutch governments, their advisory council of appointed experts, a controlling commission of 22 parliamentarians, and a secretariat. The term Flemish can be applied to the Dutch spoken in Flanders; it shows many regional and local variations. The main dialect groups include West Flemish, East Flemish, Brabantian and Limburgish.
French (specifically Belgian French) may also be used in the Flemish Region for certain administrative purposes in a limited number of the so-called "municipalities with language facilities" around the Brussels-Capital Region and on the border with Wallonia. These "rim municipalities" around Brussels are Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel and Wezembeek-Oppem. Brussels was originally a Dutch-speaking city (Brabantian dialect to be exact), but it was francised in the 19th and 20th centuries and is now officially bilingual in French and Dutch (although largely French-speaking in practice). Municipalities with language facilities on the border with Wallonia are Bever (French: "Biévène"), Herstappe, Mesen (French: "Messines"), Ronse (French: "Renaix"), Spiere-Helkijn (French: "Espierres-Helchin"), and Voeren (French: "Fourons").
Religion.
According to a 2016 survey by the Free University of Brussels, 63% of Flemish citizens are Roman Catholic, 2% are Protestant, 26% have not religion, while 2% have other religions.


Uusimaa

Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. "new land") is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, along with the surrounding Greater Helsinki area, are both contained in the region, and Uusimaa is Finland's most populous region. The population of Uusimaa is 1,703,649.
History.
The place name of Nuuksio derives from Sami word "njukča" which means "Swan." Later Finns proper and Tavastians inhabited the area. Some place names have traces of Tavastian village names, like Konala which likely derives from older Tavastian village name "Konhola". Estonians inhabited the region to a smaller extent, specifically for seasonal fishing.
Swedish colonisation of coastal Uusimaa started after the second crusade to Finland in the 13th century. The colonisation was part of converting pagan areas to Catholicism. Eastern Uusimaa had its first Christian Swedish colonialists earlier than the western part, which got its colonialists in one mass transfer of people to Porvoo in the 14th century. The colonisation was supported by the Swedish kingdom and the immigrants were provided with grain seeds and cattle. They also got a four-year tax exemption from the crown. All the Swedish placenames of Uusimaa date back to this period.
The names "Uusimaa" and "Nyland" meaning “new land” in English derives from the Swedish colonisation era. The Swedish-language name "Nyland" appears in the documents from the 14th century. The Finnish-language name "Uusimaa" appears for the first time in 1548 as "Wsimaa" in the first translation of the New Testament to Finnish by Mikael Agricola. Much of Uusimaa is literally new - it has risen off Baltic sea due to post-glacial rebound.
The Finnish provinces were ceded to Imperial Russia in the War of Finland in 1809. After this, Uusimaa became the Province of Uusimaa in the old lääni system. From 1997 to 2010, Uusimaa was a part of the Province of Southern Finland. In 1994 it was divided into the regions of Uusimaa and Eastern Uusimaa, but in 2011 the two regions were merged as Uusimaa.
March 28, 2020, Uusimaa was isolated from the rest of Finland due to the worst coronavirus outbreak in the region.
Economy.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 91.2 billion € in 2018, accounting for 38.9% of Finnish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 43,500 € or 144% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 120% of the EU average.
Languages.
Uusimaa is a bilingual region, with municipalities both bilingual in Finnish and Swedish, and monolingual in Finnish. Uusimaa's coastal areas tend to be Swedish-speaking. The traditional regional dialects of Swedish "(nyländska)" are currentlymostly spoken in Eastern Uusimaa, while in the rest of the Uusimaa Swedish dialect has become more standardised.
The Finnish-speaking population started to grow when the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland was moved from Turku to Helsinki by Emperor of Russia Alexander I in 1812, and the region attracted settlers from other parts of Finland. Helsinki's slang first evolved in the late 19th century. 8,5% of population of the region speak the Swedish language natively.
Regional council.
The regional council is the main governing body for region and focuses primarily on urban planning. Like all regional councils, it is mandated by law.
Municipalities.
The region of Uusimaa is made up of 26 municipalities, of which 13 have city status (marked in bold).
Helsinki Sub-region:
Raseborg Sub-region:
Loviisa Sub-region:
Porvoo Sub-region:
Media.
Newspapers.
The largest subscription newspapers published in the region are "Helsingin Sanomat" and "Hufvudstadsbladet" in Helsinki, "Aamuposti" in Hyvinkää, "Länsi-Uusimaa" in Lohja, "Loviisan Sanomat" and "Östra Nyland" in Loviisa, "Uusimaa" and "Borgåbladet" in Porvoo, "Västra Nyland" in Raseborg, and "Keski-Uusimaa" in Tuusula. Also two popular tabloid newspapers, "Iltalehti" and "Ilta-Sanomat", are published there.
Radio stations.
Yle's local radio stations in the western part of the region are Finnish-language Ylen läntinen and Swedish-language Yle Vega Västnyland, in the Capital Region Finnish-language Yle Radio Suomi Helsinki and Swedish-language Yle Vega Huvudstadsregionen, and in the eastern part Finnish-language Yle Radio Itä-Uusimaa and Swedish-language Yle Vega Östnyland.
Politics.
Results of the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election in Uusimaa (consisting of two constituencies, named Helsinki and Uusimaa):
Heraldry.
The coat of arms of the province is "Azure, a boat Or between two fesses wavy Argent" (a golden boat which is a symbol for the coastal areas, and two silver wavy fesses which are the symbol for rivers.)
Uusimaa received its coat of arms at the end of the 16th century. There is an image of the coat of arms made in 1599. In 1997, the traditional coat of arms became the official coat of arms of the region.


List of Romanian counties by GDP

This is a list of the 41 Romanian counties, and one city with special status (Bucharest, the national capital) by GDP and GDP per capita. The equivalent countries which are comparable to the Romanian counties in GDP are chosen by Worldbank data for the same year.
List of counties by GDP.
Counties by GDP in 2015 according to data by the OECD.
List of counties by GDP per capita.
Counties by GDP per capita in 2015 according to data by the OECD.


