<p>Lac Saint-Jean is a large, relatively shallow lake in south-central Quebec, Canada, in the Laurentian Highlands. It is situated 206 kilometres north of the Saint Lawrence River, into which it drains via the Saguenay River. It covers an area of 1,053 km&sup2, and is 63.1 m at its deepest point. Its name in the Innu language is Piekuakami.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The lake is fed by dozens of small rivers, including the Ashuapmushuan, the Mistassini, the Peribonka, the Des Aulnaies, the Métabetchouane, and the Ouiatchouane. The towns on its shores include Alma, Dolbeau-Mistassini, Roberval, Normandin, and Saint-Félicien. Three Regional County Municipalities lie on its shores: Lac-Saint-Jean-Est, Le Domaine-du-Roy, and Maria-Chapdelaine.</p><br>
<p>The lake was named Piekuakami by the Innu, the indigenous people who occupied the area at the time of European arrival. It was given its French name after Jean de Quen, a Jesuit missionary who in 1647 was the first European to reach its shores.</p><br>
<p>Industry on the lake was dominated by the fur trade until the 19th century. Colonization began in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region in the early 19th century and continued intensively until the early 20th century. Industry was mainly forestry and agriculture. In the 20th century, pulp and paper mills and aluminum smelting rose to importance, encouraged by hydroelectric dams at Alma and on the Péribonka River. Lac Saint-Jean also has an important summer resort and sport-fishing industry.</p><br>
<p>The area is featured in the classic French-language novel Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon published in 1914 and subsequently translated into twenty languages.</p><br>
<p>In the 1940s, during World War II, Lac Saint-Jean, along with various other regions within Canada, such as the Saguenay, Saint Helens Island and Hull, Quebec, had Prisoner-of-war camps. Lac Saint-Jeans was numbered and remained unnamed just like most of Canada&#39;s other war prisons. The prisoners of war (POWs) were classified into categories including their nationality and civilian or military status. By 1942 this region had two camps with at least 50 POWs. Prisoners worked the land, including lumbering and assisting in the production of pulp and paper.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Birthplace of NHL Hall of Famer and Team Canada 1972 member Jean Ratelle.</p><br>
<p>Birthplace of McGill Professor Mario Chevrette, Ph.D of Molecular and Cell Biology.</p><br>
<p>Snowdon  is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of 1,085 m above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park  in Gwynedd. It is the busiest mountain in the United Kingdom and the third most visited attraction in Wales, with 582,000 people visiting annually. It is designated as a national nature reserve for its rare flora and fauna.</p><br>
<p>The rocks that form Snowdon were produced by volcanoes in the Ordovician period, and the massif has been extensively sculpted by glaciation, forming the pyramidal peak of Snowdon and the arêtes of Crib Goch and Y Lliwedd. The cliff faces on Snowdon, including Clogwyn Du&#39;r Arddu, are significant for rock climbing, and the mountain was used by Edmund Hillary in training for the 1953 ascent of Mount Everest.</p><br>
<p>The summit can be reached by a number of paths, and by the Snowdon Mountain Railway, a rack railway opened in 1896 which carries passengers the 4.7 mi from Llanberis to the summit station. The summit also houses a cafe called Hafod Eryri, open only when the railway is operating; it opened in 2009 to replace one built in the 1930s. The railway generally operates to the summit station from Whitsun to October. The daily running schedule depends on weather and customer demand.</p><br>
<p>The name Snowdon is from the Old English for "snow hill", while the Welsh name – Yr Wyddfa – means "the tumulus" or "the barrow", which may refer to the cairn thrown over the legendary giant Rhitta Gawr after his defeat by King Arthur. As well as other figures from Arthurian legend, the mountain is linked to a legendary afanc (water monster) and the Tylwyth Teg (fairies).</p><br>
<p>__TOC__</p><br>
<h2>Height</h2><br>
<p>A 1682 survey estimated that the summit of Snowdon was at a height of 3,720 ft; in 1773, Thomas Pennant quoted a later estimate of 3,568 ft above sea level at Caernarfon. Recent surveys give the height of the summit as 1,085 m, making Snowdon the highest mountain in Wales, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. Snowdon is one of three mountains climbed as part of the National Three Peaks Challenge.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>The environment of Snowdon, particularly its rare plants, has led to its designation as a national nature reserve. In addition to plants that are widespread in Snowdonia, Snowdon is home to some plants rarely found elsewhere in Britain. These include the "Snowdon lily", Gagea serotina, which is also found in the Alps and in North America; it was first discovered in Wales by Edward Lhuyd, and the genus Lloydia (now included in Gagea) was later named in his honour by Richard Anthony Salisbury. Snowdon lies in the northern part of Snowdonia National Park, which has also provided some legal protection since the park&#39;s establishment in 1951.</p><br>
<h3>Geology</h3><br>
<p>The rocks which today make up Snowdon and its neighbouring mountains were formed in the Ordovician Period. At that time, most of modern-day Wales was near the edge of Avalonia, submerged beneath the ancient Iapetus Ocean. In the Soudleyan stage of the Caradoc age, a volcanic caldera formed, and produced ash flows of rhyolitic tuff, which formed deposits up to 500 m thick. The current summit is near the northern edge of the ancient caldera; the caldera&#39;s full extent is unclear, but it extended as far as the summit of Moel Hebog in the south-west.</p><br>
<p>Snowdon and its surrounding peaks have been described as "true examples of Alpine topography". The summits of Snowdon and Garnedd Ugain are surrounded by cwms, rounded valleys scooped out by glaciation. Erosion by glaciers in adjacent cwms caused the characteristic arêtes of Crib Goch, Crib y Ddysgl and Y Lliwedd, and the pyramidal peak of Snowdon itself. Other glacial landforms that can be seen around Snowdon include roches moutonnées, glacial erratics and moraines.</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>The English name "Snowdon" comes from the Old English snaw dun, meaning "snow hill", as Snowdon often has a covering of snow. Although the amount of snow on Snowdon in winter varies significantly, 55% less snow fell in 2004 than in 1994. The slopes of Snowdon have one of the wettest climates in Great Britain, receiving an annual average of more than 200 in of precipitation.</p><br>
<h3>Lakes</h3><br>
<p>A number of lakes are found in the various cwms of the Snowdon range.</p><br>
<p>Llyn Llydaw – 1,430 ft high, 110 acre – lies in Cwm Dyli, Snowdons eastern cwm, and is one of Snowdonias deepest lakes, at up to 190 ft deep. Various explanations of its name have been put forward, including lludw ("ash"), from ashen deposits along the shore, to Llydaw ("Brittany"). It contains evidence of a crannog settlement, and was the location of a 10 x dugout canoe described in the Cambrian Journal in 1862.</p><br>
<p>Glaslyn – 1,970 ft high, 18 acre – lies higher up Cwm Dyli than Llyn Llydaw. It was originally called Llyn y Ffynnon Glas, and has a depth of 127 ft. For a long time, it was believed to be bottomless, and is also the location for various myths.</p><br>
<p>Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas – 1,430 ft high, 10 acre – lies in Cwm Treweunydd, Snowdons north-western cwm, and is passed by the Snowdon Ranger path. It was enlarged by damming for use as a reservoir for use by slate quarries, but the level has since been lowered, and the lakes volume reduced to 24,000 m&sup3;.</p><br>
<p>Other lakes include Llyn Dur Arddu below Clogwyn Dur Arddu – 1,901 ft high, 5 acre, Llyn Teyrn near Pen-y-pass – 1,237 ft high, 5 acre, and several smaller pools.</p><br>
<h2>Rock climbing</h2><br>
<p>The Snowdon Massif includes a number of cliffs, and holds an important place in the history of rock climbing in the United Kingdom. Clogwyn Dur Arddu is often colloquially known as Cloggy&#39; among climbers, and was the site of the first recorded climb in Britain, in 1798. It was carried out by Peter Bailey Williams and William Bingley, while searching for rare plants. It is now considered to be one of the best cliffs in Britain for rock climbing.</p><br>
<p>Y Lliwedd was also explored by early climbers, and was the subject of a 1909 climbing guide, The Climbs on Lliwedd by J. M. A. Thompson and A. W. Andrews, one of the first in Britain. Snowdon was used by Edmund Hillary and his group during preparations for their successful 1953 expedition to climb Mount Everest.</p><br>
<h2>Ascents</h2><br>
<p>The first recorded ascent of Snowdon was by the botanist Thomas Johnson in 1639. However, the 18th-century Welsh historian Thomas Pennant mentions a "triumphal fair upon this our chief of mountains" following Edward I&#39;s conquest of Wales in 1284, which could indicate the possibility of earlier ascents.</p><br>
<p>Snowdon offers some of the most extensive views in the British Isles. On exceptionally clear days, Ireland, Scotland, England, and the Isle of Man are all visible, as well as 24 counties, 29 lakes and 17 islands. The view between Snowdon and Merrick (southern Scotland) is the longest theoretical line of sight in the British Isles at 144 mi.</p><br>
<p>Snowdon has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain", with approximately 444,000 people having walked up the mountain in 2016. A number of well-established and engineered footpaths lead to Snowdon&#39;s summit from all sides, The circular walk starting and ending at Pen-y-Pass and using the Crib Goch route and the route over Y Lliwedd is called the Snowdon Horseshoe, and is considered "one of the finest ridge walks in Britain". The routes are arranged here anticlockwise, starting with the path leading from Llanberis. In winter conditions, all these routes become significantly more dangerous and the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team state that "additional skills, equipment and knowledge are required". Many inexperienced walkers have been killed over the years attempting to climb the mountain via the main paths.</p><br>
<p>These six main paths were mapped by the Google Trekker in 2015.</p><br>
<h3>Llanberis Path</h3><br>
<p>The Llanberis Path is the longest route to the summit, and has the shallowest gradient. It largely follows the line of the Snowdon Mountain Railway, and is considered the easiest and least interesting route to the summit of Snowdon. It is the route used by the annual Snowdon Race, with a record time of less than 40 minutes recorded from the start to the summit.</p><br>
<p>The section of the Llanberis Path beside the railway near the summit has been called the "Killer Convex&quot in icy conditions, this convex slope can send unwary walkers over the cliffs of Clogwyn Du&#39;r Arddu. Four people died there in February 2009.</p><br>
<h3>Snowdon Ranger Path</h3><br>
<p>The Snowdon Ranger Path (Llwybr Cwellyn) begins at the youth hostel beside Llyn Cwellyn, to the west of the mountain, served by the A4085 and Snowdon Ranger railway station. This was formerly the Saracen&#39;s Head Inn, but was renamed under the ownership of the mountain guide John Morton. It is thought to be the oldest path to the summit.</p><br>
<p>The route begins with zigzags through turf, before reaching a flatter boggy area in front of Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas. The path then climbs to Bwlch Cwm Brwynog, and then snakes along the ridge above Clogwyn Dur Arddu towards the summit. This path meets the railway, the Llanberis Path, the Crib Goch path, and the combined Pyg Track and Miners Track all within a short distance, just below the summit.</p><br>
<h3>Rhyd Ddu Path</h3><br>
<p>The Rhyd Ddu path, also called the Beddgelert Path, leads from the village of Rhyd Ddu, west of Snowdon, gently up on to Llechog, a broad ridge dropping west from the summit. It climbs at a shallow gradient to Bwlch Main, shortly southwest of the summit, from where it climbs more steeply, meeting up with the Watkin Path at a site marked with a large standing stone a few hundred metres from the summit. An alternative start begins at Pitt&#39;s Head on the A4085 road.</p><br>
<h3>Watkin Path</h3><br>
<p>The Watkin Path is "the most demanding route direct to the summit of Snowdon", since it starts at the lowest elevation of any of the main routes. It was originally designed as a donkey track and opened in 1892.</p><br>
<p>The start of the Watkin Path has been described as "the prettiest beginning" of the routes up Snowdon. It begins at Bethania on the A498 and climbs initially through old broadleaved woodland. After leaving the woods, the path climbs past the waterfalls of the Afon Llan to the glacial cirque of Cwm Llan, crossing a disused incline from an abandoned slate quarry. It then reaches Plas Cwmllan, formerly the home of the quarry manager for the South Snowdon Slate Works beyond, and later used for target practice by commandos during the Second World War. Near Plas Cwmllan is the large boulder known as Gladstone Rock, which bears a plaque commemorating a speech given in 1892 by William Ewart Gladstone, the then 83-year-old Prime Minister, on the subject of Justice for Wales. The slate workings in Cwm Llan were opened in 1840, but closed in 1882 due to the expense of transporting the slate to the sea at Porthmadog. Various buildings, including barracks and dressing sheds, remain.</p><br>
<p>From the slate quarries, the Watkin Path veers to the north-east to reach Bwlch Ciliau, the col between Snowdon and Y Lliwedd, which is marked by a large orange-brown cairn. From here, it heads west to meet the Rhyd Ddu Path at a standing stone shortly below the summit of Snowdon.</p><br>
<p>Scenes from Carry On... Up the Khyber were filmed on the lower part of the Watkin Path in 1968, with the Watkin Path representing the Khyber Pass in the film. In 2005 one of the stars of the film, Angela Douglas, unveiled a plaque at the precise location where filming took place, to commemorate the location filming, and it forms part of the North Wales Film and Television Trail, run by the Wales Screen Commission.</p><br>
<h3>Over Y Lliwedd</h3><br>
<p>The route over Y Lliwedd is more frequently used for descent than ascent, and forms the second half of the Snowdon Horseshoe walk, the ascent being over Crib Goch. It is reached by following the Watkin Path down to Bwlch y Saethau, and then continuing along the ridge to the twin summits of Y Lliwedd. The path then drops down to Cwm Dyli to join the Miners&#39; Track towards Pen-y-Pass.</p><br>
<h3>Miners' Track</h3><br>
<p>The Miners Track (Llwybr y Mwynwyr) begins at the car park at Pen-y-Pass, at an altitude of around 350 m, and is the most popular route to the summit of Snowdon. It begins by skirting Llyn Teyrn before climbing slightly to cross the causeway over Llyn Llydaw. It follows the lakes shoreline before climbing to Glaslyn, from where it ascends steeply towards Bwlch Glas. It is joined for most of this zigzag ascent by the Pyg Track, and on reaching the summit ridge, is united with the Llanberis Path and Snowdon Ranger Path. Derelict mine buildings are encountered along several parts of the path.</p><br>
<h3>Pyg Track</h3><br>
<p>The "Pyg Track" (Llwybr Pyg), or "Pig Track" (both spellings may be encountered), also leads from Pen-y-Pass. The track climbs over Bwlch y Moch on the eastern flanks of Crib Goch, before traversing that ridges lower slopes. Above Glaslyn, it is joined by the Miners Track for the zigzag climb to Bwlch Glas between Snowdon and Garnedd Ugain. Regarding its name, the website of the Snowdonia National Park Authority states:</p><br>
<h3>Crib Goch route</h3><br>
<p>The traverse of Crib Goch has been described as "one of the finest ridge walks in Britain", and forms part of the Snowdon Horseshoe, a circuit of the peaks surrounding Cwm Dyli. The path follows the Pyg Track before separating off from it at Bwlch y Moch and leading up the East ridge of Crib Goch. All routes which tackle Crib Goch are considered mountaineering routes or scrambles.</p><br>
<h2>Snowdon Mountain Railway</h2><br>
<p>The Snowdon Mountain Railway (SMR) (Rheilffordd yr Wyddfa) is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway that travels for 4.75 mi from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon. It is the only public rack and pinion railway in the United Kingdom, and after more than 100 years of operation it remains a popular tourist attraction, carrying more than 130,000 passengers annually. Single carriage trains are pushed up the mountain by either steam locomotives or diesel locomotives. It has also previously used diesel railcars as multiple units. The railway was constructed between December 1894, when the first sod was cut by Enid Assheton-Smith (after whom locomotive No.2 was named), and February 1896, at a total cost of £63,800 (equivalent to £ as of ).</p><br>
<h2>View from the summit</h2><br>
<p>Snowdon offers some of the most extensive views in the British Isles; on exceptionally clear days, Ireland, (the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), Scotland, England, and the Isle of Man (as well as Wales) are all visible, as well as 24 counties, 29 lakes and 17 islands. From here, it is also possible to see the mountains of the Peak District and South Pennines that surround Manchester. The view between Snowdon and Merrick (southern Scotland) is the longest theoretical line of sight in the British Isles at 144 mi. In practice, atmospheric conditions make such sightings extremely rare and indeed there are no reported sightings. The mountain itself may also be viewed on take off and approach to both Manchester Airport and Liverpool John Lennon Airport on very clear days, and even from Howth Head in Dublin, Ireland.</p><br>
<h2>Summit buildings</h2><br>
<p>The first building on the summit of Snowdon was erected in 1838 to sell refreshments, and a licence to sell intoxicating liquor was granted in 1845. When the Snowdon Mountain Railway was opened in 1896, it added its own accommodation and sales outlet near the summit.</p><br>
<p>During the 1930s, many complaints were received about the state of the facilities at the summit and in 1934/5 a new station building was erected in two phases. It was designed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis and included rooms for visitors and a café. The other operators were bought out and the ramshackle collection of buildings on the summit was cleared. The flat roof was intended to be used as a viewing platform and some photographs show it being used in this way. However, other photographs taken of the café show that the roof leaked, which probably explains why the practice was stopped. The Summit was taken over by government agencies during the war and the accommodation was restricted to staff use afterwards. Having become increasingly dilapidated, this building was described by Prince Charles as "the highest slum in Wales". Its state led to a campaign to replace the building. In April 2006, Snowdonia National Park Authority with the support of the Snowdonia Society agreed a deal to start work on a new café and visitor centre complex. By mid-October 2006 the old building had been largely demolished.</p><br>
<p>The new RIBA Award-winning £8.4 million visitor centre, Hafod Eryri, designed by Ray Hole Architects in conjunction with Arup and built by Carillion, was officially opened on 12 June 2009 by First Minister Rhodri Morgan. The Welsh National Poet, Gwyn Thomas, composed a new couplet for the new building, displayed at its entrance and on the windows, which reads "Copa&#39;r Wyddfa: yr ydych chwi, yma, Yn nes at y nefoedd / The summit of Snowdon: You are, here, nearer to Heaven". The name Hafod Eryri was chosen from several hundred put forward after a competition was held by the BBC. Hafod is Welsh for an upland summer residence, while Eryri is the Welsh name for Snowdonia.</p><br>
<h2>Folklore</h2><br>
<p>In Welsh folklore, the summit of Snowdon is said to be the tomb of Rhitta Gawr, a giant. Merlin is supposed to have hidden the golden throne of Britain among the cliffs north of Crib y Ddysgl when the Saxons invaded.</p><br>
<p>Glaslyn was also the final resting place of a water monster, known as an afanc (also the Welsh word for beaver), which had plagued the people of the Conwy valley. They tempted the monster out of the water with a young girl, before securing it with chains and dragging it to Glaslyn. A large stone known as Maen Dur Arddu, below Clogwyn Dur Arddu, is supposed to have magical powers. Like several other sites in Wales, it is said that if two people spend the night there, one will become a great poet while the other will become insane. Llyn Coch in Cwm Clogwyn has been associated with the Tylwyth Teg (fairies), including a version of the fairy bride legend.</p><br>
<p>Foxton Locks are ten canal locks consisting of two "staircases" each of five locks, located on the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal about 5 km west of the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough and are named after the nearby village of Foxton.</p><br>
<p>They form the northern terminus of a 20-mile summit level that passes Husbands Bosworth, Crick and ends with the Watford flight</p><br>
<p>Staircase locks are used where a canal needs to climb a steep hill, and consist of a group of locks where each lock opens directly into the next, that is, where the bottom gates of one lock form the top gates of the next. Foxton Locks are the largest flight of such staircase locks on the English canal system.</p><br>
<p>The Grade II* listed locks are a popular tourist attraction and the county council has created a country park at the top. At the bottom, where the junction with the arm to Market Harborough is located, there are two public houses, a shop, trip boat and other facilities. The area is popular with gongoozlers.</p><br>
<p>Alongside the locks is the site of the Foxton Inclined Plane, an inclined plane built in 1900 as a solution to various operational restrictions imposed by the lock flight. It was not a commercial success and remained in full-time operation for only ten years. It was dismantled in 1926, but a project to re-create the Plane commenced in the 2000s, since the locks remain a bottleneck for boat traffic.</p><br>
<h2>The locks</h2><br>
<p>Building work on the locks started in 1810 and took four years. Little changed until the building of the inclined plane resulted in the reduction in size of some of the side pounds.</p><br>
<p>In 2008, the locks became part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage, a network which seeks to recognize the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe.</p><br>
<p>The locks are usually manned during the cruising season from Easter to October and padlocked outside operating hours. This is done to prevent water shortages due to misuse and to ensure a balance between those wishing to ascend and descend. There can be lengthy delays at busy times but the actual transit should take approximately 45 minutes to one hour to complete; it is made quicker by the fact that the locks are narrow beam and the gates are light.</p><br>
<h2>Preservation</h2><br>
<p>The Foxton Canal Museum is located in the former boiler house for the plane&#39;s steam engine. The museum covers the history of the locks and the plane, the lives of the canal workers, and other aspects of the local canal. There is also a collection of Measham pottery. The museum opened in 1989 and is accredited by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.</p><br>
<p>The Caroline Islands  are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end. Historically, this area was also called Nuevas Filipinas or New Philippines as they were part of the Spanish East Indies and governed from Manila in the Philippines.</p><br>
<p>The Carolines span a distance of approximately 3540 kilometers (2200 miles), from Tobi, Palau at the westernmost point to Kosrae at the easternmost.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The group consists of about 500 small coral islands, east of the Philippines, in the Pacific Ocean; the distance from Manila to Yap, one of the larger islands of the group, is 1,200 mi.</p><br>
<p>Most of the islands comprise low, flat coral atolls, but some rise high above sea level.</p><br>
<h2>People and culture</h2><br>
<p>The native inhabitants speak a variety of Micronesian languages including Pohnpeian, Chuukese, Carolinian, and Kosraean, as well as the Western Malayo-Polynesian languages Palauan and Chamorro, and the unclassified language Yapese (possibly one of the Admiralty Islands languages). Other significant populations include Filipinos and Japanese.</p><br>
<p>The natives live mainly on horticulture and fishing, also supplementing their diet with many different varieties of bananas and taro, either of the "swamp" or "purple" varieties. On some islands housing continues to be built with local materials including coconut thatch. The language spoken in commerce is English, but there are several indigenous languages. They traditionally believe in a Supreme Being (Yalafar) and in a bad spirit (Can), yet they have hardly any religious rites. Due to extensive missionary work, Christianity is the primary religion practiced in this region of Micronesia.</p><br>
<p>Micronesian Navigator Mau Piailug was from the Carolinian island of Satawal. He learned the traditional navigation techniques of the Weriyeng school. These techniques had been preserved while similar techniques had been forgotten elsewhere partly due to the remoteness of the Carolinian Islands. In the 1970s Mau shared his knowledge with the Polynesian Voyaging Society which led to a revival of traditional Polynesian navigation and a new anthropological understanding of the history of Polynesian and Micronesian peoples.</p><br>
<p>In 1985 a study was made on the origin of the sidereal compass used in the Caroline Islands.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Different islands and island groups in the Carolines passed down unique and variant oral legends recounting the origins and early histories of their peoples. On Pohnpei, for example, pre-colonial history is divided into three eras: Mwehin Kawa or Mwehin Aramas (Period of Building, or Period of Peopling, before ca. 1100); Mwehin Sau Deleur (Period of the Lord of Deleur, ca. 1100 to ca. 1628); and Mwehin Nahnmwarki (Period of the Nahnmwarki, ca. 1628 to ca. 1885). Pohnpeian legend recounts that the Saudeleur rulers, the first to bring government to Pohnpei, were of foreign origin. The Saudeleur centralized form of absolute rule is characterized in Pohnpeian legend as becoming increasingly oppressive over several generations. Arbitrary and onerous demands, as well as a reputation for offending Pohnpeian deities, sowed resentment among Pohnpeians. The Saudeleur Dynasty ended with the invasion of Isokelekel, another semi-mythical foreigner, who replaced the Saudeleur rule with the more decentralized nahnmwarki system in existence today.</p><br>
<h3>Spanish colony</h3><br>
<p>In mid-1525 a storm carried the Portuguese navigators Diogo da Rocha and Gomes de Sequeira eastward from the Moluccas (via Celebes); they reached several islands of the Carolines and stayed there until January 20, 1526. The Spanish explorers Toribio Alonso de Salazar and Diego de Saavedra arrived on August 22, 1526, sighting the Island of San Bartolomé or Taongui. On 1 January 1528 the discoverer Álvaro de Saavedra took possession of the Uluti Islands on behalf of the King of Spain. Spanish explorers visited the archipelago in 1542 (Matelotes Islands), 1543, and 1545. In 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first Governor-General of the Philippines (in office 1565-1572), passed through.</p><br>
<p>The islands, known to contemporary Spaniards as Islas de las Hermanas, Hombres Pintados and Los Jardines, dropped out of European consciousness until 1686, when Francisco de Lezcano came to Yap and called the islands Las Carolinas, in honor of King Carlos II of Spain (reigned 1665-1700). The name was extended to include the Palau Islands and the archipelagos which were named the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands by British explorers who visited them a century later, between 1788 and 1799.</p><br>
<p>The colonization of the Caroline Islands had, as in most of the Spanish colonies, a marked religious character. A royal decree of October 19, 1707 granted authorization for the sending of missionaries in several expeditions to the islands. One such expedition (1731) was made by Father Juan Antonio Cantova, who was killed. As a result, Spain ceased relations with the Caroline Islands until 1787. Relations resumed later, but with a distinctly commercial character.</p><br>
<p>In 1852 the Spanish colonel Coello suggested to the Spanish government that the effective occupation of the Caroline Islands provided trade advantages between the Philippines and Australia, New Guinea and the Americas, but Spain ignored his suggestions until 1885. In that year, the Spanish representative Butron and the kings of Koror and Artingal signed an act which recognized the sovereignty of the king of Spain on the Carolines. Having secured the territory, Spain attempted to establish custom duties in the region in 1875, but Germany and the United Kingdom protested because Spain&#39;s previous abandonment of the islands had allowed the arrival of German and British missions there. A conflict arose, leading to the submission of these facts for arbitration by Pope Leo XIII, who recognized Spanish rights on the islands west of the 164th meridian east; he assigned to Germany the Marshall Islands and the right to maintain a naval station in one of the Caroline Islands, a right that Germany never exercised.</p><br>
<p>After the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain sold the Carolines and Marianas to Germany in the German–Spanish Treaty (1899) for 25 million pesetas or 17 million goldmark (nearly 1,000,000 pounds sterling), while reserving to itself the right to establish a coal mine in the area. Germany governed the archipelago as the Karolinen, administratively associated with German New Guinea.</p><br>
<h3>Japanese colony</h3><br>
<p>Japan invaded and occupied the islands in 1914, during World War I. This occupation was carried out by two naval squadrons: the Western Carolines under the squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Matsumura Tatsuo (1868–1932), and the Eastern Carolines under Vice-Admiral Yamaya Tanin (1866–1940). In 1920, after the conclusion of World War I, Japan received a League of Nations mandate over the Caroline and Marshall Islands. During World War II, Japan had a large base set up at Truk Lagoon which was used for expansion into the southeastern Pacific. In the latter years of the war, during the Japanese withdrawal to the Japanese home islands, the Allies effectively neutralized Truk in Operation Hailstone. After the war, the islands (together with the Marshall Islands) became trust territories of the United States, with the Federated States of Micronesia gaining independence in 1986, followed by Palau in 1994.</p><br>
<h3>Colonial governors or officers</h3><br>
<p>District officers (from 1889, styled Bezirksamtmann):</p><br>
<p>In the western Caroline islands (Yap and Palau and from 1907 Saipan)</p><br>
<p>*29 June 1886 – 18??, Manuel de Elisa</p><br>
<p>*before November 1897 – after November 1898, S. Cortes</p><br>
<p>*1899–1909, Arno Senfft (b. 1864 – d. 1909)</p><br>
<p>*1909–19??, Rudolf Karlowa</p><br>
<p>*1909–1910, Georg Fritz</p><br>
<p>*1910–1911, Hermann Kersting</p><br>
<p>*1911–1914, Baumert</p><br>
<p>In the Eastern Caroline islands (Ponape, and including the Marshall Islands from 1911)</p><br>
<p>*June 1886 – 1887 Capriles</p><br>
<p>*14 March 1887 – 1887, Isidro Posadillo (d. 1887)</p><br>
<p>*October 1887 – January 1891, Luis Cadarso y Rey (d. 1898)</p><br>
<p>*c.1894, Concha</p><br>
<p>*before November 1897 – after November 1898, J. Fernandez de Cordoba</p><br>
<p>*12 October 1899 – August 1901, Albert Hahl (b. 1868 – d. 1945)</p><br>
<p>*1 September 1901 – 30 April 1907, Victor Berg (b. 1861 – d. 1907)</p><br>
<p>*1907–1908?, Max Girschner (acting)</p><br>
<p>*1908–1909, Georg Fritz</p><br>
<p>*1909 – 18 October 1910, Gustav Boeder (d. 1910)</p><br>
<p>*1910 – 7 October 1914, August Überhorst</p><br>
<h2>Ecclesiastical history</h2><br>
<p>Two Jesuits, Juan Antonio Cantova (also known as John Anthony Cantova) and Victor Walter, attempted missionary work there in 1731; the former was soon murdered and the latter obliged to flee. Two other Jesuits were killed later. In 1767 the Jesuits were suppressed in the Spanish dominions, and during the next 120 years there has been no trace of a missionary.</p><br>
<p>The controversy between Germany and Spain concerning the possession of the Carolines having been settled by Pope Leo XIII in favour of Spain, the king directed Spanish Capuchins to the islands, 15 March 1886, and the Propaganda Fide officially established that mission, 15 May 1886, dividing it into two sections, named West and East Carolines respectively. Until then the islands had belonged ecclesiastically to the Vicariate Apostolic of Micronesia. The Spanish Capuchins had a catechism and prayer book printed in the Ponape dialect, and Father Anthony of Valentia wrote a small grammar and dictionary of the Yap dialect in 1890.</p><br>
<p>When the Spanish Fathers had laid the foundations of the mission, these islands passed by purchase into the hands of Germany in 1899. Spain had contributed more than $5000 a year towards the mission; Germany granted no support. Spain had compelled the aborigines to send their children to school; Germany gave full liberty in this regard, and the people consequently began to neglect school as well as church. The mission thereby suffered greatly, and the Propaganda Fide finally deemed it advisable to replace the Spanish Capuchins with others of German nationality (7 November 1904) and to erect one Apostolic prefecture instead of the two separate missions (18 December 1905). The Very Reverend Father Venantius of Prechtal, Germany was appointed first prefect Apostolic.</p><br>
<p>In 1906 twelve fathers and twelve brothers were working in thirteen stations, and several Sisters of St. Francis left Luxembourg to take charge of the ten schools, in which were 262 children. Ninety adult converts were the "harvest" of that year, and the Catholic population is given as 1900 among 11,600 unconverted natives and a few Protestants. The United States Government sent, 1 July 1905, a Jesuit from the Manila Observatory to erect a meteorological station on the island of Yap, of which station the Capuchin Father Callistus was appointed director. The origin of the East-Asiatic typhoons had been traced to these regions, and twice a day observations are made, and notice is frequently given to Manila by cable.</p><br>
<h2>Postage stamps</h2><br>
<p>During the period of German control, Germany issued postage stamps for the islands; see postage stamps and postal history of the Caroline Islands for more details.</p><br>
<p>Ulithi  is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km  east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling 4.5 km&sup2;, surrounding a lagoon about 36 km long and up to 24 km wide—at 548 km&sup2; one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. Ulithi&#39;s population was 773 in 2000. There are four inhabited islands on Ulithi Atoll. They are Falalop , Asor &#39;, Mogmog &#39;, and Fedarai &#39;. Falalop is the most accessible with an air strip, a small resort hotel, gas dealership, store and one of three public high schools in Yap state. Mogmog is the seat of the high chief of Ulithi Atoll though each island has its own chief. Other important islands are Losiap , Sorlen &#39;, and Potangeras &#39;.</p><br>
<p>The atoll is in the westernmost of the Caroline Islands, 360 mi southwest of Guam, 850 mi east of the Philippines and 1,300 mi south of Tokyo. It is a typical volcanic atoll, with a coral reef, white sand beaches and palm trees. Ulithi&#39;s forty small islands barely rise above the sea, with the largest being only 1/2 square miles in area. However the reef runs roughly 20 mi north and south, by 10 mi across, enclosing a vast anchorage with an average depth of 80 to 100 ft.</p><br>
<p>Ulithi was a major staging area for the USA Navy in the final year of the Second World War. Several sunken warships rest at the bottom of the Ulithi lagoon, including the, a fleet oiler which sank fully loaded. The sunken tanker was found to be seeping oil into the lagoon. The United States Navy responded, locating the tanker, tapping her storage tanks, and pumped off her oil. The cleanup operation was completed in February 2003.</p><br>
<p>The atoll offers good fishing and diving, though recent typhoons have eroded some of the reefs.</p><br>
<p>Census records can be misleading because population can fluctuate during the year because it is common for Ulithians to leave for work or school abroad and to return. This is particularly true during festive times like the Outer Island High School graduation ceremony, when the population can increase considerably. Additionally, during events like weddings and funerals, Yasor&#39;s population may double.</p><br>
<p>Electricity is now available on some islands, and the advent of video players and cell phones have brought a touch of the outside world to this very isolated atoll. Occasional diving and adventure tours visit Ulithi from Yap.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first European to find Ulithi was the Portuguese navigator Diego da Rocha, for four months in 1525. Its visit was recorded by Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on board the ship Florida on 1 January 1528. He named them Islas de los Reyes (Islands of the Three Wise Kings in Spanish) because of the sighting happening on the eve of Epiphany. It was later charted by the Spaniards as Islas de los Garbanzos (Chickpeas Islands in Spanish). It was also visited by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos on 26 January 1543. It remained isolated until visited and explored in detail by Captain Don Bernardo de Egoy in 1712, and later visited by Spanish Jesuit missionaries led by Juan Antonio Cantova together with a group of 12 Spanish soldiers in 1731.</p><br>
<p>Germany purchased the islands from Spain in 1899. They were occupied in 1914 by Japan at the outset of the First World War. Japan received them in 1920 as a League of Nations mandate.</p><br>
<h3>Second World War</h3><br>
<p>Early in the Second World War, the Japanese had established a radio and weather station on Ulithi and had occasionally used the lagoon as an anchorage, but had abandoned it by 1944. As the operations of the US Navy moved west across the Pacific, the Navy required a more forward base for its operations.</p><br>
<p>Ulithi was perfectly positioned to act as a staging area for the US Navy&#39;s western Pacific operations. The anchorage was large and well situated, but there were no port facilities to repair ships or re-supply the fleet.</p><br>
<p>On September 23, 1944, a regiment of the US Army&#39;s 81st Division landed unopposed, followed a few days later by a battalion of Seabees. The survey ship examined the lagoon and reported it capable of holding 700 vessels—a capacity greater than either Majuro or Pearl Harbor.</p><br>
<p>The US Navy transferred the local islanders to the island of Fedarai for the duration of the hostilities. Arriving next was Service Squadron 10, termed by Admiral Nimitz as his "secret weapon". Its commanding officer Commodore Worrall R. Carter devised the mobile service force that made it possible for the Navy to convert Ulithi to the secret distant Pacific base used during the major naval operations undertaken late in the war, including Leyte Gulf and the invasion of Okinawa. Service Squadron 10 converted the lagoon into a serviceable naval station, creating repair facilities and re-supply facilities thousands of miles away from an actual naval port. Pontoon piers of a new design were built at Ulithi, each consisting of the 4-by-12-pontoon sections, filled with sand and gravel, and then sunk. The pontoons were anchored in place by guy ropes to deadmen on shore, and by iron rods driven into the coral. Connecting tie pieces ran across the tops of the pontoons to hold them together into a pier. Despite extremely heavy weather on several occasions these pontoon piers stood up remarkably well. They gave extensive service, with little requirement for repairs. Piers of this type were also installed by the 51st Battalion to be used as aviation-gasoline mooring piers near the main airfield on Falalop.</p><br>
<p>Within a month of the occupation of Ulithi, a complete floating base was in operation. Six thousand ship fitters, artificers, welders, carpenters and electricians arrived aboard repair ships, destroyer tenders, and floating dry docks. The had an air-conditioned optical shop and a metal fabrication shop with a supply of base metals from which she could make any alloy to form any part needed. The, which looked like a big tanker, distilled fresh water and baked bread and pies. The ice cream barge made 500 gallons a shift. The dry docks towed to Ulithi were large enough to lift dry a 45,000 ton battleship. The small island of Mog Mog became a rest and recreation site for sailors.</p><br>
<p>Fleet oilers sortied from Ulithi to meet the task forces at sea, refueling the warships a short distance from their combat operational areas. The result was something never seen before: a vast floating service station enabling the entire Pacific fleet to operate indefinitely at unprecedented distances from its mainland bases. Ulithi was as far away from the US Naval base at San Francisco as San Francisco was from London, England. The Japanese had considered that the vastness of the Pacific Ocean would make it very difficult for the US to sustain operations in the western Pacific. With the Ulithi naval base to refit, repair and resupply, many ships were able to deploy and operate in the western Pacific for a year or more without returning to the Naval base at Pearl Harbor.</p><br>
<p>The Japanese had built an airstrip on Falalop. It was expanded and resurfaced, the runway running the full width of the island. The east end of the strip was extended approximately 20 ft past the natural shoreline. A number of small strips for light aircraft were built on several of the smaller islands. The Seabees completed a fleet recreation center at Mog Mog island that could accommodate 8,000 men and 1,000 officers daily. A 1,200-seat theatre, including a 25-by-40-foot stage with a Quonset hut roof was completed in 20 days. At the same time, a 500-seat chapel was built. A number of the larger islands were used both as bases to support naval vessels and facilities within the lagoon.</p><br>
<p>The Japanese still held Yap. Early after the US occupation they mounted a number of attacks but caused no damage to the Seabees working on the islands.</p><br>
<p>On 20 November 1944 the Ulithi harbor was attacked by Japanese kaiten manned torpedoes launched from two nearby submarines. The destroyer rammed one in the early morning hours. At 5:47 the fleet oiler, at anchor in the harbor, was struck and sunk. Destroyers began dropping depth charges throughout the anchorage. After the war Japanese naval officers said that two tender submarines, each carrying four manned torpedoes, had been sent to attack the fleet at Ulithi. Three of the suicide torpedoes were unable to launch due to mechanical problems and another ran aground on the reef. Two did make it into the lagoon, one of which sank the USS Mississinewa. A second kaiten attack in January 1945 was foiled when the I-48 was sunk by the destroyer escort. None of the 122 men aboard the Japanese submarine survived.</p><br>
