3 European Countries!
Ashley Norwood's...
My Chosen Countries
There are a waping 47countries in Europe! Of those 47, I chose the Russian Federation, Germany, and Turkey to research and report on. I chose the following because they are are the three largest populated Countries in Europe.
Russian Federation!
- Russia has a Federal republic, Semi-presidential system, Constitutional republic Government System.
- Vladimir Putin is the current Russian president and leader.
- The Russian government is limited.
- Russia is not part of the European Union.
- One of their current government concerns is security on counterterrorism at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
- A historical political event of Russia would be in 1927 when Stalin consolidated his powerat the Fifteenth Party Congress.
- One of the many historical monuments in Russia is Alexander Nevsky Lavra, one of Russia’s most important Orthodox churches, built in the eighteenth century by Peter the Great.
- Igor Sikorsky was a Russian inventor who changed history. In 1910, he created the prototype of a rotor-driven device, which successfully got off the ground. In 1912, he created the first hydroplane in the world and then the first multiple-engine aircraft. The design of that machine, which has been considered a classic helicopter design for more than fifty years now, has been used for almost 95% helicopters built around the world. In 1942, Sikorsky created a two-seater helicopter.
- The Population of Russia is 141,900,000.
- Arable Land: 7.11%
- Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk\
- The human environment interaction in Russia is contaminated. This is mostly due to the nuclear power plant tragedy in 1986. This has effected the enviroment greatly up to date.
- GDP: 2.015 trillion USD (2012)
- GDP Per Capita: 14,037.02 USD (2012)
- Currency: Russian ruble
- Exchange Rate To US Dollar: 0.030 US Dollar
- Major Economic Activities: oil, gas, weapons, and human trafficking.
- Famous Brands: Beeline, MTC, Baltica, Zelenaya Marka, Lukoil
- Language: Russian and over 100 othe minority languages
- Religion: Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other
- Famous Landmarks: State Hermitage Museum, The Kremlin, Red Square, Cathedral of St. Sophia, Mt. Elbrus
- Cultural Foods: Borshch, pirozhiki, ikra, blini
- Music/Literature: Music of Russia denotes music produced in Russia and/or by the Russians. Russia is a large and culturally diverse country, with many ethnic groups, each with their own locally developed music. Russian music also includes significant contributions from ethnic minorities, who populated the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and modern day Russia.Russian music went through a long history, beginning from ritual folk song and the sacred music of the Russian Orthodox Church. The 19th century saw the rise of highly acclaimed Russian classical music, and in 20th century major contributions by various composers such as Igor Stravinsky as well as Soviet composers, while the modern styles of Russian popular music developed, including Russian rock and Russian pop./Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Rus', Russia or the Soviet Union. Roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old Russian were composed. By the Age of Enlightenment, literature had grown in importance, and from the early 1830s, Russian literature underwent an astounding golden age in poetry, prose, and drama. After the Revolution of 1917, Russian literature split into Soviet and white émigré parts. Soviet Union assured universal literacy and highly developed book printing industry but also carried out ideological censorship. Russian authors significantly contributed almost to all known genres of the literature. Russia had five Nobel Prize in literature laureates. As of 2011, Russia was the fourth largest book producer in the world in terms of published titles. A popular folk saying claims Russians are "the world's most reading nation".
- Relative Location: North of Ukraine and East of Estonia
- Cold and damp are two words to describe the climate of Russia. Because Russia itself is so large, most of it's land area is away from the ocean which limits the amount of precipitation they receive. Due to their northern location, much of the country sits at very low temperatures and with no ocean interference, little wind to move the air about.
- Topography: From west to east, the country can be roughly divided into five large geographic regions: the Great European Plain, the Ural Mountains, the West Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau, and the mountains of the northeast and southeast. The Great European and West Siberian Plains contain a variety of terrain, including grasslands and farmlands as well as forests, swamps, and large regions of tundra. The Caucasus Mountains, located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea at the southwest of the Great European Plain, are divided into two chains separated by lowlands. The Caucasus Mountains form the border with Russia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and mark the boundary between Asia to the south and Europe to the north. The highest peak in the Caucasus Mountains is the extinct volcano Mt. Elbrus (5,642 m/18,510 ft); this is also the highest peak in Russia and Europe. The lowest point in Russia is at the Caspian Sea, 28 m (92 ft) below sea level. The Caspian Sea is the world's largest lake.
Germany!
- Germany's government type is Federal republic, Constitutional republic, Representative democracy, Parliamentary republic.
