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Frankfurt Transit

Frankfurt Transit

Frankfurt has a rather good transit system. There are several carriers which all apply the same fare system, therefore one ticket is good for a journey which may include severel modes of transit run buy different operators. The fares are paid in advance of travel at ticket vending machines or on the bus. There are no turnstiles or other controlling barriers - passengers therefore have responsibity for ensuring they have a ticket. Fare inspectors are employed and carry out checks to ensure passengers have paid. If found to be travelling without at ticket, then they are required to pay a 40 Euro fine. The cost of the fares is higher than in the average American city. A trip within the central area of Frankfurt costs 2 Euros, and a journey to the suburbs between about 3 and 5 Euros.

Rapid Transit

American Frankfurt itself is the central city of the so called Rhein-Main-Region, and therefore the service caters for a large number of commuters from the suburbs each day. The urban Light Rail service is provided by the Rapid Transit Trains (S-Bahn). All but one of the lines run together in a single underground section through the city centre, and then fan out at either end. In the suburban sections they are generally single-tracked or share mainline tracks with other regional, long distance passenger and cargo trains. The trains can be up to 200m (600 ft) long and have a maximum speed of approximately 140 km/h (90 mph). Electricity supply is provided by overhead wires at the common German railroad voltage (15,000 volts AC). The normal service interval on each of the lines is 15 or 30 min, but on the central sections a train runs approximately every 2 minutes during rush hour. The Frankfurt Rapid Transit is very popular because it is fast. It has the added benefit of being very cost effective for medium distance lines with high patronage.

Streetcar

rush hour There are 8 streetcar lines, with trams arriving usually every 10 min. Many sections served are served by 2 lines, combining to give a 5 minute frequency during rush-hour. The construction of the subways in the last decade has resulted in the streetcars losing some of their importance to the city's transport infrastruction. Despite this there have been two new sections construced in recent years. It is now appreciated that streetcars are more attractive to the travelling public than busses and cheaper to build than subways. Therefore neighbourhoods with medium transit patronage are either currently served by streetcar routes or are going to be in future.

Light Rail

streetcar There are 7 light rail lines (called U-Bahn for Subway).
- U 1-3 run from the southern railroad station to the north of the city on a common route. Then they split up and serve the neighbourhood "Nordweststadt" (Line U 1) and two suburbs (U2, U3).
- U 4 runs from the north eastern parts of the city to downtown, the main train station, trade fair and to out to the north west. This route is the only one separated from street traffic.
- U 5 is a streetcar line heading from the north east to the city centre. There it serves four of U4's unterground stations.
- U 6 and 7 run mostly on a common route from east to west. Subway In downtown sections the light rail tracks are underground, but run on their own right of way at street level in the suburbs. The minimum service interval is 2.5 minutes, although the usual pattern is that each line runs with a 7.5-10 minute frequency which combines to headways of 3-5 mintues on the downtown section served by more than one line. The trains can be as long as 300 ft (100 m) and have a maximum speed of approximately 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). Cars are equipped with indicators and rear view mirrors and gain power from overhead wires rather than a third rail. This is due to the numerous street level sections and their origin as streetcars. There are several extension projects for the future, especially proposasls to establish a fully-fledged subway system. As this would be rather expensive, it will probably not be built in the near future, if at all. Even so history shows that Frankfurt`s light rail network has always grown slower than was planned.

Bus

Buses play a minor role in Frankfurt transit since all major routes are served by rail based modes of transportation. There are though several crosstown bus routes, especially in the north. Busses are also used as feeder services for the subway lines.

Organisational structure


- Rapid Transit is run by Deutsche Bahn, the national German railroad operator.
- Light Rail and streetcars are run by the city owned Frankfurt Transit Company (Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt).
- Buses are run by Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt, Alpina and Verkehrsgesellschaft Untermain.
- The cities transit planning unit is TraffIQ.
- The fare structure and distribution between the operators is organised by the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund.

Franchises?

There are currently proposals for a shake-up of the way bus services are run. Instead of being operated by Frankfurt Transit Company, the routes could be split into different franchises for which any European bus operator may tender to run. The organisation offering the cheapest proposal would then be given a contract to run that route for several years.