<p>On March 11, 1945, in a mission known as Operation Tan No. 2, several long range aircraft flying from southern Japan attempted a nighttime kamikaze attack on the naval base. One struck the Essex-class aircraft carrier, which had left a cargo light on despite the black out. The plane struck over the stern starboard quarter, damaging the flight deck and killing a number of crewmen. Another crashed on Sorlen Island, having perhaps mistaken a signal tower there for the superstructure of an aircraft carrier.</p><br>
<p>By March 13 there were 647 ships at anchor at Ulithi, and with the arrival of amphibious forces staging for the invasion of Okinawa the number of ships at anchor peaked at 722.</p><br>
<p>In late June 1945, the Japanese aircraft-launching super submarines I-400 and I-401 were diverted from their planned attack on the Panama Canal to attack Ulithi Atoll. However, their mission was interrupted by the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, followed by the Japanese surrender.</p><br>
<p>After the Leyte Gulf was secured, the Pacific Fleet moved its forward staging area to Leyte, and Ulithi was all but abandoned. In the end, few US civilians ever heard of Ulithi. By the time Naval security cleared release of the name, there were no longer reasons to print stories about it. The war had moved on, but for seven months in late 1944 and early 1945, the large lagoon of the Ulithi atoll was the largest and most active anchorage in the world.</p><br>
<h2>Language</h2><br>
<p>In an annual report released in early 2010, the Habele charity announced plans to develop and distribute native-language materials for educators and students in the outer islands of Yap State, Micronesia. The first project was a Ulithian-to-English dictionary. This was the first rigorous documentation of the Ulithian language, and copies were provided to educators and students throughout Ulithi and Fais The authors&#39; stated aim was to create a consistent and intuitive Latin alphabet useful for both native Ulithian and native English speakers.</p><br>
<p>Skjaldbreiður, meaning the broad shield in Icelandic, is an Icelandic lava shield formed in one huge and protracted eruption roughly 9,000 years ago. The extensive lava fields which were produced by this eruption, flowed southwards, and formed the basin of Þingvallavatn, Iceland&#39;s largest lake, and Þingvellir, the "Parliament Plains" where the Icelandic national assembly, the Alþing was founded in 930.</p><br>
<p>The volcano summit is at 1,060 metres, and its crater measures roughly 300 metres in diameter.</p><br>
<p>Straddling the Mid-Atlantic ridge, the lava fields from Skjaldbreiður have been torn and twisted over the millennia, forming a multitude of fissures and rifts inside the Þingvellir National Park, the best known of which are Silfra, Almannagjá, Hrafnagjá and Flosagjá.</p><br>
<p>Sybaris  was an important city of Magna Graecia. It was situated on the Gulf of Taranto, in Southern Italy, between two rivers, the Crathis  and the Sybaris .</p><br>
<p>The city was founded in 720 BC by Achaean and Troezenian settlers. Sybaris amassed great wealth thanks to its fertile land and busy port. Its inhabitants became famous among the Greeks for their hedonism, feasts, and excesses, to the extent that "sybarite" and "sybaritic" have become bywords for opulent luxury and outrageous pleasure-seeking.</p><br>
<p>In 510/09 BC the city was subjugated by its neighbor Kroton and its population driven out. Sybaris became a dependent ally of Kroton, but Kroton again besieged the city in 476/5 BC, probably resulting in another victory for Kroton. Two attempts to reoccupy the city failed around 452/1 BC and 446/5 BC when the remaining Sybarites were again expelled by the Krotoniates. After a call for help the Sybarites reoccupied their city later in 446/5 BC with the assistance of new settlers from Athens and other cities in the Peloponnese. This coexistence did not last long: the Sybarites got into a conflict with the new colonists and were ousted for the last time in the summer of 445 BC. In sum, the city saw a total of five periods of occupation separated by expulsion. The new settlers then proceeded to found the city of Thurii in 444/3 BC, a new colony which was built partially on top of the site of Sybaris. The surviving Sybarites founded Sybaris on the Traeis.</p><br>
<p>The ruins of Sybaris and Thurii became forgotten as they were buried by sediment from the Crati river over time. The ruins were rediscovered and excavated in the 1960s. Today they can be found southeast of Sibari, a frazione in the comune of Cassano allo Ionio in the Province of Cosenza, Calabria region, Italy.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Strabo and Diodorus Siculus write that the city was situated close to the sea and lay between the Crathis and Sybaris rivers (from which the city derives its name). Most modern research places the city on a coastal ridge near a wetland lagoon. In the present the rivers are known as the Crati and Coscile. Today the Coscile feeds into the Crati about five kilometers from its mouth, which then passes just south of the archaeological site of the city. When Sybaris was still populated the Coscile pursued a direct course into the Gulf of Taranto, probably at a short distance to the north. The city lay on a plain that was renowned for its fertility.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Foundation in 720 BC</h3><br>
<p>Sybaris was founded in 720 BC according to Pseudo-Scymnus. Strabo mentions it was an Achaean colony and that its oekist (founder) was Is of Helice, a city in Achaea. Aristotle writes the Achaeans were accompanied by a number of Troezenian citizens, but they were eventually expelled by the more numerous Achaeans. According to legend the city was founded by Sagaris, the son of Oïlean Ajax.</p><br>
<p>The authenticity of the name of the oekist is uncertain. Strabo is the only source for the name of the oekist, which might be a corruption of is or is. Further complicating the issue is the appearance of the letters Wiis on coins of Poseidonia. This has been interpreted as a confirmation of Strabo&#39;s account because Poseidonia is thought to be a colony of Sybaris.</p><br>
<h3>Prosperity in the 7th and 6th century BC</h3><br>
<p>Diodorus Siculus describes how Sybaris had amassed great wealth and a huge population as a result of its fertile farming land and its policy of admitting aliens to its citizenry. He calls it the largest city in Italy and states that it had 300,000 inhabitants. This number of inhabitants was certainly exaggerated. Ephorus gives a figure of 100,000 inhabitants, which is perhaps closer to the truth. Strabo writes that its inhabitants on the Crathis occupied a circuit of fifty stadia (over 6 miles). Furthermore, he explains that Sybaris was a dominant power in the region which ruled over four tribes and twenty-five subject cities. The inhabited area of the city occupied approximately 500 hectare.</p><br>
<p>The Oenotrian city Pandosia was one of the settlements which seems to have been controlled by Sybaris. In the second half of the seventh century BC the Sybarites apparently took over the sanctuary of Athena on the Timpone della Motta from the Oenotrians. They celebrated large festivals regularly on this hill, which was located 15 kilometers to the northwest of their city. Sybaris extended its dominion across the peninsula to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where it is thought to have founded its colonies Poseidonia, Laüs and Scidrus. Poseidonia was founded in approximately 600 BC, but it is unknown when the latter two colonies were founded.</p><br>
<p>Descriptions of the wealth and luxury of Sybaris are plenty in the ancient literature. Smindyrides was a prominent citizen who is claimed by Herodotus to have surpassed all other men in refined luxury. Diodorus describes him as the wealthiest suitor for the daughter of Cleisthenes of Sicyon. He sailed from Sybaris to Sicyon in a ship of fifty oars manned by his own slaves and surpassed even Cleisthenes himself in luxury. Athenaeus makes the claim that his entourage consisted of thousand slaves, fisherman, bird-catchers and cooks. However, his information must be false because he claims to cite Herodotus, who does not mention such a number. Claudius Aelianus even alleges that Smyndirides could not sleep on a bed of rose petals because it gave him blisters. Another Sybarite who is known by name is Alcimenes. A Pseudo-Aristotle mentions that it was said he dedicated a very expensive cloak as a votive offering at the temple of Lacinian Hera. Here Athenaeus distorts the information too: he treats the story as genuine rather than hearsay and attributes it to the real Aristotle.</p><br>
<p>Justin mentions an alliance of Sybaris with the other Achaean colonies Metapontum and Kroton against the Ionian colony Siris. This resulted in the conquest of Siris in the middle of the sixth century BC. In the second half of the sixth century BC Sybaris started minting its first coins, of which the oldest have been dated to approximately 530 BC. These coins employed the Achaean weight standard which was shared with the other Achaean colonies Kroton, Caulonia and Metapontum.</p><br>
<h3>Subjugation by Kroton in 510/09 BC</h3><br>
<p>Diodorus Siculus writes that the oligarchic government of the city was overthrown in 510/09 BC by a popular leader named Telys (Herodotus describes him as a tyrant). He persuaded the Sybarites to exile the 500 richest citizens and confiscate their wealth. The exiled citizens took refuge at the altars of Kroton. Telys demanded the Krotoniates return the exiles under threat of war. The Krotoniates were inclined to surrender the exiles to avoid war, but Pythagoras convinced them to protect the suppliants. As a consequence the Sybarites marched with 300,000 men upon the Krotoniates, whose army led by Milo numbered 100,000. The army sizes given by Diodorus (shared with Strabo) must have been even more exaggerated than the population size. Even though they were greatly outnumbered, the Krotoniates won the battle and took no prisoners, killing most of the Sybarites. After their victory they plundered and razed Sybaris. According to Strabo either two months or nine days elapsed between the battle and the sack. Most likely the Sybarites executed Telys and his supporters during this time.</p><br>
<p>Walter Burkert questions the veracity of the account given by Diodorus Siculus. It would have been illogical for Telys to banish his opponents first and then to demand their return. He argues that the elements of the story resemble fictional tragedies. The version of Herodotus is more brief and doesn&#39;t involve Pythagoras, but does claim that the Krotoniates received help from Dorieus. Strabo claims that the Krotoniates diverted the course of the river Crathis to submerge Sybaris.</p><br>
<p>The Crati transports coarse sand and pebbles in its channel. If Strabo&#39;s claim is true, that material would have been deposited as sediment above the city when the river submerged it. An analysis of core samples taken from the site did not find such river deposits directly above the former city. The burial of Sybaris more likely resulted from natural processes such as fluvial overbank alluviation.</p><br>
<h3>Continued struggle with Kroton</h3><br>
<p>After its destruction the surviving inhabitants took refuge at their colonies Laüs and Scidrus. It is assumed some also fled to Poseidonia, because in the early fifth century Poseidonia&#39;s coins adopted the Achaean weight standard and the bull seen on Sybarite coins. A. J. Graham thinks it was plausible that the number of refugees was large enough for some kind of synoecism to have occurred between the Poseidonians and the Sybarites, possibly in the form of a sympolity. Sybaris was not completely destroyed as Diodorus and Strabo claimed, but became a dependent "ally" of Kroton. "Alliance" coins show the tripod symbol of Kroton on one side and the bull symbol of Sybaris on the other side. Literary evidence from Aristoxenus attests of Pythagoreans who apparently moved to Sybaris after its subjugation by Kroton.</p><br>
<p>Diodorus Siculus mentions that Kroton besieged Sybaris again in 476/5 BC. The Sybarites appealed to the tyrant Hiero I of Syracuse for help. Hiero put his brother Polyzelos in command of an army to relieve the Sybarites, expecting that he would be killed by the Krotoniates. Polyzelos suspected this, refused to lead the campaign and took refuge with the tyrant Theron of Acragas. Diodorus makes no further mention of Hiero&#39;s plan to relieve Sybaris, indicating that the Sybarites were defeated again. However, according to Timaeus and two scholia Polyzelos was successful in relieving the siege of Sybaris and fled to Acragas later when he was accused of plotting revolution.</p><br>
<p>Regardless of the results of the siege of 476 BC, it seems the Sybarites had to leave their city at some point between that year and 452/1 BC. Diodorus writes that the Sybarites refounded their city at its former site in 452/1 BC under the leadership of a Thessalian. It is thought that Poseidonia had a major share in this because the coins of the new city have a great resemblance to those of Poseidonia. Possibly a treaty of friendship between Sybaris, its allies and the Serdaioi (an unknown people) dates to this new foundation, because Poseidonia was the guarantor of this treaty. Ultimately the Sybarites were again driven off by the Krotoniates from their new city in 446/5 BC.</p><br>
<h3>Final expulsion in 445 BC</h3><br>
<p>What happened next is again uncertain. According to Diodorus the Sybarites requested Sparta and Athens to help them reoccupy their city. With the help of Athens and some other cities in the Peloponnese they founded the city of Thurii not far from the site of Sybaris. Soon a conflict arose between the Sybarites and the other colonists of Thurii over the privileges the Sybarites enjoyed. Practically all of the Sybarites were killed by the other colonists, who were more numerous and powerful. Some of the Sybarites managed to flee and founded Sybaris on the Traeis shortly after 444 BC.</p><br>
<p>The request for help from the Sybarites must have been made after the conclusion of the Thirty Years Peace in the early spring of 445 BC, for it would not have made sense to ask for help while Sparta and Athens were still at war with each other. While Diodorus identifies only one expedition for the foundation of Thurii, Strabo writes that the Athenian and other Greek colonists first lived in Sybaris and only founded Thurii after the expulsion of the Sybarites. Modern scholarship corroborates Strabos account and identifies two expeditions. In 446/5 BC Athens sent its expedition to reinforce the existing population of Sybaris. In the summer of 445 BC the collision between the two groups led to the downfall of the Sybarites. In 444/3 BC the Athenians and other new colonists then turned the city into a new foundation called Thurii. The city received a new democratic constitution which made provisions for ten tribes, but which did not include the Sybarites.</p><br>
<h3>Legacy</h3><br>
<p>Unlike Herodotus, Diodorus and earlier ancient Greek writers, later authors from the Roman period denounced the Sybarites. Aelianus, Strabo and especially Athenaeus saw the destruction of Sybaris as divine vengeance upon the Sybarites for their pride, arrogance, and excessive luxury. Athenaeus is the richest source for anecdotes about the Sybarites. According to him they invented the chamber pot and pioneered the concept of intellectual property to ensure that cooks could exclusively profit from their signature dishes for a whole year. They always traveled in chariots, but would still take three days for a journey of one day. The roads to villas in the countryside were roofed over and canals transported wine from vineyards to cellars near the sea. A fragment of the comedian Metagenes he quotes has a Sybarite boasting about literal rivers of food flowing through the city</p><br>
<p>Not only does Athenaeus provide a great deal of examples to show the decadence of Sybarites, he also argues that their excessive luxury and sins led to their doom. According to Athenaeus ambassadors of the Sybarites (one of whom was named Amyris) consulted the oracle of Delphi, who prophesied that war and internal conflict awaited them if they would honor man more than the gods. Later he cites Phylarchus, who would have written that the Sybarites invoked the anger of Hera when they murdered thirty ambassadors from Kroton and left them unburied. He also cites Herakleides as attributing the divine wrath to the murder of supporters of Telys on the altars of the gods. Herakleides supposedly mentioned that the Sybarites attempted to supplant the Olympic Games by attracting the athletes to their own public games with greater prizes. The most direct link between luxury and corruption is evident in Atheneaus&#39; anecdote about the defeat of the Sybarites: to amuse themselves the Sybarite cavalrymen trained their horses to dance to flute music. When the Krotoniate army had their flute players make music the horses of the Sybarites ran over to the Krotoniates along with their riders. Strabo gives the "luxury and insolence" of the Sybarites as the reason for their defeat. Claudius Aelianus attributes the fall of Sybaris to its luxury and the murder of a lutenist at the altar of Hera.</p><br>
<p>Vanessa Gorman gives no credence to these accounts because grave sins followed by divine retribution were stock elements of fictional stories at the time. Furthermore, she and Robert Gorman point to Athenaeus as the origin of the embellished accounts rather than the historians he cited. He altered details of the original accounts, disguised his own contributions as those of past historians and invented new information to fit his argument that luxury leads to catastrophe. This concept was called tryphé and was a popular belief in his time, at the turn of the 2nd century AD. Peter Green likewise argues that these accounts are most likely the inventions of moralists. He points out the vast natural wealth of the city was the more likely reason it was attacked by Kroton.</p><br>
<p>This association of Sybaris with excessive luxury transferred to the English language, in which the words "sybarite" and "sybaritic" have become bywords for opulent luxury and outrageous pleasure seeking. One story, mentioned in Samuel Johnsons A Dictionary of the English Language, alludes to Aelianus anecdote about Smindyrides. It mentions a Sybarite sleeping on a bed of rose petals, but unable to get to sleep because one of the petals was folded over.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>The earliest archaeological exploration in the last quarter of the 19th century failed to find the location of Sybaris. Finding the location was difficult because the site had been buried over time by more than four meters of alluvial sediment from the Crati delta. The location of the city was found only after a massive core drilling project had been undertaken from the early to mid-1960s. The archaeological site is located about 2.5 kilometers west of the present Gulf of Taranto coastline. The excavations were difficult because the human structures lay below groundwater level. It was found that the later cities of Thurii and Copia were built partially above Sybaris. An archaeological museum was built near the site.</p><br>
<p>Lake Mariout , also spelled Maryut or Mariut, is a brackish lake in northern Egypt. The lake area covered 200 km² and had a navigable canal at the beginning of the 20th century, but at the beginning of the 21st century, it covers only about 50 km².</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The name derives from Mareotis or Marea, the name of the lake in ancient times.</p><br>
<h2>Overview</h2><br>
<p>At least 250 years ago, the lake was fresh water, and much of it would dry up during the period just before the Nile flooded again. A storm in 1770 breached the sea wall at Abu Qir, creating a sea-water lake known as Lake Abu Qir. The salt waters were kept separate from Lake Mariout by the canal that allowed fresh water to travel from the Nile to Alexandria. As part of the Siege of Alexandria, on 13 March 1801, the British cut the canal, allowing a great rush of sea water from Lake Abu Qir into Lake Mariout. Lake Abu Qir ceased to exist, and Lake Mariout became brackish instead of fresh.</p><br>
<p>It is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by the narrow isthmus on which the city of Alexandria was built. The lake shore is home to fisheries and saltworks. As far back as the early 1900s, it was documented that salt was being refined from the western part of the lake. Some of the marshy areas around the lake have been reclaimed for new building as the city grows and how to manage the pollution that goes into the lake has been considered.</p><br>
<p>According to some records, a homonymous nome (Ancient name: Mareotis) was located on the shores of this lake.</p><br>
<h2>Ecclesiastical history</h2><br>
<p>There was a bishopric of Mareotes, in the Roman province of Aegyptus Primus, which was a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, but it faded like most in Roman Egypt, plausibly at the advent of Islam.</p><br>
<p>Two bishops are historically documented :</p><br>
<p>Ischiras (mentioned circa 335)</p><br>
<p>Pistos (mentioned in 337)</p><br>
<h3>Titular see</h3><br>
<p>The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as Titular bishopric of Mareotes (Latin=Curiate Italian) / Mareoten(sis) (Latin adjective). Although technically a Latin titular bishopric, it has had several Eastern Catholic incumbents, notably of Egypt&#39;s native Coptic Catholic Church sui iuris (Alexandrian Rite).</p><br>
<p>It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank:</p><br>
<p>Antonios Aziz Mina (2002.12.21 – 2006.01.03) as Bishop of Curia of the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate (Egypt) ( 2002.12.21 – 2006.01.03), next Eparch (Bishop) of Guizeh of the Copts (Egypt) (2006.01.03 – 2017.01.23)</p><br>
<p>Botros Fahim Awad Hanna (2006.09.06 – 2013.04.08) as Bishop of Curia of Egypt of the Copts ( 2006.09.06 – 2013.04.08), next Eparch (Bishop) of Minya of the Copts (Egypt) ( 2013.04.08 –...)</p><br>
<p>Cesar Essayan, Conventual Franciscans (O.F.M. Conv.) (2016.08.02 –...) as (Apostolic Vicar of Beirut (Lebanon).</p><br>
<h2>Ancient findings</h2><br>
<p>In 2015 a stele, resembling the Rosetta Stone and dating back some 2,200 years, was discovered in ancient ruins called Taposiris Magna Temple site at Lake Mariout. Measuring 41 inches (105 cm) by 25.6 inches (65 cm) by 7 inches (18 cm), its message commemorates two Ptolemaic pharaohs and Cleopatra I. There are ancient tombs located on the shores of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Fish species</h2><br>
<p>The fish species Nile perch lives in the lake although its principal habitat is fresh water, and the lake contains some salt. In 1939, a small lake, called the Nozha Hydrodrome was "isolated from Lake Mariout" and this allowed for the Nile perch to flourish there.</p><br>
<p>The Skagerrak  is a strait running between the southeast coast of Norway, the southwest coast of Sweden, and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.</p><br>
<p>The Skagerrak contains some of the busiest shipping routes in the world, with vessels from every corner of the globe. It also supports an intensive fishing industry. The ecosystem is strained and negatively affected by direct human activities. Oslo is the only large city in the Skagerrak region.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The meaning of Skagerrak is most likely the Skagen Channel/Straight. Skagen is a town near the northern cape of Denmark (The Skaw). Rak means straight waterway (compare the Damrak in Amsterdam); it is cognate with reach. The ultimate source of this syllable is the Proto-Indo-European root *reg-, straight. Rak means straight as in straight ahead in both modern Norwegian and Swedish. "Råk" in modern Norwegian refers to a channel or opening of water in an otherwise ice covered body of water. There is no evidence to suggest a connection with the modern Danish word rak (meaning rabble or riff-raff).</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Skagerrak is 240 km long and between 80 and wide. It deepens toward the Norwegian coast, reaching over 700 metres at the Norwegian Trench. Some ports along the Skagerrak are Oslo and Kristiansand in Norway and Uddevalla and Strömstad in Sweden.</p><br>
<p>The Skagerrak has an average salinity of 30 practical salinity units, which is very low, close to that of brackish water, but comparable to most other coastal waters. The area available to biomass is about 3,600 km&sup2; and includes a wide variety of habitats, from shallow sandy and stony reefs in Sweden and Denmark to the depths of the Norwegian trench.</p><br>
<h3>Extent</h3><br>
<p>The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Skagerrak as follows:</p><br>
<p>On the West. A line joining Hanstholm ({{coord|57|07|N|8|36|E}}) and the Naze (Lindesnes, {{coord|58|N|7|E}}).</p><br>
<p>On the Southeast. The Northern limit of the Kattegat A line joining Skagen (The Skaw, North Point of Denmark) and Paternoster Skær ({{coord|57|54|N|11|27|E}}) and thence Northeastward through the shoals to Tjörn Island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Older names for the combined Skagerrak and Kattegat were the Norwegian Sea or Jutland Sea; the latter appears in the Knýtlinga saga.</p><br>
<p>Until the construction of the Eider Canal in 1784 (a predecessor to the Kiel Canal), Skagerrak was the only way in and out of the Baltic Sea. For this reason the strait has had a heavy international seatraffic for centuries. After the industrialization, the traffic has only increased and today Skagerrak is among the busiest straits in the world. In 1862, the Thyborøn Channel at the Limfjord was constructed in Denmark, shortcutting passage through Skagerrak from the North Sea by going directly to the Kattegat. The Limfjord only supports minor transports though.</p><br>
<p>In both the world wars, the Skagerrak was strategically very important for Germany. The biggest sea battle of World War I, the Battle of Jutland, also known as the Battle of the Skagerrak, took place here May 31 to June 1, 1916. In World War II, the importance of controlling this waterway, the only sea access to the Baltic, was the motivation for the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, and the subsequent construction of the northern parts of the Atlantic Wall. Both of these naval engagements have contributed to the large number of shipwrecks in the Skagerrak.</p><br>
<h2>Traffic and industry</h2><br>
<p>Skagerrak is a heavily trafficated strait, with c. 7,500 individual vessels (excluding fishing vessels) from all over the world visiting in 2013 alone. Cargo ships are by far the most common vessel in Skagerrak at c. 4,000 individual ships in 2013, followed by tankers, which are nearly half as frequent. When viewed in combination with the Baltic Sea area, ships from 122 different nationalities visited in 2013, with most of these carrying cargo or passengers within Europe, regardless of their flag state.</p><br>
<p>Nearly all commercial vessels in Skagerrak are tracked by the Automatic Identification System (AIS).</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>Skagerrak is popular for recreational activities in all three countries. There are many summer house residences and several marinas along the coasts.</p><br>
<h2>Biology</h2><br>
<p>The Skagerrak is habitat for approximately 2,000 marine species, many of them adapted to its waters. For example, a variety of Atlantic cod called the Skagerrak cod spawns off the Norwegian coast. The eggs are buoyant and the hatchlings feed on zooplankton. Juveniles sink to the bottom where they have a shorter maturity cycle (2 years). They do not migrate but remain local to Norwegian fjords.</p><br>
<p>The variety of habitats and the large volume of plankton on the surface support prolific marine life. Energy moves from the top to the bottom according to Vinogradov&#39;s ladder of migrations; that is, some species are benthic and others pelagic, but there are graded marine layers within which species move vertically for short distances. In addition, some species are benthopelagic, moving between surface and bottom. The benthic species include Coryphaenoides rupestris, Argentina silus, Etmopterus spinax, Chimaera monstrosa and Glyptocephalus cynoglossus. On the top are Clupea harengus, Scomber scombrus, Sprattus sprattus. Some species that move between are Pandalus borealis, Sabinea sarsi, Etmopterus spinax.</p><br>
<h3>Reefs</h3><br>
<p>Apart from sandy and stony reefs, extensive cold water coral reefs, mostly of Lophelia, are growing in Skagerrak. The Säcken Reef in the Swedish marine protection of Koster Fjord is an ancient cold water coral reef and the only known coral reef in the country. The Tisler Reef in the Norwegian marine protection of Ytre Hvaler National Park is the largest known coral reef in Europe. Lophelia reefs are also present in the Norwegian trench and they are known from the shallow waters of many Norwegian fjords.</p><br>
<p>Skagerrak also holds a number of rare bubble reefs; biological reefs formed around cold seeps of geological carbohydrate outgassings, usually methane. These rare habitats are mostly known from the Danish waters of Skagerrak west of Hirtshals, but more might be discovered in future surveys. Bubbly reefs are very rare in Europe and supports a very varied ecosystem.</p><br>
<p>With the centuries long heavy international seatraffic of Skagerrak, the seabed also holds an abundance of shipwrecks. Wrecks on shallow waters, provides a firm anchoring for several corals and polyps and explored wrecks have been revealed to support Dead Man&#39;s Fingers corals, Brittle stars and large wolffish.</p><br>
<h2>Environmental concerns</h2><br>
<p>Scientists and environmental institutions have expressed concern about the increasing pressure on the ecosystem in Skagerrak. The pressure has already had negative impacts and is caused by cumulative environmental effects, of which direct human activities are only one piece of the puzzle. Climate change and ocean acidification are expected to have increasing impacts on the Skagerrak ecosystem in the future.</p><br>
<p>Skagerrak and the North Sea receives considerable inputs of hazardous material and radioactive substances. Most is ascribed to long-range transport from other countries, but not all. Marine litter is also a growing problem. Until recently, waste water and sewage pouring into Skagerrak from settlements and industries was not treated at all. In combination with wash out of excessive nutrients from conventional farming, this has often led to large algae blooms.</p><br>
<h2>Protections</h2><br>
<p>There are several marine protections in Skagerrak, including:</p><br>
<p>* Ytre Hvaler National Park</p><br>
<p>* Kosterhavet National Park</p><br>
<p>* Bratten, a newly designated 120,878.4 hectare Natura 2000 sea area beyond Kosterhavet. Pockmarks and biogenic reefs at depths of 200 -.</p><br>
<p>* Gullmarsfjorden, Sweden&#39;s first marine conservation area from 1983.</p><br>
<p>* Grenen and a 270,295 hectare sea area immediately north.</p><br>
<p>The Bregenz Forest  is one of the main regions in the state of Vorarlberg, Austria. It overlaps, but is not conterminous with, the Bregenz Forest Mountains which are a range of the Northern Limestone Alps, specifically the northern flysch zone. It is the drainage basin of the Bregenzer Ach river.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The inhabitants often divide the Bregenz Forest into two main areas, the Vorderwald ("lower forest") and Hinterwald ("upper forest"). The Vorderwald, with its hills and low mountains, is closest to the Rhine valley. The Hinterwald has the higher mountains, with altitudes of up to 2,000 metres. Each of the two regions has its own distinctive dialect variations.</p><br>
<h3>Villages</h3><br>
<p>The principal villages in the Bregenz Forest are Bezau (the local capital), Alberschwende, and Egg. Alberschwende as a historic "Hofsteig" municipality did not used to be part of the Bregenz Forest region.</p><br>
<p>Lower Bregenz Forest (Vorderer Bregenzerwald) (red)</p><br>
<p>Alberschwende</p><br>
<p>Doren</p><br>
<p>Sulzberg</p><br>
<p>Langenegg</p><br>
<p>Krumbach</p><br>
<p>Riefensberg</p><br>
<p>Lingenau</p><br>
<p>Hittisau</p><br>
<p>Sibratsgfäll</p><br>
<p>Upper Bregenz Forest (Hinterer Bregenzerwald) (blue)</p><br>
<p>Andelsbuch</p><br>
<p>Schwarzenberg</p><br>
<p>Bezau</p><br>
<p>Reuthe</p><br>
<p>Bizau</p><br>
<p>Mellau</p><br>
<p>Schnepfau</p><br>
<p>Damüls</p><br>
<p>Schoppernau</p><br>
<p>Schröcken</p><br>
<p>Warth</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<h3>Dialect</h3><br>
<p>Until 1814, parts of the Allgäu belonged to Vorarlberg in the north and north-west. This and the fact that in the whole region due to the settlement by the Alemanni, the Lake Constance Alemannic dialect had predominated since the 5th/6th century, led, over the centuries, not only to a brisk trading of goods, but also to linguistic mingling as the result of an extended circle of marriages. Especially in the northwestern part of the Bregenz Forest (the Vorderwald or "Lower Forest") the influence of Allgäuerisch is particularly noticeable, the dialect strongly resembling the West Allgäuerisch dialect. By contrast, in the Middle and High Forest region the predominant language forms show a stronger connection with the region of Hofsteig and Dornbirn. From the outside, however, the forest dialect is perceived as an idiom (Wälderisch) which is not clearly distinguishable from the other Vorarlberg dialects (there is no uniform Vorarlbergisch dialect), despite this multi-layeredness and considerable local and regional variations.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The population of the Bregenz Forest earns a living from tourism, agriculture and trade that is strongly connected with the wood processing industry. Many locals also commute to work in the Rhine Valley, Vorarlberg&#39;s economic centre.</p><br>
<p>The "Werkraum Bregenzerwald" is a coalition of trade and industry in the region, which also holds the design competition "Handwerk+Form" ("craft + shape") every three years.</p><br>
<p>In spring 2011, the three-level agricultural structure of the Bregenz Forest, also known as Alpine transhumance, was included in the Austrian list of cultural landscape candidates for recognition by UNESCO. The proposal recognises that the Bregenz Forest is "an impressive landscape on the north side of the Alps" that has "largely maintained its traditional farming structure". These include linear or nucleated villages, characteristic of the region, with farmsteads dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition, there are many small craft workshops amongst the farming community. Singled out for particular mention are the villages of Thal, Schwarzenberg and Schoppernau, with their fine examples of original Bregenz Forest houses ("Wälderhäuser").</p><br>
<h3>Tourism</h3><br>
<p>The Bregenz Forest is best known as a skiing location, but other attractions include the "Käsestraße" and the "Schubertiade" festival of classical music in Schwarzenberg. The Bregenz Forest attracts those in search of unspoiled nature, old traditions and genuine hospitality.</p><br>
<p>The Bregenz Forest is particularly well-known amongst gourmets for the "KäseStrasse Bregenzerwald", an association of farmers, restaurateurs, craftspeople and traders promoting the Bregenz Forest agriculture and its local products, especially (but not exclusively) cheese. In particular, Bregenz Forest Mountain Cheese ("Bregenzerwälder Bergkäse") is an internationally renowned speciality.</p><br>
<p>The Bregenz Forest Railway ("Bregenzerwaldbahn" or, colloquially, "’s Wälderbähnle") is another attraction of the region. It is a museum railway that operates on a surviving section of a narrow gauge railway. From 1902 to 1983, the "Wälderbähnle" worked a line stretching 35.5 kilometres (22 mi) from Bregenz to Bezau. In October 2004, a section of 6.1 km (3.7 mi) was usable, but part of it was lost to a road expansion project, leaving just 5 km (3.1 mi) available.</p><br>
<p>In 2000, the Women&#39;s Museum opened in Hittisau, the only one of its kind in Austria. The museum is devoted to the display and documentation of the cultural works and (his)stories of women, dealing with questions of female identities and gender roles.</p><br>
<p>Another museum in the Bregenz Forest is the Angelica Kauffman Museum in Schwarzenberg. The museum is dedicated to the baroque artist Angelica Kauffman, and has an Austrian museum seal of quality.</p><br>
<p>The region is also popular for its hiking and cycling trails as well as numerous ski areas.</p><br>
<p>The Hoover–Minthorn House is a museum in Newberg, Oregon, United States, created from the house of Herbert Hoover, thirty-first President of the United States. Hoover lived there from 1885 to 1891, with his uncle and aunt John and Laura Minthorn. The Minthorns were administrators of the Quaker school Friends Pacific Academy, now George Fox University, which Hoover and his brother Tad attended.</p><br>
<p>The house, an Italianate design built in 1881 by Jesse Edwards, a Quaker merchant, is the first residence Edwards built and the oldest house still standing in what is now Newberg, Oregon. Representing vernacular design in the Willamette Valley, it was restored and opened to the public in 1955. It is located on 115 South River Street. Owned and operated as a house museum by the Oregon chapter of The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, it has been furnished with late 19th-century period furnishings, including the bedroom furniture used by Hoover as a boy.</p><br>
<p>The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (as the Dr. Henry J. Minthorn House aka Herbert Hoover House) in 2003.</p><br>
<p>Victoria Falls  is a waterfall in southern Africa on the Zambezi River at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It has been described by CNN as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world.</p><br>
<h2>Name origins</h2><br>
<p>David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls on 16 November 1855, from what is now known as Livingstone Island, one of two land masses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the falls near the Zambian shore. Livingstone named his discovery in honour of Queen Victoria of Britain, but the indigenous Tonga name, Mosi-oa-Tunya—"The Smoke That Thunders"—continues in common usage as well. The World Heritage List officially recognizes both names.</p><br>
<p>The nearby national park in Zambia is named Mosi-oa-Tunya, whereas the national park and town on the Zimbabwean shore are both named Victoria Falls.</p><br>
<h2>Size</h2><br>
<p>While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, Victoria Falls is classified as the largest, based on its combined width of 1,708 m and height of 108 m, resulting in the worlds largest sheet of falling water. Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of North Americas Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls. In height and width Victoria Falls is rivalled only by Argentina and Brazil&#39;s Iguazu Falls. See table for comparisons.</p><br>
<p>For a considerable distance upstream from the falls, the Zambezi flows over a level sheet of basalt, in a shallow valley, bounded by low and distant sandstone hills. The river&#39;s course is dotted with numerous tree-covered islands, which increase in number as the river approaches the falls. There are no mountains, escarpments, or deep valleys; only a flat plateau extending hundreds of kilometres in all directions.</p><br>
<p>The falls are formed as the full width of the river plummets in a single vertical drop into a transverse chasm 1708 metres (5604 ft) wide, carved by its waters along a fracture zone in the basalt plateau. The depth of the chasm, called the First Gorge, varies from 80 m at its western end to 108 m in the centre. The only outlet to the First Gorge is a 110 m wide gap about two-thirds of the way across the width of the falls from the western end. The whole volume of the river pours into the Victoria Falls gorges from this narrow cleft.</p><br>
<p>There are two islands on the crest of the falls that are large enough to divide the curtain of water even at full flood: Boaruka Island (or Cataract Island) near the western bank, and Livingstone Island near the middle—the point from which Livingstone first viewed the falls. At less than full flood, additional islets divide the curtain of water into separate parallel streams. The main streams are named, in order from Zimbabwe (west) to Zambia (east): Devil&#39;s Cataract (called Leaping Water by some), Main Falls, Rainbow Falls (the highest) and the Eastern Cataract.</p><br>
<p>The Zambezi river, upstream from the falls, experiences a rainy season from late November to early April, and a dry season the rest of the year. The rivers annual flood season is February to May with a peak in April, The spray from the falls typically rises to a height of over 400 metres (1,300 ft), and sometimes even twice as high, and is visible from up to 48 km away. At full moon, a "moonbow" can be seen in the spray instead of the usual daylight rainbow. During the flood season, however, it is impossible to see the foot of the falls and most of its face, and the walks along the cliff opposite it are in a constant shower and shrouded in mist. Close to the edge of the cliff, spray shoots upward like inverted rain, especially at Zambias Knife-Edge Bridge.</p><br>
<p>As the dry season takes effect, the islets on the crest become wider and more numerous, and in September to January up to half of the rocky face of the falls may become dry and the bottom of the First Gorge can be seen along most of its length. At this time it becomes possible (though not necessarily safe) to walk across some stretches of the river at the crest. It is also possible to walk to the bottom of the First Gorge at the Zimbabwean side. The minimum flow, which occurs in November, is around a tenth of the April figure; this variation in flow is greater than that of other major falls, and causes Victoria Falls&#39; annual average flow rate to be lower than might be expected based on the maximum flow.</p><br>
<h2>Gorges</h2><br>
<p>The entire volume of the Zambezi River pours through the First Gorge&#39;s 110-metre-wide (360 ft) exit for a distance of about 150 metres (500 ft), then enters a zigzagging series of gorges designated by the order in which the river reaches them. Water entering the Second Gorge makes a sharp right turn and has carved out a deep pool there called the Boiling Pot. Reached via a steep footpath from the Zambian side, it is about 150 metres (500 ft) across. Its surface is smooth at low water, but at high water is marked by enormous, slow swirls and heavy boiling turbulence.</p><br>
<p>The principal gorges are (see reference for note about these measurements):</p><br>
<p>First Gorge: the one the river falls into at Victoria Falls</p><br>
<p>Second Gorge: 250 m south of falls, 2.15 km long (270 yd south, 2350 yd long), spanned by the Victoria Falls Bridge</p><br>
<p>Third Gorge: 600 m south, 1.95 km long (650 yd south, 2100 yd long), containing the Victoria Falls Power Station</p><br>
<p>Fourth Gorge: 1.15 km south, 2.25 km long (1256 yd south, 2460 yd long)</p><br>
<p>Fifth Gorge: 2.55 km south, 3.2 km long (1.5 mi south, 2 mi long)</p><br>
<p>Songwe Gorge: 5.3 km south, 3.3 km long, (3.3 mi south, 2 mi long) named after the small Songwe River coming from the north-east, and the deepest at 140 m (460 ft), the level of the river in them varies by up to 20 meters (65 ft) between wet and dry seasons.</p><br>
<h2>Formation</h2><br>
<p>The recent geological history of Victoria Falls can be seen in the form of the gorges below the falls. The basalt plateau over which the Upper Zambezi flows has many large cracks filled with weaker sandstone. In the area of the current falls the largest cracks run roughly east to west (some run nearly north-east to south-west), with smaller north-south cracks connecting them.</p><br>
