world''s places

Petronas Twin Towers The Petronas Twin Towers (also known as the Petronas Towers or Twin Towers), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are the world's tallest twin buildings Tower was built by the South Korean multinational Samsung Engineering & Construction and Tower by Hazama Corporation of Japan They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 if measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural top, the original height reference used by the USbased Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1969 (three additional height categories were introduced as the tower neared completion in 1996) [1] Sears Tower The Sears Tower is a skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois It has been the tallest building in the United States since 1973, surpassing the World Trade Center, which itself had surpassed the Empire State Building only a year earlier Commissioned by Sears, Roebuck and Company, it was designed by chief architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Construction commenced in August 1970 and the building reached its originally anticipated maximum height on May 3, 1973 When completed, the Sears Tower had overtaken the roof of the World Trade Center in New York City as the world's tallest building The tower has 108 stories as counted by standard methods, though the building owners count the main roof as 109 and the mechanical penthouse roof as 110 The distance to the roof is 1,451 feet (442 m), measured from the east entrance.[3] In February 1982, two television antennas were added to the structure, increasing its total height to 1,705 feet (520 m) The western antenna was later extended to 1,730 feet (527 m)[4] on June 5, 2000 to improve reception of local NBC station WMAQ-TV Black bands appear on the tower around the 29th–32nd, 64th–65th, 88th–89th, and 104th–109th floors These are louvers which allow ventilation for service equipment and obscure the structure's belt trusses which Sears Roebuck did not want to be visible as on the John Hancock Center The building's official address is 233 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606 On August 12, 2007, the Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates was reported by its developers to have surpassed the Sears Tower in all height categories.[5] It overtook the Sears Tower antenna 1,730 feet (527 m) and as of February 18, 2008, the building stands at least 254 feet (77 m) taller at 1,984.6 feet (604.9 m).[6 Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC The most famous is the wall built between 200 BC - 220 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang; little of it remains; it was much farther north than the current wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty.[2] The Great Wall stretches over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)[3] from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total.4] At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men.[5] It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of to million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.[6] Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico It is the most important economic, industrial and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city with 40,000,916 inhabitants in 2005 Greater Mexico City (Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México) incorporates 58 adjacent municipalities of Mexico State and municipality of the state of Hidalgo, according to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments.[2] In 2006 Greater Mexico City had a population of 40.1 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the second[3] or third[4] largest in the world In 2005, it ranked the eighth in terms of largest GDP (PPP) among urban agglomerations in the world.[5] Mexico City is also the Federal District (Distrito Federal in Spanish) The Federal District is coextensive with Mexico City: both are governed by a single institution and are constitutionally considered to be the same entity This has not always been the case The Federal District, created in 1824, was integrated by several municipalities, one of which was the municipality of Mexico City As the city began to grow, it engulfed all other municipalities into one large urban area In 1928 all municipalities within the Federal District were abolished, an action that left a vacuum in the legal status of Mexico City vis-à-vis the Federal District, even though for most practical purposes they were traditionally considered to be the same entity In 1993, to end the sterile discussions about whether one concept had engulfed the other, or if any of the two entities had any existence in lieu of the other, the 44th Article of the Constitution of Mexico was reformed to clearly state that Mexico City is the capital, seat of the Powers of the Union and capital of the United Mexican States.[6] Mexico City is located in the Valley of Mexico, also called the Valley of Anáhuac, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,349 feet) It was originally built by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island of Lake Texcoco The city was almost completely destroyed in the siege of 1521, and was redesigned and rebuilt in the following years following the Spanish urban standards In 1524 the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenustitlán, and as of 1585 it is officially known as ciudad de México.[7] Tokyo Tokyo is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and, unique among the prefectures, provides certain municipal services characteristic of a city, as defined by Japanese law.[1] Because it is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, Tokyo is the de facto capital of Japan.[2] The name Tokyo literally means eastern capital The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, although each administratively a city in its own right, constitute the area informally considered as the "city of Tokyo" and are collectively one of the largest cities in the world with a total population of over million people.[3] The total population of the prefecture exceeds 12 million The Greater Tokyo Area,[4] centered on Tokyo but also including Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 35 million people.[5] It has been the world's most populous urban area since between 1965 and 1970, and despite Japan's overall declining population, is still growing.