Regions of Finland

Finland is divided into 19 regions (; ) The regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. The main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition, the public health services are usually organized on the basis of regions. Currently, the only region where a popular election is held for the council is Kainuu. Other regional councils are elected by municipal councils, each municipality sending representatives in proportion to its population.
Åland.
One region, Åland has a special status and has a much higher degree of autonomy than the others, with its own Parliament and local laws, due to its unique history and the fact that the overwhelming majority of its people are Finland Swedes. The sole language of Åland is Swedish/Finland Swedish, unlike the rest of the country where Finnish and Swedish share official status. It has its own elected head of government who carries the title of Premier and heads the Lantrad, the regional executive. Most powers that would be exercised by the Government of Finland on the mainland are instead exercised by Åland-specific authorities which execute independent policy in most areas. The Åland islanders elect a single representative to the national legislature, while the Government of Finland appoints a Governor to represent the national government on Åland. Åland is a demilitarised zone and Åland islanders are exempt from conscription.
Representation of the state.
In addition to inter-municipal cooperation, which is the responsibility of regional councils, there are 15 Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (Finnish: "elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus", abbreviated "ely-keskus"), which is responsible for the local administration of labour, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and entrepreneurial affairs. They are each responsible for one or more of regions of Finland, and include offices of the Ministries of Employment and the Economy, Transport and Communications and Environment. The Finnish Defence Forces regional offices are responsible for the regional defence preparations and for the administration of conscription within the region.


Province of Cosenza

The province of Cosenza () is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Cosenza. It contains 150 "comuni", listed at list of communes of the Province of Cosenza.
The province of Cosenza contains a community of Occitan language (also known as Langue d'oc) speakers in Guardia Piemontese: it was formed by Vaudoi or Waldensian movement members, who moved to Cosenza to avoid religious persecution, in the 13th and 14th centuries. Many of the Arbëreshë Albanians of Italy live in the province, since arriving in the 16th century to flee the religious persecution undertaken by the Ottoman Empire.
History.
The first traces of human settlement in the area date from the early Palaeolithic period. These sites include the Romito Cave at Papasidero, including wall paintings of bovidae.
Cosenza began as a settlement of the Italic Bruttii tribe, and became their capital before the Romans invaded the area. The town was conquered by the Romans in 204 BC and was named Cosentia. Starting from the 8th century BC, the current provincial area became part of the so-called Greater Greece. Greek cities, including Sibari and Pandosia, were mostly located on the coastal area and at the foot of the Pollino massif.
King of the Visigoths Alaric I conquered the region during the later stages of the Western Roman Empire and according to legend, Alaric I is buried in Cosenza along with a large treasure hoard. Later Cosenza fell under the rule of the Byzantine Empire for a brief period of time, before being conquered by the Lombards, as part of the Duchy of Benevento. Roger II of Sicily made it the capital of Terra Giordana in the 12th century.
In Modern times, as part of the Kingdom of Naples and later of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, the province remained mostly a rural area devoted to agriculture and animal husbandry. Feudalism was abolished only in the 19th century. The area was also seat to several forms of brigandage during the centuries.
External links.
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County Waterford

County Waterford () is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. Waterford City and County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county at large, including the city, was 116,176 according to the 2016 census. The county is based on the historic Gaelic territory of the "Déise". There is an Irish-speaking area, "Gaeltacht na nDéise", in the south-west of the county.
Geography and political subdivisions.
County Waterford has two mountain ranges, the Knockmealdown Mountains and the Comeragh Mountains. The highest point in the county is Knockmealdown, at . It also has many rivers, including Ireland's third longest river, the River Suir (); and Ireland's fourth longest river, the Munster Blackwater (). There are over 30 beaches along Waterford's volcanic coast line. A large stretch of this coastline, known as the Copper Coast has been designated as a UNESCO Geopark, a place of great geological importance. To the west of Dungarvan is the Déise Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking region comprising the areas of Ring, County Waterford and Old Parish.
Waterford City is the county seat, prior to the merger of the 2 Waterford authorities in June 2014 Dungarvan was the county seat for Waterford County Council.
Baronies.
There are eight historic baronies in the county: Coshmore and Coshbride, Decies-within-Drum, Decies-without-Drum, Gaultiere, Glenahiry, Middlethird, Upperthird and Waterford City.
History.
County Waterford is colloquially known as "The Déise", pronounced "day-shih" or, in Irish, /dʲe:ʃʲɪ/ (). Some time between the 4th and 8th centuries, an Irish tribe called the Déisi were driven from southern county Meath/north Kildare and moved into the Waterford region, conquering and settling there. The ancient principality of the Déise is today roughly coterminous with the current Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore thus including part of south County Tipperary.
The westernmost of the baronies are "Decies within Drum" and "Decies without Drum", separated by the Drum-Fineen hills.
There are many megalithic tombs and ogham stones in the county. The Viking influence can still be seen with Reginald's Tower, one of the first buildings to use a brick and mortar construction method in Ireland. Woodstown, a settlement dating to the 9th century was discovered 5.5 kilometres west of Waterford city. It was the largest settlement outside Scandinavia and the only large-scale 9th-century Viking settlement discovered to date in Western Europe. Other architectural features are products of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland and its effects.
Local government and politics.
As of 1 June 2014, Waterford City and County Council is the local government authority for Waterford. The authority was formed following the merger of Waterford City Council and Waterford County Council. The merger occurred following the Local Government Reform Act 2014. Each local authority ranks equally as first level local administrative units of the NUTS 3 South-East Region for Eurostat purposes. There are 31 LAU 1 entities in the Republic of Ireland. The local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and real-estate development, libraries, the collection of automobile taxation, local roads and social housing.
The county is part of the South constituency for the purposes of European elections. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is part of two constituencies: Waterford and Tipperary South. Together they return 7 deputies (TDs) to the Dáil. The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009 defines the Waterford constituency as "The county of Waterford, except the part thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Tipperary South; and the city of Waterford."
Gaeltacht.
 is a Gaeltacht area in Co. Waterford consisting of the parish of ' and '. ' is located 10 km from the town of Dungarvan, has a population of 1,816 people (Census 2016) and encompasses a geographical area of 62 km2. According to Census 2016 the percentage of daily Irish speakers in ' was 45.6%.