<p>Over at least 100,000 years, the falls have been receding upstream through the Batoka Gorges, eroding the sandstone-filled cracks to form the gorges. The river&#39;s course in the current vicinity of the falls is north to south, so it opens up the large east-west cracks across its full width, then it cuts back through a short north-south crack to the next east-west one. The river has fallen in different eras into different chasms which now form a series of sharply zig-zagging gorges downstream from the falls.</p><br>
<p>Apart from some dry sections, the Second to Fifth and the Songwe Gorges each represents a past site of the falls at a time when they fell into one long straight chasm as they do now. Their sizes indicate that we are not living in the age of the widest-ever falls.</p><br>
<p>The falls have already started cutting back the next major gorge, at the dip in one side of the "Devil&#39;s Cataract" (also known as "Leaping Waters") section of the falls. This is not actually a north-south crack, but a large east-northeast line of weakness across the river, where the next full-width falls will eventually form.</p><br>
<p>Further geological history of the course of the Zambezi River is in the article of that name.</p><br>
<h2>Pre-colonial history</h2><br>
<p>Archaeological sites around the falls have yielded Homo habilis stone artifacts from 3 million years ago, 50,000-year-old Middle Stone Age tools and Late Stone Age (10,000 and 2,000 years ago) weapons, adornments and digging tools. Iron-using Khoisan hunter-gatherers displaced these Stone Age people and in turn were displaced by Bantu tribes such as the southern Tonga people known as the Batoka/Tokalea, who called the falls Shungu na mutitima. The Matabele, later arrivals, named them aManz&#39; aThunqayo, and the Batswana and Makololo (whose language is used by the Lozi people) call them Mosi-o-Tunya. All these names mean essentially "the smoke that thunders".</p><br>
<p>A map from c. 1750 drawn by Jacques Nicolas Bellin for Abbé Antoine François Prevost dExiles marks the falls as "cataractes" and notes a settlement to the north of the Zambezi as being friendly with the Portuguese at the time. Earlier still Nicolas de Fers 1715 map of southern Africa has the fall clearly marked in the correct position. It also has dotted lines denoting trade routes that David Livingstone followed 140 years later.</p><br>
<p>The first European to see the falls was David Livingstone on 17 November 1855, during his 1852–56 journey from the upper Zambezi to the mouth of the river. The falls were well known to local tribes, and Voortrekker hunters may have known of them, as may the Arabs under a name equivalent to "the end of the world". Europeans were sceptical of their reports, perhaps thinking that the lack of mountains and valleys on the plateau made a large falls unlikely.</p><br>
<p>Livingstone had been told about the falls before he reached them from upriver and was paddled across to a small island that now bears the name Livingstone Island in Zambia. Livingstone had previously been impressed by the Ngonye Falls further upstream, but found the new falls much more impressive, and gave them their English name in honour of Queen Victoria. He wrote of the falls, "No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."</p><br>
<p>In 1860, Livingstone returned to the area and made a detailed study of the falls with John Kirk. Other early European visitors included Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto, Czech explorer Emil Holub, who made the first detailed plan of the falls and its surroundings in 1875 (published in 1880), and British artist Thomas Baines, who executed some of the earliest paintings of the falls. Until the area was opened up by the building of the railway in 1905, though, the falls were seldom visited by other Europeans. Some writers believe that the Portuguese priest Gonçalo da Silveira was the first European to catch sight of the falls back in the sixteenth century.</p><br>
<h2>History since 1900</h2><br>
<h3>Victoria Falls Bridge initiates tourism</h3><br>
<p>European settlement of the Victoria Falls area started around 1900 in response to the desire of Cecil Rhodes British South Africa Company for mineral rights and imperial rule north of the Zambezi, and the exploitation of other natural resources such as timber forests north-east of the falls, and ivory and animal skins. Before 1905, the river was crossed above the falls at the Old Drift, by dugout canoe or a barge towed across with a steel cable. Rhodes vision of a Cape-Cairo railway drove plans for the first bridge across the Zambezi and he insisted it be built where the spray from the falls would fall on passing trains, so the site at the Second Gorge was chosen. See the main article Victoria Falls Bridge for details. From 1905 the railway offered accessible travel from as far as the Cape in the south and from 1909, as far as the Belgian Congo in the north. In 1904 the Victoria Falls Hotel was opened to accommodate visitors arriving on the new railway. The falls became an increasingly popular attraction during British colonial rule of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), with the town of Victoria Falls becoming the main tourist centre.</p><br>
<h3>Zambias independence and Rhodesias UDI</h3><br>
<p>In 1964, Northern Rhodesia became the independent state of Zambia. The following year, Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence. This was not recognized by Zambia, the United Kingdom nor the vast majority of states and led to United Nations-mandated sanctions. In response to the emerging crisis, in 1966 Zambia restricted or stopped border crossings; it did not re-open the border completely until 1980. Guerilla warfare arose on the southern side of the Zambezi from 1972: the Rhodesian Bush War. Visitor numbers began to drop, particularly on the Rhodesian side. The war affected Zambia through military incursions, causing the latter to impose security measures including the stationing of soldiers to restrict access to the gorges and some parts of the falls.</p><br>
<p>Zimbabwe&#39;s internationally recognised independence in 1980 brought comparative peace, and the 1980s witnessed renewed levels of tourism and the development of the region as a centre for adventure sports. Activities that gained popularity in the area include whitewater rafting in the gorges, bungee jumping from the bridge, game fishing, horse riding, kayaking, and flights over the falls.</p><br>
<h3>Tourism in recent years</h3><br>
<p>By the end of the 1990s almost 400,000 people were visiting the falls annually, and this was expected to rise to over a million in the next decade. Unlike the game parks, Victoria Falls has more Zimbabwean and Zambian visitors than international tourists; the attraction is accessible by bus and train, and is therefore comparatively inexpensive to reach.</p><br>
<p>Both countries permit tourists to make day trips across the border to view the falls from both viewpoints. Visitors with single-entry visas are required to purchase a visa each time they cross the border; visas can be obtained at both border posts. Costs vary from US$50–$80. Visa regulations change frequently; visitors are advised to check the rules currently in effect in both countries before crossing the border in either direction. Additionally, foreign tourists may purchase a KAZA visa for US$50 that will permit visitors to travel between Zambia and Zimbabwe for up to 30 days as long as they remain within the covered countries.</p><br>
<p>A famous feature is the naturally formed "Armchair" (now sometimes called "Devil&#39;s Pool"), near the edge of the falls on Livingstone Island on the Zambian side. When the river flow is at a certain level, usually between September and December, a rock barrier forms an eddy with minimal current, allowing adventurous swimmers to splash around in relative safety a few feet from the point where the water cascades over the falls. Occasional deaths have been reported when people have slipped over the rock barrier.</p><br>
<p>The numbers of visitors to the Zimbabwean side of the falls has historically been much higher than the number visiting the Zambia side, due to the greater development of the visitor facilities there. However, the number of tourists visiting Zimbabwe began to decline in the early 2000s as political tensions between supporters and opponents of president Robert Mugabe increased. In 2006, hotel occupancy on the Zimbabwean side hovered at around 30%, while the Zambian side was at near-capacity, with rates in top hotels reaching US$630 per night. The rapid development has prompted the United Nations to consider revoking the Falls status as a World Heritage Site. In addition, problems of waste disposal and a lack of effective management of the falls environment are a concern.</p><br>
<h2>Natural environment</h2><br>
<h3>National parks</h3><br>
<p>The two national parks at the falls are relatively small – Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park is 66 km&sup2; and Victoria Falls National Park is 23 km&sup2;. However, next to the latter on the southern bank is the Zambezi National Park, extending 40 km west along the river. Animals can move between the two Zimbabwean parks and can also reach Matetsi Safari Area, Kazuma Pan National Park and Hwange National Park to the south.</p><br>
<p>On the Zambian side, fences and the outskirts of Livingstone tend to confine most animals to the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. In addition fences put up by lodges in response to crime restrict animal movement.</p><br>
<p>In 2004 a separate group of police called the Tourism Police was started. They are commonly seen around the main tourist areas, and can be identified by their uniforms with yellow reflective bibs.</p><br>
<h3>Vegetation</h3><br>
<p>Mopane woodland savannah predominates in the area, with smaller areas of miombo and Rhodesian teak woodland and scrubland savannah. Riverine forest with palm trees lines the banks and islands above the falls. The most notable aspect of the area&#39;s vegetation though is the rainforest nurtured by the spray from the falls, containing plants rare for the area such as pod mahogany, ebony, ivory palm, wild date palm and a number of creepers and lianas. Vegetation has suffered in recent droughts, and so have the animals that depend on it, particularly antelope.</p><br>
<h3>Wildlife</h3><br>
<p>The national parks contain abundant wildlife including sizable populations of elephant, buffalo, giraffe, Grant&#39;s zebra, and a variety of antelope. Katanga lions, African leopards and South African cheetahs are only occasionally seen. Vervet monkeys and baboons are common. The river above the falls contains large populations of hippopotamus and crocodile. African bush elephants cross the river in the dry season at particular crossing points.</p><br>
<p>Klipspringers, honey badgers, lizards and clawless otters can be glimpsed in the gorges, but they are mainly known for 35 species of raptors. The Taita falcon, black eagle, peregrine falcon and augur buzzard breed there. Above the falls, herons, fish eagles and numerous kinds of waterfowl are common.</p><br>
<h3>Fish</h3><br>
<p>The river is home to 39 species of fish below the falls and 89 species above it. This illustrates the effectiveness of the falls as a dividing barrier between the upper and lower Zambezi.</p><br>
<h2>Statistics</h2><br>
<p>The Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial , commonly known as El Escorial, is a historical residence of the King of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 km northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and has functioned as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university and hospital. It is situated 2.06 km up the valley  from the town of El Escorial.</p><br>
<p>El Escorial comprises two architectural complexes of great historical and cultural significance: the royal monastery itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda, a royal hunting lodge and monastic retreat about five kilometres away. These sites have a dual nature; that is to say, during the 16th and 17th centuries, they were places in which the power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation. El Escorial was, at once, a monastery and a Spanish royal palace. Originally a property of the Hieronymite monks, it is now a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine. It is also a boarding school.</p><br>
<p>Philip II of Spain, reacting to the changes of the 16th century, dedicated much of his lengthy reign (1556–1598) and much of his seemingly inexhaustible supply of New World gold to stemming the tide. His protracted efforts were, in the long run, partly successful; however, the same impulse had a much more benign expression thirty years earlier in Philip&#39;s decision to build the complex at El Escorial.</p><br>
<p>Philip engaged the Spanish architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, to be his collaborator in the design of El Escorial. Juan Bautista had spent the greater part of his career in Rome, where he had worked on the basilica of St. Peters, and in Naples, where he had served the kings viceroy, whose recommendation brought him to the kings attention. Philip appointed him architect-royal in 1559, and together they designed El Escorial as a monument to Spains role as a center of the Christian world.</p><br>
<p>On 2 November 1984, UNESCO declared The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo of El Escorial a World Heritage Site. It is a popular tourist attraction, often visited by day-trippers from Madrid – more than 500,000 visitors come to El Escorial every year.</p><br>
<h2>Design and conception</h2><br>
<p>El Escorial is situated at the foot of Mt. Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama.</p><br>
<p>The buildings cornerstone was laid on 23 April 1563. The design and construction were overseen by Juan Bautista de Toledo, who did not live to see the completion of the project. With Toledos death in 1567, direction passed to his apprentice, Juan de Herrera, under whom the building was completed in 1584, in less than 21 years.</p><br>
<p>To this day, la obra de El Escorial ("the work of El Escorial") is a proverbial expression for a thing that takes a long time to finish.</p><br>
<p>Since then, El Escorial has been the burial site for most of the Spanish kings of the last five centuries, Bourbons as well as Habsburgs. The Royal Pantheon contains the tombs of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (who ruled Spain as King Charles I), Philip II, Philip III, Philip IV, Charles II, Louis I, Charles III, Charles IV, Ferdinand VII, Isabella II, Alfonso XII, and Alfonso XIII. Two Bourbon kings, Philip V (who reigned from 1700 to 1746) and Ferdinand VI (1746–1759), as well as King Amadeus (1870–1873), are not buried in the monastery.</p><br>
<p>The floor plan of the building is in the form of a gridiron. The traditional belief is that this design was chosen in honor of St. Lawrence, who, in the third century AD, was martyred by being roasted to death on a grill. St. Lawrence’s feast day is 10 August, the same date as the 1557 Battle of St. Quentin.</p><br>
<p>In fact, however, the origin of the buildings layout is quite controversial. The grill-like shape, which did not fully emerge until Herrera eliminated from the original conception the six interior towers of the facade, was, by no means, unique to El Escorial. Other buildings had been constructed with interior courtyards fronting on churches or chapels; Kings College, Cambridge, dating from 1441, is one such example; the old Ospedale Maggiore, Milan&#39;s first hospital, begun in 1456 by Antonio Filarete, is another grid-like building with interior courtyards. In fact, palaces of this approximate design were commonplace in the Byzantine and Arab world. Strikingly similar to El Escorial is the layout of the Alcázar of Seville and the design of the Alhambra at Granada where, as at El Escorial, two courtyards in succession separate the main portal of the complex from a fully enclosed place of worship.</p><br>
<p>Nonetheless, the most persuasive theory for the origin of the floor plan is that it is based on descriptions of the Temple of Solomon by the Judeo-Roman historian, Flavius Josephus: a portico followed by a courtyard open to the sky, followed by a second portico and a second courtyard, all flanked by arcades and enclosed passageways, leading to the "holy of holies". Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true origin of the design. A more personal connection can be drawn between the David-warrior figure, representing Charles V, and his son, the stolid and solomonically prudent Philip II. Echoing the same theme, a fresco in the center of El Escorials library, a reminder of Solomon’s legendary wisdom, affirms Philips preoccupation with the great Jewish king, his thoughtful and logical character, and his extraordinary monumental temple.René Taylor 1. Arquitectura y Magia. Consideraciones sobre la Idea de El Escorial, Ediciones Siruela, Madrid, enhanced from monograph in Rudolph Wittkower&#39;s 1968 festschrift.</p><br>
<p>2. Hermetism and the Mystical Architecture of the Society of Jesus in "Baroque Art: The Jesuit Contribution" by Rudolf Wittkower & Irma Jaffe</p><br>
<p>The Temple-of-Solomon design, if indeed it was the basis for El Escorial, was extensively modified to accommodate the additional functions and purposes Philip II intended the building to serve. Beyond being a monastery, El Escorial is also a pantheon, a basilica, a convent, a school, a library, and a royal palace. All these functional demands resulted in a doubling of the building&#39;s size from the time of its original conception.</p><br>
<p>Built primarily from locally quarried gray granite, square and sparsely ornamented, El Escorial is austere, even forbidding, in its outward appearance, seemingly more like a fortress than a monastery or palace. It takes the form of a gigantic quadrangle, approximately 224 m by 153 m, which encloses a series of intersecting passageways and courtyards and chambers. At each of the four corners is a square tower surmounted by a spire, and, near the center of the complex (and taller than the rest) rise the pointed belfries and round dome of the basilica. Philip&#39;s instructions to Toledo were simple and clear, directing that the architects should produce "simplicity in the construction, severity in the whole, nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation."</p><br>
<p>Aside from its explicit purposes, the complex is also an enormous storehouse of art. It displays masterworks by Titian, Tintoretto, El Greco, Velázquez, Rogier van der Weyden, Paolo Veronese, Alonso Cano, José de Ribera, Claudio Coello and others. The library contains thousands of priceless manuscripts; for example, the collection of the sultan, Zidan Abu Maali, who ruled Morocco from 1603 to 1627, is housed at El Escorial. Giambattista Castello designed the magnificent main staircase.</p><br>
<h2>Sections of the building</h2><br>
<p>In order to describe the parts of the great building in a coherent fashion, it may be useful to undertake an imaginary walking tour, beginning with the main entrance at the center of the western facade:</p><br>
<h3>Courtyard of the Kings</h3><br>
<p>The first thing one finds upon arriving to El Escorial is the main façade. This has three doors: the middle one leads to the Courtyard of the Kings (Patio de los Reyes) and the side ones lead to a school and the other to a monastery. On the façade there is a niche where the image of a saint has been placed. The courtyard is an enclosure that owes its name to the statues of the Kings of Judah that adorn the façade of the Basílica, located at the back, from which one can access from the courtyard. This spectacular basilica has a floor in the shape of a Greek cross and an enormous cupola inspired by St. Peters Basilica in Rome. The naves are covered with canyon vaults decorated with frescoes by Luca Giordano. The large chapel is one of the highlights in the basilica, presided by steps of red marble. Its main altarpiece is 30 meters high and divided in compartments of different sizes where are find bronze sculptures and canvas authored by Tibaldi, Zuccari or Leoni. In the Capitulary and the Sacristy Rooms, painting such as Josephs Coat by Velázquez, The Last Supper by Titian, or The Adoration of the Sacred Host by Charles II by Claudio Coello are on exhibit.</p><br>
<p>Under the royal chapel of the Basilica is the Royal Pantheon. This is the place of burial for the kings of Spain. It is an octagonal Baroque mausoleum made of marble where all of the Spanish monarchs since Charles I have been buried, with the exception of Philip V, Ferdinand of Savoy, and Amadeus of Savoy. The remains of Juan de Borbon, father of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, also rest in this pantheon despite the fact that he never became king himself. The enclosure is presided over by an altar of veined marble, and the sarcaphogi are bronze and marble. also find the Pantheon of the Princes, where the bodies of the queens who did not have a crowned succession and the princes and princesses were laid to rest. This part was built in the nineteenth century.</p><br>
<p>After the basilica is the Courtyard of the Evangelists. This is a gardened patio in whose center rises a magnificent pavilion by Juan de Herrera in which one can find sculptures of the Evangelists. Around the courtyard are the galleries of the main cloister, decorated with frescoes in which scenes from the history of the Redemption are represented. In the East gallery, one finds the splendid main staircase with a fresco-decorated vaulted ceiling depicting The glory of the Spanish monarchy.</p><br>
<p>Next is the Palace of the Austrians (Palacio de los Austrias), also known as the House of the King (Casa del Rey), which is found behind the presbytery of the basilica. The outbuildings of this palace are distributed around the Courtyard of the Fountainheads (patio de los Mascarones), of Italian style. Inside the House of the King are the Sala de las Batallas (Hall of Battles), which contains frescoes of the battles of San Quintín and Higueruela, among others. The next building contains the rooms of Philip II and of the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia. Another outbuilding is that of Alcoba del Rey, housing the bed in which Philip II died.</p><br>
<h3>Basilica</h3><br>
<p>The basilica of San Lorenzo el Real, the central building in the El Escorial complex, was originally designed, like most of the late Gothic cathedrals of western Europe, to take the form of a Latin cross. As such, it has a long nave on the west-east axis intersected by a pair of shorter transepts, one to the north and one directly opposite, to the south, about three-quarters of the way between the west entrance and the high altar. This plan was modified by Juan de Herrera to that of a Greek cross, a form with all four arms of equal length. Coincident with this shift in approach, the bell towers at the western end of the church were somewhat reduced in size and the small half-dome intended to stand over the altar was replaced with a full circular dome over the center of the church, where the four arms of the Greek cross meet.</p><br>
<p>Clearly Juan Bautista de Toledos experience with the dome of St. Peters basilica in Rome influenced the design of the dome of San Lorenzo el Real at El Escorial. However, the Roman dome is supported by ranks of tapered Corinthian columns, with their extravagant capitals of acanthus leaves and their elaborately fluted shafts, while the dome at El Escorial, soaring nearly one hundred metres into the air, is supported by four heavy granite piers connected by simple Romanesque arches and decorated by simple Doric pilasters, plain, solid, and largely unprepossessing. It would not be a flight of fancy to interpret St. Peter&#39;s as the quintessential expression of Baroque sensuality and the basilica at El Escorial as a statement of the stark rigidity and grim purposefulness of the Inquisition, the two sides of the Counter-Reformation.</p><br>
<p>The most highly decorated part of the church is the area surrounding the high altar. Behind the altar is a three-tiered reredos, or altar screen, made of red granite and jasper, nearly twenty-eight metres tall, adorned with gilded bronze statuary by Leone Leoni, and three sets of religious paintings commissioned by Philip II. To either side are gilded life-size bronzes of the kneeling family groups of Charles and Philip, also by Leoni with help from his son Pompeo. In a shallow niche at the center of the lowest level is a repository for the physical elements of the communion ceremony, a so-called "House of the Sacrament", designed by Juan de Herrera in jasper and bronze.</p><br>
<p>To decorate the reredos, the kings preferences were Michelangelo or Titian, but both of these giants were already more than eighty years old and in frail health. Consequently, Philip consulted his foreign ambassadors for recommendations, and the result was a lengthy parade of the lesser European artists of that time, all swanning through the construction site at El Escorial seeking the kings favor.</p><br>
<h3>Palace of Philip II</h3><br>
<p>Situated next to the main altar of the Basilica, the residence of King Philip II is made up of a series of austerely decorated rooms. It features a window from which the king could observe mass from his bed when incapacitated by the gout that afflicted him.</p><br>
<h3>Hall of Battles</h3><br>
<p>Fresco paintings here depict the most important Spanish military victories. These include a medieval victory over the Moors, as well as several of Philip&#39;s campaigns against the French.</p><br>
<h3>Pantheon of the Kings</h3><br>
<p>This chamber consists of twenty-six marble sepulchers containing the remains of the kings and queens regnant (the only queen regnant since Philip II being Isabella II), of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties from Charles I to the present, except for Philip V and Ferdinand VI.</p><br>
<p>Charles V</p><br>
<p>The sepulchers also contain the remains of royal consorts who were parents of monarchs. The only king consort is Francis of Asis de Bourbon, husband of Queen Isabella II and father of Alfonso XII.</p><br>
<p>The most recent monarch interred in the pantheon is King Alfonso XIII, removed there from the Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato, Rome in 1980. The remains of Alfonso XIII&#39;s wife, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg were interred in the pantheon in 2011.</p><br>
<p>The remains of Alfonso XIII&#39;s third son Juan, Count of Barcelona and daughter-in-law Maria de las Mercedes (the father and mother of the former king Juan Carlos I), lie at a prepared place called a pudridero, or decaying chamber, awaiting interment in the Pantheon of the Kings. With the interment of these remains, all the sepulchers in the pantheon will be filled. No decision has yet been announced as to the final resting place of now-retired Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, or for Felipe VI, the present king.</p><br>
<p>There are two pudrideros at El Escorial, one for the Pantheon of the Kings and the other for the Pantheon of the Princes. These can only be visited by monks from the Monastery. In these rooms, the remains of the deceased are placed in a small leaden urn, which in turn will be placed in the marble sepulchers of the appropriate pantheon after the passage of fifty years, the estimated time necessary for the complete decomposition of the bodies.</p><br>
<p>The interment of the remains of Queen Victoria Eugenie and the Count and Countess of Barcelona in the Royal Pantheon will each constitute an exception to tradition. First, Victoria Eugenie, although the wife of a king, was never the mother of a king in the strict sense. Secondly, the Count of Barcelona never reigned as king, although he was head of the Spanish Royal Family between the renunciation of his father&#39;s rights on 14 January 1941 and his renunciation of his own rights in favour of his son, Juan Carlos I on 14 May 1977. Thirdly, the Countess of Barcelona was the mother of a king but not the wife of a king. However, some consider the Count of Barcelona to have been de jure King of Spain from 1941 - 1977, which in turn would make him, his mother, Queen Victoria Eugenie and his wife, the Countess of Barcelona eligible for interment in the Pantheon of Kings.</p><br>
<p>There has already been one exception to tradition: Elisabeth of Bourbon is for the moment the only queen in the pantheon who has not been mother to a king. That is because her only son, the presumed heir to the throne, died after her but before he could become king.</p><br>
<p>The walls of polished Toledo marble are ornamented in gold-plated bronze.</p><br>
<p>All of the wood used in El Escorial comes from the ancient forests of Sagua La Grande, on the so-called Golden Coast of Cuba.</p><br>
<h3>Pantheon of the Princes</h3><br>
<p>Completed in 1888, this is the final resting place of princes, princesses and consorts other than the parents of monarchs. With floors and ceiling of white marble, the tomb of Prince John of Austria is especially notable.</p><br>
<p>Among the more recent interments is that of Infante Alfonso in October 1992. The younger brother of King Juan Carlos I, he was buried originally in Portugal, after being killed in a still-mysterious 1956 shooting at the family home in Estoril.</p><br>
<p>In 1994, King Juan Carlos I signed a decree raising his cousin and close personal friend Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria to the status of a Spanish infante, making him eligible for interment in the Pantheon of the Princes. Upon his death in October 2015, his funeral was held at El Escorial and his body placed in the pudridero, awaiting future interment in the pantheon.</p><br>
<p>Currently, thirty-seven of the sixty available niches are filled.</p><br>
<h3>Art Gallery</h3><br>
<p>Consists of works of the German, Flemish, Venetian, Lombard, Ligurian and more Italian and Spanish schools from the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.</p><br>
<h3>Architectural Museum</h3><br>
<p>Its eleven rooms showcase the tools, cranes and other materials used in the construction of the edifice, as well as reproductions of blueprints and documents related to the project, containing some very interesting facts.</p><br>
<h3>Gardens of the Friars</h3><br>
<p>Constructed at the order of Philip II, a great lover of nature, these constitute an ideal place for repose and meditation. Manuel Azaña, who studied in the monastery&#39;s Augustinian-run school, mentions them in his Memorias (Memoirs) and his play El jardín de los frailes (The Garden of the Friars). Students at the school still use it today to study and pass the time.</p><br>
<h3>Library</h3><br>
<p>Philip II donated his personal collection of documents to the building, and also undertook the acquisition of the finest libraries and works of Western European Humanism. It was planned by Juan de Herrera, who also designed the library’s shelves; the frescoes on the vaulted ceilings were painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi. The library’s collection consists of more than 40,000 volumes, located in a great hall fifty-four meters in length, nine meters wide and ten meters tall with marble floors and beautifully carved wood shelves. De Herra and Italian construction engineer Giussep Flecha y Gamboa were careful to consider the security of the library&#39;s holdings in armaria (large bookcases) as well as their display, safeguards against fire hazards, and natural lighting. This library was a Renaissance statement of power, majesty, prowess, and intellectual world leadership designed for both the preservation of the old (binding multiple cultural histories into a single Catholic Spanish culture) and discovery of the new (imprinted by that culture).</p><br>
<p>The library includes many important illuminated manuscripts, such as the Ottonian Golden Gospels of Henry III (1045–46).</p><br>
<p>Benito Arias Montano produced the initial catalog for the library, selecting many of the most important volumes. In 1616, he was granted the privilege of receiving a copy of every published work, though there is no evidence that he ever took advantage of this right.</p><br>
<p>The vault of the library&#39;s ceiling is decorated with frescoes depicting the seven liberal arts: Rhetoric, Dialectic, Music, Grammar, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astronomy. Unlike most libraries of its time, the bookcases are placed against the walls, rather than perpendicular to them. This arrangement of parallel book cases was initiated by Philip II and was called the "wall system".</p><br>
<p>During the reign of Phillip II, there was an entire room dedicated to ancient manuscripts most of them in Latin, many in Greek, but also some in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Italian, French and Spanish. There were approximately 1,800 Arabic titles, most of them obtained during the expulsion of Muslims from Islamic Iberia. Since the library was protected from inquisitional oversight, it preserved many prohibited books that were thought to be expunged. The only known copy of the Kitab al-I&#39;tibar, a 12th-century Syrian autobiography, was discovered there in the 19th century. By 1602, the library had a large cartographic collection and over 150 mathematical instruments.</p><br>
<h2>The reliquaries</h2><br>
<p>Following a rule approved by the Council of Trent dealing with the veneration of saints, Philip II donated to the monastery one of the largest reliquaries in all of Catholicism. The collection consists of some 7500 relics, which are stored in 570 sculpted reliquaries designed by Juan de Herrera. Most of them were constructed by the artisan, Juan de Arfe Villafañe. These reliquaries are found in highly varied forms (heads, arms, pyramidal cases, coffers, etc.) and are distributed throughout the monastery, with the most important being concentrated in the basilica.</p><br>
<h2>Adjacent buildings</h2><br>
<p>Juan de Herrera also designed the Casas de Oficios (Official Buildings) opposite the monastery&#39;s north façade; and his successor, Francisco de Mora, designed the Casa de la Compaña (Company Quarters).</p><br>
<p>The Linth  is a Swiss river that rises near the village of Linthal in the mountains of the canton of Glarus, and eventually flows into the Obersee section of Lake Zurich. It is about 50 km in length.</p><br>
<p>The water power of the Linth was a main factor in the creation of the textile industry of the canton Glarus, and is today used to drive the Linth–Limmern power stations in its upper reaches.</p><br>
<p>The river and its upper valley forms the boundary between the mountain ranges of the Glarus Alps, to its east and south, and the Schwyzer Alps, to its west.</p><br>
<h2>Course of the river</h2><br>
<p>The river rises to the south-west of the village of Linthal, at the foot the Tödi mountain (elevation 3,614 m). It collects the water from several glaciers, including the Clariden Glacier and the Biferten Glacier, as well as various tributary streams, including the Oberstafelbach, the Bifertenbach, the Sandbach, the Walenbach and the Limmerenbach. The last of these is dammed to create the Limmerensee, a part of the Linth–Limmern hydro-electric scheme.</p><br>
<p>The river then flows north to the village of Linthal, the highest significant settlement on the river, and onwards through the canton of Glarus villages of Rüti, Betschwanden, Diesbach, Hätzingen, Luchsingen, Leuggelbach, Haslen, Nidfurn and Schwanden. In Schwanden, the Linth is joined by one of its principal tributaries, the Sernf, which drains the south-eastern part of the canton of Glarus.</p><br>
<p>From Schwanden, the river continues to flow north through the villages of Mitlödi and Ennenda and the town of Glarus before reaching the village of Netstal. In Netstal, the Linth is joined by the Löntsch, which drains the Klöntalersee. The Linth then flows between the villages Näfels and Mollis, from where it formerly flowed in a northerly direction to a confluence with its tributary outfall from Lake Walen (Walensee) on the Linth Plain, and then across that plain in an easterly direction to its mouth at the head of the Obersee section of Lake Zurich.</p><br>
<p>As a result of the river regulation works (see below), the river is today diverted down an artificial channel in an easterly direction into Lake Walen. Another artificial channel (the Linth Channel) then takes the outfall of Lake Walen at Weesen and flows west through the Linth Plain and into the Obersee.</p><br>
<h2>The river regulation of the Linth</h2><br>
<p>The taming of the Linth (Linthkorrektur) from 1807 to 1823 was one of the great engineering feats of the early 19th century, the earliest project of such a size undertaken by the new Swiss state, and a great example of solidarity in early Switzerland.</p><br>
<p>In the second half of the 18th century, the situation of the population in the lower Glarus valley, the Linth Plain and around Lake Walen, was pretty disastrous: cutting down the woods of the Glarus valley during early industrialization led to more and more gravel coming down with the yearly spring high water which was deposited at the joining of Linth and Maag, the outflow of the Lake Walen, in the plain between Lake Walen and Lake Zurich. This caused frequent floodings and backing up of water which made the level of Lake Walen rise several meters and turned the whole countryside into swamps. Agriculture became more and more difficult, the poverty increased, and diseases like Tuberculosis and Malaria were rampant.</p><br>
<p>The statesman, scientist, painter and manager Conrad Escher (later named "von der Linth") from Zurich developed and executed the plan of channeling the Linth into Lake Walen, where the gravel could be deposited without damage. A second channel, the Linth Channel connected the lakes of Walen and Zurich, replacing the former Maag.</p><br>
<p>The river regulation put an end to the floodings, lowered the level of Lake Walen by five meters which greatly improved living conditions for the population, and dried up the swamps, resulting in 20 km² arable land in the Linth plain.</p><br>
<p>Minami-Tori-shima, also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some 1,848 km southeast of Tokyo and 1,267 km east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line between mainland Tokyo and the United States&#39; Wake Island, 1,415 km further to the east-southeast. The closest island to Minami-Tori-shima is East Island in the Mariana Islands, which is 1,015 km to the west-southwest.</p><br>
<p>The meaning of its Japanese name is "Southern Bird Island". It is the easternmost territory belonging to Japan, and the only Japanese territory on the Pacific Plate, past the Japan Trench. Although very small (just over 1 km) and without a civilian population, it is of strategic importance, as it enables Japan to claim a 428,875 km² Exclusive Economic Zone in the surrounding waters. It is also the easternmost territory of Tokyo, being administratively part of Ogasawara village.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Minami-Tori-shima is triangular in shape, and unusual in that it has a saucer-like profile, with a raised outer rim of between 5 and above sea level. The central area of the island is 1 m below sea level. Minami-Tori-shima is surrounded by a fringing reef which ranges from 50 to 300 m in width, enclosing a shallow lagoon, which is connected with the open ocean by narrow passages on the southern and northeastern sides. Outside the reef, the ocean depths quickly plunge to over 1,000 m. The island has a total land area of 1.2 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>The island also has the highest average temperature in Japan.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first discovery and mention of an island in this area was made by a Spanish Manila Galleon captain, Andrés de Arriola in 1694. It was charted in Spanish maps as Sebastian López, after the Spanish Admiral Sebastian López, victorious in the battles of La Naval de Manila in 1646 against the Dutch. Its exact location was left unrecorded until further sightings in the early 19th century.</p><br>
<p>The island was mentioned again in 1864 by the ship Morning Star, belonging either to the United States or the Kingdom of Hawaii, and was given the name "Marcus Island". Its position was recorded by a United States survey ship in 1874, and first landed on by a Japanese national, Kiozaemon Saito in 1879. On June 30, 1886, a Japanese named Shinroku Mizutani led a group of 46 colonists from Haha-jima in the Ogasawara Islands to settle on Marcus Island. The settlement was named "Mizutani" after the leader of the expedition. The Empire of Japan officially annexed the island July 24, 1898, the previous United States claim from 1889 according to the Guano Islands Act not being officially acknowledged. The island was officially named "Minami-Tori-shima" and placed administratively under the Ogasawara Subprefecture of Tokyo.</p><br>
<p>Sovereignty over the island before World War I was apparently disputed as various sources from the time move the island from the American to Japanese domain without specific explanation. In 1902, the United States dispatched a warship from Hawaii to enforce its claims, but withdrew on finding the island still inhabited by Japanese, with a Japanese warship patrolling nearby. In 1914, William D. Boyce included Marcus Island as an obviously American island in his book, The Colonies and Dependencies of the United States. In 1933, by orders of the Japanese government, the civilian inhabitants of Minami-Tori-shima were evacuated. In 1935, the Imperial Japanese Navy established a meteorological station on the island, and built an airstrip.</p><br>
<p>After the start of World War II the Japanese garrison stationed on the island consisted of the 742-man Minami-Tori-shima Guard Unit, under the command of Rear Admiral Masata Matsubara and the 2,005 man 12th Independent Mixed Regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army, under the command of Colonel Yoshiichi Sakata. The United States Navy bombed it repeatedly in 1942 and in 1943, but never attempted to capture it (the island was featured in the USA film The Fighting Lady). The island was taken by American forces on May 12, 1945. Though isolated, the Japanese were able to resupply the garrison by submarine, using a channel cut through the reef on the northwest side of the island. That channel is still visible today.</p><br>
<p>The Treaty of San Francisco transferred the island to American control.</p><br>
<p>The island was returned to Japanese control in 1968, but the Americans retained control of the airstrip and LORAN station.</p><br>
<p>In 1964, after some delays caused by storms that ravaged the island during construction, the USA Coast Guard opened a LORAN-C navigation station on Marcus Island, whose mast was until 1985 one of the tallest structures in the Pacific area. Before replacing Loran A for general marine navigation, Loran C was used by submarine launched Polaris missile systems and the existence and location of Loran C stations was classified. LORANSTA Marcus Island was billeted for 23 USA Coast Guard personnel. The commissioning commanding officer was USA Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Louis. C. Snell. A detachment of SEABEES remained on the island for several months making repairs to the island&#39;s air strip.</p><br>
