Essex

Essex /ˈɛsᵻks/ is a county in England, immediately north-east of London. It borders the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south and London to the south-west. The county town is Chelmsford, which is the only city in the county. Essex occupies the east of the pre-England Kingdom of Essex. As well as rural areas, the county also includes the Lakeside Shopping Centre, London Stansted Airport and the new towns of Basildon and Harlow.

History

The name Essex originates in the Anglo-Saxon period of the Early Middle Ages and has its root in the Old English Ēastseaxe (i.e. the "East Saxons"), the eastern kingdom of the Saxons (cf. Middlesex and Sussex) during the Heptarchy. Originally recorded in AD 527, Essex occupied territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating all of what later became Middlesex (which probably included Surrey) and most of what later became Hertfordshire. Its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lea.Colchester in the north east of the county is Britain's oldest recorded town, dating back to before the Roman conquest, when it was known as Camulodunum and was sufficiently well-developed to have its own mint. In AD 824, following the battle of Ethandun, the kingdoms of the East Saxons, the South Saxons and the Kentish were absorbed into the kingdom of the West Saxons, uniting Saxland under King Alfred's grandfather Egberht. In changes before the Norman conquest the East Saxons were subsumed into the Kingdom of England and, following the Norman conquest, Essex became a county.

Essex (album)

Essex is the fourth studio album of singer/songwriter Alison Moyet. The album (although recorded in Liverpool) is named after the artist's native Essex, England and includes the singles "Falling" (1993), "Whispering Your Name", "Getting into Something" and "Ode to Boy II".

Essex was again a source of controversy for the singer. In order for the album to be released at all, her label (originally CBS/Columbia – as of 1988 a subsidiary label of Sony Music Entertainment) insisted that certain Essex tracks were to be re-recorded and re-produced, and that there be additional material remixed to create a more 'commercial' package. The acoustic ballad "Whispering Your Name" was for example turned into an upbeat dance single and released as the second single after "Falling" failed to live up to the label's expectations. The re-recording of "Ode To Boy", originally from Yazoo's 1983 album You and Me Both, was later given the dance remix treatment by Junior Vasquez.

Due to prolonged litigation with Sony, this was to be Moyet's last full-length studio album for over eight years.

Essex (UK Parliament constituency)

Essex was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1290 until 1832. It elected two MPs, traditionally referred to as Knights of the Shire, to the House of Commons. It was divided into two single member constituencies (Essex North and Essex South) in the Great Reform Act.

Area covered (current units)

Members of Parliament

1290-1640

1640-1832

Montana (ship)

Montana was a paddle steamer that was wrecked off the north coast of Bermuda on 30 December 1863.

History

The vessel was intended for operation as a blockade runner supplying Confederate Forces in the American Civil War. It was on its maiden voyage from London, headed ultimately for Wilmington in North Carolina. She was carrying cargo from Britain to help the Confederates. Britain could not be seen to be directly aiding the Confederates, hence various levels of secrecy were used for this and similar vessels. For example, at the time she was using an assumed name of Nola, a ruse to help avoid the attention of Union forces. She had used at least two other names at various times, namely the Gloria, and Paramount.

Captain Pittman was in command of the vessel, and saw her safely across a rough Atlantic Ocean as far as Bermuda, where Pittman planned to stop to take on coal before departing for Wilmington. The ship hit the reef of Bermuda's north shore, in an area known as the Western Blue Cut on 30 December 1863.

Montana (Mesoamerican site)

Montana is a Mesoamerican archaeological site on the Pacific coastal plain of southern Guatemala. It is located in the department of Escuintla, near Balberta, and is one of the largest Mesoamerican archaeological sites on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala.

History

Around AD 400, in the Early Classic period, Montana replaced Balberta as the regional capital. The investigating archaeologists consider that Montana was founded as a colony by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico in order to supply that city with locally produced products such as cacao, cotton and rubber and to provide a trade route to the great highland city of Kaminaljuyu and to the Maya lowlands across the Sierra Madre de Chiapas.

The establishment of the Teotihuacan colony at Montana resulted in the collapse of the important nearby site of Balberta and the new capital flourished until about AD 600, dominating the region for about 200 years. This coincides with the period of Teotihuacan contact at Kaminaljuyu. The production of local copies of Teotihuacan artifacts ceased by the close of the Early Classic, coinciding with widespread destruction in the centre of Teotihuacan and the decline of that city and indicating the end of Montana as a colony.

Montana, Switzerland

Montana is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is one of the six municipalities that form the ski resort Crans-Montana (together with Icogne, Lens, Randogne, Mollens and Chermignon).

History

Montana is first mentioned in 1243 as Montana. In 1905 it separated from Lens to form an independent municipality.

Geography

Montana has an area, as of 2009, of 4.9 square kilometers (1.9 sq mi). Of this area, 1.26 km² (0.49 sq mi) or 25.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.08 km² (0.80 sq mi) or 42.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.4 km² (0.54 sq mi) or 28.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.08 km² (20 acres) or 1.6% is either rivers or lakes and 0.1 km² (25 acres) or 2.0% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 15.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 8.2%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.5%. Out of the forested land, 38.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.6% is used for growing crops and 12.5% is pastures, while 10.4% is used for orchards or vine crops and 2.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes. Of the unproductive areas, and 1.2% is too rocky for vegetation.