Larnaca District

Larnaca District (, ) is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its capital is Larnaca. It is bordered on the east by Famagusta District, on the north by Nicosia District and on the west by Limassol District.
A small part of the district was occupied by the Turkish army in 1974, and most of the occupied part is now "de facto" administered as part of Northern Cyprus's Lefkoşa District, with the remaining area near Pergamos being "de facto" administered by the Gazimağusa District.
The communities of Melouseia, Tremetousia and Arsos lie in the occupied zone, while the municipal/community areas of Athienou, Troulloi and Pergamos are partially occupied.
Located in the district are Larnaca International Airport, the island's primary airport, and the Hala Sultan Tekke and the towns of Larnaca, Aradippou, Athienou and Lefkara.
In 2011, Larnaca District had a population of 143,192, of which 59% was urban.
History.
During Turkish rule, Larnaca was one of the six cazas into which the island was divided. Cazas were subdivided into nahiehs, but in the case of Larnaca there was only one, which was coterminous with the caza.
The caza was headed by a Kaimakan. When the British took control of Cyprus in 1878, these administrative units were retained. A British officer styled a Commissioner (later District Officer) was appointed for the caza of Larnaca, while the Turkish Kaimakan was initially retained with certain of his functions.
Some northern parts of the present District were at that time included in Famagusta District, namely Arsos, Athienou, Melousia, Troulli, Tremetousia and Pergamos. At the first British Census Larnaca District (i.e. both the caza and nahieh) had a population of 20,766. By 1891 Athienou had been moved to Nicosia District, while the other villages were later moved to Larnaca District. Athienou was united to Larnaca District in the 1920s.
Settlements.
According to "Statistical Codes of Municipalities, Communities and Quarters of Cyprus" per the Statistical Service of Cyprus (2015), Larnaca District has 6 municipalities and 53 communities. Municipalities are written with bold.