<p>The island is extremely isolated and Coast Guardsmen stationed on the island served one-year tours that were later modified to allow an R&R visit to mainland Japan at the six-month point. At the end of this isolated tour of duty crew members received an additional 30 days of compensatory leave. While under USA administration, on Thursdays a C-130 Hercules from the 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron, Yokota Air Base, Japan, would resupply the island on weekly missions. Often Coast Guardsmen would judge landings by raising placards with large numbers. An unusually long four-hour ground time was scheduled to allow technicians who flew in to perform maintenance on the transmitter and to offload extra fuel from the C-130 to power the island&#39;s generator. It also allowed the Coast Guardsmen to read and answer letters while aircrews would snorkel and collect green glass fishing buoys that wash up on the shore. It takes about 45 minutes to walk around the island.</p><br>
<p>The station was transferred from the USA Coast Guard to the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) on September 30, 1993, and was closed on December 1, 2009.</p><br>
<p>The island is currently used for weather observation and has a radio station, but little else. Because of its isolation, it is of some interest to amateur radio hobbyists. The JMSDF garrison was supplied by C-130 from Iruma Air Base, or by C-130 from Haneda or Atsugi Air Base with flights via Iwo Jima on a weekly basis. The runway of Minami Torishima Airport is only 1,300 m long and cannot handle larger aircraft. The island is considered as a separate country for amateur radio awards. The island is off-limits to civilians, except from the Japan Meteorological Agency.</p><br>
<h3>Minami-Tori-Shima area rare earth deposits</h3><br>
<p>In January 2013, a deep-sea research vessel of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology obtained seven deep-sea mud core samples from the seafloor at 5,600 to 5,800 meters depth, approximately 250 km south of the island.</p><br>
<p>The research team found a mud layer 2 to 4 meters beneath the seabed that is extremely concentrated in rare earth oxides (REO). Analytical results showed that the maximum REO content in the mud was up to 0.66% REO. The deposit compares in grade with the ion-absorption-type deposits in southern China that provide the bulk of Chinese REO mine production, which grade in the range of 0.05% to 0.5% REO.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Minami-Tori-shima has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw), with warm to hot temperatures throughout the year. The wettest months are July and August, while the driest months are February and March.</p><br>
<p>Isla Mujeres  is an island in the Caribbean Sea, about 13 km off the Yucatán Peninsula coast. The island is some 7 km long and 650 m wide. To the east is the Caribbean Sea with a strong surf and rocky coast, and to the west the skyline of Cancún can be seen across the clear waters. In the 2010 census, the namesake town on the island had a population of 12,642 inhabitants.</p><br>
<p>The island is part of the Isla Mujeres Municipality in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In Pre-Columbian times the island was sacred to the Maya goddess of childbirth and medicine, Ixchel. When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century they named it "Isla Mujeres" because of the many images of goddesses. The first information available about Isla Mujeres is from the period between 564–1516 AD, when it was part of the Maya province called Ekab. There were 4 Maya provinces in what is today the State of Quintana Roo. The Maya also exploited the salt that the island produced in the "salinas" (small interior lagoons). The salt was used not only for the conservation of food and medicine but also as a generally accepted currency for commerce of goods along the whole Maya region. The Maya goddess Ixchel had a temple in what is today the Hacienda Mundaca (Mundaca&#39;s Plantation House).</p><br>
<p>A small Maya temple was once located on the southern tip of the island. However, in 1988, Hurricane Gilbert caused extensive damage, leaving most of the foundation but only a very small portion of the temple.</p><br>
<p>Since the 1970s, along with close-by Cancún, there has been substantial tourist development in Isla Mujeres.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>Transportation on the island of Isla Mujeres consists primarily of taxis or golf carts and moped scooters. there were 121 taxis, 500 golf carts, and 1500 moped scooters. There is also a bus service that runs from the downtown to the different neighborhoods, called colonias in Spanish (where most locals live). The island is also served by Isla Mujeres National Airport.</p><br>
<h3>Ferry service to the mainland</h3><br>
<p>Ferry boats run from the island and Puerto Juárez or Gran Puerto on the mainland. The island is popular with day trippers, but activity quiets down in the evening after the tour groups leave.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>There are numerous places to eat fresh seafood cooked with local and traditional recipes, and other restaurants offer Mexican, Yucatecan, Italian, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Hebrew, French, Thai, Cuban, and Maya cuisine. Hotel prices vary from cheap to very expensive at the resorts on the southwest end such as Hotel Villa Rolandi, and Playa Norte. In the north is El Centro (downtown), whose central axis, Hidalgo Street, is the main dining and entertainment area. Also located on the north end is a famous beach called Playa Norte, which has recovered quickly since Hurricane Wilma hit the area in 2005. Besides these attractions, swimming with dolphins can also be experienced at the Island.</p><br>
<p>The island of Isla Mujeres is located close to one of many coral reefs such as the one located in Garrafon Park, which is an area popular for its snorkeling and scuba diving. The Cancún Underwater Museum, created by English sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, is located off the western coast of Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres is also home to a population of sea turtles. Because of the recent endangerment of sea turtles in the area, a facility was set up on the southern end of the island for their rehabilitation and breeding. This facility is open to the public.</p><br>
<p>The island&#39;s relative proximity to Cuba has made it one of the favorite stepping stones of Cubans trying to reach the United States in recent years.</p><br>
<p>The Drakensberg  is the name given to the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation in this region – 2000 to 3482 m. It is located in South Africa. The name by which it is now known is Drakens Mountain, or Mountain of the Dragons.</p><br>
<p>The Drakensberg escarpment stretches for over 1,000 km from the Eastern Cape Province in the South, then successively forms, in order from south to north, the border between Lesotho and the Eastern Cape and the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal Province. Thereafter it forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, and next as the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga Province. It winds north, through Mpumalanga, where it includes features such as the Blyde River Canyon, Three Rondavels and God&#39;s Window. It moves north again above Tzaneen in Limpopo Province, where it includes the Wolkberg Mountains and Iron Crown Mountain, at 2,200 m above sea level, the Wolkberg being the highest mountain range in Limpopo. It veers west again and at Mokopane it is known as the Strydpoort Mountains.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The Afrikaans name Drakensberge comes from the name the earliest Dutch settlers to the region gave it. They called them the Drakensbergen, or "Mountains of Dragons". Several possible reasons for this name include the pointy tops giving an appearance similar to that of the back of the mythical European dragon, old local myths of dragons roaming the mountains, and possible findings of dinosaur fossils (which would have been confused with the remains of dragons).</p><br>
<p>When most South Africans and visitors speak of the Drakensberg, they refer to the Great Escarpment that forms the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal, believing it to be a range of mountains extending into Lesotho, more correctly known as the Lesotho Highlands. This highest portion of the Great Escarpment is known as uKhahlamba ("Barrier of up-pointed spears") in Zulu and Maluti in Sotho.</p><br>
<h2>Geological origins</h2><br>
<p>About 180 million years ago, a mantle plume under southern Gondwana caused bulging of the continental crust in the area that would later become southern Africa. Within 10–20 million years rift valleys formed on either side of the central bulge, which became flooded to become the proto-Atlantic and proto-Indian oceans. The stepped steep walls of these rift valleys formed escarpments that surrounded the newly formed Southern African subcontinent.</p><br>
<p>With the widening of the Atlantic, Indian and Southern oceans, Southern Africa became tectonically quiescent. Earthquakes rarely occur, and there has been no volcanic or orogenic activity for about 50 million years. An almost uninterrupted period of erosion has continued to the present, resulting in layers several kilometers thick having been lost from the surface of the plateau. A thick layer of marine sediment was consequently deposited onto the continental shelf (the lower steps of the original rift valley walls) which surrounds the subcontinent.</p><br>
<p>During the past 20 million years, further massive upliftment, especially in the East, has taken place in Southern Africa. As a result, most of the plateau lies above 1,000 m despite the extensive erosion. The plateau is tilted such that its highest point is in the east, and it slopes gently downwards towards the west and south. The elevation of the edge of the eastern escarpments is typically in excess of 2,000 m. It reaches its highest point (over 3,000 m) where the escarpment forms part of the international border between Lesotho and the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.</p><br>
<p>The upliftment of the central plateau over the past 20 million years and erosion resulted in the original escarpment being moved inland, creating the present-day coastal plain. The position of the present escarpment is approximately 150 km inland from the original fault lines which formed the walls of the rift valley that developed along the coast during the break-up of Gondwana. The rate of the erosion of the escarpment in the Drakensberg region is said to average 1.5 m per 1000 years, or 1.5 mm per year.</p><br>
<p>Because of the extensive erosion of the plateau, which occurred over most of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, none of its surface rocks (except the Kalahari sands) are younger than 180 million years. The youngest rocks that remain cap the plateau in Lesotho. These are the Clarens Formation laid down under desert conditions about 200 million years ago, topped by a 1,600 m thick layer of lava which erupted, and covered most of Southern Africa, and large parts of Gondwana, about 180 million years ago. These rocks form the steep sides of the Great Escarpment in this region, where its upper edge reaches an elevation in excess of 3,000 m.</p><br>
<p>The erosional retreat of the escarpment from the coast to its present position, means that the rocks of the coastal plain are, with very few and small exceptions, older than those that cap the top of the escarpment. Thus the rocks of the Mpumalanga Lowveld below the Mpumalanga portion of the Great Escarpment are more than 3000 million years old. The rocks of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands belong, in the main, to the Beaufort and Ecca Groups (of the Karoo Supergroup), aged 220–310 million years, and are therefore considerably older than the Drakensberg lavas (aged 180 million years) which cap the escarpment on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho.</p><br>
<p>The entire eastern portion of the Great Escarpment (see the accompanying map) constitutes the Drakensberg. The Drakensberg terminate in the north near Tzaneen at about the 22° S parallel. The absence of the Great Escarpment for about 450 km to the north of Tzaneen (to reappear on the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the Chimanimani Highlands) is due to a failed westerly branch of the main rift that caused Antarctica to start drifting away from Southern Africa during the breakup of Gondwana about 150 million years ago. The lower Limpopo River and Save River drain into the Indian Ocean through what remains of this relict incipient rift valley which now forms part of the South African Low veld.</p><br>
<h2>Geomorphology</h2><br>
<h3>Appearance</h3><br>
<h3>Composition</h3><br>
<p>The geological composition of Drakensberg (escarpment wall) varies considerably along its more than 1000 km length. The Limpopo and Mpumalanga Drakensberg are capped by an erosion resistant quartzite layer which is part of the Transvaal Supergroup which also forms the Magaliesberg to the north and northwest of Pretoria. These rocks are more than 2000 million years old. South of the 26°S parallel the Drakensberg escarpment is composed of Ecca shales, which belong to the Karoo Supergroup, which are 300 million years old. The portion of the Drakensberg that forms the KwaZulu-Natal – Free State border is formed by slightly younger Beaufort rocks (250 million years old) which are also part of the Karoo Supergroup. The Ecca and Beaufort groups are composed of sedimentary rocks which are less erosion resistant than the other rocks which make up the Drakensberg escarpment. This portion of escarpment is therefore not as impressive as the Mpumalanga and Lesotho stretches of the Drakensberg. The Drakensberg which form the north-eastern and eastern borders of Lesotho, as well as the Eastern Cape Drakensberg are composed of a thick layer of basalt (lava) which erupted 180 million years ago. That rests on the youngest of the Karoo Supergroup sediments, the Clarens sandstone, which was laid down under desert conditions, about 200 million years ago.</p><br>
<h2>Highest peaks</h2><br>
<p>The highest peak is Thabana Ntlenyana, at 3,482 m. Other notable peaks include Mafadi (3,450 m), Makoaneng at 3,416 m, Njesuthi at 3,408 m, Champagne Castle at 3,377 m, Giant&#39;s Castle at 3,315 m, Ben Macdhui at 3,001 m, and Popple Peak at 3331m, all of these are in the area bordering on Lesotho. Another popular area for hikers is Cathedral Peak. North of Lesotho the range becomes lower and less rugged until entering Mpumalanga where the quartzite mountains of the Transvaal Drakensberg are loftier and more broken and form the eastern rim of the Transvaal Basin, the Blyde River Canyon lying within this stretch. The geology of this section is the same as and continuous with that of the Magaliesberg.</p><br>
<h2>Mountain passes</h2><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The high treeless peaks of the Drakensberg (from 2,500 m upwards) have been described by the World Wildlife Fund as the Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlands ecoregion. These steep slopes are the most southerly high mountains in Africa, and being further from the equator provide cooler habitats at lower elevations than most mountain ranges on the continent. The high rainfall generates many mountain streams and rivers, including the sources of the Orange River, southern Africas longest, and the Tugela River. These mountains also have the worlds second-highest waterfall, the Tugela Falls (Thukela Falls), which has a total drop of 947 m. The rivers that run from the Drakensberg are an essential resource for South Africa&#39;s economy, providing water for the industrial provinces of Mpumalanga and Gauteng, which contains the city of Johannesburg. The climate is wet and cool at the high elevations, which experience snowfall in winter.</p><br>
<p>Meanwhile, the grassy lower slopes (from 1,800 to 2500 m) of the Drakensberg in Swaziland, South Africa and Lesotho constitute the Drakensberg Montane Grassland, Woodland, and Forest.</p><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>The mountains are rich in plant life, including a large number of species listed in the Red Data Book of threatened plants, with 119 species listed as globally endangered and "of the 2 153 plant species in the park, a remarkable 98 are endemic or near-endemic".</p><br>
<p>The flora of the high alti-montane grasslands is mainly tussock grass, creeping plants, and small shrubs such as ericas. These include the rare Spiral Aloe (Aloe polyphylla), which as its name suggests has leaves with a spiral shape.</p><br>
<p>Meanwhile, the lower slopes are mainly grassland but are also home to conifers, which are rare in Africa, the species of conifer found in the Drakensberg is Podocarpus. The grassland itself is of interest as it contains a great number of endemic plants. Grasses found here include oat grass Monocymbium ceresiiforme, Diheteropogon filifolius, Sporobolus centrifugus, caterpillar grass (Harpochloa falx), Cymbopogon dieterlenii, and Eulalia villosa.</p><br>
<h3>Fauna</h3><br>
<p>The Drakensberg area is "home to 299 recorded bird species"&#39; making up "37% of all non-marine avian species in southern Africa."</p><br>
<h4>Fauna of the high peaks</h4><br>
<p>There is one bird that is endemic to the high peaks, the mountain pipit (Anthus hoeschi), while another six are found mainly here: Bush blackcap (Lioptilus nigricapillus), buff-streaked chat (Oenanthe bifasciata), Rudd&#39;s lark (Heteromirafra ruddi), Drakensberg rockjumper (Chaetops aurantius), yellow-breasted pipit (Anthus chloris), and Drakensberg siskin (Serinus symonsi). The endangered Cape vulture and lesser kestrel are two of the birds of prey that hunt in the mountains. Mammals include klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus), eland (Taurotragus oryx) and mountain reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula). Other endemic species include three frogs found in the mountain streams, Drakensberg river frog, (Amietia dracomontana), Phofung river frog (Amietia vertebralis) and Maluti river frog (Amietia umbraculata). Fish are found in the many rivers and streams including the Maluti redfin (Pseudobarbus quathlambae), which was thought to be extinct but has been found in the Senqunyane River in Lesotho.</p><br>
<h4>Fauna of the lower slopes</h4><br>
<p>The lower slopes of the Drakensberg support much wildlife, perhaps most importantly the rare southern white rhinoceros (which was nurtured here when facing extinction) and the black wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou, which only thrives in protected areas and game reserves). The area is home to large herds of grazing and antelopes such as eland (Taurotragus oryx), reedbuck (Redunca arundinum), mountain reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula), grey rhebok (Pelea capreolus), and even some oribi (Ourebia ourebi). Chacma baboons are also present. Endemic species include a large number of chameleons and other reptiles. There is one endemic frog, forest rain frog (Breviceps sylvestris), and four more that are found mainly in these mountains; long-toed tree frog (Leptopelis xenodactylus), plaintive rain frog (Breviceps maculatus), rough rain frog (Breviceps verrucosus), and Poynton&#39;s caco (Cacosternum poyntoni).</p><br>
<h3>Conservation</h3><br>
<p>The high slopes are hard to reach so the environment is fairly undamaged. However, tourism in the Drakensberg is developing, with a variety of hiking trails, hotels and resorts appearing on the slopes. Most of the higher South African parts of the range have been designated as game reserves or wilderness areas. Of these the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park was listed by UNESCO in 2000 as a World Heritage site. The park is also in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (under the Ramsar Convention). The Royal Natal National Park, which contains some of the higher peaks, is part of this large park complex. Adjacent to the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Site is the 1900 ha which is the largest private reserve adjoining the World Heritage Site and is found in the accessible Kamberg area, the heart of the historic San (Bushman) painting region of the Ukhahlamba.</p><br>
<p>The grassland of the lower slopes meanwhile has been greatly affected by agriculture, especially overgrazing. Original grassland and forest has nearly all disappeared and more protection is needed, though the Giant&#39;s Castle reserve is a haven for the eland and also is a breeding ground for the bearded vulture.</p><br>
<p>The Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area was established to preserve some of the high mountain areas of the range.</p><br>
<h2>Urban areas</h2><br>
<p>Towns and cities in the Drakensberg area include, from South to North, Matatiele and Barkly East in the Eastern Cape Province; Ladysmith, Newcastle, Ulundi – the former Zulu capital, Dundee and Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal; all of Lesotho, whose capital is Maseru and Tzaneen in Limpopo Province.</p><br>
<h2>San cave paintings</h2><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The Drakensberg was featured in the 2009 American science fiction film 2012. It was mentioned in the last scene of the movie, where after twenty-seven days of a great flood which people tried to survive by building arks, the waters began receding. The arks approach the Cape of Good Hope, where the Drakensberg (now the tallest mountain range on Earth) emerges.</p><br>
<p>Yaxchilan is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta River, with Piedras Negras as its major rival. Architectural styles in subordinate sites in the Usumacinta region demonstrate clear differences that mark a clear boundary between the two kingdoms.</p><br>
<p>Yaxchilan was a large center, important throughout the Classic era, and the dominant power of the Usumacinta River area. It dominated such smaller sites as Bonampak, and had a long rivalry with Piedras Negras and at least for a time with Tikal; it was a rival of Palenque, with which Yaxchilan warred in 654.</p><br>
<p>The site is particularly known for its well-preserved sculptured stone lintels set above the doorways of the main structures. These lintels, together with the stelae erected before the major buildings, contain hieroglyphic texts describing the dynastic history of the city.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>Epigraphers think that the ancient name for the city was probably the same as that of its realm, Pa&#39; Chan., meaning "Cleft (or broken) Sky". Early archaeologist Désiré Charnay dubbed the ruins "Lorillard City" in honor of Pierre Lorillard who contributed to defray the expense of his expedition into the Maya zone, while Alfred Maudslay named it "Menché". For some time, the Emblem Gylph was read as Siyaj Chan, or "Sky Born".</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Yaxchilan is located on the south bank of the Usumacinta River, at the apex of a horseshoe-shaped meander. This loop defends the site on all sides except for a narrow land approach from the south. It is 80 km downriver from the Maya site Altar de Sacrificios.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Yaxchilan has its origins in the Preclassic Period. Before the rule of king Itzamnaaj Balam II, who reigned from 681 to 742, the city was relatively small. The city-state then grew to a regional capital and the dynasty lasted into the early 9th century.</p><br>
<h3>Early Classic</h3><br>
<p>The known history of Yaxchilan starts with the enthronement of Yopaat Balam I, most likely on 23 July 359. He was the founder of a long dynasty, and took the throne when Yaxchilan was still a minor site. Hieroglyphic inscriptions dating to the Late Classic describe a series of wars in the Early Classic between the city and its neighbours. Kinich Tatb&#39;u Skull I ruled in the early 5th century and was the first of the rulers of Yaxchilan to be recorded as having taken a rival king as a war captive, his prisoner being king Bird Jaguar of Bonampak (not to be confused with the four rulers of Yaxchilan who bore the same name). The long running rivalry with Piedras Negras had already begun by the fifth century AD, with both cities struggling to dominate the Usumacinta trade route. King Moon Skull was credited with gaining a victory over Piedras Negras in 460 and with capturing the enemy king, known only as Ruler A. By the middle of the 5th century Yaxchilan had formal contacts with the great city of Tikal. Bird Jaguar II, the next king of Yaxchilan, captured a vassal of the king of Piedras Negras around 478.</p><br>
<p>Knot-eye Jaguar I was a warlike king who was recorded as capturing nobles from Bonampak, Piedras Negras and the great city of Tikal.</p><br>
<p>His successor, Kinich Tatbu Skull II, was enthroned on 11 February 526. This king is notable for the series of carved lintels he commissioned, including a dynastic list that provides information on the early kings of the city. Kinich Tatbu Skull II oversaw a revival of Yaxchilan&#39;s fortunes and he captured lords from Bonampak, Lakamtuun and, notably, the lord of Calakmul, one of the two great Maya powers of the Classic Period, as well as a success against Tikal, the second great power.</p><br>
<p>Little is known of the history of Yaxchilan from 537 to 629, although four kings are known to have reigned in this period. Knot-eye Jaguar II is known to have captured the lord of Lacanha in 564, one of the few events that can be identified from this period. It may be that the lack of an inscribed history for this lengthy period indicates that Yaxchilan had fallen under the dominion of a more powerful neighbour, such as Piedras Negras, Palenque or Toniná, all of which were powerful polities in the Usumacinta region at this time.</p><br>
<h3>Late Classic</h3><br>
<p>The Yaxchilano murals at Bonampaks Structure I commemorate Yaxchilans appointment of Chan Muwaan I as subordinate ruler. Yaxchilan rebuilt the site to point back toward Yaxchilan.</p><br>
<p>In 629, Bird Jaguar III was enthroned as king of Yaxchilan. In 646 or 647 he captured a lord from the still unidentified site of Hix Witz (meaning "Jaguar Hill"), somewhere on the north side of the Usumacinta.</p><br>
<p>Yaxchilan reached its greatest power during the reigns of King Itzamnaaj Balam II, who died in his 90s in 742, and his son Bird Jaguar IV. Itzamnaaj Balam II was enthroned in October 681 and he ruled for more than sixty years. During the last third of his reign he was responsible for a monumental building programme that included the erection of magnificent buildings with richly carved lintels, hieroglyphic stairways and carved stelae, transforming the centre of the city. During his reign, the kingdom of Yaxchilán extended to include the nearby sites of La Pasadita and El Chicozapote to the northwest of the city. At times the sites of Lacanha and Bonampak appear to have been under his domination, although this region was controlled by Toniná in 715.</p><br>
<p>In 689, relatively early in his reign, Itzamnaaj Balam II is recorded as having captured Aj Sak Ichiy Pat. In 713 he captured Aj Kan Usja, the ajaw, or lord, of Buktunn, an otherwise unknown site. In 726, Yaxchilan was defeated by its rival Piedras Negras, an event described on Piedras Negras Stela 8. A sajal (subordinate lord) of Itzamnaaj Balam II was captured by the enemy city, an event that is completely absent from inscriptions at Yaxchilán itself although, importantly, there is no false claim of victory. It is after this period, over forty years into the reign of Itzamnaaj Balam II, that this king embarked upon his impressive building programme, this may indicate that at this time Yaxchilan was able to exert independence from the hegemony of once powerful neighbours and claim greater political independence and more lucrative control of riverine trade. In 729, Itzamnaaj Balam II captured Aj Popol Chay, the lord of Lacanha. This event, together with the other victories of Itzamnaaj Balam IIs reign, is described both in the hieroglyphic texts of Structure 44 and also on a series of stelae near Structure 41. This victory over Lacanha is compared to the earlier victory of Knot-eye Jaguar II against the same city. Similarly, his capture of a lord of Hix Witz in 732 is compared to Bird Jaguar IIIs victory over the same site.</p><br>
<p>In 749, Yopaat Balam II of Yaxchilan attended a ceremony to honour Ruler 4 of Piedras Negras. If Yopaat Balam II was king of Yaxchilan at this time, this would indicate that he was subordinate to the king of Piedras Negras. This event was recorded on Piedras Negras Panel 3; there are no records of the reign of Yopaat B&#39;alam II at Yaxchilan itself, indicating that any records were later destroyed if he had indeed ruled there.</p><br>
<p>Yaxchilan retaliated in 759, gaining a victory over its enemy. Circa 790 CE, Yaxchilans king Shield Jaguar III oversaw the installation of Chan Muwaan II in Bonampak, and hired Yaxchilano artisans to commemorate it (and the previous Chan Muwaan) in "Structure I"s murals.</p><br>
<p>In 808, king Kinich Tatbu Skull III marked his capture of the king of Piedras Negras, an event that probably represented the final overthrow of Yaxchilan&#39;s long running enemy, ending dynastic rule there and destroying the city as a capital.</p><br>
<h3>Modern history</h3><br>
<p>The first published mention of the site seems to have been a brief mention by Juan Galindo in 1833, published by the Royal Geographical Society. Professor Edwin Rockstoh of the National College of Guatemala visited in 1881 and published another short account.</p><br>
<p>In 1931 Sylvanus Morley led a Carnegie Institution expedition to Yaxchilan, mapped the site and discovered more monuments.</p><br>
<p>From 1970 onwards, Ian Graham made numerous visits to Yaxchilan and recorded the inscriptions there. These inscriptions were published from 1977 onwards in the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University.</p><br>
<p>The Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) conducted archeological research at Yaxchilan in 1972 - 1973, again in 1983, and further INAH work was conducted in the early 1990s. INAH has consolidated and preserved the central portion of the site.</p><br>
<p>Mayanist Tatiana Proskouriakoff did some pioneering work on deciphering Maya writing using the inscriptions of Yaxchilan, and was able to identify the glyphs for death, capture and captor. Since then Peter Mathews and others have expanded on her early work.</p><br>
<p>Since 1990, the project La Pintura Mural Prehispánica en México (Prehispanic Wall Painting in Mexico) of the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México has examined and recorded precolumbian murals such as those at Yaxchilan.</p><br>
<p>Yaxchilan has long been difficult to reach other than by river. Until recently, no roads existed within 100 miles. The only ways to get to the site were hundreds of miles by boat, or else by small plane. Since the construction of the Border Highway by the Mexican Government in the early 1980s, it is possible for tourists to visit. To reach the site, it is necessary now only to take an hour-long boat ride down the Usumacinta River from Frontera Corozal.</p><br>
<p>Some Lacandon Maya still make pilgrimages to Yaxchilan to carry out rituals to the Maya gods.</p><br>
<h2>The site</h2><br>
<p>The site contains impressive ruins, with palaces and temples bordering a large plaza upon a terrace above the Usumacinta River. The architectural remains extend across the higher terraces and the hills to the south of the river, overlooking both the river itself and the lowlands beyond. Yaxchilan is known for the large quantity of excellent sculpture at the site, such as the monolithic carved stelae and the narrative stone reliefs carved on lintels spanning the temple doorways. Over 120 inscriptions have been identified on the various monuments from the site.</p><br>
<p>The major groups are the Central Acropolis, the West Acropolis and the South Acropolis. The South Acropolis occupies the highest part of the site. The site is aligned with relation to the Usumacinta River, at times causing unconventional orientation of the major structures, such as the two ballcourts.</p><br>
<h3>Structures</h3><br>
<p>Structure 6 is near the Main Plaza in the Central Acropolis. It is in a good state of preservation and has six doorways, three facing the plaza and three facing the river. The doorways that open onto the plaza were blocked up in antiquity and new doorways were cut into the sides of the structure. The facade of the building facing the plaza has a surviving frieze with a sculpture of a head. The structure has a surviving perforated roof comb and is believed to date to the Early Classic.</p><br>
<p>Structure 7 is beside Structure 6 but is in a much poorer state of preservation, with its vaulted ceiling having collapsed. This structure also had doorways facing both the river and the Main Plaza.</p><br>
<p>Structure 8 is located in the Main Plaza in front of Structure 7 and divides the plaza into northwestern and southeastern sections.</p><br>
<p>Structure 9 is an unrestored mound northwest of Structure 7. Stela 27 stands in front of it.</p><br>
<p>Structure 10 shares an L-shaped platform with Structures 13 and 74, in the Central Acropolis. The structure contains a series of hieroglyphic lintels describing the birth and accession of king Bird Jaguar IV.</p><br>
<p>Structure 12 is a small structure in the Central Acropolis, close to the river. The structure is located in the Central Acropolis close to one of the ballcourts. The lintels record nine generations of rulers of the city. Some of the lintels remain in place.</p><br>
<p>Structure 13 rests on an L-shaped platform in the Central Acropolis, together with Structures 10 and 74.</p><br>
<p>Structure 14 is the northwest ballcourt. It is located on the Main Plaza of the Central Acropolis. Five sculpted ballcourt markers were found here, three of which were aligned on the playing area and one on each of the platforms to either side. One of the ballcourt markers was removed from the site, the rest are broken and eroded.</p><br>
<p>Structure 16 is close to the northwest ballcourt. It contains Lintels 38 through to 40, which have been reset in their original positions.</p><br>
<p>Structure 19 is also known as the Labyrinth. It lies at the western edge of the Central Acropolis. The structure is a temple with rooms spread over three levels, linked by interior stairways. The temple facade has four doorways, with three doorway-sized niches between them. Two sculptured altars are located in front of the structure, which still has the remains of a perforated roof comb.</p><br>
<p>Structure 20 is in the Central Acropolis and has three rooms. The three doorways to this structure once supported sculpted Lintels 12, 13 and 14, although only two now remain. A small amount of the roof comb of the building remains, and the sloped roof still has surviving friezes containing niches. Structure 20 was excavated by Ian Graham in 1982, during the excavations a hieroglyphic step was found in front of the building, it was reburied in order to preserve it.</p><br>
<p>Structure 21 is on a terrace below Structure 25 and 26. The three lintels over the doorways in this structure were Lintels 15 through to 17, although they were removed in the 19th century and are now in the British Museum in London. Structure 21 was excavated in 1983. The vaulted roof of the structure had already collapsed before 1882, filling the rooms with rubble that has now been removed, uncovering several important monuments, including Stela 35 and the remains of life size stucco figures on the back wall behind the stela itself.</p><br>
<p>Structure 22 is on a terrace in the Central Acropolis near the Main Plaza. It still has sculptured lintels in place.</p><br>
<p>Structure 23 is in the Central Acropolis, overlooking the Main Plaza. Structure 23 is dedicated to Lady Kabal Xook, a wife of the king. This series of lintels are among the finest relief sculpture surviving in the Maya region.</p><br>
<p>Structure 24 is on a terrace near the Main Plaza in the Central Acropolis. It still has sculptured lintels in place.</p><br>
<p>Structure 25 is in the Central Acropolis close to the approach to Structure 33. It has not been excavated or restored, although it has some intact vaulting.</p><br>
<p>Structure 26 is located beside Structure 25 in the Central Acropolis and has not been excavated. It is the least well preserved of the two structures.</p><br>
<p>Structure 30 is in the Central Acropolis, it has three doorways facing onto the Plaza. The structure has two parallel rooms with well-preserved vaulting.</p><br>
<p>Structure 33, in the Central Acropolis, has been described as a masterpiece in stone and was probably dedicated in 756 by Bird Jaguar IV. The structure overlooks the plaza and the river and would have been prominent to river traffic in the 8th century. It has plain lower walls with three doorways, each of the which supports a well-preserved lintel (Yaxchilan Lintels 1 to 3). In centre of the back wall of the structure, opposite the central doorway, is a niche containing the headless sculpture of a human figure, probably Bird Jaguar IV himself. The roof of the structure is largely intact, including a sloped roof supporting a frieze and a well-preserved roof comb. There are niches in both the roof comb and the frieze, the niche in the roof comb contains the remains of a sculpted figure. Tennons on both roof sections once supported stucco decoration. Leading up to the front of Structure 33 from the plaza is a stairway, the top step of which is sculpted, this step is known as Hieroglyphic Stairway 2.</p><br>
<p>The South Acropolis consists of Structures 39, 40 and 41. A number of stelae and altars are associated with them.</p><br>
<p>Structure 39 has been restored and lies within the South Acropolis. It has three stepped doorways that open onto a single, irregularly shaped room. The remains of a perforated roof comb survive, with tenons that once supported stucco decoration.</p><br>
<p>Structure 40 is flanked by structures 39 and 41. It has been restored and also has three doorways opening onto a single room and the remains of a perforated roof comb. The room has the remains of murals that once covered all the interior walls. Stelae 12 and 13 stand before structure 40 and Stela 11 once stood between them.</p><br>
<p>Structure 41 has also been restored. Like the other two structures in the South Acropolis, it has three doorways that open onto a single room. It is not as well preserved as Structures 39 and 40 and much of the vaulted roof has collapsed. A fraction of stucco frieze from the sculpture may date the building to 740, the 3rd Katun anniversary of Itzamnaaj Balam IIs reign. The central doorway is stepped and the front wall has been buttressed. It is one of three principal structures atop the highest vantage point in the city and a series of stelae was set in front of it that described the military campaigns of Itzamnaaj Balam II.</p><br>
<p>Structure 42 is located in the West Acropolis.</p><br>
<p>Structure 44 is in the West Acropolis. It still contains a carved lintel, and has sculpted steps. A number of stelae were originally associated with Structure 44. This temple was built by Itzamnaaj B&#39;alam II and was dedicated around 732. The sculpted texts from this building provide an account of the 8th century resurgence of the city. Each of the three doorways contained sculptured lintels and two hieroglyphic steps.</p><br>
<p>Structure 67 is the southeast ballcourt, located in the Central Acropolis.</p><br>
<h3>Monuments</h3><br>
<h4>Hieroglyphic stairways</h4><br>
<p>Hieroglyphic Stairway 1 leads up to Structure 5 in the Central Acropolis. It has six sculpted risers consisting of various carved blocks, many of which are heavily eroded.</p><br>
<p>Hieroglyphic Stairway 2 is the riser of the uppermost step approaching Structure 33. It consists of 13 sculptured blocks, numbered from left to right as Steps I to XIII. Steps VI, VII and XVIII are extremely well preserved and depict Bird Jaguar IV and two of his predecessors dressed as ball players.</p><br>
<h4>Lintels</h4><br>
<p>Lintel 1 is above the eastern doorway of Structure 33 in the Central Acropolis. It depicts 8th-century king Bird Jaguar IV accompanied by his wife Lady Great Skull Zero.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 2 is set above the central doorway of Structure 33. It shows Bird Jaguar IV accompanied by his son and heir, Shield Jaguar II.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 3 is above the westernmost doorway of Structure 33. It also shows Bird Jaguar IV, this time accompanied by an ally.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 10 is the last known monument at Yaxchilan, dating to 808.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 12 was originally set into Structure 20 in the Central Acropolis. It is now in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 13 is above a doorway in Structure 20. It had fallen when the roof of the building collapsed but has since been reset. The sculpture on the lintel is very well preserved.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 14 is set above a doorway in Structure 20 and is particularly well preserved.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 15 originally spanned a doorway in Structure 21, it was removed to the British Museum in 1982-3. It was originally set above the southeast doorway of the central room. Lintel 15 depicts Lady Wak Tuun, one of the wives of king Bird Jaguar IV, during a bloodletting ritual that results in the appearance of the Vision Serpent. Lady Wak Tuun is carrying a basket containing the tools used for the bloodletting ritual, including a stingray spine, rope and bloodstained paper. The Vision Serpent emerges from a bowl containing strips of bark paper.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 16 also spanned a doorway in Structure 21 and was removed to the British Museum in 1982-3. It shows Bird Jaguar IV holding a spear and standing over a kneeling captive. Bird Jaguar IV wears the same costume that his father is depicted wearing on Lintel 26. The capture event depicted on Lintel 16 took place in 752.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 17 was another lintel from a doorway in Structure 21 that is now in the British Museum. It dates to the reign of Bird Jaguar IV. The lintel depicts Bird Jaguar IV and his wife Lady B&#39;alam Mut participating in a bloodletting ritual. The king watches while his wife pulls a rope through her tongue draw blood. This ritual is recorded as having taken place eight days after the capture event depicted on Lintel 16.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 24 is sculpted from limestone and is regarded as a masterpiece of Maya art. The lintel has traces of red and blue pigments. The ceremony represented on the sculpture took place on 28 October, 709. Lintel 24 was removed at the end of the 19th century and is now on display in the British Museum.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 25 was originally set above the central doorway of Structure 23. The Vision Serpent rising before her has two heads, one at each extreme, from the mouth of one emerges a warrior, from the other emerges the head of central Mexican deity Tlaloc, a water god from the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico. The hieroglyphic inscription on the lintel is unusual, being reversed as if it were meant to be read in a mirror, although the significance of this is unknown. Like Lintel 24, Lintel 25 was removed at the end of the 19th century and is now on display in the British Museum. The events depicted on the lintel are described as having occurred "in front of the water of Siyan Chan", a reference to the main plaza of the city being located on the shore of the Usumacinta River.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 26 was the third in the series set above the doorways of Structure 23, it is now in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. It dates to 726 and bears a portrait of Itzamnaaj B&#39;alam II.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 29 is set into Structure 10 in the Central Acropolis. It is part of a series of three lintels bearing a continuous hieroglyphic text detailing the birth and accession of king Bird Jaguar IV.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 30 is part of the lintel series carved with a continuous hieroglyphic text set into Structure 10.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 31 is another part of the series of three hieroglyphic lintels set into Structure 10.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 35 was found by Maudslay among the rubble of Structure 12 and is now kept at the British Museum. It was sculpted from limestone in the 6th century under the rule of Kinich Tatbu Skull II and records a series of victories including that over the great city of Calakmul.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 38, Lintel 39 and Lintel 40 have been reset in their original positions in Structure 16 in the Central Acropolis. Unlike most of the other lintels at Yaxchilan, they are sculpted on their edges instead of the undersides.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 41 was set above the south doorway of Structure 42 in the West Acropolis. It had fallen and broken into two pieces when Maudsley found it in the late 19th century. The upper section is on display in the British Museum, the lower section is damaged. The lintel was carved from limestone and is one of a series of lintels set in the same structure that celebrate the victories of king Bird Jaguar IV. The king is shown preparing for a battle that took place in 755, his wife is offering him his spear, she is Lady Wak Jalam Chan Ajaw from the site of Motul de San José in the Petén Lakes region of Guatemala.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 50 is set into Structure 13 in the Central Acropolis.</p><br>