External links


- [http://www.rmv.de/coremedia/generator/RMV/NeuImRMVGebiet/inhalt=en.htm Information on schedules and anything else]
- [http://www.vgf-ffm.de/english/homepage.html Frankfurt Transit Company] (English index)
- [http://www.traffiq.de Information on transit planning in Frankfurt] category:Frankfurt category:Transportation in Germany Category:Light rail Category:Intermodal transportation authorities

Frankfurt am main

:For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation) is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany. Situated on the Main river, it is the seat of the European Central Bank and the largest financial center in Germany. The city's metropolitan area, the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, has a population of 4 to 5 million and is Germany's second largest. Among English speakers it is commonly known simply as "Frankfurt", though Germans sometimes call it by its full name to distinguish it from the other Frankfurt in the German state of Brandenburg, known as Frankfurt an der Oder. It was once called Frankfort-on-the-Main in English, a direct translation of Frankfurt am Main.

Overview

Frankfort Frankfort Frankfort Frankfurt has played a central role in the political history of Germany and the German states for centuries. From 855 to 1792 Frankfurt was the electoral city for the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. In the 1848-49 revolutions it became a sort of revolutionary capital and was the seat of the first democratically elected German parliament, the Frankfurt Parliament, which met in the Frankfurter Paulskirche, or the St. Paul's Church. The three pillars of Frankfurt's economy are finance, transport, and trade fairs. Frankfurt has been Germany's financial capital for centuries, and it is the home of a number of major banks and brokerages. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is Germany's largest, and one of the world's most important. Frankfurt houses the European Central Bank, which sets monetary policy for the Eurozone economy, and the German Bundesbank. It also houses a number of major commercial banks, including Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, and Commerzbank. Frankfurt's financial industry gives it the highest GDP per capita of major cities in Europe and makes it fifteenth in total GDP production as a city.[http://www.conway.com/ssinsider/snapshot/sf020527.htm] The GaWC identifies Frankfurt as an Alpha World City. Frankfurt has an excellent transportation infrastructure and a major international airport and European transportation hub, the Frankfurt International Airport. Depending whether total passengers or flights are used to measure, it ranks as the second or third busiest in Europe alongside London Heathrow Airport and Paris' Charles de Gaulle. And many large trade fairs take place in Frankfurt each year, notably the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (Frankfurt Motor Show) and the Frankfurt Book Fair which have far over 100,000 visitors each, but also important special interest fairs like the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo or Musikmesse Frankfurt. Frankfurt is often nicknamed "Bankfurt" or "Mainhattan" (derived from the local Main River). It is one of only four European cities that have a significant number of high-rise skyscrapers. With eleven skyscrapers taller than 150 m (492 ft) in 2004, Frankfurt is second behind Paris (La Défense and Montparnasse, with twelve skyscrapers taller than 150 m, not counting the Eiffel Tower), but ahead of London (Canary Wharf and the City, with eight skyscrapers taller than 150 m) and Moscow (seven skyscrapers taller than 150 m). The city of Frankfurt contains the tallest skyscraper in the European Union, the Commerzbank Tower, which is also the second tallest on the continent (after the Triumph-Palace building in Moscow). Yet Frankfurt has a different feel from New York City, and many residents prefer its nickname of "the smallest metropolis of the world." Despite the central concentration of tall buildings, the city has many open natural spaces and a spread-out city plan, which make some of the large buildings look a bit lonely in comparison to other global financial centers such as those in New York, Singapore, or Shanghai. Frankfurt is also home to many cultural and educational institutions, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, many museums, most of them lined up along the Main river on the Museumsufer (museum embankment), and a large botanical garden, the Palmengarten. Frankfurt's second major university, Business School of Finance and Management, focuses on finance. The best known museums are das Städelsche Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, called Städel, and the Senckenberg Natural History Museum. Others include the Museum for Modern Art, the Schirn Art Gallery, museums for architecture, movies, communications and the Jewish Museum / Museum Judengasse. During World War II Frankfurt was bombed heavily, and its medieval city center was completely destroyed. The city recovered relatively quickly after the war, as it was the headquarters of the American occupying power.