Walloon language

Walloon (; natively ) is a Romance language that is spoken in much of Wallonia and (to small extent) in Brussels, Belgium; some villages near Givet, northern France; a clutch of communities in northeastern Wisconsin, U.S.; and in some parts of Canada. It belongs to the "langue d'oïl" language family, the most prominent member of which is the French language. The historical background of its formation was the territorial extension since 980 of the Principality of Liège to the south and west.
Despite its rich literature, beginning anonymously in the 16th century and with well-known authors since 1756, the use of Walloon has decreased markedly since France's annexation of Wallonia in 1795. This period definitively established French as the language of social promotion, far more than it was before. After World War I, public schools provided French-speaking education to all children, inducing a denigration of Walloon, especially when accompanied by official orders in 1952 to punish its use in schools. Subsequently, since the middle of the 20th century, generational transmission of the language has decreased, resulting in Walloon almost becoming a dead language. Today it is scarcely spoken among younger people, with vast majority of its native speakers being the elderly (aged 65 and over). In 2007, the number of people with knowledge of the language was estimated at 600,000.
Numerous associations, especially theatre companies, are working to keep the language alive. Formally recognized as a "" (regional indigenous language) of Belgium since 1990, Walloon has also benefited from a continued corpus planning process. The "Feller system" (1900) regularized transcription of the different accents. Since the 1990s, a common orthography was established (the ), which allowed large-scale publications, such as the officially in 2003. In 2004, a Walloon translation of a "Tintin" comic was released under the name "L'èmerôde d'al Castafiore"; in 2007 an album consisting of Gaston Lagaffe comic strips was published in Walloon.
Walloon is more distinct as a language than Belgian French, which differs from the French spoken in France only in some minor points of vocabulary and pronunciation.
Disputed nature of Walloon.
Linguists had long classified Walloon as a dialect of French, which in turn is a "". Like French, it descended from Vulgar Latin. Arguing that a French-speaking person could not understand Walloon easily, especially in its eastern forms, Jules Feller (1859–1940) insisted that Walloon had an original "superior unity", which made it a language.
The phonological divisions of regional languages of southern Belgium were studied by the contemporary linguist E.B. Atwood. He defined the precise geographical repartition of the four chief dialects of Walloon. In addition, he defined them against the dialects of Picard, Lorrain and Champenois.
Since then, most linguists (among them Louis Remacle), and gradually also Walloon politicians, regard Walloon as a regional language, the first in importance in Wallonia. It is the only one to have originated from that part of Belgium. The eleventh edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" identified Walloon as the "northernmost Romance language".
Geographic distribution.
Walloon.
Walloon is spoken in the Wallonia Region in Belgium. In addition, it is spoken in:
Although Walloon was widely spoken until the mid-20th century, today only a small proportion of the inhabitants of the region are fluent in the language. Those born since the 1970s usually know little more than a few idiomatic expressions, often profanities. The Walloon language is still part of the Walloon heritage; it is one component of Walloon identity.
Dialects.
Four dialects of Walloon developed in four distinct zones of Wallonia:
Despite local phonetic differences, there is a regional movement towards the adoption of a common spelling, called the . This orthography is diasystemic, reflecting different pronunciations for different readers, a concept inspired by the spelling of Breton. The written forms attempt to reconcile current phonetic uses with ancient traditions (notably the reintroduction of "xh" and "oi" that were used for writing Walloon until the late 19th century) and the language's own phonological logic.
Other regional languages.
Other regional languages spoken in Wallonia, outside the Walloon domain, are:
The Picard, Lorrain and Champenois dialects spoken in Wallonia are sometimes also referred to as "Walloon", which may lead to confusion.
Characteristics.
Language family.
Walloon is distinguished from other languages in the "langue d'oïl" family both by archaism coming from Latin and by its significant borrowing from Germanic languages, as expressed in its phonetics, its lexicon, and its grammar. At the same time, Walloon phonetics are singularly conservative: the language has stayed fairly close to the form it took during the High Middle Ages.
History.
From a linguistic point of view, Louis Remacle has shown that a good number of the developments that we now consider typical of Walloon appeared between the 8th and 12th centuries. Walloon "had a clearly defined identity from the beginning of the 13th century". In any case, linguistic texts from the time do not mention the language, although they mention others in the "langue d'oïl" family, such as Picard and Lorrain. During the 15th century, scribes in the region called the language "Roman" when they needed to distinguish it. It is not until the beginning of the 16th century that first occurrence of the word "Walloon" appeared in the current linguistic sense. In 1510 or 1511, Jean Lemaire de Belges made the connection between ' to ':
The word "Walloon" thus came closer to its current meaning: the vernacular of the Roman part of the Low Countries. One might say that the period which saw the establishment of the unifying supremacy of the Burgundians in the Walloon country was a turning-point in their linguistic history. The crystallization of a Walloon identity, as opposed to that of the "" (i.e. Dutch-speaking) regions of the Low Countries, established "Walloon" as a word for designating its people. Somewhat later, the vernacular of these people became more clearly distinct from central French and other neighbouring "langues d'oïl", prompting the abandonment of the vague term "Roman" as a linguistic, ethnic, and political designator for "Walloon".
Also at this time, following the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539, the French language replaced Latin for all administrative purposes in France. Established as the academic language, French became the object of a political effort at normalization; "" posited the view that when two languages of the same language family coexist, each can be defined only in opposition to the other. Around the year 1600, the French writing system became dominant in the Wallonia. From this time, too, dates a tradition of texts written in a language marked by traces of spoken Walloon. The written language of the preceding centuries, "scripta", was a composite language with some Walloon characteristics but it did not attempt to be a systematic reproduction of the spoken language.
Walloon society and culture.
Walloon was the predominant language of the Walloon people until the beginning of the 20th century, although they had a passing knowledge of French. Since that time, the use of French has spread to the extent that now only 15% of the Walloon population speak their ancestral language. Breaking the statistics down by age, 70–80% of the population aged over 60 speak Walloon, while only about 10% of those under 30 do so. Passing knowledge of Walloon is much more widespread: claimed by some 36–58% of the younger age bracket. Laurent Hendschel estimates there are 1,300,000 bilingual people in Wallonia (Walloon-French, Picard-French...). Many French words that pertain to mining and to the textile trade derive from the Walloon-Picard complex.
Legally, Walloon has been recognized since 1990 by the French Community of Belgium, the cultural authority of Wallonia, as an "indigenous regional language" which must be studied in schools and encouraged. The Walloon cultural movement includes the "Union Culturelle Wallonne", an organization of over 200 amateur theatre circles, writers' groups, and school councils. About a dozen Walloon magazines publish regularly. The "", founded in 1856, promotes Walloon literature and the study (dialectology, etymology, etc.) of the regional Roman languages of Wallonia. There is a difference between the Walloon culture, according to the Manifesto for Walloon culture, and the Walloon language (even if the latter is a part of the culture).
Literature.
Walloon-language literature has been printed since the 16th century, or at least since the beginning of the 17th century. It had its "golden age" during the peak of the Flemish immigration to Wallonia in the 19th century: "That period saw an efflorescence of Walloon literature, plays and poems primarily, and the founding of many theaters and periodicals."
The New York Public Library holds a large collection of literary works in Walloon, quite possibly the largest outside Belgium, and its holdings are representative of the output. Out of nearly a thousand works, twenty-six were published before 1880. Thereafter the numbers rise gradually year by year, reaching a peak of sixty-nine in 1903. After that, publications in Walloon fell markedly, to eleven in 1913. Yves Quairiaux counted 4800 plays for 1860–1914, published or not. In this period, plays were almost the only popular entertainment in Wallonia. The Walloon-language theatre remains popular in the region; theatre is flourishing with more than 200 non-professional companies playing in the cities and villages of Wallonia for an audience of over 200,000 each year.
During the 19th-century renaissance of Walloon-language literature, several authors adapted versions of "Aesop's Fables" to the racy speech (and subject matter) of Liège. They included (in 1842); Joseph Lamaye (1845); and the team of (1847, 1851-2) and François Bailleux (1851–66), who covered books I-VI. Adaptations into other dialects were made by Charles Letellier (Mons, 1842) and Charles Wérotte (Namur, 1844). Decades later, Léon Bernus published some hundred imitations of La Fontaine in the dialect of "Charleroi" (1872); he was followed during the 1880s by , writing in the "Borinage" dialect under the pen-name "Bosquètia". In the 20th century, Joseph Houziaux (1946) published a selection of 50 fables in the "Condroz" dialect. The motive among Walloon speakers in both France and Belgium was to assert regional identity against the growing centralism and encroachment of the language of the capital, on what had until then been predominantly monoglot areas.
There are links between French literature and Walloon literature. For instance, the writer Raymond Queneau set the publication of a Walloon Poets' anthology for Editions Gallimard. "Ubu roi" was translated into Walloon by André Blavier, an important 'pataphysician of Verviers, and friend of Queneau, for the new and important Puppet theater of Liège of Jacques Ancion. The Al Botroûle theater operated "as the umbilical cord" in Walloon, indicating a desire to return to the source. Jacques Ancion also wanted to develop a regular adult audience. "From the 19th century he included the Walloon play "Tati l'Pèriquî" by E. Remouchamps and the avant-garde "Ubu roi" by A. Jarry." The scholar Jean-Marie Klinkenberg writes, "[T]he dialectal culture is no more a sign of attachment to the past but a way to participate to a new synthesis".
Walloon is also being used in popular song. The most well-known singer in Walloon in present-day Wallonia is William Dunker ( 15 March 1959).


Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship or Warmia-Masuria Province or Warmia-Mazury Province (in , is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The voivodeship has an area of and a population of 1,425,967 (as of 2019).
The Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship was created on January 1, 1999, from the entire Olsztyn Voivodeship, the western half of Suwałki Voivodeship and part of Elbląg Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name derives from two historic regions, Warmia and Masuria.
The province borders the Podlaskie Voivodeship to the east, the Masovian Voivodeship to the south, the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship to the south-west, the Pomeranian Voivodeship to the west, the Vistula Lagoon to the northwest, and the Kaliningrad Oblast (an exclave of Russia) to the north. Its borders largely overlap with the southern two-thirds of former East Prussia, which was assigned to Poland after World War II.
History.
The region was originally inhabited by the Old Prussian clan of the Warmians from whom the name Warmia originated. During the northern Crusade, the Old Prussians were conquered by the Teutonic Order and their land was granted to the order by the pope and the region became part of the State of the Teutonic Order. The Order encouraged the colonization by German settlers in Warmia (Ostsiedlung) and Polish colonists from the region of Masovia, called Masurians ("Mazurzy"), hence the name Masuria. The Old Prussians became assimilated into the newcomers and thus became extinct.
During the Teutonic rule, the region experienced a process of urbanization and economic boost due to the expansion of the Hanseatic League into the region. The Order later attacked their former ally Poland and conquered the region of Pomerelia, thus entered a long-lasting conflict with Poland, which subsequently entered an alliance with Lithuania. In Masuria, the Poles and Lithuanians defeated the Order at the Battle of Grunwald. The wars finally resulted in a rebellion of the urban population of Pomerelia and Warmia, who were affected by the Teuton's numerous wars; upon their request the region was incorporated to Poland by King Casimir IV Jagiellon, and after the Thirteen Years' War it remained under Polish suzerainty, but was divided into two parts: Elbląg and Warmia were incorporated directly into the Kingdom of Poland, Masuria became a Polish fief under the control of the Teutonic Order.
The state of the Teutonic Order ceased to exist in 1525 when Grandmaster Albert Hohenzollern introduced secularisation, proclaimed the Duchy of Prussia and became a vassal of Sigismund I of Poland. The Prussian line of Hohenzollern was extinct by 1618 with the death of Albert Frederick and the Duchy was inherited by the Brandenburgian line; Prussia simultaneously entered a personal union with the electorate of Brandenburg known as Brandenburg-Prussia, remaining under Polish suzerainty until the Treaty of Oliva in 1660. The throne was inherited by Frederick I of Prussia who wanted to unite the Duchy with Brandenburg and also wanted to proclaim himself king of Prussia and therefore participated in the Russian-initiated Partitions of Poland in which Warmia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, and henceforth became part of the newly established province of East Prussia until 1945. Together with the rest of the Kingdom, the region became part of the North German Confederation, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and Nazi Germany. After the end of World War II, both the German as well as the Slavic Masurian population were expelled by the Polish government. In 1914, the province turned into a battlefield, seeing notable battles such as the Battle of Tannenberg as part of the Eastern Front of World War I.
Amongst the most visited sights is the Masurian Lake District, which contains more than 2,000 lakes, including the largest lakes of Poland, Śniardwy and Mamry. Other recognizable landmarks are the Warmian castles (Lidzbark Warmiński Castle, Pieniężno Castle, Olsztyn Castle) and the Cathedral Hill in Frombork, where Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus lived and worked. The Lidzbark Warmiński Castle was later the residence of Ignacy Krasicki, nicknamed "the Prince of Polish Poets". The Grunwald battlefield in Masuria is site of the annual reenactment of one of the largest battles of Medieval Europe. Święta Lipka in Masuria and Gietrzwałd in Warmia are popular pilgrimage sites.
The Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship has the largest number of ethnic Ukrainians living in Poland due to forced relocations (such as Operation Vistula) carried out by the Soviet and Polish Communist authorities.
Ethnic and religious structure.
In year 1824, shortly before its merger with West Prussia, the population of East Prussia was 1,080,000 people. Of that number, according to Karl Andree, Germans were slightly more than half, while 280,000 (~26%) were ethnically Polish and 200,000 (~19%) were ethnically Lithuanian. As of year 1819 there were also 20,000 strong ethnic Kursenieki and Latvian minorities as well as 2,400 Jews, according to Georg Hassel. Similar numbers are given by August von Haxthausen in his 1839 book, with a breakdown by county. However, the majority of East Prussian Polish and Lithuanian inhabitants were Lutherans, not Roman Catholics like their ethnic kinsmen across the border in the Russian Empire. Only in Southern Warmia (German: Ermland) Catholic Poles - so called Warmiaks (not to be confused with predominantly Protestant Masurians) - comprised the majority of population, numbering 26,067 people (~81%) in county Allenstein (Polish: Olsztyn) in 1837. Another minority in 19th century East Prussia, were ethnically Russian Old Believers, also known as Philipponnen - their main town was Eckersdorf (Wojnowo).
In year 1817, East Prussia had 796,204 Evangelical Christians, 120,123 Roman Catholics, 864 Mennonites and 2,389 Jews.
Cities and towns.
The Voivodeship contains 50 cities and towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019):
Administrative division.
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship is divided into 21 counties (powiaty): 2 city counties and 19 land counties. These are further divided into 116 gminas.
The counties are listed in the following table (ordering within categories is by decreasing population).
Tourism.
Palaces and Gothic castles, former seats of the Teutonic Order, seats of chapter houses and bishops provide a number of attractions for tourists. Gothic churches such as the Archcathedral of Frombork and the collegiate church in Dobre Miasto, as well as churches in Orneta and Kętrzyn delight visitors with the uniqueness of their architectonic details. In collections of the Warmia and Mazury Museum in Olsztyn, visitors can find numerous tokens from the time when Nicolaus Copernicus lived in Warmia.
Protected areas.
Protected areas in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship include eight areas designated as Landscape Parks, as listed below:
The Łuknajno Lake nature reserve (part of Masurian Landscape Park) is a protected wetland site under the Ramsar convention, as well as being designated by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve.
International relations.
Twin towns – sister cities.
The Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship is twinned with:
Emoji flag.
Unicode consortium defined a way for software vendors to encode regional flags in their Emoji 5.0 standard in 2017. Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship flag would be represented as U+1F3F4, U+E0070, U+E006C, U+E0032, U+E0038, U+E007F, i.e. 🏴, somewhat based on the PL-28 code. Between the standard publication in 2017 and ISO 3166-2:PL update in 2018 the code was PL-WN, therefore the corresponding flag sequence would be U+1F3F4, U+E0070, U+E006C, U+E0077, U+E006E, U+E007F, i.e. 🏴.