<p>Lintel 60 remains in its original setting in Structure 12. It was discovered during excavations of the structure in 1984.</p><br>
<h4>Stelae</h4><br>
<p>Stela 2 is on the lowest terrace opposite the stairway approach to Structure 33. It is badly weathered and dates to 613.</p><br>
<p>Stela 3 stands on a platform in the middle of a plaza by Structure 20. It was badly damaged and the fragments have been reassembled and the monument re-erected. One side of the stela has well-preserved sculpture.</p><br>
<p>Stela 5 is in front of the terrace holding Structure 20. The upper part of this monument depicts king Itzamnaaj B&#39;alam II.</p><br>
<p>Stela 6 stands in front of the terrace supporting Structure 20. It is largely intact and depicts the 7th-century ruler Bird Jaguar III.</p><br>
<p>Stela 7 was badly damaged, being broken into fragments. The monument has now been reassembled and the surviving sculpture is of excellent quality. The stela stands in front of a terrace below Structure 20. It depicts a kneeling figure.</p><br>
<p>Stela 11 originally stood in front of Structure 40. The stela was removed in 1964 and shipped upriver to Agua Azul to be flown to Mexico City for display in the Museo Nacional de Antropología. However, it was too heavy to fly and was returned to Yaxchilan in 1965 and now lies near the bank of the river. The upper side of the stela depicts king Bird Jaguar IV and his father. The figures and the accompanying hieroglyphic panel are very well preserved. There are various dates inscribed on the stela with the earliest being 741. The stela is broken into two parts.</p><br>
<p>Stela 18 dates from some time after 723. It depicts the victorious king Itzamnaaj B&#39;alam II standing over a kneeling captive, who is identified as Aj Popol Chaj, the ruling lord of Lacanha.</p><br>
<p>Stela 27 has been re-erected in front of Structure 9 on the Main Plaza in the Central Acropolis. The monument dates to 514 and depicts the king Knot-eye Jaguar I. This stela is the earliest known from Yaxchilan. Stela 27 is particularly notable because it was obviously damaged in antiquity and subsequently restored in the Late Classic, with substantial reworking in the lower third of the stela dating to the time of Bird Jaguar IV.</p><br>
<p>Stela 31 is located a short distance in front of Structure 33. It is a particularly unusual monument because it is sculpted from a stalactite. It is undated and depicts three incised figures and some hieroglyphs.</p><br>
<p>Stela 33 is a fragmented monument that was discovered during excavations of the platform supporting Stela 3.</p><br>
<p>Stela 35 is an exceptionally well preserved monument found during excavations of Structure 21 in 1983. The stela is fairly small and depicts Lady Eveningstar (also known as Lady Ik Skull), the mother of king Bird Jaguar IV.</p><br>
<h2>Known rulers</h2><br>
<p>All dates AD.</p><br>
<h3>Moon Skull</h3><br>
<p>Moon Skull was the seventh known ruler of Yaxchilan and ruled in the 5th century. His name is not an actual reference to the moon but is rather the Maya word for a spear-thrower.</p><br>
<h3>Bird Jaguar II</h3><br>
<p>Bird Jaguar II was the eighth king in the dynastic record of Yaxchilan. Two of his sons became kings after him, Knot-eye Jaguar I and Kinich Tatbu Skull II.</p><br>
<h3>Knot-eye Jaguar I</h3><br>
<p>Knot-eye Jaguar I was the ninth known king of Yaxchilan, he reigned in the early 6th century. His glyphic name should probably be read as Joy B&#39;alam. He was a son of the previous ruler, Bird Jaguar II.</p><br>
<h3>Kinich Tatbu Skull II</h3><br>
<p>Kinich Tatbu Skull II is the tenth in the dynastic king list. He was another son of Bird Jaguar II.</p><br>
<h3>Bird Jaguar III</h3><br>
<p>Bird Jaguar III is described in one text as fifteenth in line from Yopaat B&#39;alam I. Bird Jaguar III took Lady Pakal as his wife, who lived a very long life, dying in 705 at the age of at least 98 years.</p><br>
<h3>Itzamnaaj B'alam II</h3><br>
<p>Itzamnaak B&#39;alam II acceded in October 681 and ruled for 60 years. He was often referred to in hieroglyphic texts as Master of Aj Nik, referring to the capture of his first captive before he became king, this phrase being attached to his name on 32 separate occasions. Aj Nik himself was a sub-lord from a place known as either Maan or Namaan and was not of high rank.</p><br>
<p>Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec"  in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in the Western Hemisphere, measuring in total just over 686 hectares . Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of the parks main functions is to be an ecological space in Greater Mexico City. It is considered the first and most important of Mexico Citys "lungs", with trees that replenish oxygen to the Valley of Mexico. The park area has been inhabited and considered a landmark since the Pre-Columbian era, when it became a retreat for Aztec rulers. In the colonial period, Chapultepec Castle was built here, eventually becoming the official residence of Mexican heads of state. It would remain so until 1940, when it was moved to another part of the park called Los Pinos.</p><br>
<p>Bosque de Chapultepec is divided into three sections, with the first section being the oldest and most visited. This section contains most of the park&#39;s attractions including the castle, the Chapultepec Zoo, the Museum of Anthropology, and the Rufino Tamayo Museum, among others. It receives an estimated 15 million visitors per year. This prompted the need for major rehabilitation efforts that began in 2005 and ended in 2010. The government has authorized the construction of business, offices and big parking lots for cars., including a new mall near the Papalote Museo del Niño. Ecological groups want to stop the destruction of the green areas of Chapultepec, and to make a plan to recover the wood removed by the construction of parking lots and buildings.</p><br>
<h2>Characteristics</h2><br>
<p>Chapultepec Park is the largest city park in Latin America, measuring in total just over 686 hectares (1700 acres). It is classed as one of the worlds largest and most visited urban parks, along with Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo, and Central Park in New York City. The name "Chapultepec" means "at the grasshopper hill" in Nahuatl and refers to a large rock formation that is the center of the parks first section. Originally, this area was a forest outside of Tenochtitlan, once considered sacred in pre-Columbian times, but today it is entirely within the city (mostly in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo), surrounded by some of its primary business and commercial districts. The park is divided into three sections, the first and oldest surrounded by fence and shut at night, and the other two left open. It contains nine museums, amusement parks, winding paths, commemorative sculptures, lakes and fountains. Paseo de la Reforma passes most of the park and cuts through a portion on the north side.</p><br>
<p>One of the parks main functions is to be an ecological space for Greater Mexico City. It is considered the first and most important of Mexico Citys "lungs", with trees that replenished oxygen to the Valley of Mexico. It is a large unpaved area that allows for aquifer recharge, ameliorates the "heat-island" effect, and attracts rain. It is a refuge for migratory birds from Canada, the USA and other regions of Mexico, including the red-tailed hawk, the Harris&#39;s hawk, wild ducks, geese, and others. Anywhere from 38 to 60 species of birds can be found here, including some native non-migratory species such as the Yucatán canary and a type of heron called the "water dog". There are also more than a dozen species of reptiles and amphibians, and a number of species of various types that are in danger of extinction, including the axolotl, Goodeidae, alandrias, the carpenter bird, and the white-tailed hummingbird. The park is home to a large number of Montezuma cypress, locally called "ahuehuete" trees, with some hundreds of years old. Many of them were planted by the Aztecs. There are also 165 other species, mostly in the third section. It is estimated by city authorities that MXN$100 million are needed annually to maintain the ecology of the park.</p><br>
<p>For Mexico City residents, the park is valued as a cultural and historic area as well as green space.</p><br>
<p>The park received an estimated 15 million visitors each year, and daily visits exceed 250,000. Sunday is the most popular day to visit because the museums are free, and visitors may spend the entire day in one or more sections viewing the attractions, picnicking, or grilling. Despite its local popularity, however, foreign visitors usually only see the small fraction of the park near the museums. The park is easy to get to via public transportation. Metro Lines 1 and 7 have stations at park entrances to the east and south respectively. Several bus lines along Paseo de la Reforma.</p><br>
<h2>First section</h2><br>
<p>The oldest and most visited portion of the park is called the "first section". These fences mostly separate it from the streets that form its boundaries: Avenida Constituyentes (es), Paseo de la Reforma, Calzada Chivatito, and the Anillo Periférico. The interior measures 274.03 hectares (677.1 acres), with 182 hectares (450 acres) of this being undeveloped green space. The pathway also has trees that are hundreds of years old.</p><br>
<p>This section of the park also contains the geological formation that gave the park/forest its name: Chapultepec Hill. It is a formation of volcanic rock and andesite, which is common in the Valley of Mexico and contains small caves and sand deposits.</p><br>
<p>After the Conquest, a small chapel dedicated to the Archangel Michael was built on the hill by Claudio de Arciniega in the middle of the 16th century.</p><br>
<p>The Chapultepec Zoo is the most visited attraction of the park, especially on Sundays. It is estimated that half of all park visitors come to the zoo. The zoo was established by Alfonso L. Herrera, a biologist, and opened in 1924. Today, it has 16,000 animals of 270 species, separated into four sections according to habitat: tropical forest, temperate forest, desert and grassland. About one third of the animals are native to Mexico.</p><br>
<p>Most of the museums in the first section are located along Paseo de la Reforma. Of all of the museums in the park, the most famous is the National Museum of Anthropology, considered one of the most famous archeological museums in the world. The museum has a number of antecedents beginning from the colonial period, but the current institution was created in the 1960s with the building and grounds designed by architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. This museum has an area of 44,000m2 and 25 exhibit halls with sections devoted to each of the major pre-Hispanic civilizations in Mexico, including the Aztec, Maya, Toltec and Olmec. The permanent collection is quite large, and many visitors often several hours seeing it. There are also temporary exhibits displayed year-round. The Rufino Tamayo Museum is in the first section on Paseo de la Reforma. The permanent collection mostly focuses on the namesake, but there are also works by other Mexican and foreign artists that Tamayo donated. During his lifetime, Tamayo collected one of the most important collections of 20th-century art, which included art works from Andy Warhol, Picasso, Miró, Fernando Botero, Magritte, and about 100 others.</p><br>
<p>The Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) is located on Paseo de la Reforma and Calle Gandhi, and it hosts various temporary exhibits. The museum&#39;s complex was constructed using modern architecture techniques, which consisted of two circular buildings surrounding a sculpture garden. It contains one of the leading collections of modern art of the 20th century of Mexico. Artists include Dr. Atl, Frida Kahlo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Remedios Varo.</p><br>
<p>The Casa de Cultura Quinta Colorada was originally a former accommodation for the forest rangers of the area in the early 20th century. The house was made using European style architecture techniques. It hosts various cultural activities for visitors and has a small planetarium.</p><br>
<p>At the foot of the Chapultepec Hill is an extension of the Museum of History called the Museo del Caracol (Snail Museum). This museum narrates the history of Mexico in the winding form of a snail, the shape of the building from which its name comes.</p><br>
<p>The Luis Barragán House and Studio is the former home of architect Luis Barragán. The house was kept nearly intact since 1948, including the workshop. It also exhibits artworks from the 19th and 20th century.</p><br>
<p>One of the most popular features in the first section is an artificial lake called the Lago Menor (Smaller Lake). It is one of two lakes in the park; the larger one, Lago Major, is in the second section. Lagor Menor, however, attracts more visitors than the other. Visitors can rent paddleboats and small rowboats at the lake. The Lago Menor was created at the late 19th century, when the entire first section (then the entire park) was redesigned. At the same time Lago Menor was created, the Casa del Lago was constructed. It is shallow with an average depth of a little over one meter. The Casa del Lago, also called the Restauranto del Lago, is now a restaurant that serves continental food and some Mexican dishes.</p><br>
<p>In addition to the lake, there are a number of large fountains. The Quixote Fountain is surrounded by four benches covered in tile with images of Don Quixote. To the side of this plaza, there are two columns. On the right there is a figure of Quixote with the face of Salvador Dalí and on the other side, there is a depiction of Sancho Panza with the face of Diego Rivera. Both statues were made of bronze by José María Fernández Urbina. The Fuente de las Ranas (Fountain of the Frogs) was created in the 1920s, by Miguel Alessio Robles in Seville, Spain. The Nezahualcoyotl Fountain was inaugurated in 1956. It measures 1,250m2 and surrounds a statue of the Aztec ruler nine meters tall in black stone.</p><br>
<p>Throughout the first section there kinds of trees trees; the most common one is the Montezuma cypress, locally called "ahuehuetes". A number of these are hundreds of years old, although there are far fewer due to a past disease epidemic. One dead specimen is called the Ahuehuete of Moctezuma, commonly referred to as El Sargento (The Sargeant) or as the Centinela (Sentinel). The last two names were given by cadets of the Heroic Military Academy during the 19th century. The 500-year-old tree remains as a monument to the area&#39;s history, measuring fifteen meters high, forty in circumference. Another tree of the species, still living, is El Tlatoani, which is more than 700 years old and is the oldest tree in the park. In addition to these trees, there are sequoias, cedars, palms, poplars, pines, ginkgos, and more.</p><br>
<p>Los Pinos has been the official residence of the presidents of Mexico since 1941. Though the presidential residence is inside the park, there is no public access to it. The residence is made up of white stucco structures; this architecture can be seen from Molino del Rey, a former millhouse and site of a battle of the Mexican–American War in 1847. Los Pinos is on one edge of the park.</p><br>
<p>The National Auditorium is one of Mexico City&#39;s principal arenas. It primarily hosts musical ensembles and dance troupes. Singers from Mexico and abroad perform there yearlong. The park hosts a number of cultural events during the year. One of them is the performance of Swan Lake, which is conducted on a stage in Lago Menor. This performance has been given since 1978 in warmer months. Night tours by train that go around the park are popular around Christmas time, when many of the attractions are lit for the season. The Ballet Folklórico de México also holds performances on occasion at the Chapultepec Castle.</p><br>
<h2>Second section</h2><br>
<p>The second section of the park was created in 1964 by expanding over former farmlands. This section is separated by Anillo Periférico road and measures 160.02 hectares. It is not as developed as the first section, but it is also has dedicated to recreational activities. Lago Mayor overlaps with the second section; this park of the lake contains the Monumental Fountain, the largest one in Latin America. It is surrounded by several restaurants and cafés. Nearby are the Compositores, Xochipilli and Las Serpientes fountains.</p><br>
<p>The area contains jogging trails, places for yoga and karate, and other exercise facilities on the tree areas. Around 1,000 people each day go to this section to exercise. The jogging trails were doubled from 2 km to 4 km in the late 2000s.</p><br>
<p>One part of this section is dominated by the Feria de Chapultepec amusement park, located near the Lago Mayor, just off the Anillo Periférico. The park has a capacity of 15,000 people and is visited by about two million each year. It includes several roller coasters, including the Montaña Infinitum.</p><br>
<p>This section contains museums such as Papalote Museo del Niño, the Technology Museum of the Federal Electricity Commission (es), and the Museo de Historia Natural (es). El Papalote Museo del Niño is an interactive children&#39;s museum which invites children to touch and manipulate the exhibits. The Technology Museum consists of four very large halls which exhibit modern advances in technology. In its surrounding gardens, there are old locomotives, railcars and tracks. It also contains an auditorium for events and a planetarium. The Museo de Historia Natural focuses mostly on the origins of life with its permanent exhibits. It also hosts temporary exhibits and academic conferences.</p><br>
<p>The Cárcamo de Dolores hydraulic structure, found in this section, was built between 1942 and 1952 to capture water sent to the Valley of Mexico from the Lerma River basin in the Toluca Valley. The major parts open to the public consist of a pavilion, covered with an orange half cupola and a fountain with an image of Tlaloc. Originally, the water was stored underground and pumped to the surface when needed. The main building has serpent heads on the four corners and there is a mural painted by Diego Rivera called "El agua: origen de la vida".</p><br>
<p>In 2010, the second section of the park underwent rehabilitation, funded in part by a private charity group called Probosque de Chapultepec. Most of the work was done on the jogging track, the Tlaloc Fountain, the Cárcamo de Dolores building, the mural "El agua: origen de la vida", and the construction of an agora. These works together form the Museo Jardín del Agua (Water Garden Museum). In addition, a large number of dead trees were removed and about 800 new ones planted.</p><br>
<h2>Third section</h2><br>
<p>The third section of the park is located on the west side of the second and was inaugurated in 1974. It has a surface area of 242.9 hectares. It is the least developed and least visited; it is filled with trees and wildlife.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>According to archeological studies, there has been human presence in the area since at least the pre-Classic period. The first identified culture archeologists have evidence for is the Toltecs. The Toltecs named the area "grasshopper hill", which would later become "Chapultepec". Remains of a Toltec altar have been found on the hill&#39;s summit. In the Classic Period, the area was occupied by people of the Teotihuacan culture. When the Mexicas, or Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico, it was inhabited by a people called the Tepanecas of Azcapotzalco.</p><br>
<p>When the Aztecs took over the Valley of Mexico, they considered the hill as both a sacred and strategic site. They began to use the area as a repository for the ashes of their rulers, and the area&#39;s springs became an important source of fresh water for the capital of Tenochtitlan. Eventually, the area became a retreat strictly limited to the ruling and religious elite. In the 1420s, ruler Nezahualcoyotl was the first to build a palace in the area. Moctezuma II built reservoirs to raise exotic fish and to store water. He also had trees and plants from various parts of the Aztec Empire planted here. In 1465, Moctezuma I ordered his portrait carved into a rock at the foot of the hill and constructed the Tlaxpana aqueduct, which measured three km.</p><br>
<p>During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, one of the last battles between the Spanish and ruler Cuauhtémoc occurred at Chapultepec Hill in 1521. Shortly thereafter, the Franciscans built a small hermitage over the indigenous altar on Chapultepec Hill. Hernán Cortés appropriated Chapultepec and granted the northern portion to Captain Juan Jaramillo, who would become the husband of La Malinche. However, in 1530, Charles V decreed the area as the property of the Mexico City and open to it to the public. The Spanish continued to use the Aztec aqueduct, but in 1771, another one was deemed necessary for the growing population of Mexico City. The Chapultepec aqueduct led water from the springs of the forest to an area in what was the south of the city, called Salto del Agua. It flowed over 904 arches and 3,908 meters. In 1785, the Franciscan hermitage was demolished to make way for the Chapultepec Castle, converting the hill and the forest around it into a summer retreat for colonial viceroys. The area was walled off from the general public and was the scene of elegant parties.</p><br>
<p>After Mexico achieved Independence in 1821, the Castle became the official residence of the head of state. A number of these, especially Emperor Maximilian I and his wife, embellished and expanded the castle as well as the forest area around it. The Hill was also the site of the Battle of Chapultepec in 1847, between Mexican and USA troops led by General Winfield Scott. A band of cadets were at the Castle when it was attacked and near the end of the battle, six of them decided to jump to their deaths from the castle on the hill to the rocks below. These six are referred to as the "Niños Héroes" and are honored by a monument near where their bodies fell. The castle remain the official residence of Mexican presidents until 1940, when this function as moved to the Los Pinos residence and the Castle was converted into a museum.</p><br>
<p>Since then, the park was expanded twice, adding the second section in 1964 In 2005, the first section of the park was closed for renovations, effectively evicting all vendors from the area. When it reopened months later, permits for selling were strictly limited and police began to crackdown vendors in the park. However, some vendors continue to operate illegally and exchange information on the police&#39;s steps with radio communication equipment. At the entrances to the park, where the vendor restrictions are not in place, some vendors sometimes block the entrances and cover signs so that visitors a forced to pass through their stands.</p><br>
<p>Maintenance issues have closed parts of the park from time to time. In 1985, the parked was closed to exterminate rats and other pests.</p><br>
<p>In 2010, projects included renovating jogging tracks, and planting more than 800 trees, including acacia café, pino azul, pino peñonero, holm oak, pino moctezuma, pino prieto and grevilia, as well as the removal of dead or severely infected trees. These rehabilitation efforts of the 2000s were funded by a combination of government and private funds from groups like Probosque.</p><br>
<p>Coba  is an ancient Mayan city on the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways of the ancient Mayan world, and it contains many engraved and sculpted stelae that document ceremonial life and important events of the Late Classic Period  of Mesoamerican civilization. The adjacent modern village bearing the same name, reported a population of 1,278 inhabitants in the 2010 Mexican federal census.</p><br>
<h2>Site Layout and Description</h2><br>
<p>The ruins of Coba lie 44 km (approx. 27 mi) northwest of Tulum, in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The geographical coordinates of Coba Group (main entrance for tourist area of the archaeological site) are North 19° 29.6’ and West 87° 43.7’. The archaeological zone is reached by a two-kilometer branch from the asphalt road connecting Tulum with Nuevo Xcán (a community of Lázaro Cárdenas, another municipality of Quintana Roo) on the Valladolid to Cancún highway.</p><br>
<p>Coba is located around two lagoons, Lake Coba and Lake Macanxoc. A series of elevated stone and plaster roads radiate from the central site to various smaller sites near and far. These are known by the Maya term sacbe (plural sacbeob) or white road. Some of these causeways go east, and the longest runs over 100 km westwards to the site of Yaxuna. The site contains a group of large temple pyramids known as the Nohoch Mul, the tallest of which, Ixmoja, is some 42 m in height. Ixmoja is among the tallest pyramids on the Yucatán peninsula, exceeded by Calakmul at 45 m.</p><br>
<p>Coba was estimated to have had some 50,000 inhabitants (and possibly significantly more) at its peak of civilization, and the built up area extends over some 80 km². The site was occupied by a sizable agricultural population by the 1st century. The bulk of a Coba&#39;s major construction seems to have been made in the middle and late Classic period, about 500 to 900 AD, with most of the dated hieroglyphic inscriptions from the 7th century (see Mesoamerican Long Count calendar). However, Coba remained an important site in the Post-Classic era and new temples were built and old ones kept in repair until at least the 14th century, possibly as late as the arrival of the Spanish.</p><br>
<p>The Mayan site of Coba was set up with multiple residential</p><br>
<p>areas that consisted of around 15 houses in clusters. All clusters were connected by sacbeobs, or elevated walkways.</p><br>
<p>Six major linear features were found at the Coba site. The first feature that was often found at Coba was the platforms that were connecting the clusters to the sacbeobs. These were found at almost every single cluster of houses. Single or doubled faced features that were found around the majority of the household clusters. These were often linked to the platforms that led to the sacbeobs. A lot of features found tended to connect to something or lead to something but the other end was left open-ended. Coba has many features that are platforms or on platforms. The last major linear feature that was constantly found was sacbeob-like paths that were someway associated with natural resources of the area</p><br>
<h2>Sacbeob</h2><br>
<p>Sacbeob (Mayan plural of sacbe), or sacbes, were very common at the Coba site. They are raised pathways, usually stone paths at this site, that connected the clusters of residential areas to the main center of the site and the water sources.These paths were the connecting points to most things at the Coba site. They were the major feature discovered and preserved. Sacbeobs were the main reason why maps of Coba could be created. The sacbeobs were one of the ways they figured out how to excavate the site and transect the area. The sacbes were used to help determine the size of Coba.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archaeological evidence indicates that Cobá was first settled between 50 BC and 100 AD. At that time, there was a town with buildings of wood and palm fronts and flat platforms. The only archaeological evidence of the time are fragments of pottery. After 100 AD, the area around Coba evidenced strong population growth, and with it an increase in its social and political status among Maya city states which would ultimately make Coba one of the biggest and most powerful city states in the northern Yucatán area. Between 201 and 601 AD, Coba must have dominated a vast area, including the north of the state of Quintana Roo and areas in the east of the state of Yucatán. This power resided in its control of large swaths of farmland, control over trading routes, and — critically for a Mayan city — control over ample water resources. Among the trading routes, Coba probably controlled ports like Xel Há.</p><br>
<p>Coba must have maintained close contacts with the large city states of Guatemala and the south of Campeche like Tikal, Dzibanche, or Calakmul. To maintain its influence, Coba must have established military alliances and arranged marriages among their elites. It is quite noteworthy that Coba shows traces of Teotihuacan architecture, like a platform in the Paintings group that was explored in 1999, which would attest of the existence of contacts with the central Mexican cultures and its powerful city of the early Classic epoch. Stelae uncovered at Coba are believed to depict that Coba had many female rulers.</p><br>
<p>After 600 AD, the emergence of powerful city states of the Puuc culture and the emergence of Chichén Itzá altered the political spectrum in the Yucatán peninsula and began eroding the dominance of Coba. Beginning around 900 or 1000 AD, Coba must have begun a lengthy power struggle with Chichén Itzá, with the latter dominating at the end as it gained control of key cities such as Yaxuná. After 1000 AD, Coba lost much of its political weight among city states, although it maintained some symbolic and religious importance. This allowed it to maintain or recover some status, which is evidenced by the new buildings dating to the time 1200-1500 AD, now built in the typical Eastern coastal style. However, power centers and trading routes had moved to the coast, forcing cities like Coba into a secondary status, although somewhat more successful than its more ephemeral enemy Chichén Itzá. Coba was abandoned at the time the Spanish conquered the peninsula around 1550.</p><br>
<h2>Highlights: Exploration and Artifacts</h2><br>
<p>The first mention of Coba in print is due to John Lloyd Stephens where he mentioned hearing reports of the site in 1842 from the cura (priest or vicar in Spanish) of Chemax, but it was so distant from any known modern road or village that he decided the difficulty in trying to get there was too daunting and returned to his principal target of exploring Tulum instead. For much of the rest of the 19th century the area could not be visited by outsiders due to the Caste War of Yucatán, the notable exception was Juan Peón Contreras (also used the nom de plume Contreras Elizalde) who was then director of the Museum of Yucatán. He made the arduous journey in September 1882, and is now remembered for the four naive pen-and-ink sketches that he made at the ruins (prints made from them exist in the Peabody Museum and in the collection of Raúl Pavón Abreu in Campeche). Teoberto Maler paid Coba a short visit in 1893 and took at least one photograph, but unfortunately did not publish at the time and the site remained unknown to the archeological community.</p><br>
<p>Amateur explorer (and successful writer of popular books wherein he described his adventures and discoveries among Maya ruins) Dr. Thomas Gann was brought to the site by some local Maya hunters in February 1926. Gann published the first first-hand description of the ruins later the same year. Dr. Gann gave a short description to the archeologists of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) project at Chichen Itza, he spoke of the large mounds he had sighted, but not visited for lack of time, lying to the northeast of the main group. It was to examine these that Alfred Kidder and went for a two-day inspection of the site in March. Two months later Thompson was again at Coba, forming with Jean Charlot the third CIW expedition. On this trip their guide, Carmen Chai, showed them the "Macanxoc Group", a discovery that led to the departure of a fourth expedition, since Sylvanus Morley wanted Thompson to show him the new stelae. Eric Thompson made a number of return visits to the site through 1932, the same year he published a detailed description.</p><br>
<p>In 1932 H. B. Roberts opened a number of trenches in Group B to collect sherds</p><br>
<p>In 1948 two graduate students in archaeology, William and Michael Coe, visited Coba, intent on seeking the terminus of Sacbe 15. They were unaware, unfortunately, that E. Wyllys Andrews IV already reported it ten years prior. In an editor’s note following their report Thompson blames himself as editor for failing to detect the repetition of prior work in their contribution, while excusing the young authors for ignorance of a paper published in a foreign journal. But the Coes reported the previously unknown Sacbes 18 and 19 and mapped the large mound at the terminus of Sacbe 17, which they named Pech Mul (they were unlucky again in failing to complete their circuit of its platform, or they might have discovered the sacbe leading out of it, no. 21).</p><br>
<p>The site remained little visited due to its remoteness until the first modern road was opened up to Coba in the early 1970s. As a major resort was planned for Cancún, it was realized that clearing and restoring some of the large site could make it an important tourist attraction. The Mexican National Institute of Anthropology & History (INAH) began some archeological excavations in 1972 directed by Carlos Navarrete, and consolidated a couple of buildings. Expectations of new discoveries were borne out when El Cono (Structure D-6) and Grupo Las Pinturas came to light, among other features. In the same year, much of Grupo Coba was cleared on the instructions of Raúl Pavón Abreu; not even its tall ramón trees were spared.</p><br>
<p>In 1975 a branch road from the asphalted highway being built from Tulum to Nuevo X-Can reached Coba (fortunately the road engineers heeded objections by archaeologists and abandoned their original plan of incorporating Sacbe 3 in the roadbed). A project camp was built in 1973, and in 1974 the Project Coba proper, under the auspices of the Regional Center of the Southeast of INAH was able to begin its operations. During the three-year existence of the project, portions of the site were cleared and structures excavated and consolidated, (the Castillo and the Pinturas Group by Peniche; the Iglesia by Benavides and Jaime Garduño; El Cono by Benavides and Fernando Robles); the sacbes were investigated by Folan and by Benavides, who added 26 to the list of 19 previously known; the ceramics from test pits and trenches were studied by Robles; and Jaime Garduño surveyed two transects of the site, one of 10 km north-south and another of 5 km east-west.</p><br>
<p>At the start of the 1980s another road to Coba was opened up and paved, and a regular bus service begun. Coba became a tourist destination shortly thereafter, with many visitors flocking to the site on day trips from Cancún and the Riviera Maya. Only a small portion of the site has been cleared from the jungle and restored by archaeologists.</p><br>
<p>the resident population of Coba pueblo was 1,167. It grew to 1,278 by the 2010 census.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>In the past, the people of Coba had traded extensively with other Mayan communities, particularly the ones further south along the Caribbean coast in what is now Belize and Honduras. It utilized the ports of Xcaret, Xel-Há, Tankah, Muyil, and Tulum as well as the many sacbeob that sprout from this cultural center. Typical items of trade of the Mayans of this area were: salt, fish, squash, yams, corn, honey, beans, turkey, vegetables, chocolate drinks and raw materials such as limestone, marble, and jade. There was specialization in different areas on the site which were because of who was living and working where and what their trade was. Almost all of the commerce was controlled by wealthy merchants. These merchants used cacao beans for currency, and the beans had a fixed market price. Today&#39;s economy is based on the rising popularity of tourism to the archaeological site.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>The archaeological site of Coba has increasingly become more visited by both national and international tourism in Mexico. One of the main attraction to visitors of Coba is the Ancient Pyramid which unlike Chichen Itza&#39;s Kukulkan Pyramid, is still open for the public to climb its 130 steps up to the top of the site. Additional to this, Coba has several Tour operators with excursions available to this site from almost any point within the closest and top Touristic destinations of Cancun and its Riviera Maya.</p><br>
<p>There are also three hotels, one campsite and seven restaurants scattered throughout the site and there is a small pueblo near the ruins, with some restaurants and small shops selling local crafts.</p><br>
<p>Outlined are the important artifacts and structures that can be viewed and experienced within the ruins of Coba:</p><br>
<p>Nohoch Mul Pyramid - A 42 meters tall (137 feet) pyramid that boasts a remarkable view of the Yucatán and non-public areas of Coba including both lagoons; Macanxoc Lagoon to the east and Cobá Lagoon to the southwest.</p><br>
<p>Coba Group -This is a series of structures close to the entrance that include the Iglesia (the Church) and one of two ball courts located in this site.</p><br>
<p>Conjunto de Pinturas -The focus of this area is the Pyramid of the Painted Lintel where visitors can see from afar actual paintings on the top temple.</p><br>
<p>Macanxoc Group - Past the Conjunto de Pinturas is the Macanxoc Group that is found following one of the Sacbes. This area has 8 stelaes and numerous altars. The vast number of stelaes shows that this area was of spiritual significance to the area.</p><br>
<p>Coba Stelae - These monuments give insight into various aspects of the formal life of Cobá, including dress, ritual processes, and the roles and power of both men and women in the city’s ceremonial and political activities. Women are the figures of authority in many of the scenes depicted on the stelae. The hieroglyphic inscriptions contain additional information about the city’s sociopolitical organization as well as dates and accounts of major historical events.</p><br>
<p>Sacbe -Cobá was an urban hub of many settlements that were joined by roads called sacbes, unique to this Mayan city. These roads range in width from 10 to 30 feet and were built by the Maya for commerce. The longest is 62 km/100 km and fifty others have been discovered. Such construction is believed to be more difficult than that invested into stone buildings and temples. Although Mayans were aware that the wheel existed, historians have documented that they had not yet implemented it. Most transportation along sacbes was done in the cool temperatures of night. The white limestone provided a natural guide when illuminated by moonlight.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Considered a tropical savanna climate typically with a pronounced dry season. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is Aw (Tropical Savanna Climate).</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>The Ore Mountains or Ore Mountain Range  in Central Europe have formed a natural border between Saxony and Bohemia for around 800 years, from the 12th to the 20th centuries. Today, the border between Germany and the Czech Republic runs just north of the main crest of the mountain range. The highest peaks are the Klínovec , which rises to 1,244 m above sea level and the Fichtelberg .</p><br>
<p>The area played an important role in contributing Bronze Age ore, and as the setting of the earliest stages of the early modern transformation of mining and metallurgy from a craft to a large-scale industry, a process that preceded and enabled the later Industrial Revolution.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<h3>Geology</h3><br>
<p>The Ore Mountains are a Hercynian block tilted so as to present a steep scarp face towards Bohemia and a gentle slope on the German side.</p><br>
<p>They were formed during a lengthy process:</p><br>
<p>During the folding of the Variscan orogeny, metamorphism occurred deep underground, forming slate and gneiss. In addition, granite plutons intruded into the metamorphic rocks. By the end of the Palaeozoic era, the mountains had been eroded into gently undulating hills (the Permian massif), exposing the hard rocks.</p><br>
<p>In the Tertiary period these mountain remnants came under heavy pressure as a result of plate tectonic processes during which the Alps were formed and the North American and Eurasian plates were separated.</p><br>
<p>As the rock of the Ore Mountains was too brittle to be folded, it shattered into an independent fault block which was uplifted and tilted to the northwest. This can be very clearly seen at a height of on the mountain of Komáří vížka which lies on the Czech side, east of Zinnwald-Georgenfeld, right on the edge of the fault block.</p><br>
<p>Consequently, it is a fault-block mountain range which, today has been incised by a whole range of river valleys whose rivers drain southwards into the Eger and northwards into the Mulde or directly into the Elbe. This process is known as dissection.</p><br>
<p>The Ore Mountains are geologically considered to be one of the most heavily researched mountain ranges in the world.</p><br>
<p>The main geologic feature in the Ore Mountains is the Late Paleozoic Eibenstock granite pluton, which is exposed for 25 miles along its northwest-southeast axis and up to 15 miles in width. This pluton is surrounded by progressive zones of contact metamorphism in which Paleozoic slates and phyllites have been changed to spotted hornfels, andalusite hornfels, and quartzites. Two key mineral centers intersect this pluton at Joachimsthal, one trending northwesterly from Schneeberg through Johanngeorgenstadt to Joachimsthal, and a second trending north-south from Freiberg through Marienberg, Annaberg, Niederschlag, Joachimsthal, and Schlaggenwald. Late Tertiary faulting and volcanism gave rise to basalt and phonolite dikes. Ore veins include iron, copper, tin, tungsten, lead, silver, cobalt, bismuth, uranium, plus iron and manganese oxides.</p><br>
