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Aurich (district)
Aurich is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the North Sea, the districts of Wittmund and Leer, and the city of Emden. History The history of the district is linked with the history of the region of East Frisia. The district was established in 1977 by merging the former districts of Aurich and Norden. Geography The district is located in the westernmost part of East Frisia (''Ostfriesland''). In the west there is the mouth of the river Ems and the Krummhörn peninsula protruding into the estuary. With a population of approximately 190,000 (as of 31 December 2016) it is the biggest district of East Frisia. The district includes the three populated islands of Juist, Norderney and Baltrum, which belong to the East Frisian Islands. The small island of Memmert south of Juist is a nature reserve housing rare birds. Part of the district belongs to the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park. Islands: Norderney 26 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aurich
Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', ) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both in population, after Emden, and in area, after Wittmund. History The history of Aurich dates back to the 13th century, when the settlement of ''Aurechove'' was mentioned in a Frisian document called the '' Brokmerbrief'' in 1276. There are various hypotheses about the interpretation of the city name. It either refers to a person (Affo, East Frisian first name ) and his property (Reich) or it refers to waterworks on the fertile, water-rich lowland of the Aa (or Ehe) river, upon which the city was built; medieval realizations were Aurichove, Aurike, Aurikehove, Auerk, Auryke, Auwerckhove, Auwerick, Auwerck, Auwreke, Awerck, Awreke, Awrik, Auwerich and Aurickeshove . In 1517, Count Edzard from the House of Cirksena began rebuilding the town after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park
The Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park () was established in 1986 and embraces the East Frisian Islands, mudflats and salt marshes between the Bay of Dollart on the border with the Netherlands in the west and Cuxhaven as far as the Outer Elbe shipping channel in the east. The national park has an area of about . The National Park organisation is located in Wilhelmshaven. In June 2009, the National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea and the Dutch Wadden Sea, highlighting its unique intertidal ecosystem and high biodiversity. Ecology The habitats to be protected by this park include the mudflats, salt marshes, beaches, dunes and estuaries on the North Sea. Special attention is given to the wildlife and flora typical of the Wadden Sea of which the park forms a part. The coast of the North Sea is unusually flat. The seabed descends in places only a few centimetres per kilometre. Twice daily the tide brings sand, clay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amt (political Division)
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to a British or U.S. county. Current usage Germany Prevalence The ''Amt'' (plural: ''Ämter'') is unique to the German '' Bundesländer'' (federal states) of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Other German states had this division in the past. Some states have similar administrative units called ''Samtgemeinde'' (Lower Saxony), ''Verbandsgemeinde'' (Rhineland-Palatinate) or ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia). Definition An ''Amt'', as well as the other above-mentioned units, is subordinate to a ''Kreis'' (district) and is a collection of municipalities. The amt is lower than district-level government but higher than municipal government, and may be d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upstalsboom
During the Frisian freedom period, the Upstalsboom (), also known as the Opstalsbam, was an Thing (assembly), assembly for emissaries of the Seven Sealands of medieval Frisia, located just outside the East Frisian town of Aurich () in modern-day Germany. The origins of the Upstalsboom, including its name, are unclear, but as far back as the 8th century the meeting place was used as a burial ground for the members of important Frisian families. Attested in writing as early as the first half of the 13th century, the assembly convened every year on the Tuesday after Pentecost to discuss issues pertinent to all Frisian lands. Although marked by weak central authority and regular infighting, Frisian territories showed great success repelling foreign invaders. In 1323, the Statutes of Upstalsboom were ratified, providing a legal framework for interaction between the Seven Sealands, such as prohibiting certain actions, prescribing punishments for crimes, establishing exchange rates for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual depiction of a coat of arms or flag has traditionally had considerable latitude in design, but a verbal blazon specifies the essentially distinctive elements. A coat of arms or flag is therefore primarily defined not by a picture but rather by the wording of its blazon (though in modern usage flags are often additionally and more precisely defined using geometrical specifications). ''Blazon'' is also the specialized language in which a blazon is written, and, as a verb, the act of writing such a description. ''Blazonry'' is the art, craft or practice of creating a blazon. The language employed in ''blazonry'' has its own vocabulary and syntax, which becomes essential for comprehension when blazoning a complex coat of arms. Other armorial ob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spur