History

In the area of the Römer, Roman settlements were established, probably in the first century; some artifacts from that era are found to this day. The city district Bonames has a name probably dating back to Roman times - it is thought to be derived from bona me(n)sa. Nida (Heddernheim) was also a Roman civitas capital. The name of Frankfurt on the Main is derived from the Franconofurt of the Germanic tribe of the Franks; Furt (cf. English ford) denotes a low point passage across a stream or river. Alemanni and Franks lived there and by 794 Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly and church synod, at which Franconofurd (-furt -vurd) is first mentioned. However, since frank is also an old German word for frei ("free"), Frankfurt was a "free ford," an opportunity to cross the river Main without paying a toll. In the Holy Roman Empire, Frankfurt was one of the most important cities. From 855 the German kings and emperors were elected in Frankfurt and crowned in Aachen. From 1562 the kings/emperors were also crowned in Frankfurt, Maximilian II being the first one. This tradition ended in 1792, when Franz II was elected. He was crowned, on purpose, on Bastille Day, 14 July, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. The elections and coronations took place in St. Bartholomäus cathedral, known as the Kaiserdom (en: Emperor's Cathedral), or in its predecessors. The Frankfurter Messe (en: Frankfurt trade fair) was first mentioned in 1150. In 1240, Emperor Friedrich II granted an Imperial privilege to its visitors, meaning they would be protected by the Empire. Since 1478 book trade fairs have been held in Frankfurt, the Frankfurter Buchmesse being still the most important in Germany and, some might say, the world. In 1372 Frankfurt became a Reichsstadt (en:Imperial city), i.e. directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor and not to a king or a local nobleman. Frankfurt managed to remain neutral during the Thirty Years' War, but it suffered from the boubonic plague that was brought to the city by refugees. After the end of the war, Frankfurt regained its wealth. In the Napoleonic Wars Frankfurt was occupied or cannonaded several times by French troops. The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt, a vassal state of France, remained a short episode lasting from 1810 to 1813. The Congress of Vienna dissolved this entity, and Frankfurt entered the newly founded German Confederation as a free city. It became the seat of the Bundestag, which was the parliament of the German Confederation. After the ill-fated revolution of 1848, Frankfurt was home to the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung), which resided in St. Paul's Church (Paulskirche) (see German Confederation for details) and was opened on 18 May 1848. The institution failed in 1849 when the Prussian king declared that he would not accept "a crown from the gutter". In the year of its existence, the assembly developed a common constitution for a unified Germany, with the Prussian king as its monarch. Frankfurt lost its independence in 1866. The Austro-Prussian War was over, and Prussia annexed several smaller states, among them the city of Frankfurt. The Prussian administration incorporated Frankfurt into its province of Hesse-Nassau. The formerly independent towns of Bornheim and Bockenheim were incorporated in 1890. In 1914 the citizens of Frankfurt founded the University of Frankfurt, later called Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. This is the only civic foundation of a university in Germany; today it is one of Germany's largest universities. In 1924 Ludwig Landmann became the first Jewish Mayor of the city, and led a significant expansion during the following years. However, during the Nazi era, the synagogues of Frankfurt were destroyed. The city of Frankfurt was severely bombed in World War II. About 5 500 residents were killed during the raids, and the once famous medieval city center, by that time the largest in Germany, was completely destroyed. The reconstruction after the war took place in an (often simple) modern style, thus irrevocably changing the architectural face of Frankfurt. Only very few landmark buildings have been reconstructed historically, albeit in a simplified manner. After the end of the war Frankfurt became a part of the newly founded state of Hesse, consisting of the old Hesse-(Darmstadt) and the Prussian Hesse provinces. Frankfurt was the original choice for the provisional capital of West Germany - they even went as far as constructing a new parliament building that has never been used for its intended purpose, and is now a TV studio. In the end, Konrad Adenauer (the first post-war Chancellor) preferred the tiny city of Bonn, for the most part because it was close to his hometown, but also for another reason; many other prominent politicians opposed the choice of Frankfurt out of concern that Frankfurt, one of the largest German cities, and a former center of the old German-dominated Holy Roman Empire, would be accepted as a "permanent" capital of Germany, thereby weakening the West German population's support for reunification and the eventual return of the capital city to Berlin.