Province of La Spezia

The Province of La Spezia () is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of La Spezia.
It has an area of and, , a total population of 220,225 inhabitants. There are 32 "communes" in the province (source: Italian institute of statistics "Istat"
In the province of La Spezia are the Cinque Terre, Portovenere and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also more in this area are the villages of Brugnato, Montemarcello, Tellaro and Varese Ligure, which were included in the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy. In addition, the Province of La Spezia is one of the institutions awarded with the Gold Medal for Military Valour for the sacrifices of its people and its activities in the partisan struggle during the Second World War.
Transportation.
Railways
The Province of La Spezia is very well connected to the whole Italian territory by the Italian Railways. Two main lines cross the territory: the "Tirrenica" line linking the province to Genoa and Rome, and the "Pontremolese" line that goes in the direction of Parma and Milano/Venezia. There are regular trains that connect the province with other italian cities, including: Turin, Palermo and Ventimiglia.
Airports
In the province there is the airport of Luni, which is used only by general aviation. The nearest airports with international and intercontinental connections are: the airport of Genova, Firenze-Pisa airport, and Milan Malpensa airport.
Motorways
There are two motorways that cross the territory. The A12 motorway which connects the province with Genoa and Livorno, and the A15 motorway, which connects La Spezia to Parma.


Rokycany District

Rokycany District () is a district ("okres") within Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is Rokycany.
Complete list of municipalities.
Bezděkov -
Břasy -
Březina -
Bujesily -
Bušovice -
Cekov -
Cheznovice -
Chlum -
Chomle -
Čilá -
Dobřív -
Drahoňův Újezd -
Ejpovice -
Hlohovice -
Holoubkov -
Hrádek -
Hradiště -
Hůrky -
Kakejcov -
Kamenec -
Kamenný Újezd -
Kařez -
Kařízek -
Klabava -
Kladruby -
Kornatice -
Lhota pod Radčem -
Lhotka u Radnic -
"Liblín" -
Líšná -
Litohlavy -
Medový Újezd -
Mešno -
Mirošov -
Mlečice -
Mýto -
Němčovice -
Nevid -
Osek -
Ostrovec-Lhotka -
Plískov -
Podmokly -
Příkosice -
Přívětice -
Radnice -
Raková -
Rokycany -
Sebečice -
Sirá -
Skomelno -
Skořice -
Smědčice -
Štítov -
Strašice -
Svojkovice -
Těně -
Terešov -
Těškov -
Trokavec -
Týček -
Újezd u Svatého Kříže -
Vejvanov -
Veselá -
Vísky -
Volduchy -
Všenice -
Zbiroh -
"Zvíkovec"