[citation needed] Tokyo has the largest metropolitan gross domestic product in the world for a city Tokyo is a major global city and megacity The name "Tokyo" refers variously to Tokyo Metropolis (the prefecture) as a whole, or only to the main urban mass under its jurisdiction (thus excluding west Tama and Izu and Ogasawara Islands), or even the whole of Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Yamanashi prefectures, depending on context This article uses the name to refer to Tokyo Metropolis unless otherwise stated Canada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean It is the world's second largest country by total area, [2] and shares land borders with the United States to the south and northwest The lands have been inhabited for millennia by various groups of aboriginal peoples Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled the Atlantic coast France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years War In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces.[3][4][5] This began an accretion of additional provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and culminating in the Canada Act in 1982 which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament A federation now comprising ten provinces and three territories, Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state It is a bilingual and multicultural country, with both English and French as official languages at the federal level Technologically advanced and industrialized, Canada maintains a diversified economy that is heavily reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade —particularly with the United States, with which Canada has a long and complex relationship France France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents.[11] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean French people often refer to Metropolitan France as L’Hexagone (The “Hexagon”) because of the geometric shape of its territory France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain Due to its overseas departments, France also shares land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana) , and the Netherlands Antilles (bordering Saint-Martin) France is also linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel France is a unitary semi-presidential republic Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen France was the world's foremost power in from the latter half of the 17th century until the early 19th century In the 18th and 19th centuries, France built one of the largest colonial empires of the time, stretching across West Africa and Southeast Asia, prominently influencing the cultures and politics of the regions France is a developed country, with the sixth (nominal GDP) or eighth (PPP) largest economy in the world It is the most visited country in the world, receiving over 79 million foreign tourists annually (including business visitors, but excluding people staying less than 24 hours in France).[12] France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council; it is also an acknowledged nuclear power Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun" Japan comprises over 3,000 islands,[5] the largest of which are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of its land area Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 128 million people The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents Archaeological research indicates that people from Korea, China and other nearby areas were living on the islands of Japan since the Upper Paleolithic period The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century AD Influence from the outside world followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet A major economic power,[6] Japan has the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP It is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4, OECD and APEC, with the world's fifth largest defense budget It is also the world's fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer and a world leader in technology and machinery China China is a cultural region[citation needed], an ancient civilization, and a national or multinationalentity in East Asia China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, consisting of states[citation needed] and cultures[citation needed] dating back more than six millennia It has the world's longest continuously used written language system, and the source of such major inventions as what the British scholar and biochemist Joseph Needham called the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China: paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing The stalemate of the last Chinese Civil War has resulted in two political entities using the name China: the People's Republic of China (PRC), commonly known as China, which controls mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau; and the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, which controls the island of Taiwan and some nearby islands Australia The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and a number of other islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.N4 The neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east The Australian mainland has been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by Indigenous Australians.[2] After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and then European discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606,[3] the eastern half of Australia was later claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation as part of the colony of New South Wales, commencing on 26 January 1788 As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were established during the 19th century On January 1901, the six colonies became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth realm The capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) The population is just over 21 million, with approximately 60% of the population concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide Vietnam Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east With a population of over 85 million, Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world Vietnam was under Chinese control for a thousand years before becoming a nation-state in the 10th century Successive dynasties flourished until it was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century Efforts to resist the French eventually expelled the French from the country in the mid-20th century, leaving a nation divided politically into two countries Bitter fighting between the two sides continued during the Vietnam War, ending with a communist victory in 1975 Emerging from a long and bitter war, the war-ravaged nation was politically isolated The government's centrallyplanned economic decisions hindered post-war reconstruction and its treatment of the losing side engendered more resentment than reconciliation In 1986, it instituted economic and political reforms and began a path towards international reintegration By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations Its economic growth had been among the highest in the world in the past decade These efforts culminated in Vietnam joining the World Trade Organization in 2007 and its successful bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2008 United States