<p>The most important rocks occurring in the Ore Mountains are schist, phyllite and granite with contact metamorphic zones in the west, basalt as remnants in the Plešivec (Pleßberg), Scheibenberg, Bärenstein, Pöhlberg, Velký Špičák (Großer Spitzberg or Schmiedeberger Spitzberg), Jelení hora (Haßberg) and Geisingberg as well as gneisses and rhyolite (Kahleberg) in the east. The soils consist of rapidly leaching grus. In the western and central areas of the mountains it is formed from weathered granite. Phyllite results in a loamy, rapidly weathered gneiss in the east of the mountains producing a light soil. As a result of the subsoils based on granite and rhyolite, the land is mostly covered in forest; on the gneiss soils it was possible to grow and cultivate flax in earlier centuries and, later, rye, oats and potatoes up to the highlands. Today the land is predominantly used for pasture. But it is not uncommon to see near-natural mountain meadows.</p><br>
<p>To the north of the Ore Mountains, west of Chemnitz and around Zwickau lies the Ore Mountain Basin which is only really known geologically. Here there are deposits of stone coal where mining has already been abandoned. A similar but smaller basin with abandoned coal deposits, the Döhlen Basin, is located southwest of Dresden on the northern edge of the Ore Mountains. It forms the transition to the Elbe Valley zone.</p><br>
<h3>Terrain</h3><br>
<p>The western part of the Ore Mountains is home to the two highest peaks of the range: Klínovec, located in the Czech part, with an altitude of 1,244 m and Fichtelberg, the highest mountain of Saxony, Germany, at 1,214 m. The Ore Mountains are part of a larger mountain system and adjoin the Fichtel Mountains to the west and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains to the east. Past the River Elbe, the mountain chain continues as the Lusatian Mountains. While the mountains slope gently away in the northern (German) part, the southern (Czech) slopes are rather steep.</p><br>
<h3>Topography</h3><br>
<p>The Ore Mountains are oriented in a southwest-northeast direction and are about 150 km long and, on average, about 40 km wide. From a geomorphological perspective the range is divided into the Western, Central and Eastern Ore Mountains, separated by the valleys of the Schwarzwasser and Zwickauer Mulde and the Flöha ("Flöha Line"), the division of the western section along the River Schwarzwasser is of a more recent date. The Eastern Ore Mountains mainly comprise large, gently climbing plateaux, in contrast with the steeper and higher-lying western and central areas, and are dissected by river valleys that frequently change direction. The crest of the mountains themselves forms, in all three regions, a succession of plateaux and individual peaks.</p><br>
<p>To the east it is adjoined by the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and, to the west, by the Elster Mountains and other Saxon parts of the Vogtland. South(east) of the Central and Eastern Ore Mountains lies the North Bohemian Basin and, immediately east of that, the Bohemian Central Uplands which are separated from the Eastern Ore Mountains by narrow fingers of the aforementioned basin. South(east) of the Western Ore Mountains lie the Sokolov Basin, the Eger Graben and the Doupov Mountains. To the north the boundary is less sharply defined because the Ore Mountains, a typical example of a fault-block, descend very gradually.</p><br>
<p>The topographical transition from the Western and Central Ore Mountains to the loess hill country to the north between Zwickau and Chemnitz is referred to as the Ore Mountain Basin; that from the Eastern Ore Mountains as the Ore Mountain Foreland. Between Freital and Pirna, the area is called the Dresden Ore Mountain Foreland (Dresdner Erzgebirgsvorland) or Bannewitz-Possendorf-Burkhardswald Plateau (Bannewitz-Possendorf-Burkhardswalder Plateau). Geologically the Ore Mountains reach the city limits of Dresden at the Windberg hill near Freital and the Karsdorf Fault. The V-shaped valleys of the Ore Mountains break through this fault and the shoulder of the Dresden Basin.</p><br>
<p>The Ore Mountains belong to the Bohemian Massif within Europe&#39;s Central Uplands, a massif that also includes the Upper Palatine Forest, the Bohemian Forest, the Bavarian Forest, the Lusatian Mountains, the Iser Mountains, the Giant Mountains and the Inner-Bohemian Mountains. At the same time it forms a y-shaped mountain chain, along with the Upper Palatine Forest, Bohemian Forest, Fichtel Mountains, Franconian Forest, Thuringian Slate Mountains and Thuringian Forest, that has no unique name but is characterised by a rather homogeneous climate.</p><br>
<p>According to cultural tradition, Zwickau is seen historically as part of the Ore Mountains, Chemnitz is seen historically as just lying outside them, but Freiberg is included. The supposed limit of the Ore Mountains continues southwest of Dresden towards the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. From this perspective, its main characteristics, i.e., gently sloping plateaus climbing up to the ridgeline incised by V-shaped valleys, continue to the southern edge of the Dresden Basin. North of the Ore Mountains the landscape gradually transitions into the Saxon Lowland and Saxon Elbeland. Its cultural-geographical transition to Saxon Switzerland in the area of the Müglitz and Gottleuba valleys is not sharply defined.</p><br>
<h4>Notable peaks</h4><br>
<p>The highest mountain in the Ore Mountains is the Klínovec (German: Keilberg) at 1,244 metres in the Bohemian part of the range. The highest elevation on the Saxon side is the 1,215-metre-high Fichtelberg, which was the highest mountain in East Germany. The Ore Mountains contain about thirty summits with a height over, but not all are clearly defined mountains. Most of them occur around the Klínovec and the Fichtelberg. About a third of them are located on the Saxon side of the border.</p><br>
<p>See: List of mountains in the Ore Mountains</p><br>
<h4>Important rivers</h4><br>
<p>From west to east:</p><br>
<p>Zwota / Svatava (Zwodau)</p><br>
<p>Rolava (Rohlau)</p><br>
<p>Zwickauer Mulde</p><br>
<p>Schwarzwasser</p><br>
<p>Chemnitz</p><br>
<p>* Würschnitz</p><br>
<p>* Zwönitz</p><br>
<p>Freiberger Mulde</p><br>
<p>Zschopau</p><br>
<p>* Flöha</p><br>
<p>Red Weißeritz and Wild Weißeritz</p><br>
<p>Müglitz</p><br>
<p>Gottleuba</p><br>
<h3>Natural regions in the Saxon Ore Mountains</h3><br>
<p>In the division of Germany into natural regions that was carried out Germany-wide in the 1950s the Ore Mountains formed major unit group 42:</p><br>
<p>42 Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>420 Southern slopes of the Ore Mountains (Südabdachung des Erzgebirges)</p><br>
<p>421 Upper Western Ore Mountains (Oberes Westerzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>422 Upper Eastern Ore Mountains (Oberes Osterzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>423 Lower Western Ore Mountains (Unteres Westerzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>424 Lower Eastern Ore Mountains (Unteres Osterzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>Even after the reclassification of natural regions by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in 1994 the Ore Mountains, region D16, remained a major unit group with almost unchanged boundaries. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, the working group Naturhaushalt und Gebietscharakter of the Saxon Academy of Sciences (Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften) in Leipzig merged the Ore Mountains with the major unit group of Vogtland to the west and the major landscape units of Saxon Switzerland, Lusatian Highlands and Zittau Mountains to the east into one overarching unit, the Saxon Highlands and Uplands. In addition, its internal divisions were changed. Former major unit 420 was grouped with the western part of major units 421 and 423 to form a new major unit, the Western Ore Mountains (Westerzgebirge), the eastern part of major units 421 and 423 became the Central Ore Mountains (Mittelerzgebirge) and major units 422 and 424 became the Eastern Ore Mountains (Osterzgebirge).</p><br>
<p>The current division therefore looks as follows:</p><br>
<p>Saxon Highlands and Uplands (Sächsisches Bergland und Mittelgebirge)</p><br>
<p>Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge&#39;)</p><br>
<p>* Western Ore Mountains (Westerzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>* Central Ore Mountains (Mittelerzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>* Eastern Ore Mountains (Osterzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>The geographic unit of the Southern Slopes of the Ore Mountains remains unchanged under the title of Southern Ore Mountains (Süderzgebirge).</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>The climate of the higher regions of the Ore Mountains is characterised as distinctly harsh. Temperatures are considerably lower all year round than in the lowlands, and the summer is noticeably shorter and cool days are frequent. The average annual temperatures only reach values of 3 to 5 °C. In Oberwiesenthal, at a height of, on average only about 140 frost-free days per year are observed. Based on reports of earlier chroniclers, the climate of the upper Ore Mountains in past centuries must have been even harsher than it is today. Historic sources describe hard winters in which cattle froze to death in their stables, and occasionally houses and cellars were snowed in even after snowfalls in April. The population was regularly cut off from the outside world. The upper Ore Mountains was therefore nicknamed Saxon Siberia already in the 18th century.</p><br>
<p>The fault block mountain range that climbs from northwest to southeast, and which enables prolonged rain to fall as orographic rain when weather systems drive in from the west and northwest, gives rise to twice as much precipitation as in the lowlands which exceeds 1,100 mm on the upper reaches of the mountains. Since a large part of the precipitation falls as snow, in many years a thick and permanent layer of snow remains until April. The ridges of the Ore Mountains are one of the snowiest areas in the German Central Uplands. Foehn winds, and also the so-called Bohemian Wind may occur during certain specific southerly weather conditions.</p><br>
<p>As a result of the climate and the heavy amounts of snow a natural Dwarf Mountain Pine region is found near Satzung, near the border to Bohemia at just under. By comparison, in the Alps these pines do not occur until 1,600 to.</p><br>
<p>File:Klimadiagramm-deutsch-Freiberg (SN)-Deutschland.pngClimatic diagram of Freiberg</p><br>
<p>File:Klimadiagramm-deutsch-Fichtelberg (SN)-Deutschland.pngClimatic diagram of the Fichtelberg</p><br>
<p>File:Klimadiagramm-deutsch-Zinnwald-Georgenfeld (SN)-Deutschland.pngClimatic diagram of Zinnwald-Georgenfeld</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Etymology of the name</h3><br>
<p>The term Saltusbohemicus ("Bohemian Forest") for the region emerged in the 12th century. In the German language the names Böhmischer Wald, Beheimer Wald, Behmerwald or Böhmerwald were used, in Czech the name Český les. The last-mentioned names are used today for the mountain range along the Czech Republic&#39;s southwestern border (see: Bohemian Forest).</p><br>
<p>From earlier research, other names for the Ore Mountains have also appeared in a few older written records. However, the names HircanusSaltus (Hercynian Forest) or Fergunna, which appeared in the 9th century, were only used in a general sense for the vast forests of the Central Uplands. Frequently the term Miriquidi is used to refer directly to the Ore Mountains, but it only surfaces twice in the 10th and early 11th centuries, and these sources do not permit a clear identification with the ancient forest that formerly covered the whole of the Ore Mountains and its foreland.</p><br>
<p>Following the discovery of large ore deposits the area was further renamed in the 16th century. Petrus Albinus used the name Erzgebirge ("Ore Mountains") for the first time in 1589, in his chronicle. In the early 17th century, the name Meißener Berge ("Meissen Mountains") was temporarily used. A quarter of a century later the names Erzgebirge in German and Rudohoří in Czech became established. The Czech toponym is, derived from an old Czech expression krušec, meaning "ore".</p><br>
<p>The mountains are sometimes divided into the Saxon Ore Mountains and Bohemian Ore Mountains. A similarly named range in Slovakia is usually known as the Slovak Ore Mountains.</p><br>
<h3>Economic history</h3><br>
<p>Europe&#39;s earliest mining district appears to be located in Erzgebirge, dated to 2500 BC. From there tin was traded north to the Baltic Sea and south to the Mediterranean following the Amber Road trading route, of great importance in the Bronze Age. Tin mining knowledge spread to other European tin mining districts from Erzgebirge and evidence of tin mining begins to appear in Brittany, Devon and Cornwall, and in the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 BC.</p><br>
<p>These deposits saw greater exploitation when they fell under Roman control between the third century BC and the first century AD. Demand for tin created a large and thriving network amongst Mediterranean cultures of Classical times.</p><br>
<p>By the Medieval period, Iberias and Germanys deposits lost importance and were largely forgotten while Devon and Cornwall began dominating the European tin market.</p><br>
<p>From the time of the first wave of settlement, the history of the Ore Mountains has been heavily influenced by its economic development, especially that of the mining industry.</p><br>
<p>Settlement in the Ore Mountains was slow to begin with, especially on the Bohemian side. The harsh climate and short growing seasons hindered the cultivation of agricultural products. Nevertheless, settlements were supported by the aristocratic Hrabischitz family and established mainly at the foot of the mountains and along mountain streams into the deep woods.</p><br>
<p>In 1168, as a result of settlement in the early 12th century at the northern edge of the Ore Mountains, the first silver ore was discovered in the vicinity of present-day Freiberg, resulting in the First Berggeschrey or mining rush. Almost simultaneously, the first tin ore was discovered on the southern edge of the mountains in Bohemia.</p><br>
<p>In the 13th century, colonization of the mountains took place only sporadically along the Bohemian Way (antiqua Bohemiae semita). It was here that Sayda was built, a station on the trade route from Freiberg via Einsiedl, Johnsdorf and Brüx to Prague. In Sayda it joined the so-called salt road that ran from Halle via Oederan and onto Prague. Glass-making was introduced into the region from the second half of the 13th century. The emergence of this branch of trade benefited from the abundance of excess timber, which was created by clearings and new settlements and which was able to meet the high demand of the glassworks. Monks from Waldsassen Abbey brought a knowledge of the glass manufacture to the Ore Mountains. Most glassworks were located in the vicinity of Moldau, Brandau and the Frauenbach valley. The oldest glassworks site is Ulmbach. This timber-hungry industry lost its importance, however, with the boom in mining, which also enjoyed royal patronage.</p><br>
<p>Mining on the Bohemian side of the mountains probably began in the 14th century. An indication of this is a contract between Boresch of Riesenburg and the Ossegg abbot, Gerwig, in which the division of revenue derived from ore was agreed. Grains of tin (Zinnkörner or Graupen) were obtained at that time in the Seiffen mining area and gave the Bohemian mining town of Graupen (Czech Krupka) its name.</p><br>
<p>With the further settlement of the Ore Mountains in the 15th century, new, rich, ore deposits were eventually discovered around Schneeberg Annaberg and St. Joachimsthal. The Second Berggeschrey started and triggered a massive wave of colonization. In quick succession, new, planned, mining towns were built across the Ore Mountains in the vicinity of newly discovered ore deposits. Typical examples are the towns of Marienberg, Oberwiesenthal, Gottesgab (Boží Dar), Sebastiansberg (Hora Sv. Šebestiána) and Platten (Horní Blatná). Economically, however, only silver and tin ores were used. From that time, the wealth of Saxony was built on the silver mines of the Ore Mountains. As a metal used for coinage, silver was minted on site in the mountain towns into money. The Joachimsthaler coins, minted in the valley of Joachimsthal, became famous and gave their name to the medieval coin known as the Thaler from which the word "dollar" is derived. After the end of the Hussite Wars, the economy in Bohemia, which had been disrupted by the conflict, recovered.</p><br>
<p>In the 16th century the Ore Mountains became the heartland of the Central European mining industry. New ore discoveries attracted more and more people, and the number of residents on the Saxon side of the mountains continued to rise rapidly. Bohemia, in addition to migration from within the country, also received migration from elsewhere, mainly of German miners, who settled in the mountain villages and in the towns at the edge of the mountains.</p><br>
<p>Under Emperor Ferdinand II an unprecedented Re-Catholicization began in Bohemia from 1624 to 1626, whereupon a large number of Bohemian Protestants then fled into the neighbouring Electorate of Saxony. As a result, many Bohemian villages became devastated and desolate, while on the Saxon side new places were founded by these migrants, such as the mining town of Johanngeorgenstadt.</p><br>
<p>Ore mining largely came to a standstill in the 17th century, especially after the Thirty Years&#39; War. Due to the very sharp decline of the mining industry and because the search for new ore deposits proved fruitless, the population had to resort to other occupations. Agricultural yields were low, however, and also the demand for wood was reduced by the closure of smelteries. Many people were already active at that time in textile production. However, since that was not enough for subsistence, the manufacture of wooden goods and toys developed, especially in the Eastern Ore Mountains. Here, the artisans were required by Prince-Elector Augustus under the Timber Act of 1560, to buy their wood in Bohemia. Wood from the Saxon Ore Mountains was still needed for the mines and smelters in Freiberg. This export of timber led, among other things, to the construction of an artificial cross-border rafting channel, the Neugrabenflöße, along the river Flöha. Because of the decline in industrial production in that period, people without any ties migrated to the interior of Germany or Bohemia.</p><br>
<p>After the discovery of the cobalt blue pigments the mining industry experienced a revival. Cobalt was extracted especially in Schneeberg, and processed in the state paintworks to produce cobalt blue paints and dyes. They succeeded in keeping the method of production secret for a long time, so that for about 100 years the blue colour works had a worldwide monopoly. From about 1820 in Johanngeorgenstadt, uranium was also extracted and was then used to colour glass, amongst other things. Even richer deposits of uranium ore were found in St. Joachimsthal. St. Andrew&#39;s White Earth Mine (Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas) at Aue supplied kaolin to the Meissen Porcelain Factory in Meissen for nearly 150 years. Its export from the state, however, was prohibited by the Prince-electors under threat of severe punishment or even death.</p><br>
<p>Towards the end of the 19th century, mining slowly declined again. Drainage costs increased, from the mid-19th century, led to a steady decrease in yield, despite sinking of deeper galleries (Erbstollen) and the expansion of ditch and tunnel (Rösche) systems for supplying the necessary water for overshot wheels from the crest of the mountains, such as the Freiberg Mines Water Management System or the Reitzenhainer Zeuggraben. Only a few mines remained profitable over a long period. Amongst them was the Himmelsfürst Fundgrube near Erbisdorf, whose 50 continuous years of profitable operation were commemorated in 1818 with the issue of a commemorative coin (Ausbeutetaler) and who went on to make a profit continuously until 1848. Thanks to discoveries of rich ore seams it became the most productive Freiberg mine of the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>But even the excavation of the Rothschönberger Stolln, the largest and most important Saxon drainage adit, which drained the entire Freiberg district, could not stop the decline of mining. Because even before the completion of this technical achievement the German Empire introduced the gold standard in 1871, the price of silver dropped rapidly and led to the unprofitability of the entire Ore Mountain silver mining industry. This situation was not even altered by short-term discoveries of rich deposits in various mines nor the state&#39;s purchase of all the Freiberg mines and their incorporation into the state-owned enterprise, Oberdirektion der Königlichen Erzbergwerke, founded in 1886. In 1913, the last silver mines closed and the company was disbanded.</p><br>
<p>Mining in the Ore Mountains was given new life during the First and Second World Wars in order to supply raw materials. The Third Reich also saw the resumption of silver mining. Afterwards the people returned to the manufacture of wooden products and toys, especially in the Eastern Ore Mountains. The clock industry is centred on Glashütte. In the Western Ore Mountains, economic alternatives were offered by the engineering and textile industries.</p><br>
<p>In 1789 the chemical element uranium was discovered in St. Joachimsthal, then in pitchblende from the same area, radium was discovered by Marie Curie in 1898. In the late 1930s, following the discovery of the nuclear fission, uranium ore became of particular interest for military purposes. After the incorporation of Sudetenland into Germany in 1938 all the uranium production facilities were commandeered for the development of nuclear weapons. After the American atomic bomb was dropped on Japan in 1945, Soviet experts searched for evidence of the German nuclear energy project to support Soviet atomic bomb development. Shortly thereafter, the processing of uranium ore for the Soviet Union began in the Ore Mountains under the code name SAG Wismut, a cover up for the Eastern Bloc&#39;s highly secretive uranium mining.</p><br>
<p>For the third time in history, thousands of people poured into the Ore Mountains to build a new life. The principal mining areas were located around Johanngeorgenstadt, Schlema and Aue. Uranium ore deposits were also exploited for the Soviet Union in Bohemian Jáchymov (St. Joachimsthal). Its processing was associated with serious health consequences for the miners. In addition a dam burst in 1954 at Lengenfeld at a uranium mining waste lake; 50,000 cubic metres of waste water poured down 4 kilometres into the valley. Until 1991 uranium ore was also mined in Aue-Alberoda and Pöhla.</p><br>
<p>Mining operations in Freiberg that had begun in 1168 finally ceased in 1968 after 800 years. In Altenberg and Ehrenfriedersdorf tin mining continued to 1991. The smelting of these ores took place mainly in Muldenhütten until the early 1990s. In St. Egidien and Aue there were important nickel smelting sites. In Pöhla in the Western Ore Mountains, during exploratory work for SDAG Wismut new, rich lodes of tin ore were discovered in the 1980s. The test workings of that time are now considered the largest tin finds in Europe. Another well-known place of tin production was Seiffen. The village in the Eastern Ore Mountains has become a leading centre of wood and toy manufacturing. Here, wooden smoking figures, nutcrackers, hand-carved wooden trees (Spanbäume), candle arches, (Schwibbogen), Christmas pyramids and music boxes are made. Up to the last third of the 20th century, Coal was mined near Zwickau until 1978, around Lugau and Oelsnitz until 1971 and in the Döhlen Basin near Freital until 1989.</p><br>
<p>The mountains that until the late 11th (and early 12th century) were covered in dense forests were almost completely transformed into a cultural landscape by the mining industry and by settlement. The population density is high right up into the upper regions of the mountains. For example, Oberwiesenthal, the highest town in Germany, lies in the Ore Mountains, and neighbouring Boží Dar (German: Gottesgab) on the Czech side, is actually the highest town in Central Europe. Only on the relatively inaccessible, less climatically favourable ridges are there still large, contiguous forests, but since the 18th century these have been managed economically. Due to the high demand for timber by the mining and smelting industries, where it was needed for pit props and fuel, large-scale deforestation took place from the 12th century onwards, and even the forests owned by the nobility could not cover the growing demand for wood. In the 18th century, industries were encouraged to use coal as fuel instead of timber in order to preserve the forests, and this was enforced in the 19th century. In the early 1960s the first signs of forest dieback were seen in the Eastern Ore Mountains near Altenberg and Reitzenhain, after local damage to the forests had become apparent since the 19th century as a result of smelter smoke (Hüttenrauch). The German population of the Bohemian part of the Ore Mountains was expelled in 1945 in accordance with to the Beneš decrees.</p><br>
<h2>Nature</h2><br>
<p>The upper western part of the Ore Mountains, known in German as Erzgebirge, belongs to the Ore Mountains/Vogtland Nature Park. The eastern part, called the Eastern Ore Mountains (Osterzgebirge), is a protected landscape. Further small areas are nature reserves and natural monuments, and are protected by the state.</p><br>
<h3>Nature reserves</h3><br>
<p>Germany (selection)</p><br>
<p>Western Ore Mountains Special Protected Area (SPA Westerzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>Valley of the Große Bockau Special Area of Conservation (FFH-Gebiet Tal der Großen Bockau)</p><br>
<p>Mountain meadows in the Eastern Ore Mountains major nature conservation project (Naturschutzgroßprojekt Bergwiesen im Osterzgebirge)</p><br>
<p>Geisingberg nature reserve, 314.00 ha</p><br>
<p>Georgenfelder Hochmoor nature reserve, 12.45 ha</p><br>
<p>Fürstenau Heath (Fürstenauer Heide) nature reserve (Black Grouse conservation area near Fürstenau), 7.24 ha</p><br>
<p>Kleiner Kranichsee nature reserve, 28.97 ha</p><br>
<p>Großer Kranichsee nature reserve, 611.00 ha</p><br>
<p>Hermannsdorf Meadows (Hermannsdorfer Wiesen) nature reserve, 185.00 ha</p><br>
<p>The Czech Republic (selection)</p><br>
<p>NPR Božídarské rašeliniště, 929.57 ha (1965)</p><br>
<p>NPR Velké jeřábí jezero, 26.9 ha (1938)</p><br>
<p>NPR Velký močál, 50.27 ha (1969)</p><br>
<p>NPR Novodomské rašeliniště, 230 ha (1967)</p><br>
<p>PR Černý rybník, 32.56 ha (1993)</p><br>
<p>PR Malé jeřábí jezero, 6.02 ha (1962)</p><br>
<p>PR Ryžovna, 20 ha</p><br>
<h3>Mining and Pollution</h3><br>
<p>Ever since the settlement in mediaeval times, the Ore Mountains were farmed intensively. This led to widespread clearings of the originally dense forest, also to keep up with the enormous need for wood in mining and metallurgy. Mining including the construction of dumps, impoundments, and ditches in many places also directly shaped the scenery and the habitats of plants and animals.</p><br>
<p>Evidence for local forest dieback due to the smoke from smelting furnaces was first noted the 19th century. In the 20th century, several mountain crests were deforested because of their climatically exposed location. Thus, in recent years, mixed forests are cultivated which are more resistant to weather effects and pests than the traditional monocultures of spruces.</p><br>
<h3>The Ore Mountains/Vogtland Nature Park</h3><br>
<p>Human interventions have created a unique cultural landscape with a large number of typical biotopes which are worthy of protection such as mountain meadows and wetlands. Today, even old mining spoil heaps offer a living environment for a variety of plants and animals. 61% of the area of Ore Mountains/Vogtland Nature Park is covered with woodland. In particular in the western Ore Mountains, huge contiguous woodlands spread all the way to the highest altitudes and are used for forestry. Moreover, in this area several rain water fed bogs are found. Many of these protected areas offer a retreat for rare species with special environmental adaptations such as different species of orchids and gentian, the Eurasian pygmy owl and kingfishers. Some alpine species of plants and animals that have been found at higher altitudes of the Ore mountains are otherwise only known from more distant places in the Sudeten mountains or the Alps. After conditions improved, once displaced species such as Eagle owls and Black storks have returned in the early 21st century.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The German part of the Ore Mountains is one of the major business locations in Saxony. The region has a high density of industrial operations. Since 2000, the number of industrial workers has risen against the Germany-wide trend by about 20 percent. Typical of the Ore Mountains are mainly small, often owner-managed, businesses.</p><br>
<p>The economic strengths of the Ore Mountains are mainly in manufacturing. 63 percent of the industrial workforce is employed in the metalworking and electrical industry.</p><br>
<p>Only of minor importance is the formerly dominant textile and clothing industry (5 percent of industrial net product) and the food industry. The newly established chemical, leather and plastic industries and the industries traditionally based in the Ore Mountains-based - wood, paper, furniture, glass and ceramics works - each contribute about 14 percent of regional net product.</p><br>
<p>Mining, the essential historical basis of industrial development in the Ore Mountains, currently plays only a minor economic role on the Saxon side of the border. For example, in Hermsdorf/Erzgeb. in the Eastern Ore Mountains, calcite is mined, and near Lengefeld in the Central Ore Mountains, dolomite marble is extracted. For the first time in two decades, an ore mine was opened in Niederschlag near Oberwiesenthal on 28 October 2010. It is expected that 50,000-130,000 tons of fluorspar per year will be extracted there.</p><br>
<p>In the Czech part of the Ore Mountains, tourism has gained a certain importance, even though the Krkonoše are more important for domestic tourism. In addition, mining still plays a greater role, particularly coal mining in the southern forelands of the Ore Mountains. Europe&#39;s largest deposits of lithium-bearing mica zinnwaldite in Cínovec, a Czech village between town of Dubí and the border with Germany which gave its old German name Zinnwald to the mineral, are expected to be mined starting 2019 (as of June 2017).</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>When several Ore Mountain passes were upgraded into chaussees in the 19th century, and the Upper Ore Mountains were accessed by the railway, tourism began to develop. One of the early promoters of tourism in the Ore Mountains was Otto Delitsch. In 1907, a memorial was erected to him in Wildenthal. In many places mountain inns and observation towers were erected on the highest peaks. At that time, skiers used the ridges with their guaranteed snow. Today, steam-worked narrow gauge railways dating to that era, such as the Pressnitz Valley Railway, are popular tourist attractions.</p><br>
<p>In 1924 the Fichtelberg Cable Car became the first cable car in Germany, and it still takes visitors to the highest mountain in Saxony. The Ridgeway (Kammweg) was one of the first long distance paths to be established. This once ran from Hainsberg near Asch over the Ore Mountains, Bohemian Switzerland and the Lusatian Mountains to Sněžka in the Krkonoše. Today there is not only a dense network of trails, but also an extensive cross country skiing network and downhill ski slopes for winter sports. The most important ski resort is Oberwiesenthal on the Fichtelberg mountain. And the Ore Mountain/Krušné hory Ski Trail is a German-Czech ski mountaineering trail along the entire Ore Mountain crest.</p><br>
<p>Based on the historical Silver Road a tourist road was created in 1990 running from Zwickau to Dresden traversing the entire Ore Mountains and linking its main attractions. These include visitor mines, mining trails, technical and local history museums and numerous other smaller attractions, especially the medieval town centres in the old mining towns and its major churches, such as Freiberg Cathedral, St. Annes Church in Annaberg-Buchholz or St Wolfgangs Church at Schneeberg. On the Bohemian and Saxon sides of the border there are also many castles, built in different architectural styles, which may be visited. One of the best known examples is Augustusburg Castle</p><br>
<p>In the Advent and Christmas season the Ore Mountains, with its distinct traditions, Christmas markets and miners&#39; parades is also a popular destination for short breaks.</p><br>
<p>With 960,963 guests staying for 2,937,204 nights in 2007 the Ore Mountains and West Saxony is the most important Saxon holiday destination after the cities, and tourism is an important economic factor in the region. Since 2004 the Ore Mountain Tourist Association (Tourismusverband Erzgebirge) has offered the Ore Mountain Card (ErzgebirgsCard) with which over 100 museums, castles, heritage railways and other sights may be visited free of charge.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>The culture of the Ore Mountains was shaped mainly by mining that goes back to the Middle Ages. The old saying, coined here, that "everything comes from the mine" (Alles kommt vom Bergwerk her!) refers to many areas of life in the region, from its landscape, to its handicrafts, industry, living traditions and folk art. The visitor may recognise this on his arrival from the normal everyday greeting Glück Auf! that is used in the region.</p><br>
<p>The Ore Mountains has its own dialect, Erzgebirgisch, which sits on the boundary between Upper German and Central German and is not therefore uniform.</p><br>
<p>The first important native dialect poet of the Ore Mountains was Christian Gottlob Wild in the early 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, Hans Soph, Stephan Dietrich and especially Anton Günther were active; their works have a lasting impact to this day in Ore Mountain songs and writings. Erzgebirgisch songs were later popularised by various local groups. The most famous include the Preßnitzer Musikanten, Geschwister Caldarelli, Zschorlauer Nachtigallen, the Erzgebirgsensemble Aue and Joachim Süß and his Ensemble. Today it is mainly De Randfichten, but also groups like Wind, Sand und Sterne, De Ranzn, De Krippelkiefern, De Erbschleicher and Schluckauf that sing in the Erzgebirgisch dialect.</p><br>
<p>The Ore Mountains are nationally known for their variety of customs at Advent and Christmas time. This is epitomized by traditional Ore Mountain folk art, in the form of smoking figures, Christmas pyramids, candle arches, nutcrackers, miners and angels figures, all of which are used as Christmas decorations. Above all, places in the Upper Ore Mountains decorate their windows during the Christmas season in such a way that they are transformed into a "sea of light". In addition, traditional Christmas mining celebrations such as the Mettenschicht and Hutzenabende draw many visitors and have made the Ore Mountains known as "Christmasland" (Weihnachtsland).</p><br>
<p>In addition to the Christmas markets and other smaller traditional and modern folk festivals, the Annaberger Kät is the most famous and largest Ore Mountain folk festival. Started in 1520 by Duke George the Bearded, it has been held annually since.</p><br>
<p>Also interesting is Ore Mountain cuisine, which is simple, but rich in tradition.</p><br>
<p>Since 1998 the Ore Mountains have striven to achieve UNESCO World Heritage status as the Ore Mountain Mining Region (Montanregion Erzgebirge).</p><br>
<p>Molokai , nicknamed “The Friendly Isle” is the fifth largest island of eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Island Chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles  in size at its extreme length and width with a usable land area of 260 square miles, making it the fifth-largest of the main Hawaiian Islands and the 27th largest island in the United States. It lies east of Oahu across the 25-mile  wide Kaiwi Channel and north of Lānai, separated from it by the Kalohi Channel.</p><br>
<p>The island has been known both for developments by Molokai Ranch on much of the island, for pineapple production, cattle ranching and tourism. Residents or visitors to the west end of Molokai can see the lights of Honolulu on Oahu at night; they can view nearby Lānai and Maui from anywhere along the south shore of the island. In Kalawao County, on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the north coast, settlements were established in 1866 for quarantined treatment of persons with leprosy; these operated until 1969. The Kalaupapa National Historical Park now preserves this entire county and area.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Molokai developed from two distinct shield volcanoes known as East Molokai and the much smaller West Molokai. The highest point is Kamakou on East Molokai, at 4,970 ft. Today, East Molokai volcano, like the Koolau Range on Oahu, is what remains of the southern half of the original mountain. The northern half suffered a catastrophic collapse about 1.5 million years ago and now lies as a debris field scattered northward across the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. What remains of the volcano on the island include the highest sea cliffs in the world. The south shore of Molokai boasts the longest fringing reef in the USA and its holdings&mdash;nearly 25 mi long.</p><br>
<p>Molokai is part of the state of Hawaii and located in Maui County, except for the Kalaupapa Peninsula, which is separately administered as Kalawao County. Maui County encompasses Maui, Lānai, and Kahoolawe in addition to Molokai. The largest town on the island is Kaunakakai, which is one of two small ports on the island. Molokai Airport is located on West Molokai. The United States Census Bureau divides the island into three census tracts: Census Tract 317 and Census Tract 318 of Maui County, Hawaii, and Census Tract 319 of Kalawao County, Hawaii. The total 2010 census population of these was 7,345, living on a land area of 260.02 square miles. Molokai is separated from Oahu on the west by the Kaiwi Channel, from Maui on the southeast by the Pailolo Channel, and from Lānai on the south by the Kalohi Channel.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>Molokai is split into two main geographical areas. The low western half is very dry and the soil is heavily denuded due to poor land management practices, which allowed over-grazing by goats. It lacks significant ground cover and virtually the entire section is covered in non-native kiawe (Prosopis pallida) trees. One of the few natural areas remaining almost intact are the coastal dunes of Moomomi, which are part of a Nature Conservancy preserve.</p><br>
<p>The eastern half of the island is a high plateau rising up to an elevation of 4,900 ft on Kamakou peak and includes the 2,774 acre Molokai Forest Reserve. The eastern half is covered with lush wet forests that get more than 300 in of rain per year. The high-elevation forests are populated by native ōhia lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) trees and an extremely diverse endemic flora and fauna in the understory. Much of the summit area is protected by the Nature Conservancy&#39;s Kamakou and Pelekunu valley preserves. Below 4,000 ft, the vegetation is dominated by exotic flora, including strawberry guava (Psidium littorale), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.), and cypress (Cupressus spp.). Introduced axis deer (Axis axis) and feral pigs (Sus scrofa) roam native forests, destroying native plants, expanding exotic plants through disturbance and distribution of their seeds, and threatening endemic insects. Near the summit of Kamakou is the unique Pepepae bog, where dwarf ōhia and other plants cover the soggy ground.</p><br>
<p>Molokai is home to a great number of endemic plant and animal species. However, many of its species, including the olomao (Myadestes lanaiensis), kākāwahie (Paroreomyza flammea), and the Molokai ōō (Moho bishopi) have become extinct. Molokai is home to a wingless fly among many other endemic insects.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It used to be thought that Molokai was first settled around AD 650 by indigenous peoples most likely from the Marquesas Islands. However, a 2010 study using revised, high-precision radiocarbon dating based on more reliable samples has established that the period of eastern Polynesian colonization of the Marquesas Islands took place much later, in a shorter time frame of two waves: the "earliest in the Society Islands 1025–1120, four centuries later than previously assumed; then after 70–265 years, dispersal continued in one major pulse to all remaining islands 1190–1290." Later migrants likely came from Tahiti and other south Pacific islands. Although Captain James Cook recorded sighting Molokai in 1778, the first European sailor to visit the island was Captain George Dixon of the British Royal Navy in 1786. The first significant European influence came in 1832 when a Protestant mission was established at Kaluaaha on the East End of the island by Reverend Harvey Hitchcock. The first farmer on Molokai to grow, produce and mill sugar and coffee commercially was Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer, an immigrant from Germany who arrived in 1850. He built the first and only sugar mill on the island in 1878, which is now a museum. Ranching began on Molokai in the first half of the 19th-century when King Kamehameha V set up a country estate on the island, which was managed by Meyer and became what is now the Molokai Ranch. In the late 1800s, Kamehameha V built a vacation home in Kaunakakai and ordered the planting of over 1,000 coconut trees in Kapuaiwa Coconut Grove.</p><br>
<h3>Leper colony</h3><br>
<p>Leprosy (also known as Hansens disease) was among Eurasian diseases introduced to the Hawaiian islands by traders, sailors, workers and others who lived in societies where these diseases were endemic. Because of the islanders lack of immunity to the new diseases, they suffered high rates of infection and death from smallpox, cholera and whooping cough, as well as leprosy. Sugar planters were worried about the effects on their labor force and pressured the government to take action to control the spread of leprosy.</p><br>
<p>The legislature passed a control act requiring quarantine of people with leprosy. The government established Kalawao located on the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula on the northern side of Molokai, followed by Kalaupapa as the sites of a leper colony that operated from 1866 to 1969. Because Kalaupapa had a better climate and sea access, it developed as the main community. A research hospital was developed at Kalawao. The population of these settlements reached a peak of 1100 shortly after the turn of the 20th century.</p><br>
<p>In total over the decades, more than 8500 men, women and children living throughout the Hawaiian islands and diagnosed with leprosy were exiled to the colony by the Hawaiian government and legally declared dead. This public health measure was continued after the Kingdom became a USA territory. Patients were not allowed to leave the settlement nor have visitors and had to live out their days here. In the 21st century, there are no persons on the island with active cases of leprosy, which has been controlled through medication, but some former patients chose to continue to live in the settlement after its official closure.</p><br>