Herefordshire

Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire and Powys to the west.
Hereford is a cathedral city and is the county town; with a population of approximately 55,800 inhabitants it is also the largest settlement. Situated in the historic Welsh Marches, Herefordshire is one of the most rural and sparsely populated counties in England, with a population density of 82/km2 (212/sq mi), and a 2017 population of 191,000 - the fourth-smallest of any ceremonial county in England. The land use is mostly agricultural and the county is well known for its fruit and cider production, and for the Hereford cattle breed.
Constitution.
From 1974 to 1998, Herefordshire was part of the former non-metropolitan county of Hereford and Worcester.
Herefordshire was reconstituted both as a new district (effective 19 July 1996) and as a new county (coextensive with the area of the aforementioned district) (effective 1 April 1998) by Statutory Instrument as defined in "The Hereford and Worcester (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996". This Order established Herefordshire as a unitary authority on 1 April 1998, combining county and district functions into a single council. Herefordshire is also commonly called a "unitary district", but this is not official nomenclature. Herefordshire is officially known as a unitary authority for local government purposes. It is governed by Herefordshire Council which was created in 1998 with the new unitary district that absorbed the previous administrative areas of Leominster District Council, South Herefordshire District Council, Hereford City Council, parts of Hereford-Worcester County Council, and parts of Malvern Hills District Council.
The Lieutenancies Act 1997 made Herefordshire a ceremonial county, covering the exact area of the unitary district. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG11) and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region.
Physical geography.
The River Wye, which at is the fifth-longest in the United Kingdom, enters the county after briefly being its border with Powys. It flows through both Hereford and Ross-on-Wye before returning to Wales. Leominster is situated on the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye.
There are two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the county. The Wye Valley is located in the river's valleys south of Hereford, while the Malvern Hills are in the east of the county, along its border with Worcestershire.
History.
Herefordshire is one of the 39 Historic counties of England. Herefordshire County Council was created in 1889.
In 1974 the administrative county formed in 1889 was merged with that of neighbouring Worcestershire to form Hereford and Worcester. Within this, Herefordshire was covered by the local government districts of South Herefordshire, Hereford, and part of Malvern Hills and Leominster districts. However, the county was dissolved in 1998, resulting in the return of Herefordshire and Worcestershire as counties.
The current ceremonial county and unitary district have broadly the same borders as the historic county.
Demographics.
Population growth.
Herefordshire's growth rate has in recent decades been higher than the national average, with the population increasing by
14.4% between 1991 and 2011 – the population of England as a whole increased by only 10.0%. However this has been from a lower base, with only Northumberland and Cumbria having lower population densities than Herefordshire.
In the late 19th and early 20th century the population of the county declined steadily.
Ethnicity.
The population is White 98.2%, Asian 0.8%, Mixed 0.7%, Black 0.2%, Other 0.1%.
Travellers.
Gypsies and Travellers have historically been Herefordshire's largest minority ethnic group. They are made up of three main groups:
Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers fall within the definition of a minority ethnic group under the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000). They have contributed to the development of the county, for example through seasonal working in orchards. There were approximately 400 people (0.2%) within this minority group in the county at the 2011 Census.
Cities, towns and villages.
The major settlements in the county include Hereford, which is the county town and Herefordshire's only city, as well as the towns of Leominster, Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, Kington and Bromyard.
Economy.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Herefordshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
 includes hunting and forestry
 includes energy and construction
 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Many well-known cider producers are based in Herefordshire. These include Weston's cider of Much Marcle, and Bulmer's cider, from Hereford, which produces the UK market leader Strongbow.
Employment.
Most employment in Herefordshire is in agriculture, manufacturing and services. According to Herefordshire Council's online document "worklessness", 10% of people are unemployed in Herefordshire including out-of-work, homeless, ill and disabled and their carers. Cargill Meats and H. P. Bulmers are two of the largest private sector employers, with the Council and NHS being the largest public sector employers.
Politics.
Westminster Parliamentary.
There are two parliamentary constituencies in Herefordshire. , Bill Wiggin represents North Herefordshire and Jesse Norman represents Hereford and South Herefordshire. Both politicians are members of the Conservative Party.
Council.
The council operates a cabinet-style council and has been independently controlled since 2019. The chairman is Councillor Sebastian Bowen and the leader of the council is Councillor David Hitchiner.
The Cabinet Leader is appointed yearly by the full council of 53 councillors. The Cabinet Leader then picks their deputy and up to 8 other councillors to form the executive cabinet. Each cabinet member makes the decisions about the portfolio that they are allocated. Elections to the council are held every 4 years. Elections are conducted under the FPTP system with the 53 wards returning 1 councillor each. Elections have been held in 2000, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, with the next election due in 2023.
In the 2019 election, the Conservatives lost control of the Herefordshire Council.
Education.
Herefordshire has a comprehensive education system that also includes several independent schools. Most state secondary schools are for ages 11–16. Colleges of further and higher education in the county include Hereford College of Arts, Hereford College of Education, Hereford Sixth Form College, Herefordshire and Ludlow College and the Royal National College for the Blind.
Agriculture.
The agricultural economy has changed greatly in recent years within the county. The county is on the western edge of England which has been historically pastoral as opposed to the east which was more arable.
Beef.
Probably Hereford's most famous export is its Hereford beef cattle. Herefords are docile but extremely hardy creatures and these attributes have led to their proliferation across the world, particularly the US, Canada, South America and Australia. The breed is so gentle that a Hereford bull was used as the mascot for Hereford United Football Club for many years, led around the club's Edgar Street ground before major matches.
Fruit.
The county is famous for its apple and pear orchards, and its cider. There are many orchards around the county but not as many as there once were.
In the last few years, soft fruits such as strawberries have become a new and rapidly expanding area of the agricultural economy of the county. One of the main reasons for this was the introduction of the polytunnel or French tunnel. This allows the strawberries to be grown for a far longer season and with a higher quality (with no blemishes from the rain). The strawberries are mainly picked by Eastern European workers who come over for the season and often earn more money, more than they could working in their own country and with the bonus, for many of them, of learning or improving their English. The polytunnels have been a major issue in the county, as some people see them as a "blot on the landscape".
Although some polytunnel sites are illegal, Herefordshire Council has turned a blind eye in the belief that agriculture must be allowed to innovate; otherwise it will stagnate and the county will suffer.
Dairy.
Previously, most farms in the county had dairy cattle. Due to the cost of investing in new equipment, long hours, BSE, foot-and-mouth disease and mainly falling milk prices, the county's milk production has drastically reduced, with only a few farms still in dairy farming.
Potatoes.
The county is historically pastoral. The soils are mostly clay, meaning that large scale potato production was very difficult, as tractors were not powerful enough to pull the large machinery required to harvest the crop. Around the early 1990s new technology and more powerful machines overcame this problem. Potato production started to increase, fuelled by a few other key factors: The previously pastoral soils had not had potatoes grown in them; consequently they were not infected with eelworm ("Heterodera rostochiensis" and "Heterodera pallida"), which in the east of England had to be sprayed against weekly (a large cost). Also, the clay soil produced an unblemished potato of the highest grade. The intensive nature of the crop meant that potatoes could be grown viably on a given field in only one of every five years. Because potato growers always needed more land than they owned, they rented extra. This demand for rental fields came at a time when the rest of the industry was struggling and in serious decline. The potato farmers' rents of £300–500 per acre (as opposed to normally £80 per acre) were very helpful to many farmers in a difficult period.
Emblems.
Coat of arms.
Herefordshire County Council was granted a coat of arms on 28 February 1946. The arms became obsolete in 1974 on the abolition of the council, but were transferred to the present Herefordshire Council by Order in Council in 1997.
The arms are blazoned as follows:
"Gules on a fesse wavy between in chief a lion passant guardant argent and in base a Herefordshire bull's head caboshed proper, a bar wavy azure; and for a Crest on a wreath of the colours a demi lion rampant gules holding in the sinister claw a fleece or; and for Supporters, on the dexter side a lion guardant or gorged with a wreath of hops fructed proper and on the sinister a talbot argent gorged with a collar or charged with three apples proper."
The red colouring ("gules") of the shield is taken from the arms of the City of Hereford. The red colour also represents the red earth of Herefordshire. The silver and blue wave across the centre of the shield represents the River Wye. The lions that form parts of the arms, crest and supporters are also taken from Hereford's arms. The agricultural produce of Herefordshire is represented by the bull's head, fleece, hops and apples. The talbot dog comes from the heraldry of the Talbot family, Marcher Lords of Shrewsbury and also from that of Viscount Hereford.
The Latin motto is: "Pulchra terra Dei donum" ("This fair land is the gift of God").
County flower.
As part of a competition organised by the charity Plantlife to raise awareness of conservation issues, the public were asked to vote for "county flowers" that they felt best represented their county. Mistletoe was announced as the winning choice for Herefordshire in 2004. The emblem has no official status and has not been widely adopted. Herefordshire Council uses a logo consisting of a green apple.
Sport.
Perhaps the most famous sporting team in Herefordshire is Hereford United football club, who were members of the Football League and played at Edgar Street stadium in the city of Hereford. The club was founded in 1924 on the merger of two local teams – St Martin's and RAOC – and became members of the Birmingham Combination League. The club then made its way upwards to the Southern Football League, finally gaining election to the Football League in 1972 – the same year that the club famously defeated First Division side Newcastle United in an FA Cup tie. Two successive promotions saw the club reach the Second Division in 1978, but two successive relegations followed and saw the club side back into the Fourth Division. Despite being situated within England, the club has competed in the Welsh Cup on a number of occasions, winning the trophy in 1990. The club suffered relegation from the Football League in 1997 and fell into the Football Conference, not regaining its Football League status until 2006. The club then played in Football League Two – the fourth tier of English football – for six years before once again being relegated out of the Football League at the end of the 2011–12 season. The club was wound up in 2014. A new phoenix club, Hereford F.C. was set up competing in the Midland Football League Premier Division (9th tier) for its first season, 2015–16. The club lost to Morpeth Town at Wembley Stadium on 22 May 2016 in the final of the FA Vase.
Cricket is widely played within the county, and Herefordshire County Cricket Club compete in the Minor Counties Championship, having been elected in 1992 to take Durham's place, when that county joined the First-class structure. The leading club sides in Herefordshire are Brockhampton CC and Eastnor CC, who both compete in the Birmingham and District Premier League, the ECB accredited Premier League for cricket clubs in the West Midlands, and one of the strongest cricket leagues in England. Below that in the cricketing pyramid system 7 other leading Herefordshire clubs compete in the Worcestershire County Cricket League, with the remaining 25 or so cricket clubs within the county competing in the Marches League, or just playing Sunday or mid-week 'friendly' matches.
Transport.
Road.
The M50, one of the first motorways to be built in the United Kingdom, runs through the south of the county and, with the A40 dual carriageway, forms part of the major route linking South Wales with the West Midlands and the north of England. The A49 runs north–south through the county and is a strategic route between North and South Wales as well as catering for local traffic.
Railways.
The Welsh Marches Line also runs north–south with passenger trains operated by Transport for Wales offering links to Manchester as well as to North and South Wales. Hereford is the western end of the Cotswold Line which runs via Worcester with through services to Oxford and London Paddington (operated by Great Western Railway) and to Birmingham (operated by West Midlands Trains). The rural Heart of Wales Line linking Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales passes through the extreme north west of Herefordshire with stations at Knighton and Bucknell near the meeting point of the boundaries of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Powys. The majority of passengers between North and South Wales use the Marches line.
Former lines which are now closed were the Ledbury and Gloucester Railway; Ross & Monmouth Railway; Hereford to Hay-on-Wye; Pontrilas to Hay-on-Wye; Hay-on-Wye to Brecon; Leominster to New Radnor; Eardisley to Presteigne; and Leominster to Worcester via Bromyard. Part of the Titley Spur is opened annually by enthusiasts and a steam train is run along the track.
There has long been talk of a new station at Rotherwas, in the south of Hereford.
Air.
There are no airports with Scheduled air transport in Herefordshire. Birmingham Airport, Cardiff Airport and Bristol Airport are the nearest. The RailAir RailAir coach operated by First Berkshire & The Thames Valley provides connections to Heathrow Airport via Reading station or passengers can change at Reading station and then go all the way by train via Hayes & Harlington to Heathrow Airport.
Shobdon Aerodrome near Leominster is a centre for general aviation and gliding. Hot air ballooning is also popular with Eastnor Castle being one of the favourite launch sites in the area.
Waterways.
Historically, the rivers Wye, Teme and Lugg were navigable but the wide seasonal variations in water levels mean that few craft larger than canoes and coracles are now used. There are canoe centres at The Boat House, Glasbury-on-Wye (in Powys, Wales), the Hereford Youth Service and Kerne Bridge in Ross-on-Wye, as well as rowing clubs in Hereford and Ross-on-Wye.
The early 19th century saw the construction of two canals, The Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal and The Leominster & Stourport Canal but these were never successful and there are now few remains to be seen. The Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal is currently the subject a restoration project, which includes the construction of a new canal basin in Hereford city centre as part of the regeneration of the Edgar Street Grid. The project, however, is being undertaken by a small voluntary group and there is no expected date for any part of the canal to re-open for boating.


