Las Vegas (Spanish: The Meadows) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and entertainment. Las Vegas, billed as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of casino resorts and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, it is the 28th most populous city in the United States with an estimated population by the U.S. Census Bureau of 599,087 as of 2008.^[1] The estimated population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which is the entirety of Clark County, was 1,986,146.^[2]

Whistler is a resort town in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, approximately 125 kilometres (78 mi) north of Vancouver. Incorporated as the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), it has a permanent population of approximately 9,965, plus a larger but rotating “transient” population of workers, typically younger people from beyond BC, notably from Australia and Japan.

Over two million people visit Whistler annually, primarily for alpine skiing and mountain biking at Whistler-Blackcomb. Its pedestrian village has won numerous design awards and Whistler has been voted among the top destinations in North America by major ski magazines since the mid-1990s. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Whistler will host most of the alpine, nordic and sliding events.

Jackson Hole is a valley located in the west-central U.S. state of Wyoming. The name “hole” derives from language used by early trappers or mountain men, who primarily entered the valley from the north and east and had to descend along relatively steep slopes, giving the sensation of entering a hole. These low-lying valleys surrounded by mountains contain rivers and streams, good habitat for beaver and other fur-bearing animals.

Fiji /?fi?d?i/ (help·info) (Fijian: Matanitu ko Viti; Fijian Hindustani: ?????), officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands (Fijian: Matanitu Tu-Vaka-i-koya ko Viti; Fijian Hindustani: ????? ????? ???? ???????^{[citation needed]}, fiji dvip samooh gannarajy), is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country occupies an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited, and 522 islets. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population.

South Beach is the section of Miami Beach, Florida that encompasses the southernmost 23 blocks of an island separating the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. This area was the first section of Miami Beach to be developed, starting in the 1910s, thanks to the development efforts of Carl G. Fisher, the Lummus Brothers, John S. Collins, and others. The area has gone through numerous man-made and natural changes over the years, including a booming regional economy, increased tourism, and the 1926 hurricane, which destroyed much of the area.

Los Angeles (pronounced /l?s ?ænd??l?s/ los-AN-j?-l?s; Spanish pronunciation: [los ?a?xeles]) is the largest city in the state of California and the Western United States as well as second largest in the United States.^[1] Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated an alpha world city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million^[2] and spans over 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km²) in Southern California. Additionally, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nearly 12.9 million residents,^[3] who hail from all over the globe and speak 224 different languages. Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most diverse counties^[4] in the United States. Its inhabitants are known as “Angelenos” (/ænd???li?no?z/).

Los Angeles was founded September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola).^[5] It became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its independence from Spain. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, Los Angeles and California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States; Mexico retained the territory of Baja California. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood.

Los Angeles is one of the world’s centers of business, international trade, entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, technology, and education. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. Los Angeles leads the world in producing popular entertainment — such as motion picture, video games, television, and recorded music — which forms the base of its international fame and global status.

The City of New York (most often called New York City) is the most populous city in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the world’s most populous urban areas. It is a leading global city, exerting a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, and entertainment. The city is also an important center for international affairs, hosting the United Nations headquarters.

Located on the Atlantic coast of the Northeastern United States, the city consists of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. It is the most densely populated major city in the United States, with an estimated 8,274,527 people^[1] occupying just under 305 square miles (790 km²).^[2][3][4][5] The New York metropolitan area’s population is also the nation’s highest, estimated at 18,815,988 people over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km²).^[6]

New York is unique among American cities for its high use of and 24-hour availability of mass transit, and for the overall density and diversity of its population. In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36% of its population was born outside the United States.^[7][8] The city is sometimes referred to as “The City that Never Sleeps”, while other nicknames include Gotham^[9] and the Big Apple.^[10]

Founded in 1624 as a commercial trading post by the Dutch, who called it New Amsterdam, it served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790,^[11] and has been the nation’s largest city since 1790.^[12]

Today, the city has many landmarks and neighborhoods that are world famous. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been a dominant global financial center since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building and the twin towers of the former World Trade Center.

New York is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism (also known as the New York School) in painting, and hip hop,^[13] punk,^[14] salsa, disco and Tin Pan Alley in music. It is the home of Broadway theater.

Seychelles (pronounced /se????l/ or /se????lz/ in English and IPA: [se??l] in French), officially the Republic of Seychelles (French: République des Seychelles; Creole: Repiblik Sesel), is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Other nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar to the west, Mauritius and Réunion to the south, Comoros and Mayotte to the southwest, and the Suvadives of the Maldives to the northeast. Seychelles has the smallest population of any state in Africa.

Bali is an Indonesian island located at 8°25?23?S 115°14?55?E? / ?8.42306°S 115.24861°E? / -8.42306; 115.24861Coordinates: 8°25?23?S 115°14?55?E? / ?8.42306°S 115.24861°E? / -8.42306; 115.24861, the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country’s 33.0 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island.

With a population recorded as 3,151,000 in 2005, the island is home to the vast majority of Indonesia’s small Hindu minority. 93.18% of Bali’s population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, while most of the remainder follow Islam. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking and music.

The Maldives ( /?m?lda?vz/ (help·info) or /?m?ldi?vz/), or Maldive Islands, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls stretching south of India‘s Lakshadweep islands between Minicoy Island and the Chagos Archipelago, and about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka in the Laccadive Sea of Indian Ocean. The twenty-six atolls of Maldives encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, of which two hundred and fifty islands are inhabited.

The inhabitants were Buddhist, probably since Ashoka‘s period^{[citation needed]}, in the 3rd century BC and possibly Hindu before that. Islam was introduced in 1153. The Maldives then came under the influence of the Portuguese (1558) and the Dutch (1654) seaborne empires. In 1887 it became a British protectorate. In 1965, the Maldives obtained independence from Britain (originally under the name “Maldive Islands”), and in 1968 the Sultanate was replaced by a Republic.

The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of both population and area; it is the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world. With two meters from sea level, it is also the country with the lowest highest point in the world.