- Joachim Gauck is the president of Germany.
- Germany has a limited government.
- Germany is part of and is one of the founders of the European Union.
- Current event or concern: German experts will help destroy chemical weapons removed from Syria under auspices of United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
- Historical Political Event: German parties say EU may not be able to let turkey join.
- Historical Monument: Imperial Baths of Trier
- Hitler changed history in Germany by starting the Holocaust.
- Population: 81.89 million
- Arable Land: 33%
- Agriculture: forestry and fishing
- HEI: In Germany the north being cold, has more water which favor growth of vegetation unlike the south. This makes the north unfavorable for human settlement and thus there will less settlement in the north and more in the south. There are also factors like pollution by human being which will bring about destruction of vegetation like destruction of oak trees.
- GDP: 3.4 trillion USD (2012)
- GDP Per Capita: 41,514.17 USD (2012)
- Currency: Euro
- Exchange Rate to US Dollar: 1.36 US Dollar
- The German exporting industry presents itself stronger than ever. It is an important pillar of the German economy. The decline of international trade in the wake of the financial crisis was soon overcome. Germany is the world’s third largest exporting countrty, after China and the United States. The export figures in 2012 reached an all-time high, surpassing a record-setting year in 2011. The demand for export products is still high. Thus, imports in 2012 amounted to 909 billion euros and exports nearly reached the 1.1 trillion euro mark.
- Famous Brands: Volkswagen, Adidas, Nivea, Audi, T-Mobile, Mercedes Benz, BMW, DHL, Puma....
- German is the official language of Germany, but there is more than one protected minority language in Germany: Danish, Frisian, Romany, and Sorbian. However, their tiny number of native speakers pales in comparison to the immigrant population: Due to their influence on language in Germany, Arabic, Greek, Italian, Polish, Turkish, or Russian can be heard in many major cities.
Christianity is the largest religion in Germany with roughly 50 million adherents or 62% of the total population, The second largest religion is Islam with 4 million adherents, making up 5% of the country's total population followed by Buddhism and Judaism. During the last few decades, the two largest churches in Germany, namely the Protestant Evangelical Church in Germany and the Roman Catholic Church, have lost significant number of adherents. Both accounted for about 30% of the population in 2011. More than 30% of the population is not affiliated with any church or other religious body.
- Famous Landmarks: Schloss Neuschwanstein, The Brandenburg Gate, The Berlin Wall...
- Cultural Food: Apfelstrudel, Eintopf, Kasespatzle, Kartoffelpuffer, Rote Grutze, Sauerbraten, Brezel...
- In the field of music, Germany claims some of the most renowned composers, producers and performers of the world. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world.mGerman literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by dialects (e.g. Alemannic). An early flowering of German literature is the Middle High German period of the High Middle Ages. Modern literature in German begins with the authors of the Enlightenment (such as Herder) and reaches its classical form at the turn of the 18th century with Weimar Classicism (Goethe and Schiller).
- Relative Location: It's in West- central Europe. It is bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; on the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; on the south by Austria and Switzerland; and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
- Germany's climate is moderate and has generally no longer periods of cold or hot weather. Northwestern and coastal Germany have a maritime influenced climate which is characterized by warm summers and mild cloudy winters.
Basically, Germany can be devided into several topographic regions:
- the flat North German Lowlands including the North Sea coast, the Wadden Sea, the Frisian Islands and the Baltic Sea coast;
- the mountainous Central German Uplands with their extensive forests, rifts and valleys;
- the Rhine River Valley area with its mild climate in the west;
- the beautiful Alpine Foreland in southern Germany with its rolling green hills and stunning glacial lakes;
- the German Alps in Bavaria with their peaks well above 2000 metres.
Turkey!
- Turkey's form of government is a Unitary state, Parliamentary republic
- The president of Turkey is Abdullah Gül.
- Turkey is a limited government.
- Turkey is currently not part of the European Union.
- Current Issue: EU says events in Turkey 'cause of concern'
- Political Event: 2013 protests in Turkey erupted in many Turkish provinces, sparked by a plan to demolish Gezi Park but growing into general anti-government dissent.
- Historical Monument: Aizanoi
- The Republic of Turkey was created after the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI Vahdettin by the new Republican Parliament in 1922. This new regime delivered the coup de grâce to the Ottoman state which had been practically wiped away from the world stage following the First World War.