A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to back up the natural aids (the leg, seat, hands, and voice). The spur is used in many equestrian disciplines. Most equestrian organizations have rules covering spur design and use, as well as penalties for using spurs in any manner that constitutes animal abuse. Etymology This very old word derives from Anglo-Saxon ''spura, spora'', related to ''spornan, spurnan'', to kick, ''spurn''; cf. Medieval High German ''Sporn'', modern German ''Sporn'', Dutch ''spoor''. The generalized sense of "anything that urges on, stimulus" is recorded in English from'' circa'' 1390. Design The parts of a spur include: *The "yoke", "branch", or "heel band", which wraps around the heel of the boot. *The "shank" or "neck", which extends from the back of the yoke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acorn
The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), enclosed in a tough Nutshell, shell known as the pericarp, and borne in a cup-shaped Calybium, cupule. Acorns are long and on the fat side. Acorns take between 5 and 24 months (depending on the species) to mature; see the List of Quercus species, list of ''Quercus'' species for details of oak classification, in which acorn morphology (biology), morphology and phenology are important factors. Etymology The word ''acorn'' (earlier ''akerne'', and ''acharn'') is related to the gothic language, Gothic name ''akran'', which had the sense of "fruit of the unenclosed land". The word was applied to the most important forest produce, that of the oak. Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer spoke of "achornes of okes" in the 14th century. By degrees, popular etym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralised authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes, which had begun in late antiquity, continued into the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empireâ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societies' exogamy rules are on a clan basis, where all members of one's own clan, or the clans of both parents or even grandparents, are excluded from marriage as incest. Clans preceded more centralized forms of community organization and government, and have existed in every country. Members may identify with a coat of arms or other symbol. Etymology The word "clan" is derived from the Gaelic word meaning "children", "offspring", "progeny" or "descendants". According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the word "clan" was introduced into English in around 1406, as a descriptive label for the organization of society in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. None of the Irish and Scottish Gaelic terms for kinship groups is cognate to English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cirksena
The House of Cirksena was the ruling family of East Frisia (). They descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel. East Frisia In 1439, in the wake of clashes between different lines of chieftains, the town of Emden was first placed by Hamburg under direct rule and then, in 1453, given to the Cirksena. The family administered and ruled the town until 1595. The Cirksena gained strength and succeeded the chieftain line of the tom Broks, after their opponent Focko Ukena was defeated and expelled by several allied East Frisian chieftains, chieftains, led by Edzard Cirksena. Ulrich I of East Frisia, Ulrich Cirksena (d. 1466) was elevated to the rank of imperial count by Emperor Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III and enfeoffed with the Imperial County of East Frisia. The most important ruler from the House of Cirksena was Edzard I, Count of East Frisia, Edzard I (1462–1528), under whose leadership the Imperial County of East Frisia reached its great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are motility, able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of Cell (biology), cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor. Over 1.5 million extant taxon, living animal species have been species description, described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from to . They have complex ecologies and biological interaction, interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealogy, pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch of heraldry, concerns the design and transmission of the Achievement (heraldry), heraldic achievement. The achievement, or armorial bearings usually includes a coat of arms on a escutcheon (heraldry), shield, helmet (heraldry), helmet and Crest (heraldry), crest, together with any accompanying devices, such as supporters, Heraldic badge, badges, Heraldic flag, heraldic banners and mottoes. Although the use of various devices to signify individuals and groups goes back to Ancient history, antiquity, both the form and use of such devices varied widely, as the concept of regular, hereditary designs, constituting the distinguishing feature of heraldry, did not develop until the High Middle Ages. It i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