Demographics

Population

Frankfurt is a multicultural city. Most immigrants are from Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, or Italy. About 175 different nationalities reside in Frankfurt.

Religion

For a long time Frankfurt was a Protestant-dominated city. However, during the 19th century an increasing number of Catholics moved to the city. Today some 45 % of the inhabitants are Protestant, 37 % Catholic. Other religious groups (18 %) includes Muslims and Jews. Frankfurt has the second largest Jewish community (after Berlin) in Germany.

Geography

Geographic location

The city is located on both sides of the Main River. The southern part of the city contains the Frankfurt City Forest (Frankfurter Stadtwald) Germany's largest urban forest.

Neighboring communities and areas

To the West, Frankfurt borders the Main-Taunus district (Cities and Municipalities Hattersheim am Main, Kriftel, Hofheim am Taunus, Kelkheim (Taunus), Liederbach am Taunus, Sulzbach (Taunus), Schwalbach am Taunus and Eschborn); to the Northwest the Hochtaunuskreis (Cities Steinbach (Taunus), Oberursel (Taunus) and Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe); to the North the Wetteraukreis (Cities Karben and Bad Vilbel); to the Northeast the Main-Kinzig district (Municipality Niederdorfelden and the city Maintal); to the Southeast the city Offenbach am Main; to the South the Offenbach district (City Neu-Isenburg); and to the Southwest the Groß-Gerau district (Cities Mörfelden-Walldorf, Rüsselsheim und Kelsterbach).

City divisions and districts

The city is divided into 46 Stadtteile or Ortsteile which are again divided into 118 Stadtbezirke or city districts. The largest Ortsteil in area is Sachsenhausen-Süd. Most Stadtteile are incorporated suburbs, or Vororte, or previously separate cities. Some like Nordend arose during the rapid growth of the city in the Gründerzeit after the unification of Germany. Others were formed from settlements which previously belonged to other city divisions, like Dornbusch (Frankfurt am Main). The 46 city divisions are combined into 16 area districts or Ortsbezirke, which each have a district committee and chairperson.

History of incorporation

Until the middle of the 19th century, the city territory of Frankfurt consisted of the present-day Stadtteile of Altstadt, Innenstadt, Bahnhofsviertel, Gutleutviertel, Gallusviertel, Westend, Nordend, Ostend and Sachsenhausen. After 1877, a number of previously independent areas were incorporated into the city, see list of current districts of the city.

Sights

list of current districts of the city

Cathedral

Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral (Dom Sankt Bartholomäus) is a Gothic building which was constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries on the foundation of an earlier church from the Merovingian time. It is the main church of Frankfurt. From 1356 onwards, kings of the Holy Roman Empire were elected in this church, and from 1562 to 1792 emperors were crowned here. Since the 18th century Saint Bartholomeus' has been called "the cathedral" by the people, although it has never been a bishop's seat. In 1867 the cathedral was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in its present style. The height of the cathedral is 95 m.

Römer

Holy Roman Empire For the full article, see Römer (Frankfurt am Main). The name of the town hall means "Roman". It is in fact nine houses that were acquired by the city council in 1405 from a wealthy merchant family. The middle house became the town hall and was later connected with the neighbouring buildings. In the upper floor there is the Kaisersaal ("Emperor's Hall") where the newly crowned emperors held their banquets. The Römer was partially destroyed in World War II, and later rebuilt. 1405

Saint Paul's Church

For the full article, see Frankfurter Paulskirche. St. Paul's Church (Paulskirche) is a national historic monument in Germany with great political symbolism, because it was the seat of the first democratically elected Parliament in 1848. It was established in 1789 as a Protestant church but was not finished until 1833. Its importance has its root in the Frankfurt Parliament, which met in the church during the revolutionary years of 1848/49 in order to write a constitution for a united Germany. The attempt failed because the monarchs of Prussia and Austria did not want lose power, and in 1849 Prussian troops ended the democratic experiment by force of arms and the parliament was dissolved. Afterwards, the building was used for church services again. St. Paul's was partially destroyed in World War II, particularly the interior of the building, which now has a modern appearance. It was quickly and symbolically rebuilt after the war; today it is not used for religious services, but mainly for exhibitions and events.