Vas County

Vas (, ; ; or , ) is an administrative county (comitatus or "megye") of Hungary. It was also one of the counties of the former Kingdom of Hungary. It is part of the Centrope Project.
Geography.
Vas county lies in western Hungary. It shares borders with Austria (Burgenland) and Slovenia (Mura Statistical Region) and the Hungarian counties Győr-Moson-Sopron, Veszprém and Zala. The capital of Vas county is Szombathely. Its area is 3,336 km².
History.
Vas is also the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in western Hungary, eastern Austria and eastern Slovenia. The capital of the county was Szombathely.
Vas county arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary.
In 1920, by the Treaty of Trianon the western part of the county became part of the new Austrian land Burgenland, and a smaller part in the southwest, known as Vendvidék became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed to Yugoslavia). In the Vendvidék in 1919 was founded an unrecognized state the Prekmurje Republic, alike in Burgenland the Lajtabánság. The remainder stayed in Hungary, as the present Hungarian county Vas. After World War II due to Communist reforms, a small part of former Sopron county went to Vas county, some villages north of Zalaegerszeg went to Zala county, and a small region west of Pápa went to Veszprém county.
Since 1991, when Slovenia became independent from Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavian part of former Vas county (around Murska Sobota) is part of Slovenia.
The Vas county is home to a small Slovene minority, which lives in the area between the town of Szentgotthárd and the Slovenian border (see Hungarian Slovenes).
Demographics.
In 2015, it had a population of 253,997 and the population density was 76/km².
Ethnicity.
Besides the Hungarian majority, the main minorities are the Croats (approx. 3,000), Roma (2,500), Germans (2,000) and Slovenes (1,500).
Total population (2011 census): 256,629
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 225 052 persons:
Approx. 39,000 persons in Vas County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
Religion.
Religious adherence in the county according to 2011 census:
Politics.
The Vas County Council, elected at the 2014 local government elections, is made up of 15 counselors, with the following party composition:
Municipalities.
Vas County has 1 urban county, 12 towns and 203 villages.


Rannu Parish

Rannu Parish was a rural municipality in Tartu County, Estonia. In 2017 it was merged into Elva Parish.