<p>Father Damien de Veuster, a Belgian priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary served as a missionary for 16 years in the communities of sufferers of leprosy. Joseph Dutton, who served in the 13th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War, and who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1883, came to Molokai in 1886 to help Father Damien and the rest of the population who suffered from leprosy. He stayed there until his own death in 1889. Mother Marianne Cope of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Syracuse, New York, brought six of her Sisters to work in Hawaii with leprosy sufferers in the late 19th century, also serving on Molokai. Both Father Damien and Mother Marianne have been canonized as saints by the Roman Catholic Church for their charitable work and devotion to sufferers of leprosy. In December 2015, the cause of Joseph Dutton was formally opened, obtaining him the title as Servant of God.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Beginning in 1897 much of the western end of the island was purchased from Hawaiians by Molokai Ranch to operate a cattle ranch. From 1923 to 1985, they leased thousands of acres of their land to pineapple producers, and the pineapple industry thrived on the island, continuing to attract Japanese and Filipino immigrants as low-paid laborers. Since the late 20th century, the pineapple industry has suffered across Hawaii.</p><br>
<p>Over the years the Ranch company has also acted as a developer, establishing hotels and related amenities for resort tourists on their property and over the same period of time has seen protests and illegal activities by community activists such as fence cutting and poisoning of the Ranch’s exotic African Safari animals in 1994, an arson attack on a recently renovated Ranch house at Kaupoa in 1995 or the destruction of five miles of Ranch water pipes in 1996. In 2007 community residents organized the "Save Laau Point" movement to oppose Molokai Ranchs attempt to expand its resort operation. As a result, on March 24, 2008, Molokai Ranch, then the islands largest employer, decided to shut down all resort operations, including hotels, movie theater, restaurants, and golf course, and dismiss 120 workers. In September 2017 the company that owns Molokai Ranch, Singapore-based Guoco Leisure Ltd, put this 55,575 acre property, encompassing 35% of the island of Molokai, on the market for $260 million.</p><br>
<p>Because of its rural, agricultural nature, Molokai has Hawaii&#39;s highest unemployment rate. One third of its residents use food stamps., the largest industry on the island is seed production for Monsanto and Mycogen seeds, including GMO seeds.</p><br>
<h3>Tourism</h3><br>
<p>The tourism industry on Molokai is relatively small, compared to the other islands in Hawaii. Merely 64,767 tourists visited Molokai in 2015. For years, residents of Molokai have resisted private developers&#39; attempts to dramatically increase tourism. Accommodations are limited; as 2014, only one hotel was open on the island. Most tourists find lodgings at rental condos and houses.</p><br>
<p>National Geographic Traveler magazine and the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations conduct annual Destination Scorecard surveys, aided by George Washington University. In 2007, a panel of 522 experts in sustainable tourism and destination stewardship reviewed 111 selected human-inhabited islands and archipelagos around the world. Molokai ranked 10th among the 111 destination locales. The survey cited Molokais pristine, breathtaking tropical landscape; environmental stewardship; rich and deep Hawaiian traditions (the islands mana); and visitor-friendly culture. The neighbor islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui and Oahu, ranked 50, 61, 81 and 104, respectively.</p><br>
<p>Molokai is believed to be the birthplace of the hula. The annual Moloka Ka Hula Piko festival is held on this island.</p><br>
<p>Molokai can be reached by plane. Planes fly into Molokai daily from other Hawaiian islands including Oahu (Honolulu and Kalaeloa), Maui (Kahului) and Hawaii (Kona) on Mokulele Airlines, Makani Kai Air, Paragon Air and Hawaiian Airlines.</p><br>
<p>A ferry that formerly sailed between Molokai and Lāhainā Harbor, Maui closed operations on October 27, 2016. Sea Link President and Senior Capt. DaveJung attributed the closure to competition from federally subsidized commuter air travel and declining ridership.</p><br>
<h2>Infrastructure</h2><br>
<h3>Health care</h3><br>
<p>The island of Molokai is served by Molokai General Hospital, which operates all day, every day. It is also serviced by Molokai Community Health Center, Molokai Family Health Center, and Dr. Daniel McGuire, MD.</p><br>
<h3>Education</h3><br>
<p>The island public school system includes 4 elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. There is also a community college. The island has one private middle school.</p><br>
<h3>Highways</h3><br>
<p>The island can be traversed by a single lane highway running east to west (highways 450 and 460). Highway 470 is a spur up to the barrier mountains of Kalawao County and the Kalaupapa peninsula. By land this area (Kalaupapa) can only be reached by mule and hiking trails. Most access to the Kalaupapa peninsula is by sea.</p><br>
<h3>Parks</h3><br>
<p>The island contains many parks and other protected areas, including Palaau State Park, Kiowea Beach Park, Kakahaia National Wildlife Refuge, Molokai Forest Reserve, Pelekunu Preserve, George Murphy Beach Park, Halawa Beach Park, and Papohaku Beach Park (3 miles of pristine beach) in the portion within Maui County. Today Kalawao County is preserved by the Kalaupapa National Historical Park (accessible by guided mule or hiking tour).</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Mother Marianne Cope, 19th-century nun and saint</p><br>
<p>Father Damien de Veuster, 19th-century Catholic priest and saint</p><br>
<p>Joseph Dutton, Catholic missionary who worked with Father Damien</p><br>
<p>Harvey Rexford Hitchcock, Protestant missionary</p><br>
<p>Peter Johnson Gulick, Protestant missionary</p><br>
<p>Linda Lingle, 6th Governor of Hawaii</p><br>
<p>William Ragsdale, popular Hawaiian attorney and politician, who served as superintendent at Kalaupapa for four years (1874-1878)</p><br>
<p>Scott D. Whiting, President and CEO of Molokai Ranch</p><br>
<p>Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer, politician and agricultural businessman in Hawaii</p><br>
<p>Lois-Ann Yamanaka, poet and novelist</p><br>
<p>Harvey Rexford Hitchcock, Jr., 1913 College Football All-America Team</p><br>
<p>Melveen Leed, singer</p><br>
<p>Keith Luuloa, professional baseball player (Anaheim Angels)</p><br>
<h3>Royalty</h3><br>
<p>Nuakea, High Chieftess of Molokai</p><br>
<p>Hualani, High Chieftess of Molokai in 9th century</p><br>
<p>Keoloewa-a-Kamauaua, 2nd Alii Aimoku (High Chief) of Molokai</p><br>
<p>Kapauanuakea, 3rd Alii Aimoku (High Chief) of Molokai</p><br>
<p>Kamauliwahine, 4th Alii Aimoku (High Chief) of Molokai</p><br>
<p>Kanipahu, High Chief of Molokai in the 11th century</p><br>
<p>Kamauaua, High Chief of Molokai in the 11th or 13th century</p><br>
<p>Kaupeepeenuikauila, Prince of Molokai in the 12th century</p><br>
<p>Kahokuohua, High Chief of Molokai in the 15th century</p><br>
<p>Kalanipehu, High Chief of Molokai in the 17th century</p><br>
<p>Kanealai, High Chieftess and Queen Regent of Molokai in the 18th century</p><br>
<h2>Towns and villages</h2><br>
<p>Hoolehua</p><br>
<p>Kalaupapa</p><br>
<p>Kalawao</p><br>
<p>Kaunakakai</p><br>
<p>Kualapuu</p><br>
<p>Maunaloa</p><br>
<p>Leyte is an island in the Visayas group of the Philippines.</p><br>
<p>Politically, the island is divided into two provinces: (Northern) Leyte and Southern Leyte. Territorially, Southern Leyte includes the island of Panaon to its south. To the north of Leyte is the island province of Biliran, a former sub-province of Leyte.</p><br>
<p>The major cities of Leyte are Tacloban, on the eastern shore at the northwest corner of Leyte Gulf, and Ormoc, on the west coast. The island was once the location of Mairete, a historic community which was ruled by Datu Ete. Before being colonized by Spain, the island was once home to indigenous animist Warays to the east and other indigenous animist Visayan groups to the west.</p><br>
<p>Leyte today is notable for the geothermal electric power plants near Ormoc.</p><br>
<p>However, Leyte is most famous for its role in the reconquest of the Philippines in World War II. On 20 October 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte, saying, "I have returned", but the Japanese did not give up so easily, as the ensuing Battle of Leyte proved. The convergence of naval forces resulted in the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island measures about 180 km north-south and about 65 km at its widest point. In the north it nearly joins the island of Samar, separated by the San Juanico Strait, which becomes as narrow as 2 km in some places. The island province of Biliran is also to the north of Leyte and is joined to Leyte island by a bridge across the narrow Biliran Strait. To the south, Leyte is separated from Mindanao by the Surigao Strait. To the east, Leyte is somewhat "set back" from the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, Samar to the northeast and the Dinagat Islands to the southeast forming the Leyte Gulf. To the west is the Camotes Sea.</p><br>
<p>Leyte is mostly heavily forested and mountainous, but the Leyte Valley in the northeast has much agriculture.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<h2>Historical and interesting sites</h2><br>
<p>land at Dulag Beach, Leyte, 20 October 1944.</p><br>
<p>The Leyte Provincial capital is the seat of the provincial government where there is a historic mural depicting the First Mass of Limasawa in the Orient and the landing of General Douglas MacArthur.</p><br>
<p>The MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Red Beach, Palo, marks the 1944 landing by the American liberation forces. It also has a lagoon where a life-size statue of Gen. MacArthur stands. MacArthur&#39;s true landing took place at Dulag, Leyte.</p><br>
<p>Lake Danao is a violin-shaped lake hemmed by cloud-capped mountain ranges.</p><br>
<p>Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte is a virgin island with pure white sand. The ecological atmosphere of the island had been preserved by the municipality.</p><br>
<p>The Sto. Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum boasts the painting of the fourteen stations of the cross done by Filipino artists and a bas-relief of the legend of the first Filipino man and woman (Malakas and Maganda).</p><br>
<p>The San Juanico Bridge is the longest bridge in the Philippines.</p><br>
<p>Leyte Island is the birthplace of the Tinikling dance, popular throughout the Philippines.</p><br>
<p>On Friday, 8 November 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) destroyed 70-80% of the structures in its path on Leyte province. An estimated 10,000 people died and up to 620,000 people were displaced across the region.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The 1959 Japanese film Nobi ("Fires on the Plain"), though filmed in Japan, is set in Leyte in 1945.</p><br>
<p>The film was remade in 2014 under the same name; this version was filmed in the Philippines.</p><br>
<p>Newgrange  is a prehistoric monument in County Meath, Ireland, located 8 km west of Drogheda on the north side of the River Boyne. Some academics suggest it was built during the Neolithic period, around 3200 BC, making it earlier than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. The site consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway and chambers. Human bones and possible grave goods or votive offerings were found in these chambers. The mound has a retaining wall at the front, made mostly of white quartz cobblestones, and is ringed by engraved kerbstones. Many of the larger stones of Newgrange are covered in megalithic art. The mound is also ringed by a stone circle. Some of the material that makes up the monument came from as far away as the Mournes and Wicklow Mountains. There is no agreement about what the site was used for, but it is believed that it had religious significance. Its entrance is aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice, when sunlight shines through a roofbox and floods the inner chamber. Several other passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with solstices and equinoxes, and Cairn G at Carrowkeel has a similar roofbox. Newgrange also shares many similarities with other Neolithic constructions in Western Europe, such as Maeshowe in Orkney, Scotland and Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales. It is the most famous monument within the Neolithic Brú na Bóinne complex, alongside the similar passage tomb mounds of Knowth and Dowth, and as such is a part of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site. Newgrange consists of approximately 200,000 tonnes of rock and other materials. It is 85m wide at its widest point.</p><br>
<p>After its initial use, Newgrange was sealed for several millennia. However, it featured prominently in Irish mythology and folklore, in which it is said to be a dwelling of the gods, particularly The Dagda and his son Aengus. Antiquarians first began its study in the 17th century, and archaeological excavations took place at the site in the years that followed. Archaeologist Michael J. O&#39;Kelly led the most extensive of these and also reconstructed the frontage of the site in the 1970s, a reconstruction that is controversial and disputed. Newgrange today is a popular tourist site and, according to the archaeologist Colin Renfrew, is "unhesitatingly regarded by the prehistorian as the great national monument of Ireland" and as one of the most important megalithic structures in Europe.</p><br>
<h2>Physical description</h2><br>
<h3>Mound and passage tomb</h3><br>
<p>The Newgrange monument primarily consists of a large mound, built of alternating layers of earth and stones, with grass growing on top and a reconstructed facade of flattish white quartz stones studded at intervals with large rounded cobbles covering part of the circumference. The mound is 76 m across and 12 m high, and covers 4,500 m&sup2; of ground. Within the mound is a chambered passage, which can be accessed by an entrance on the southeastern side of the monument. The passage stretches for 19 metres (60 ft), or about a third of the way into the centre of the structure. At the end of the passage are three small chambers off a larger central chamber, with a high corbelled vault roof. Each of the smaller chambers has a large flat "basin stone", which was where the bones of the dead were possibly originally deposited, although whether it was actually a burial site remains unclear. The walls of this passage are made up of large stone slabs, twenty-two of which are on the west side and twenty-one on the east, which average out at 1.5 metres in height; several are decorated with carvings (as well as graffiti from the period after the rediscovery). The ceiling shows no evidence of smoke.</p><br>
<p>Situated around the perimeter of the mound is a circle of standing stones. Twelve standing-stones survive out of a possible original thirty-five or thereabouts. Most archaeologists say they would have been added later, during the Bronze Age, centuries after the original monument had been abandoned as a tomb.</p><br>
<h3>Art</h3><br>
<p>Newgrange contains various examples of abstract Neolithic rock art carved onto it which provide decoration. These carvings fit into ten categories, five of which are curvilinear (circles, spirals, arcs, serpentiniforms and dot-in-circles) and the other five of which are rectilinear (chevrons, lozenges, radials, parallel lines and offsets). They are also marked by wide differences in style, the skill-level that would have been needed to produce them, and on how deeply carved they are. One of the most notable examples of art at Newgrange are the triskele-like features found on the entrance stone. It is approximately three metres long and 1.2 metres high (10 ft. long and 4 ft. high), and about five tonnes in weight. It has been described as "one of the most famous stones in the entire repertory of megalithic art." Archaeologists believe that most of the carvings were produced prior to the stones being erected, although the entrance stone was instead carved in situ before the kerbstones were placed alongside it.</p><br>
<p>Various archaeologists have speculated as to the meaning of the decoration, with some, such as George Coffey (in the 1890s), believing them to be purely decorative, whilst others, like Michael J. O&#39;Kelly (who led the 1962–1975 excavation at the site), believed them to have some sort of symbolic purpose, because some of the carvings had been in places that would not have been visible, such as at the bottom of the orthostatic slabs below ground level. Extensive research on how the art relates to alignments and astronomy in the Boyne Valley complex was carried out by American-Irish researcher Martin Brennan.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Neolithic people who built the monument were native agriculturalists, growing crops and raising animals such as cattle in the area where their settlements were located.</p><br>
<h3>Construction and burials</h3><br>
<p>The complex of Newgrange was originally built between c. 3200 and 3100 BC. According to carbon-14 dates, it is about five hundred years older than the current form of Stonehenge, and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, as well as predating the Mycenaean culture of ancient Greece. Some put its period of construction somewhat later, at 3000 to 2500 BC. Geological analysis indicates that the thousands of pebbles that make up the cairn, which together would have weighed about 200,000 tonnes, came from the nearby river terraces of the Boyne. There is a large pond in this area which is believed to be the site quarried out by Newgrange&#39;s builders. and/or from the rocky beach at Clogherhead, County Louth, about 20 km to the north-east. The facade and entrance was built with white quartz cobblestones from the Wicklow Mountains, about 50 km to the south; dark rounded granodiorite cobbles from the Mourne Mountains, about 50 km to the north; dark gabbro cobbles from the Cooley Mountains; and banded siltstone from the shore at Carlingford Lough. The stones may have been transported to Newgrange by sea and up the River Boyne by fastening them to the underside of boats at low tide. None of the structural slabs were quarried, for they show signs of having been naturally weathered, so they must have been collected and then transported somehow largely uphill to the Newgrange site. The granite basins found inside the chambers also came from the Mournes.</p><br>
<p>Frank Mitchell suggested that the monument could have been built within a space of five years, basing his estimation upon the likely number of local inhabitants during the Neolithic and the amount of time they could have devoted to building it rather than farming. This estimate was however criticised by M.J. O&#39;Kelly and his archaeological team, who believed that it would have taken a minimum of thirty years to build.</p><br>
<p>Excavations have revealed deposits of both burnt and unburnt human bone in the passage, indicating human corpses were indeed placed within it, some of which had been cremated. From examining the unburnt bone, it was shown to come from at least two separate individuals, but much of their skeletons were missing, and what was left had been scattered about the passage. Various grave goods were deposited alongside the bodies inside the passage. Excavations that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s revealed seven marbles, four pendants, two beads, a used flint flake, a bone chisel and fragments of bone pins and points. Many more artifacts were found in the passage in previous centuries by visiting antiquarians and tourists, although most of these were removed and missing or were held in private collections. Nonetheless, these were sometimes recorded, and it is believed that the grave goods that came from Newgrange were typical of Neolithic Irish passage grave assemblages. The remains of animals have also been found in the tomb, primarily those of mountain hares, rabbits and dogs, but also bats, sheep or goat, cattle, song thrush, and more rarely, mollusc and frog. Most of these animals would only have entered and died in the chamber many centuries or even millennia after it was constructed: for instance, rabbits were only introduced to Ireland in the 13th century.</p><br>
<p>During much of the Neolithic period, the Newgrange area continued to be a focus of some ceremonial activity. In the Late Neolithic, it appears that Newgrange itself was no longer being used by the local population, who did not leave any artefacts in the passage tomb or bury their dead there. As the archaeologist Michael O&#39;Kelly stated, "by 2000 Newgrange was in decay and squatters were living around its collapsing edge". These people were adherents of the Beaker culture, which had been imported from mainland Europe, and made Beaker-style pottery locally. A large timber circle (or henge) was built to the south-east of the main mound and a smaller timber circle to the west. The eastern timber circle consisted of five concentric rows of pits. The outer row contained wooden posts. The next row of pits had clay linings and was used to burn animal remains. The three inner rows of pits were dug to accept the animal remains. Within the circle were post and stake holes associated with Beaker pottery and flint flakes. The western timber circle consisted of two concentric rows of parallel postholes and pits defining a circle 20 m in diameter. A concentric mound of clay was constructed around the southern and western sides of the mound which covered a structure consisting of two parallel lines of post and ditches that had been partly burnt. A free-standing circle of large stones was raised around the Newgrange mound. Near the entrance, 17 hearths were used to set fires. These structures at Newgrange are generally contemporary with a number of henges known from the Boyne Valley, at Newgrange Site A, Newgrange Site O, Dowth Henge and Monknewtown Henge.</p><br>
<p>The site evidently continued to have some ritual significance into the Iron Age; among various later objects deposited around the mound are two pendants made from gold Roman coins of 320–337 AD (now in the National Museum of Ireland) and Roman gold jewellery including two bracelets, two finger rings and a necklace, now in the collections of the British Museum.</p><br>
<h3>Purpose</h3><br>
<p>There have been various debates as to its original purpose. Many archaeologists believed that the monument had religious significance of some sort or another, either as a place of worship for a "cult of the dead" or for an astronomically-based faith. The archaeologist Michael J. OKelly, who led the 1962–1975 excavations at the site, believed that the monument had to be seen in relation to the nearby Knowth and Dowth, and that the building of Newgrange "cannot be regarded as other than the expression of some kind of powerful force or motivation, brought to the extremes of aggrandizement in these three monuments, the cathedrals of the megalithic religion." OKelly believed that Newgrange, alongside the hundreds of other passage tombs built in Ireland during the Neolithic, showed evidence for a religion which venerated the dead as one of its core principles. He believed that this "cult of the dead" was just one particular form of European Neolithic religion, and that other megalithic monuments displayed evidence for different religious beliefs which were solar, rather than death-oriented.</p><br>
<p>However studies in other fields of expertise offer alternative interpretations of the possible functions, which principally centre on the astronomy, engineering, geometry and mythology associated with the Boyne monuments. It is speculated that the sun formed an important part of the religious beliefs of the Neolithic people who built it. One idea was that the room was designed for a ritualistic capturing of the sun on the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice, as the room gets flooded with sunlight, which might have helped the days start to get longer again. This view is strengthened by the discovery of alignments in Knowth, Dowth and the Lough Crew Cairns leading to the interpretation of these monuments as calendrical or astronomical devices. Formerly the Newgrange mound was encircled by an outer ring of immense standing stones, of which twelve of a possible thirty-seven remain. However, evidence from carbon dating suggests that the stone circle which encircled Newgrange may not be contemporary with the monument itself but was placed there some 1,000 years later in the Bronze Age. This view is disputed and relates to a carbon date from a standing stone setting which intersects with a later timber post circle, the theory being that the stone in question could have been moved and re-set in its original position at a later date. This does however show a continuity of use of Newgrange of over a thousand years; with partial remains found from only five individuals, the tomb theory is called into question.</p><br>
<p>Once a year, at the Winter Solstice, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage, illuminating the inner chamber and revealing the carvings inside, notably the triple spiral on the front wall of the chamber. This illumination lasts for about 17 minutes. M. J. O&#39;Kelly was the first person in modern times to observe this event on 21 December 1967. The sunlight enters the passage through a specially contrived opening, known as a roofbox, directly above the main entrance. Although solar alignments are not uncommon among passage graves, Newgrange is one of few to contain the additional roofbox feature; (Cairn G at Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery is another, and it has been suggested that one can be found at Bryn Celli Ddu.). The alignment is such that although the roofbox is above the passage entrance, the light hits the floor of the inner chamber. Today the first light enters about four minutes after sunrise, but calculations based on the precession of the Earth show that 5,000 years ago first light would have entered exactly at sunrise. The solar alignment at Newgrange is very precise compared to similar phenomena at other passage graves such as Dowth or Maes Howe in the Orkney Islands, off the coast of Scotland.</p><br>
<h2>Discovery, excavation, and restoration</h2><br>
<h3>Mythology and folklore in the Medieval and Early Modern period</h3><br>
<p>During the medieval period, Newgrange and the wider Brú na Bóinne Neolithic complex gained various attributes in local folklore, which was often connected to figures from wider Irish mythology. The monuments of the Brú were thought of by some as being the abode of the supernatural Tuatha De Danann, whilst others considered them to be the burial mounds of the ancient kings of Tara. Amongst those who believed the folkloric tales relating the Brú to the Tuatha De Danann, it was commonly thought that they were the abode of the most powerful of the Tuatha, particularly The Dagda, his wife Boann and his son, Oengus. According to the 11th century Book of Lecan, the Dagda had built the Brú for himself and his three sons, whilst the 12th century Book of Leinster describes how Oengus tricked his father into giving him the Brú for all eternity. Another text, The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne also implies that Oengus owned the Brú, when he declared how he took his friend Diarmaid to it.</p><br>
<p>Sometime after 1142 it became part of outlying farmland owned by the Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont. These farms were referred to as granges. Newgrange is not mentioned in any of the early charters of the 12th and 13th centuries, but an Inspeximus granted by Edward III in 1348 includes a Nova Grangia among the demesne lands of the abbey.</p><br>
<p>On 23 July 1539, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, Mellifont Abbey and its demesnes became the fortified mansion of an English soldier of fortune Edward Moore, ancestor of the Earls of Drogheda.</p><br>
<p>On 14 August 1699, Alice Moore, Countess Dowager of Drogheda, leased the demesne of Newgrange to a Williamite settler Charles Campbell for 99 years.</p><br>
<h3>Antiquarianism in the 17th and 18th centuries</h3><br>
<p>In 1699, a local landowner, Charles Campbell, ordered some of his farm labourers to dig up a part of Newgrange, which then had the appearance of a large mound of earth, so that he could collect stone from within it. The labourers soon discovered the entrance to the tomb within the mound, and a Welsh antiquarian named Edward Lhwyd, who was staying in the area, was alerted and took an interest in the monument. He wrote an account of the mound and its tomb, describing what he saw as its "barbarous sculpture" and noting that animal bones, beads and pieces of glass had been found inside of it (modern archaeologists have speculated that these latter two were in fact the polished pottery beads that have subsequently been found at the site and which were a common feature of Neolithic tombs). Soon another antiquarian visitor, Sir Thomas Molyneaux, professor at the University of Dublin, also came to the site. He talked to Charles Campbell, who informed him that he had found the remains of two human corpses in the tomb, one (which was male), in one of the cisterns, and another further along the passageway, something that Lhwyd had not noted. Subsequently, Newgrange was visited by a number of antiquarians, who often performed their own measurements of the site and made their own observations, which were often published in various antiquarian journals; these included such figures as Sir William Wilde, Thomas Pownall, Thomas Wright, John O&#39;Donovan, George Petrie and James Ferguson.</p><br>
<p>These antiquarians often concocted their own theories about the origins of Newgrange, many of which have since been proved incorrect. Thomas Pownall conducted a very detailed survey of New Grange in 1769 which numbers all the stones and also records some of the carvings on the stone but also stated that the mound had originally been taller and a lot of the stone on top of it had subsequently been removed, a theory which has subsequently been disproven by archaeological research. The majority of these antiquarians also refused to believe that it was ancient peoples native to Ireland who built the monument, with many believing that it had been built in the early Mediaeval period by invading Vikings, whilst others speculated that it had been actually built by the ancient Egyptians, ancient Indians or the Phoenicians.</p><br>
<h3>Conservation, archaeological investigations, and reconstructions in the 19th and 20th centuries</h3><br>
<p>At some time in the early 1800s a folly was built a few yards behind Newgrange. The folly, with two circular windows, was made of stones taken from Newgrange. In 1882, under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, Newgrange and the nearby monuments of Knowth and Dowth were taken under the control of the state (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as it was then known), and they were placed under the responsibility of the Board of Public Works. In 1890, under the leadership of Thomas Newenham Deane, the Board began a project of conservation of the monument, which had been damaged through general deterioration over the previous three millennia as well as the increasing vandalism caused by visitors, some of whom had inscribed their names on the stones. In subsequent decades, a number of archaeologists performed excavations at the site, discovering more about its function and how it had been built; however, even at the time, it was still widely believed by archaeologists to be Bronze Age in origin rather than the older Neolithic. In the 1950s, electric lighting was installed in the passageway to allow visitors to see more clearly, whilst an exhaustive archaeological excavation was undertaken from 1962 through to 1975, the excavation report of which was written by Michael J. O&#39;Kelly and published in 1982 by Thames and Hudson as Newgrange: Archaeology, Art and Legend.</p><br>
<p>Following the OKelly excavation, further restoration and reconstruction took place at the site. Based on the positions of the cobblestones, and after conducting experiments, OKelly concluded that they had made up a retaining wall but had fallen from the face of the mound. As part of the restoration, this wall was rebuilt and the cobblestones were fixed into a near-vertical steel-reinforced concrete wall surrounding the front of the mound. This work is controversial among the archaeological community. P. R. Griot described the monument as looking like a "cream cheese cake with dried currants distributed about." Neil Oliver described the reconstruction as "a bit brutal, a bit overdone, kind of like Stalin does the Stone Age". Critics of the new wall point out that the technology did not exist when the mound was created to fix a retaining wall at this angle. Another theory is that some, or all, of the white quartz cobblestones had actually formed a plaza on the ground at the entrance. This theory was preferred at nearby Knowth, where the restorers laid the quartz stones out as an "apron" in front of the entrance to the great mound.</p><br>
<p>The inward-curving dark stone walls on each side of the entrance are not original, nor intended to resemble Newgranges original appearance, but were designed to facilitate visitor access. However, a visitors guide book to the site has a reconstruction drawing depicting Neolithic inhabitants using Newgrange that shows the modern entrance as if it were part of Newgrange&#39;s original appearance.</p><br>
<h2>Location and access</h2><br>
<p>Newgrange is located 8.4 km west of Drogheda in County Meath. The interpretive centre is located on the south bank of the river and Newgrange itself is located on the north side of the river. Access is strictly via the interpretive centre only.</p><br>
<p>Access to Newgrange is by guided tour only. Tours begin at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre from which visitors are taken to the site in groups. Current-day visitors to Newgrange are treated to a guided tour and an re-enactment of the Winter Solstice experience through the use of high powered electric lights situated within the tomb. The finale of a Newgrange tour results in every visitor standing inside the tomb where the tour guide then turns off the lights, and lights the light bulb simulating the sun as it would appear on the winter solstice.</p><br>
<p>To experience the phenomenon on the morning of the Winter Solstice itself from inside Newgrange, visitors to Bru Na Bóinne Visitor Centre must enter an annual lottery at the centre. Of the thousands who enter, twenty are chosen each year. The winner is permitted to bring a single guest. The winners are split into groups of ten and taken in on the five days around the solstice in December when sunlight can enter the chamber, weather permitting.</p><br>
<p>The Rock of Cashel , also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick&#39;s Rock, is a historic site located at Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>According to local mythology, the Rock of Cashel originated in the Devils Bit, a mountain 20 miles (30 km) north of Cashel when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave, resulting in the Rocks landing in Cashel. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century.</p><br>
<p>The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. In 1101, the King of Munster, Muirchertach Ua Briain, donated his fortress on the Rock to the Church.</p><br>
<p>The picturesque complex has a character of its own and is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture to be found anywhere in Europe. Few remnants of the early structures survive; the majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries.</p><br>
<h2>Buildings on the Rock</h2><br>
<p>The oldest and tallest of the buildings is the well preserved round tower (28 metres, or 90 feet), dating from c.1100. Its entrance is 12 ft from the ground, necessitated by a shallow foundation (about 3 feet) typical of round towers. The tower was built using the dry stone method. Modern conservationists have filled in some of the tower with mortar for safety reasons.</p><br>
<p>Cormac&#39;s Chapel, the chapel of King Cormac Mac Carthaigh, was begun in 1127 and consecrated in 1134. It is a sophisticated structure, with vaulted ceilings and wide arches, drawing on contemporary European architecture and infusing unique native elements. The Irish Abbot of Regensburg, Dirmicius of Regensburg, sent two of his carpenters to help in the work and the twin towers on either side of the junction of the nave and chancel are strongly suggestive of their Germanic influence, as this feature is otherwise unknown in Ireland. Other notable features of the building include interior and exterior arcading, a barrel-vaulted roof, a carved tympanum over both doorways, the magnificent north doorway and chancel arch. It contains one of the best-preserved Irish frescoes from this time period. The Chapel was constructed primarily of sandstone which has become waterlogged over the centuries, significantly damaging the interior frescos. Restoration and preservation required the chapel be completely enclosed in a rain-proof structure with interior dehumidifiers to dry out the stone.</p><br>
<p>In 1647, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Cashel was sacked by English Parliamentarian troops under Murrough OBrien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin. The Irish Confederate troops there were massacred, as were the Roman Catholic clergy, including Theobald Stapleton. Inchiquins troops looted or destroyed many important religious artefacts.</p><br>
<p>In 1749 the main cathedral roof was removed by Arthur Price, the Anglican Archbishop of Cashel. Today, what remains of the Rock of Cashel has become a tourist attraction. Price&#39;s decision to remove the roof on what had been called the jewel among Irish church buildings was criticised before and since.</p><br>
<p>Queen Elizabeth II visited the Rock of Cashel during her 2011 visit to Ireland.</p><br>
<h2>Other features</h2><br>
<p>The entire plateau on which the buildings and graveyard lie is walled. In the grounds around the buildings an extensive graveyard includes a number of high crosses. Scully&#39;s Cross, one of the largest and most famous high crosses here, originally constructed in 1867 to commemorate the Scully family, was destroyed in 1976 when lightning struck a metal rod that ran the length of the cross. The remains of the top of the cross now lie at the base of the cross adjacent to the rock wall.</p><br>
<h2>Burials</h2><br>
<p>Malcolm Hamilton (archbishop)</p><br>
<p>Spessart is a Mittelgebirge, a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg at 586 metres NN.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The name is derived from "Spechtshardt". Specht is the German word for woodpecker and Hardt is an outdated word meaning "hilly forest".</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<h3>Location</h3><br>
<p>The Spessart is a Mittelgebirge, part of the German Central Uplands, located in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria and in Hesse, Germany. It is bordered by other ranges of hills: the Vogelsberg in the north, Rhön in the northeast and Odenwald in the southwest. Another way of describing the extent of the range is by naming the rivers that border it: the Main in the south and west, the Kinzig in the north and the Sinn in the northeast. The area of the Spessart totals around 2,440 square kilometres, of which 1,710 square kilometres are part of Bavaria.</p><br>
<p>The highest elevation is the Geiersberg at 586 metres NN. The highest elevation in the Hessian part of the Spessart is Hermannskoppe at 567 metres.</p><br>
<p>Since the admission of Croatia to the European Union (EU), the geographical centre of the EU is located in the village of Westerngrund, near Schöllkrippen, according to the Institut de Géographie in Paris. Previously, the centre was located west of Gelnhausen.</p><br>
<h3>Divisions</h3><br>
<p>There are a number of ways of dividing the Spessart into sub-regions. A popular approach is to divide it into Mainspessart, Vorspessart, Hochspessart and Nordspessart (or Kinzigtal). The western edge of the range between Aschaffenburg and Miltenberg is generally referred to as Vorspessart. However, some use that name also for the more northerly area between Aschaffenburg, Alzenau and Gelnhausen. It extends east to around Schöllkrippen and Mespelbrunn. The highest elevation here is the Hahnenkamm (460 metres). The Nordspessart is the stretch of hills to the south of the valley of the Kinzig, flowing from Schlüchtern to its mouth in the Main at Hanau. It also includes the valleys of small streams feeding the Kinzig from the south like the Bieber or Orb. There is some overlap with the northwestern part of the Vorspessart. The name Hochspessart is generally used for the central uplands of the range, stretching around 50 kilometres west to east and almost 100 kilometres north to south. The area contains around 70,000 hectares of forest, which was protected from logging during the Middle Ages due to its use as a hunting preserve. Finally, the region between Gemünden, Wertheim, Miltenberg and Klingenberg is known as Mainspessart.</p><br>
<p>The major natural regions making up the Spessart are known as Sandstein-Spessart and Vorspessart.</p><br>
<p>Parts of the Spessart lie within the Main-Kinzig district (Hesse) and the Bavarian districts Main-Spessart, Aschaffenburg (city), Landkreis Aschaffenburg and Miltenberg.</p><br>
<p>According to a strictly geological definition, a small region south of the Main near Wertheim and another south of Gemünden can be considered part of the Spessart. That definition would mean that part of the Spessart lies in the state of Baden-Württemberg.</p><br>
<p>The area within the triangle Würzburg-Wertheim-Gemünden is sometimes referred to as Würzburger Spessart.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The lowest strata of the Spessart are made up of gneiss and mica schist, dating back around 1,200 million years. These rock types are most visible in the Vorspessart. On top of this is the Zechstein, dating to the Permian, found in a band stretching from Sailauf to Eidengesäß and as an "island" in the area of the stream Bieber near Biebergemünd, where it contained deposits of silver, copper, iron and cobalt.</p><br>
<p>The top layer of most of the Hochspessart and southern Spessart is made up of a slab of Buntsandstein or red sandstone, of up to 400 metres thickness. It dates back about 250 million years and is prevalent especially around Miltenberg. This is the best-known stone of the area, as it has been used in the past for many public buildings including the cathedrals of the Rhine valley, like Mainz Cathedral. On the western edge of the range there is also loess, a wind-deposited sediment.</p><br>
<p>The area of the Würzburger Spessart is made up of Muschelkalk, which provides better conditions for agriculture than the sandstone predominating in most of the Spessart proper.</p><br>
<p>However, the north-south rift that follows the river Main along the western leg of the Maindreieck does not match exactly the geological divide between the sandstone and the Muschelkalk. For around 60 kilometres the rift parallels the Main from Gemünden to Triefenstein. The hills east of the river thus resemble those of the Spessart geologically.</p><br>