Old Opera

World War II For the full article, see Alte Oper. Alte Oper, Frankfurt's famous opera house, was built in 1880 by the architect Richard Lucae. It was one of the major opera houses of Germany, until its was destroyed in World War II. It was not until 1981 that the old opera was fully rebuilt and reopened. Today it functions as a concert hall and operas are performed in the Oper Frankfurt. The inscription on the frieze of the Old Opera says: "Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten" ("To the true, the beautiful, the good").

Skyscrapers

Frankfurt is unique for its skyscrapers, and it is the only European city to allow skyscrapers within the old central part of town. Along with Paris and London, it also is one of the few European cities to have a significant numbers of skyscapers. The major skyscrapers are:
- Commerzbank Tower - Europe's tallest building until 2005.
- Silver Tower
- Eurotower
- MesseTurm - Europe's tallest building (1990 – 1997)
- Kronenhochhaus with its interesting crown.
- the Maintower
- Trianon (Frankfurt am Main).
- DZ Bank Tower with its interesting form and corona

Other structures

DZ Bank Tower ;Henninger Turm :a grain silo owned by Henninger Brewery with observation deck and restaurant, open to the public and offering a breath-taking view over downtown Frankfurt from its southshore. ;Europaturm :a telecommunications tower known as the "Frankfurt TV Tower". Until 1999, it was open to the public, with an entertainment establishment in the revolving top.

Culture

Festivals

Frankfurt hosts several festivals, fairs and carnivals throughout the year. The most famous is the Rheingau-Music-Festival with many (mostly classical) concerts at castles and under the open sky surrounded by vineyards. It takes place each May. Another major festival which takes place in Frankfurt, is the "Museumsuferfest"; "Museum-Riverbank-Festival". It is one of the biggest cultural festivals in Germany, which offers the opportunity to see, buy, smell, taste and hear new things from all around the world. The festival takes place yearly at the end of summer and attracts an average of 3 million visitors. The festival goes over a period of 3 days and ends with a spectacular show of fireworks.

Museums


- Städel
- Senckenberg Natural History Museum
- The Museum for Modern Art (Frankfurt am Main)
- Schirn Art Gallery
- Deutsches Filmmuseum
- Deutsches Architektur Museum

Culinary specialties


- Frankfurter Sausage
- Frankfurter Rindswurst
- Apfelwein
- Grüne Soße
- Bethmännchen
- Frankfurter Kranz
- Handkäs mit Musik
- Rippchen mit Kraut

Sports


- Eintracht Frankfurt
- FSV Frankfurt

Sister cities

Frankfurt's sister cities are:
- Toronto, Canada
- Birmingham, England, since 1966
- Budapest, Hungary, since 1990
- Kraków, Poland, since 1991
- Granada, Nicaragua, since 1991
- Guangzhou, China, since 1988
- Lyon, France, since 1960
- Milan, Italy, since 1971
- Prague, Czech Republic, since 1990

People born in Frankfurt


- Theodor Adorno
- Bettina von Arnim
- Cha Du-Ri
- Charles the Bald
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Otto Hahn
- Erich Fromm
- Anne Frank
- Martin Lawrence
- Birgit Prinz
- Mayer Amschel Rothschild
- Friedrich Karl von Savigny
- Adolf Schreyer
- Ruth Westheimer
- Tre Cool
- Maria Sibylla Merian