- Population: 74 million (2012)
- Arable Land: 50.56%
- As of March 2007, Turkey is the world's largest producer of hazelnuts, cherries, figs, apricots, quinces and pomegranates; the second largest producer of watermelons, cucumbers and chickpeas; the third largest producer of tomatoes, eggplants, green peppers, lentils and pistachios; the fourth largest producer of onions and olives; the fifth largest producer of sugar beet; the sixth largest producer of tobacco, tea and apples; the seventh largest producer of cotton and barley; the eighth largest producer of almonds; the ninth largest producer of wheat, rye and grapefruit, and the tenth largest producer of lemons.[54] Turkey has been self-sufficient in food production since the 1980s. In the year 1989, the total production of wheat was 16.2 million tonnes, and barley 3.44 million tonnes.[55] The agricultural output has been growing at a respectable rate. However, since the 1980s, agriculture has been in a state of decline in terms of its share in the total economy.
- The people in Turkey have changed and interacted with their environment to make the terrain habitable. For example, cutting holes through their mountains to sustain transport and making a national park out of their largest mountain.
- GDP: 789.3 billion USD (2012)
- GDP Per Capita: 10,666.06 USD (2012)
- Currency: Turkish Lira
- Exchange Rate: 0.45 US Dollar
- Turkey’s population of 62.8 million is young and growing, it has the largest landmass in Western Europe, and its economy is the 16th largest in the world. The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has identified Turkey as one of the ten most promising emerging economies, and a recent World Bank study also declared Turkey one of the ten countries most likely to enter the top tier of the world economy. Today's Turkey, modern and open to the world, follows a liberal policy in economy just as in its political structure.
- Famous Brands: Hotiç, Movi, Ipekyol, Koton, Adil Işık, Vakko...
- Turkish is the official language. The Ministry of Education has lately included Kurdish, Abkhazian, Adyghe and Laz languages to the academic programme of the basic schools as optional classes from the fifth year on.
- Islam is the largest religion of Turkey with around 99.0% percent of the population being registered as Muslim. Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunnis forming about 70%, and Alevis form about 25% of the Muslim population. There is also a Twelver Shia community which forms about 5% of the Muslim population. Among Sunni Muslim presence in Turkey there is a small but considerable minority of Muslims with Sufi heritage and affiliation. Christians (Oriental Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic) and Jews (Sephardi), who comprise the non-Muslim population, make up 0.7% of the total.
- Famous Landmarks: Bodrum Castle, Mount Nemrut, Pamukkale, Olüdeniz, Hagia Sophia...
- Turkish cuisine varies across the country. The cooking of Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and rest of the Aegean region inherits many elements of Ottoman court cuisine, with a lighter use of spices, a preference for rice over bulgur, koftes and a wider availability of vegetables staw turlu, eggplant, stuffed dolmas and fish. The cuisine of the Black Sea Region uses fish extensively, especially the Black Sea anchovy (hamsi), has been influenced by Balkan and Slavic cuisine, and includes maize dishes. The cuisine of the southeast—Urfa, Gaziantep and Adana—is famous for its kebabs, mezes and dough-based desserts such as baklava, kadayıf and künefe (kanafeh).
- The music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music to influences from Arabic music, Byzantine music, Greek music, Ottoman music, Persian music, Balkan music, as well as references to more modern European and American popular music. Turkey is a country on the northeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and is a crossroad of cultures from across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus and South and Central Asia.
- Relative Location: between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, East of Greece.
- Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
- Topography: Other than the low, rolling hills of Turkish Thrace, the fertile river valleys that open to the Aegean Sea, the warm plains of Antalya and Adana on the Mediterranean, and the narrow littoral along the Black Sea, the country is wrinkled by rugged mountain ranges that surround and intersect the high, semiarid Anatolian plateau. Average elevations range from 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level in the west to over 1,800 m (6,000 ft) amid the wild eastern highlands. The highest point is Mount Ararat (Büyük Agri Dagi, 5,166 m/16,949 ft), which rises just within Turkey at the intersection of the Turkish, Armenian, and Iranian frontiers. There are over 100 peaks with elevations of 3,000 m (10,000 ft) or more. Other than the Tigris and Euphrates, which have their sources in eastern Anatolia, rivers are relatively small. Because the watersheds of these streams are semibarren slopes, the seasonal variations in flow are very great. The largest lake is Lake Van (3,675 sq km/1,419 sq mi); the other major lake is Lake Tuz, whose water has a salinity level so high that it serves as a commercial source of salt. Turkey's 7,200 km (5,474 mi) of coastline provide few good natural harbors. Most of Turkey lies within an earthquake zone.