world''s places

Greater Mexico City Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México incorporates 58 adjacent municipalities of Mexico State and 1 municipality of the state of Hidalgo, according to the most rec

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 1 was built by the South Korean multinational Samsung Engineering &

Construction and Tower 2 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 US-based 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 theworld'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 2 to 3 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 1 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 atthe 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 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 8 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 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 is a country whose metropolitan territory is located

in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseasislands and territories located in other continents.[11]

Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea tothe 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 Manand 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 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

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, andNew 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 1 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

communist victory in 1975

Emerging from a long and bitter war, the war-ravaged

nation was politically isolated The government's planned economic decisions hindered post-war