See also


- Frankfurt Transit
- Frankfurt School

External links


- [http://www.frankfurt.de/sis/English.html City's own website]
- [http://www.inyourpocket.com/germany/frankfurt/en/ In Your Pocket] - the English language city guide to Frankfurt
- [http://www.yeckes.com Travel information for Jews] - Yeckes.com - Your Jewish Gateway to Frankfurt
- [http://www.hot-maps.de/europe/germany/hessen/frankfurt_main/homeen.html Map of Frankfurt/Main]
- [http://www.panorama-cities.net/frankfurt/frankfurt.html Frankfurt City Panoramas] - Panoramic Views and virtual Tours
- [http://www.oopper.de/tn/panorama-frankfurt.htm more Frankfurt Panoramas]
-
- [http://www.frankfurt360.de/ 360°-Panoramas of Frankfurt] - Indoor and outdoor day- and night-time panoramas, in full screen and with sound
- [http://www.altfrankfurt.com Altfrankfurt] - Gives an impression of the splendour of pre-war Frankfurt and its destruction in World War II Frankfurt School Category:Cities in Germany ! Category:Former countries in Europe Category:Towns in Hesse als:Frankfurt am Main ko:프랑크푸르트 ja:フランクフルト・アム・マイン

Ticket

:For issues regarding tickets in relation to contract law, see Ticket cases. Ticket cases] Ticket cases]] Ticket can mean one of several things:

Permission

A ticket is a voucher to indicate that one has paid for admission to a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on an airplane, public transit, boat trip, etc., typically because one has paid the fare. Paper is generally used, although plastic may be used instead. Some have a barcode or magnetic stripe for keeping simple data stored on them. Counterfeit tickets are a problem at high-priced concerts and other events, so holograms are used on tickets for the Olympics, Super Bowl, and other high-profile events. No tickets are needed in the case of voluntary contributions, e.g. after a street performance; in fact, a ticket system is often neither practical nor legal in such a case. Free tickets are applied in virtual queueing. In a place where one has to wait one's turn, there may be the system that one takes a ticket with a number from a machine. It applies at the doctor/hospital, and at offices where many people visit, like the town hall, social security office, labor exchange, or post office. See also:
- ticket machine
- public transport ticket systems

Receipt

A ticket may be a pick-up ticket, for example when retrieving clothing from a dry cleaning shop or an automobile from a repair shop, or putting things in storage at a train station, cloakroom, etc. It is also used in places where people are required to "take a number" to queue up, such as in a waiting room or at a customer service desk. Often, this simply has a number printed on it.

Notification

In (primarily US) law, a ticket is a notification that one has committed a minor legal infraction, for which a fine must be paid, and/or an appearance in court must be made (See: summons). Typically this means a parking ticket for parking in an unlawful manner or allowing a parking meter to expire, or a ticket for a moving violation such as speeding.

Elections

A ticket often refers to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in the U.S., the candidates for president and vice president run on the same "ticket", because they are elected together on a single ballot question rather than separately. A ticket can also refer to a political party. In this case, the candidates for a given party are said to be running on the party's ticket. Straight party voting (most common in some U.S. states) is a means for a voter to cast a single vote for the entire party ticket, including every office the party has a candidate running for.

Computer Security

A ticket is a number generated by a network server for a client, which can be delivered to itself, or a different server as a means of authentication or proof of authorization, and cannot easily be forged. This usage of the word originated with MIT's Kerberos (protocol) in the 1980s. Tickets may either be transparent, meaning they can be recognized without contacting the server that generated them; or opaque, meaning the original server must be contacted to verify that it issued the ticket. Some magic cookies provide the same functionality as a ticket.

Maintenance

A ticket can also refer to a request for help with, or repair or maintenance of, an item or complicated system. In this context, a ticket is the record of the request and the follow-up actions taken to correct the problem. Category:Ephemera Category:Fare collection systems

Turnstile

]] A turnstile is a form of gate which allows movement of people into a building or venue, but not out. As such, a turnstile is often used for controlling the input of paying people, for an event or in public transport, for example. Turnstiles are also used for counting the numbers of people passing through a gate, even where payment is not involved. The first major use of turnstiles was at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland Turnstiles use ratchet mechanisms to allow the rotation of the stile in one direction allowing input but preventing rotation in the other direction. They are often designed to operate only after a payment has been made, usually by inserting a coin or token or by swiping an electronic card. Mechanical turnstiles are lesser used these days, with electronic gate and ticketing systems becoming more common. In the first half of the twentieth century, it was common for entry to public lavatories in Britain to be controlled by turnstiles. The High Entrance/Exit Turnstile (HEET), a larger version of the turnstile, similar in operation to a revolving door, is known as an "iron maiden", after the medieval torture device of the same name. [http://www.barrypopik.com/article/1098/iron-maiden-or-heet-high-entranceexit-turnstile]

Other usage

The symbol \vdash has taken the name turnstile in mathematical logic because of its resemblance to a typical turnstile if viewed from above. Category:Fare collection systems Category:Mathematical logic Category:Rail transport Category:Gates Category:Football (soccer) terminology

United States of America

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally complete

Frankfurt Rhine Main Area

The Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, often referred to as Rhine Main Area or Greater Frankfurt is a Metropolitan Area located in central western Germany, that encompasses three federal states: Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria. It contains the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Rüsselsheim, Höchst (Frankfurt am Main), Bad Homburg, Darmstadt, Offenbach am Main, Hanau, Aschaffenburg, Gießen, and Wetzlar. The polycentric region is named after its core city Frankfurt and the rivers Rhine and Main. The Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, as officially designated as a European Metropolitan Area by Germany's Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, has a population exceeding 5.2 million and covers an area of roughly 13,000 km² Category:Frankfurt Category:Metropolitan areas

Light rail

:This article talks about urban rail systems with certain characteristics, usually running at least partially on the surface but with relatively high capacity. For a treatment of transit in cities in general, see urban rail transit. For terminology, see passenger rail terminology. For higher-order systems with fuller grade separation and higher capacity, see rapid transit (despite some of these having "light rail" or "light railway" in their name). For lower-order systems similar to light rail, see tram. :For specific light rail systems, many of which use the words "light rail" as part of their name, see list of light rail transit systems. A tram of the [[Luas]] system in [[Dublin, Ireland|thumb|right|300px]] Ireland.]] Ireland, Texas, USA.]] USA), at first a trolleybus system, opened in 1980; the second line was opened in 1994, and a third line is in project.]] 1980, Ontario, Canada. It is the first diesel-powered light-rail system in North America.]] Canada.]] Canada, Australia.]] Australia, USA.]] USA city centre.]] USA LRV #2043, part of Calgary, Alberta's C-Train.]] C-Train city centre.]] C-Train, Texas, USA.]] USA UK ]] USA train traveling on the yellow line in Portland, Oregon.]] Portland, Oregon calls at Kingston Park station. Although nominally "light rail" the high platforms and full segregation from roads and pedestrians places this system at the upper end of the transport genre which includes street trams.]] Light rail or light rail transit (LRT) is a particular class of urban and suburban passenger railway that utilizes equipment and infrastructure that is typically less massive than that used for rapid transit systems, with modern light rail vehicles usually running along the system. Light rail is the successor term to streetcar, trolley (both terms used in American English) and tram (used in British English or used to refer to any European or Asian streetcar) in many locales, although the term is most consistently applied to modern or modernised tram or trolley operations employing features more usually associated with metro or subway operations, including exclusive rights-of-way, multiple unit train configuration and signal control of operations. The term light rail is derived from the British English term light railway long used to distinguish tram operations from steam railway lines, as well as from its usually lighter infrastructure. The term was adopted in the 1970s, particularly in the United States, as a conscious break from the obsolescent image of streetcars. It is sometimes used largely for political reasons; in Toronto, Canada the city Transit Commission had to rename a recent project to build a dedicated right of way for one of its streetcar lines as a "new, modern LRT" in order to obtain the support of local elected officials, and then change it back to a "normal, familiar streetcar" to be accepted by the area's residents (the actual project was the same the entire time). Light rail traces its pedigree to street railways, whereas rapid transit (metro) technology evolved from steam commuter operations, such as were seen in London, New York City, and Chicago. Light rail systems are almost universally operated by electricity delivered through overhead lines, although several systems are powered through different means, such as the JFK Airtrain, which uses a standard third rail for its electrical power, and trams in Bordeaux, France which use a special third-rail configuration in which the rail is only powered while a tram is on top of it (making it safe to install third rails even on city streets). A few unusual systems such as the River Line in