<h2>Climate and ecology</h2><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>The climate of the area is temperate oceanic, featuring cool summers and relatively mild winters. In the Main valley, the average yearly temperature is around 8 to 9 degrees Celsius. In the central massif (Hochspessart) it is 6 to 7 degrees. The presence of extended woodlands results in high humidity and especially in the valleys there is often fog. The largest amount of precipitation falls in the elevated region of the Hochspessart, rising from the west to a maximum of 1,000 mm/year and then falling back on the lee side of the range (prevailing winds come from the west) to around 600 mm/year in the Main valley. Depending on the elevation, about 15% to 20% of the annual precipitation falls as snow. In the Hochspessart there are around 70 to 80 days of snow, in the Vorspessart and in the valleys of the Sinn and Hafenlohr around 40 to 50 days and around 30 days in the Main valley. A snow cover of 10 centimetres or more is relatively rare, prevailing on average on fewer than 10 days per year in the Main valley, 15 to 20 days in the Vorspessart and 30 to 35 days in the Hochspessart.</p><br>
<h3>Naturparks</h3><br>
<p>A German nature park (Naturpark) is a protected area, a sort of nature preserve. The Spessart Nature Park covers the most heavily wooded Central Upland range in Germany. There are no cities or large towns inside the park; instead they lie around the forested region. The larger Bavarian part of the park was established in 1961 as the very first one within that state, the Hessian one followed in 1962.</p><br>
<p>The Bavarian Spessart Nature Park (Naturpark Bayerischer Spessart) measures 171,000 hectares in area and includes part of the southern Rhön (north of Gemünden and east of the Sinn river) and extends to the southern side of the Main river between Marktheidenfeld and Karlstadt. It features the largest continuous mixed forest in Germany. The Hessian Spessart Nature Park (Naturpark Hessischer Spessart) covers 72,900 hectares and is bordered in the north by the valley of the Kinzig.</p><br>
<p>For the current national park controversy, see below.</p><br>
<h3>Flora and fauna</h3><br>
<p>In the Vorspessart evergreens predominate, and meadows with scattered fruit trees (Streuobstwiesen) and whitethorn are common.</p><br>
<p>In the Hochspessart, around 85% of which is covered by forests, oaks and beeches are most numerous. The oldest trees are found in the nature preserves of Rohrberg (near Rohrbrunn) and Metzgergraben.</p><br>
<p>Like the Vorspessart, the Nordspessart also sports more evergreens, because the original tree cover there was largely gone by the 15th century as a result of the substantial fuel needs of the local glass foundry industry.</p><br>
<p>The Spessart provides a habitat for numerous species of animals. Deer, wild boars and foxes are quite common. There are also badgers, raccoons, European wildcats, lynx and marten. The beaver, although hunted to extinction in the region, has been successfully re-established since the 1980s along several river valleys (Hafenlohr, Sinn).</p><br>
<p>Several species of woodpecker are found in the Spessart: black, great spotted, middle spotted, green and grey-faced.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Prehistoric</h3><br>
<p>The region has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age, although settlement of the higher elevations was slow and initially the population was concentrated in the valleys. Bronze Age tumuli have been found north of Alzenau, near Geiselbach and Mömbris as well as near Pflaumheim, southwest of Aschaffenburg. Other tumuli were found near Kleinwallstadt, between Elsenfeld and Eichelsbach, near Klingenberg and on the Dürrenberg near Heimbuchenthal. The discovery of numerous prehistoric tools and weapons indicates that the Spessart was frequented by hunters, gatherers and fishers. These findings have been concentrated in the valley of the Kinzig, around Aschaffenburg, as well as in the valleys of the Bieber, the Lohr and the Sinn rivers. Near Goldbach, early Iron Age artifacts have been found, attributed to the Hallstatt culture. Hill forts attributed inter alia to Celts of the La Tène culture have been found on the Schanzenkopf near Wasserlos, on the Schloßberg near Soden/Sulzbach, on the Schanzkopf near Klingenberg and close to Miltenberg (Greinberg and Bürgstadter Berg, although the latter dates to the Urnfield period and/or even earlier Michelsberger culture). These fortified refuges or defended hill-top settlements were mostly built between 500 and 100 BC.</p><br>
<p>Since the Spessart proper was not part of the Roman territory, the Romans left traces only in the northwest of the region. The Limes met the Main river near Großkrotzenburg and the border then followed the river south all the way to Miltenberg. Large castra were located at Seligenstadt, Stockstadt am Main, Niedernberg, Obernburg, Wörth, Trennfurt (near Klingenberg) and near Miltenberg. The northern part of the Vorspessart was kept uninhabited by the Romans as a "no man&#39;s land" and buffer zone between their border and the local tribes.</p><br>
<p>As the Roman empire collapsed, the Burgundians came to the Main valley from the northeast in the late 3rd century. In the 5th century they were in turn ousted by the Allemanni, coming from the south. Aschaffenburg, Lohr and Gemünden were likely founded by them. The Alemanni were then absorbed by the Franks moving into the region from the Rhine. Graves dating to the 6th to 8th century were found near Obernburg, Mömlingen, Obernau and Aschaffenburg.</p><br>
<h3>Medieval</h3><br>
<p>Under the Franks, the Spessart was used for hunting by freemen. During the reign of Charlemagne, the forests of the Spessart were a royal hunting preserve and thus off-limits to others. The uplands were only settled after abbeys/monasteries were established in the region. Besides the Benedictinians at Amorbach and Seligenstadt, the Benedictine abbey at Neustadt am Main was founded around 770. Kloster Neustadt received gifts of substantial woodlands from Charlemagne and was tasked by him with spreading Christianity in the region. Around the year 800, Charlemagne had Saxons settle in the Vorspessart.</p><br>
<p>Subsequent efforts to settle the uplands were made by the inhabitants of villages around the periphery like Klingenberg, Miltenberg, Kreuzwertheim, Lohr or Gemünden. From the valley of the Sinn, the Counts of Rieneck and the Knights of the Thüngen family (at Burgsinn) also attempted to expand into the Spessart. However, their efforts were hindered by their insular position, sandwiched between the substantial holdings of the great ecclesial powers of Fulda, Würzburg and Mainz. The latter acquired local influence not least via the Kollegiatsstift Aschaffenburg, which had been gifted much of the previous royal hunting preserve in 974 by Emperor Otto II. In 982, Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria died and left his regional territories to Mainz, which eventually turned Aschaffenburg into a second princely residence. Settlement efforts also originated from the Kinzig valley, in particular from the Kaiserpfalz at Gelnhausen (built under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa in the 12th century).</p><br>
<p>Much of the medieval activity inside the Spessart centred on hunting by nobles, however, including notably the Prince-Electors/Archbishops of Mainz. Between the 12th and the 15th century several hunting lodges (Schöllkrippen, Wiesen, Rothenbuch, Bartelstein, Rohrbrunn) and moated castles (Burgsinn, Sommerau, Mespelbrunn) were constructed. To attract staff, the rulers provided land and cattle as well as forestry and fishing rights. In the 13th and 14th century, the Archbishops of Mainz expanded their influence and territory in the region. In the 14th century, they set up a system of local representatives (Forst- and Bachhuben) who were in charge of supervising hunting and forestry (Forsthuben) or fishing and organising the rafting of logs downriver (Bachhuben). These positions were mostly filled with lesser nobles who built fortified houses (e.g. at Oberaulenbach near Eschau and at Sommerau). In total there were 18 to 22 of these Huben (or Hufen, so called after an area of land that could be circuited on horseback in a given amount of time), located inter alia in Hösbach, Goldbach, Krausenbach, Obernau, Kleinostheim, Sailauf, Waldaschaff, Wintersbach and Heimbuchenthal. The commoners employed by the absentee feudal lords lived in villages that took the typical form of stretching along a single main street which followed the valleys of little streams (Streifendörfer, today still visible at Hessenthal, Mespelbrunn, Heimbuchenthal or Wintersbach). Settlers were granted a plot of land of around 100 metres width stretching from the road or stream in the middle of the valley up to the top of the ridges on either side of the valley. However, since the territory ruled by Mainz used an inheritance law that required the property to be split between all the sons of the deceased, the size of the holdings soon began to dwindle and often became too small to support families.</p><br>
<p>The Counts of Rieneck, originally vogts in the service of the Archbishops of Mainz, later became their rivals in the struggle for the Spessarts resources. Until the family died out in 1543, the rivalry between Mainz and Rieneck dominated the areas history.</p><br>
<p>Although sparsely populated in the Middle Ages, the Spessart at the time was crossed by two important trading routes. One, known as the Eselsweg ("donkey path") was used to transport salt (on the back of donkeys) from what is today Bad Orb to the Main near Großheubach where it was loaded on ships. The other, the, connected Hanau in the west to Gemünden in the east, cutting across the wide loop of the Main known as Mainviereck. This route seems to have been in use as early as Neolithic times and was heavily frequented. The name probably derived from a grove of birch trees near Geiselbach.</p><br>
<p>A major regional industry in medieval and early modern times were glass foundries that made use of the abundant local supply of firewood (e.g. at Wiesthal, Weibersbrunn, Neuhütten, Heigenbrücken, Einsiedel and Heinrichsthal). Glass production then required an annual amount of wood roughly translating to 20 to 30 hectares of forest per foundry. By the early 15th century, the four foundries located in the territory controlled by Mainz produced around 230,000 pieces of blown glass and 3,000 zentner of flat glass each year. Most of these enterprises were discontinued by the 18th and 19th century, however, having become uneconomical.</p><br>
<h3>Modern</h3><br>
<p>Low soil quality and decreasing plot size made life hard for farmers in the higher elevations of the Spessart. Conditions became worse with the destruction and diseases brought by wars like the Bauernkrieg in 1525, the Schmalkaldsche Krieg of 1546/47 and then the Thirty Years War in 1618-48. In the wake of the chaos of the Thirty Years War, bands of brigands began to operate in the Spessart (Spessarträuber). Due to the areas low density of population, important trade routes passing through lonely forest territory and the Spessarts extremely fragmented political situation (there were at times 17 separate jurisdictions), banditry was a lucrative business. Although merchant "caravans" of up to 70 wagons banded together for mutual protection, bands of brigands repeatedly succeeded in spectacular raids that made them the terror of the region. Bandit activity again peaked in the early 19th century (1803–11), during the Napoleonic Wars and following the fall of the Holy Roman Empire. It was only after the end of the political fragmentation in the region that law and order were restored. The last Spessarträuber were executed at Heidelberg in 1812.</p><br>
<p>After the 17th century, ("iron hammers") were set up, using water power to create wrought iron. These early industrial establishments were at Laufach, Waldaschaff, Schafsteg, Höllhammer, Lichtenau and Wintersbach. The last of these still in operation is in the Haslochtal.</p><br>
<p>The French invasion during the War of the First Coalition again brought war to the Spessart in 1796. In 1803, the ecclesial princedoms were abolished in the Secularization. The northern part of the Spessart, part of the Grafschaft Hanau, became part of Kurhessen, with the exception of Alzenau. After the Congress of Vienna of 1814/15, the former territories of Mainz and Würzburg became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1866, the Kurfürstentum Hessen and with it the northern Spessart became Prussian. In 1854 the railway between Würzburg and Aschaffenburg was opened, replacing the post route in use since 1615 as the main thoroughfare through the hills.</p><br>
<p>In World War II, Aschaffenburg was severely hit by Allied air raids and further damaged by a siege.</p><br>
<p>In the 1950s the Spessart section of the Bundesautobahn 3 (or A3) was built, linking Würzburg and Aschaffenburg.</p><br>
<h2>Culture and tourism</h2><br>
<h3>Literature</h3><br>
<p>The Spessart is known outside the region for its legends, ghost stories and fairytales. Snow White is said to have lived in the small town of Lohr in the Spessart heartlands. The Grimm brothers spent their youth in the 1790s at nearby Steinau on the river Kinzig. Although they compiled Grimms&#39; Fairy Tales, their world-famous collection of fairy tales, only in 1812 and after having moved to Kassel, regional legends from their childhood did feature in that collection. Thus, the tale of Snow White may have been originally located in the Spessart, with Lohr laying claim to be the home of the inspiration for the main characters and the magic mirror. One interpretation of the seven dwarfs appearing in that story is that these characters were based on stunted miners from the Bieber region. The use of children for mining in very tight crawlspaces and very unhealthy working conditions often caused medieval and early modern miners to be stunted or otherwise deformed. Local glass production could have been the inspiration for the glass coffin featured in the fairy tale.</p><br>
<p>Other popular characters from German folklore also appear prominently in legends from the region. In stark contrast to the Grimm brothers&#39; version, the more rural, precarious lifes of Spessart folks made Mother Hulda, generally a regular staple in middle German tales, a much more brutal and unfathomable figure, at times even resorting to killing people. A similar female appearance is the Aaleborgfraale (regional dialect for "Altenburg lady"), who is especially feared and revered by locals. The most popular story is about her guarding a buried treasure chest in legendary "Altenburg" castle, that can only be retrieved by being absolutely silent during the process. If one fails to do so, by opening the wooden crate, he or she will not find treasures, but will face the harrowing image of the Aaleborgfraale stepping out of the crate. As with Mother Hulda, the character is said to go back to pre-Christian times in the Bronze Age.</p><br>
<p>Many of the stories that are known today have been collected by local teacher and ethnologist Valentin Pfeiffer (1886–1964). His book "Spessart-Sagen" ("Spessart legends") has been reprinted 17 times.</p><br>
<p>Probably even more important in shaping public perceptions of the region has been Wilhelm Hauffs novella Das Wirtshaus im Spessart ("The Spessart Inn"). It features a frame story involving a romantic tale of the Spessarträuber. Director Kurt Hoffmann turned Hauffs novella into a very successful film in 1957. It starred Liselotte Pulver and was shot on location at Mespelbrunn Castle and Miltenberg. The film The Spessart Inn spawned two sequels The Haunted Castle (1960) and Glorious Times at the Spessart Inn (1967).</p><br>
<h3>Spas</h3><br>
<p>The Spessart features one officially recognised spa town, Bad Orb, as well as a number of climatic spas (Luftkurorte), like Heigenbrücken, where visitors benefit from the high air quality.</p><br>
<h3>Places of interest</h3><br>
<p>Mespelbrunn Castle - emblematic Spessart castle</p><br>
<p>Franziskanerkloster Engelberg - Franciscan abbey overlooking Großheubach</p><br>
<p>Miltenberg - medieval town centre</p><br>
<p>Wertheim - medieval town centre and castle</p><br>
<h3>Hiking</h3><br>
<p>Hiking has long been a major tourist attraction in the Spessart. Two notable long-distance trails follow the historic routes of the Birkenhainer Strasse and the Eselsweg, but there are several others like the Schneewittchen-Wanderweg ("Snow White Trail") from Lohr to Bieber or the Fränkischer Rotwein-Wanderweg ("Franconian Red Wine Trail"). There is an extensive network of signposted hiking trails in the Spessart. In a recent update of the signposts, 4,300 kilometres of trails were upgraded in the Bavarian Spessart alone. The Spessartbund, in charge of most of the major trails, was founded back in 1913, although its roots go back to the 19th century. Local municipalities have also created shorter trails. More recently, Nordic walking and bike trails have been added.</p><br>
<h3>Nationalpark controversy</h3><br>
<p>In July 2016, Bavarian minister president Horst Seehofer announced his intention to create a third national park in the state, after Bavarian Forest National Park and Berchtesgaden National Park. The potential candidates are the Bavarian Rhön, the Donau-Auen and the Spessart. According to the Bavarian minister for the environment, Ulrike Scharf, in the Spessart around 10,900 hectares of forest (or around 10% of the Bavarian Spessart&#39;s wooded area) would be turned into a national park, which would put strict limits on the commercial use of the area. The rest of the forest would be unaffected. All of the land area would be state-owned, no private land would be included.</p><br>
<p>However, a controversy soon erupted about the plan. Critics argue that they would lose the right to access water sources on public land, that the zones of strict environmental protection would result in the uncontrolled spread of pests such as the Bark beetle or of wild boars and wolves. In addition, many local property owners currently enjoy rights, sometimes dating back to the Middle Ages, to harvest wood in state-owned forests. This sideline in forestry business has long been a source of fuel, timber and income for many.</p><br>
<p>CSU Member of the Landtag founded the association Wir im Spessart to oppose the plan. In a short time he was able to collect over 7,000 signatures against the national park. Local farmer associations and hunting groups joined the cause. Residents have protested against the plan by posting signs, attending demonstrations and organizing local referendums.</p><br>
<p>Support for the plan comes from environmentalists, as well as from many forestry workers, who argue that many of the concerns advanced by the critics are misplaced or exaggerated.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<h3>Transportation</h3><br>
<p>The Intercity-Express (ICE) route from Frankfurt to Würzburg crosses the Spessart west to east from Aschaffenburg to Lohr. This route is also known as the Main-Spessart-Bahn. The ICE route from Fulda to Würzburg runs down the Sinn valley and joins the Frankfurt track south of Gemünden. A lesser train route (Maintalbahn) follows the Main river from Aschaffenburg to Wertheim via Miltenberg.</p><br>
<p>The Bundesautobahn 3 (or A3), a major west-east route, crosses the Spessart between Aschaffenburg and a point to the northeast of Wertheim. The other major roads are the Bundesstrassen 26 (Aschaffenburg-Lohr) and 276 (Wächtersbach-Lohr). In the Spessart, the B8 today follows the route of the A3.</p><br>
<h3>Agriculture/forestry</h3><br>
<p>Sandstone provides poor conditions for cattle raising or farming. As a consequence, these activities are concentrated in the loess-covered areas in the west and around Marktheidenfeld. However, wine growing and fruit orchards have proved more successful in the west and northwest (Kahlgrund, Obernburg, Klingenberg, Großheubach) and on the southern edge of the Mainspessart. The vineyards around Kahl are Bavaria&#39;s most northerly wine growing region. The Muschelkalk makes the Würzburger Spessart somewhat better suited for agriculture. Wheat as well as wine thrive there and in the area around Homburg (now part of Triefenstein) grow some of the best-known appellations of the Mainfranken region.</p><br>
<p>The main asset of the Spessart region remain its forests. Besides attracting tourists to the area, there are substantial forestry businesses, for example at Burgsinn and the, a privately owned woodland. The forests of the Spessart are known for the quality of their wood. The brown "Spessart Oak", in particular, is renowned for its tight, straight grain; it is used for fine furniture, millwork, and flooring. The forests also provide game/hunting, wild berries and mushrooms. However, shipbuilding which used to be a major industry in some towns along the Main, lost its local importance with the advent of ships built from metal rather than wood. One shipyard is still active at Erlenbach am Main.</p><br>
<h3>Mining</h3><br>
<p>Mining was never an important activity in the Spessart. Copper mining near Schöllkrippen (Sommerkahl) has long been discontinued as has the strip mining of lignite in the Nordspessart near Kahl. Mining used to be important in the area around Biebergemünd, but ceased in the 1920s.</p><br>
<p>Quarrying of sandstone, a major industry in medieval and early modern times concentrated on Miltenberg, Fechenbach and Reistenhausen, has largely been ended.</p><br>
<p>The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many worlds fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it was held from April 26 to December 1, 1907, at Sewells Point on Hampton Roads, in Norfolk, Virginia. It celebrated the first permanent English settlement in the present United States. In 1975 the 20 remaining exposition buildings were included on the National Register of Historic Places as a national historic district.</p><br>
<h2>Selecting the Norfolk area as the site</h2><br>
<p>Early in the 20th century, as the tercentennial of the 1607 Founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony neared, leaders in Norfolk, Virginia began a campaign to have the celebration held there. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities had gotten the ball rolling in 1900 by calling for a celebration to honor the establishment of the first permanent English colony in the New World at Jamestown, to be held on the 300th anniversary.</p><br>
<p>During the planning phase, virtually no one thought that the original site of Jamestown would be suitable, as it was isolated and long-abandoned. There were no local facilities to handle large crowds, and it was believed that the fort housing the settlement had long ago been swallowed by the James River. No rail lines ran near Jamestown. Many Virginia residents thought that Richmond, the state capital, would be chosen as the site of the celebration.</p><br>
<p>On February 4, 1901, James M. Thomson began a campaign for the celebration in his Norfolk Dispatch, proclaiming: "Norfolk is undoubtedly the proper place for the holding of this celebration. Norfolk is today the center of the most populous portion of Virginia, and every historical, business and sentimental reason can be adduced in favor of the celebration taking place here rather than in Richmond." The Dispatch was an unrelenting champion of Norfolk as the site for the exposition, noting in subsequent editorials that "Richmond has absolutely no claim to the celebration except her location on the James River."</p><br>
<p>By September 1901, the Norfolk City Council had given support to the project. And in December, 100 prominent residents of Hampton Roads journeyed to Richmond to urge Norfolk as the site. In 1902, the Jamestown Exposition Co. was incorporated. Former Virginia Governor Fitzhugh Lee, a nephew of General Robert E. Lee and the most popular man in Virginia, was named its president.</p><br>
<p>The Company decided to locate the international exposition on a mile-long frontage at Sewell&#39;s Point. The location was almost an equal distance from the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Hampton. While hard to reach by land, it was much more favorably accessible by water, which ultimately proved a great asset.</p><br>
<h2>Sewell's Point: prominent, historical, but isolated</h2><br>
<p>Because of the isolation of Sewells Point, the companys choice made the site difficult to reach by land in order to develop it for the Exposition. New roads had to be built to the site. Two existing streetcar lines had to be extended a considerable distance to reach the site. The eastern portion of the newly built Tidewater Railway (soon to become part of the coal-hauling Virginian Railway) was rushed into service, and the local Norfolk Southern Railway agreed to add substantial passenger capacity in conjunction with the Tidewater Railway to prepare to move the thousands of daily attendees anticipated. On the shore, new piers had to be constructed for moving supplies to exposition buildings. Hotels had to be raised to handle the millions of anticipated exposition visitors. Bad weather slowed everything.</p><br>
<p>Another major setback was the death of Fitzhugh Lee in 1905 while traveling in New England to drum up trade for the celebration. Henry St. George Tucker, a former Virginia Congressman, succeeded him. The Norfolk businessman David Lowenberg ran most of the operation as director general.</p><br>
<h2>Opening day</h2><br>
<p>Opening day was April 26, 1907, exactly 300 years after Admiral Christopher Newport and his band of English colonists made their first landing in Virginia at the point where the southern shore of the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. They recorded giving thanks, planting a cross and naming the location Cape Henry. Within the next few weeks, they found and explored the harbor now known as Hampton Roads. Sailing upriver on its biggest tributary, the James River, they eventually settled at what they would call Jamestown to begin their first settlement.</p><br>
<p>The first day of the Exposition had its share of difficulties. Only a fifth of the electric lights could be turned on, and the Warpath recreation area was far from ready. Construction of the government pier left much of the ground in the center of the exposition muddy soup. Of the thirty-eight principal buildings and works that the Exposition Company planned for the fair, only fourteen had been completed by opening day—the Fire Engine House and the Waterfront Board Walk having been completed only in the last two days. The company failed to complete two planned buildings, the Historic Art and Education buildings, by the Exposition’s end in late November.</p><br>
<p>Prominent visitors included President Theodore Roosevelt, who opened the exposition and presided over the naval review. After the opening day, attendance dropped sharply, and never again achieved projections. The Exposition Company had initially lobbied the federal government for $1,640,000, and received a loan for an additional million, to be repaid by means of a lien on 40% of the gate receipts. When crowds failed to appear in the anticipated numbers—the exposition was attracting on average 13,000 visitors daily, only 7,400 of whom paid entrance—the company was able to repay only $140,000 of the million dollar loan. The fair began attracting negative attention in the press as early as the January before it opened, as a divisive split between members of the planning committee became public. The press who arrived for opening day found the grounds unfinished, the hotels overpriced, and the transportation offered between the fair and nearby towns insufficient.</p><br>
<p>But in time, things improved and portions of the event became spectacular. Planners asked each state of the union to contribute a building to the Exposition. While some of these buildings offered exhibits on the states history and industry, others primarily served as embassies of a sort for visitors from the state, providing sitting rooms and guest services. Lack of interest or funds prevented participation by all, but 21 states funded houses, which bore their names: for example, Pennsylvania House, Virginia House, New Hampshire House, etc. During the exposition, days were set aside to honor the states individually. The governor of each state usually appeared to greet visitors to the states house on these days. On June 10, 1907, "Georgia Day," Theodore Roosevelt returned to the Exposition, delivering a speech on the steps of the Georgia Building, which had been modeled after his mothers familys home.</p><br>
<p>The 340-acre (1.4 km²) site included a 122 by relief model of the Panama Canal, a wild animal show, a Wild West show, and a re-creation of the then-recent San Francisco earthquake. Possibly the most popular attraction was a re-creation of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, which had taken place within sight of Sewell&#39;s Point 40 years earlier during the Civil War. The exterior of the Merrimac-Monitor Building looked somewhat like a battleship, while the interior held a large, circular exhibit describing the battle.</p><br>
<p>The railroads put on elaborate displays. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) displayed its entire F.F.V. passenger train. The New York Central (NYC) electric engine on display was part of its Grand Central Station modernization project in New York City. Not to be outdone, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) brought a 23 ft-diameter section of its new East River Tunnel. The same section was later installed underwater as part of the link to the new Penn Station in New York City, with an inscription that it had been displayed at the Jamestown Exposition.</p><br>
<p>Other technology included late-model automobiles, autoboats, and electric and steam traction engines, each in its highest stage of development. The exposition was perhaps most notable for the display of military prowess; warships of many nations, including the sixteen battleships of the United States, participated in a naval review, and all kinds of modern military hardware were on display.</p><br>
<p>A controversial feature of the exposition was its "Negro Building", designed by W. Sydney Pittman, which displays showed the progress of African Americans. The exhibit was charged with being a "Jim Crow affair", and criticized by prominent figures like W. E. B. Du Bois who voiced his complaint in Appeal to Reason, a Socialist newspaper. However, other blacks saw the Negro Building as an achievement. The organizer Giles B. Jackson felt that having the exhibition in a separate Negro Hall allowed for a greater variety and completeness of presentation, and that it could better highlight the achievements of African Americans as African Americans. He said a separate building demonstrated black “capacity as a producer and the maker of anything and everything that has been made by other races.” For fairgoers sharing his opinion, many of whom were middle-class Southern blacks, the Negro Building represented an achievement that few Southern whites would have thought possible: the building was architecturally elegant, designed and built by blacks, with funds raised by blacks. A series of dioramas by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, a black woman artist from Philadelphia, comprised the first artwork done by an African American with federal funds.</p><br>
<p>Exhibits from both occupational and classical black educational institutions were represented. While the Exposition was a money-loser and derided by many in the press, the Negro Hall achieved nearly universal praise. It was the only exhibit visited by President Roosevelt in either of his visits. Although most commercial ventures lost money, the branch bank in the Negro Hall, affiliated with a local African-American institution, recorded one of the Exposition’s only profits, doing $75,731.87 in business in the course of the fair.</p><br>
<p>Mark Twain and Henry H. Rogers also paid a visit, arriving in the latters yacht Kanawha. Ships of two squadrons commanded by Admiral Robley D. Evans stood off in the bay from Sewells Point. On opening day, an international fleet of fifty-one ships was on display. The assembly included 16 battleships, five cruisers, and six destroyers. The fleet remained in Hampton Roads after the exposition closed and became President Theodore Roosevelts Great White Fleet under Admiral Evans, which toured the globe as evidence of the nations military might.</p><br>
<p>In addition to the ships anchored at Hampton Roads, the exposition provided a campground sufficient to house five thousand troops. Military and “semi-military” men in uniform were admitted for the price of a single day’s admission, fifty cents, and were permitted to come and go after that, as long as they were encamped at the exposition grounds and drilled regularly on the parade ground. This accounts for many of the 43% of people tallied entering the fair daily who did not pay admission. The organizers felt the troops provided informal entertainment and were an attraction to the exposition.</p><br>
<p>In conjunction with the first day of Exposition the USA Post Office issued a series of three commemorative stamps celebrating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. The 1-cent value portrayed Captain John Smith, the 2-cent value depicts the landing of Captain Smith and colonists at Chesapeake Bay and the 5-cent depicts Pocahontas.</p><br>
<h2>Results: financial loss, beginnings of a naval base</h2><br>
<p>The Exposition closed on December 1, 1907, as a financial failure, losing several million dollars. Attendance had been 3 million, a fraction of the numbers promised by the promoters. But, it had other benefits for the United States and for Norfolk and Hampton Roads.</p><br>
<p>Nearly every Congressman and Senator of prominence had attended the exposition, which showcased Sewell&#39;s Point. Of naval importance in the early Civil War, it had been virtually forgotten since shortly after its bombardment and return to Union hands in 1862. The admirals in Norfolk urged redevelopment of the exposition site as a Naval Base, to use the infrastructure which had been built.</p><br>
<p>Nearly 10 years would elapse before the idea, given impetus by World War I, would become a reality. The new Naval Base was aided by the improvements remaining from the Exposition, the strategic location at Sewell&#39;s Point on Hampton Roads, and the large amount of vacant land in the area. The coal piers and storage yards of the Virginian Railway (VGN), built by William N. Page and Henry H. Rogers, and completed in 1909, was immediately adjacent to the Exposition site. The well-engineered VGN was a valuable link directly to the bituminous coal of southern West Virginia, which the Navy strongly preferred for its steam-powered ships.</p><br>
<p>On June 28, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson set aside $2.8 million for land purchase and the erection of storehouses and piers for what was to become the Navy Base. Of the 474 acres (1.9 km²) originally acquired, 367 had been the old Jamestown Exposition grounds. The military property was later expanded considerably. The former Virginian Railway coal piers, land, and an adjacent coal storage facility owned by Norfolk & Western Railway (which merged with the VGN in 1959) were added in the 1960s and 1970s. The base now includes over 4,000 acres (16 km²).</p><br>
<p>Some of the exposition buildings which were taken over by the Navy remain in use, primarily as admirals quarters for the Navy Base. Thirteen of the state houses can still be seen on Dillingham Boulevard at the Naval Station Norfolk, on what has been called "Admirals Row." The Pennsylvania House, which through the first part of the century served as the Officers Club, later served as the Hampton Roads Naval Museum for many years until it was relocated in 1994 to Nauticus on the harbor in Norfolk. Other surviving state buildings on their original sites are the Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia House, as well as the Bakers Chocolate Company House. The remaining state buildings were moved in 1934 and include the Delaware, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Michigan, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Vermont buildings. The Illinois Building was relocated next to the North Dakota Building. The Kenneth L. Howard House at Dunn, North Carolina is a copy of the North Carolina building.</p><br>
<p>The Gulf of Thailand, formerly the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the western part of the South China and Eastern Archipelagic Seas, a marginal body of water in the western Pacific Ocean. The gulf is around 800 km  long and up to 560 km  wide, has a surface area of 320,000 km  and is surrounded on the north, west and southwest by Thailand, on the northeast by Cambodia and Vietnam. The South China Sea is to the southeast.</p><br>
<h2>Names</h2><br>
<p>The modern Thai name of the gulf is Ao Thai (อ่าวไทย, "Thai Gulf") and "Gulf of Thailand" has been adopted as the official name of the body by the International Hydrographic Organization. Its name in Malay and Khmer continues to be the "Gulf of Siam", Teluk Siam and ឈូងសមុទ្រសៀម, Chhoung Samut Siem, respectively. In Thai, the gulf is historically known as Ao Sayam (อ่าวสยาม). In Vietnamese it is known as Vịnh Thái Lan.</p><br>
<p>It is generally identified with the Great Gulf (Magnus Sinus) known to Greek, Roman, Arab, Persian, and Renaissance cartographers before the influx of Portuguese explorers removed the phantom Dragon Tail peninsula from European world maps in the 16th century.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Gulf of Thailand is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It occupies a seabed area of 304,000 km from 6° N to 13°30&#39; N latitude and 99°E to 104° E longitude. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The southern boundary of the gulf is defined by a line from Cape Bai Bung in southern Vietnam (just south of the mouth of the Mekong river) to the city of Kota Bharu on the Malaysian coast.</p><br>
<p>The gulf is relatively shallow: its mean depth is 58 m and the maximum depth is only 85 m. This makes water exchange slow, and the strong water inflow from the rivers reduce the level of salinity in the gulf (3.05–3.25%) and enriches the sediments. Only at greater depths does water with a higher salinity (3.4%) flow into the gulf from the South China Sea. It fills the central depression below a depth of 50 m. The main rivers which empty into the gulf are the Chao Phraya, including its distributary Tha Chin River, the Mae Klong, and Bang Pakong rivers at the Bay of Bangkok, and to a lesser degree the Tapi River flowing into Bandon Bay in the southwest of the gulf.</p><br>
<p>The International Hydrographic Organization defines the southern limit of the gulf as " line running from the Western extreme of Cambodia or Camau Point (8°36&#39;N) to the Northern extreme of the point on the East side of the estuary of the Kelantan River (6&deg;14&prime;N latitude, 102&deg;15&prime;E longitude)".</p><br>
<h3>Seabed morphology</h3><br>
<p>The seabed morphology in the central depression of the gulf is characterised by the presence of elongated mounds and ridges arranged parallel to the axis of the basin. This morphology, widespread within the gulf in water depths exceeding 50 m, covers an area of tens of thousands of square kilometres.</p><br>
<p>It reflects an interaction between sediment dewatering and the erosional activity of the present-day bottom currents.</p><br>
<h3>Bays</h3><br>
<p>Bay of Bangkok</p><br>
<p>Prachuap Bay</p><br>
<p>Ao Manao</p><br>
<p>Sattahip Bay</p><br>
<p>Bay of Kompong Som (Chhak Kompong Som)</p><br>
<p>Veal Rinh Bay</p><br>
<p>Kep Bay</p><br>
<p>Chhak Koh Kong</p><br>
<p>Vinh Tuan Ven</p><br>
<p>Vinh Ba Hon</p><br>
<p>Vinh Hon Chong</p><br>
<h3>Islands</h3><br>
<p>The larger islands in the gulf include:</p><br>
<p>Ko Chang</p><br>
<p>Ko Mak</p><br>
<p>Ko Kut</p><br>
<p>Ko Samui</p><br>
<p>Ko Pha Ngan</p><br>
<p>Ko Tao</p><br>
<p>Ko Phaluai</p><br>
<p>Ko Sichang</p><br>
<p>Ko Lan</p><br>
<p>Ko Phai</p><br>
<p>Ko Khram</p><br>
<p>Ko Samae San</p><br>
<p>Ko Samet</p><br>
<p>Phú Quốc</p><br>
<p>Koh Kong (island)</p><br>
<p>Koh Rong</p><br>
<h3>Coral reefs</h3><br>
<p>There are 75,590 rai of coral reef in the gulf, of which five percent are considered to be in fertile condition. In 2010 severe coral bleaching occurred at most reef sites in the country. Bleaching of reefs in the Andaman Sea was more severe and extensive than that in the Gulf of Thailand. In 2016, coral bleaching was detected at Ko Thalu and Ko Lueam in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province for the first time.</p><br>
<h2>Water quality</h2><br>
<p>Coastal water monitoring results in 2015 from 202 sampling locations, collected twice annually, indicate that no Thai coastal waters were found to be in excellent condition. Sixteen percent of coastal water was of good quality, 72 percent was of fair quality, 9 percent was of poor quality and 3 percent was of very poor quality. The quality of all coastal waters exhibited similar percentages — most were of fair quality — except for the Inner Gulf of Thailand, where the coastal water was poor to very poor. In comparison to coastal water quality as measured in 2014, water quality has deteriorated. Some gulf waters off Chachoengsao Province, Samut Sakhon Province, Samut Prakan Province, Bangkok, Rayong Province, Chonburi Province, Phetchaburi Province, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, and Surat Thani Province were judged to have coastal waters in "poor" or "very poor" condition. Songkhla was the only province on the gulf with coastal water rated "good" quality.</p><br>
<h2>Fisheries</h2><br>
<p>Of Thailands total marine catch, 41 percent is caught in the Gulf of Thailand and 19 percent in the Andaman Sea. Forty percent is caught in waters outside Thailands EEZ.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>The gulf&#39;s many coral reefs have made it attractive to divers. The tropical warmth of the water attracts many tourists. Some of the most important tourist destinations in the Gulf of Thailand are the islands of Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan in Surat Thani Province, Pattaya in Chonburi Province, Cha-am in Phetchaburi Province, Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, and Ko Samet in Rayong Province.</p><br>
<p>In recent years, the bay has become known for its whale watching activities, targeting the endemic, critically endangered populations of cetaceans (Edens whales, newly described Omuras whales, Chinese white dolphins, and Irrawaddy dolphins showing unique feeding behaviors), and dugongs. It was first classified by Müller in 1776 as Trichechus dugon. Presence of a critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle, a rare species in Thai waters, was confirmed during whale watching expeditions in January, 2016.</p><br>
<h2>Territorial disputes</h2><br>
<p>The area between Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam is subject to several territorial disputes. Malaysia and Thailand have chosen to jointly develop the disputed areas, which include the islands of Ko Kra and Ko Losin. A long-standing dispute between Cambodia and Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand concerns mainly the island of Phú Quốc or Koh Tral in Khmer, which is off the Cambodian coast. Cambodia also claims 48,000 km&sup2; of shelf area.</p><br>
<p>Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao Island, separated from Leyte by the Surigao Strait.</p><br>
<p>Several municipalities are situated on the coast of the gulf: Balangiga, Giporlos, Guiuan, Lawaan, Mercedes, Quinapondan and Salcedo. There are also eleven marine reserves in the gulf region.</p><br>
<p>Leyte Gulf was also the scene of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which extends to Surigao Strait during the Battle of Surigao Strait, the largest naval battle of World War II and started the end of Japanese occupation in the Philippines.</p><br>
<p>In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan stirred up a storm surge in Leyte Gulf, resulting to massive loss of lives, agricultural land and property along Leyte&#39;s shores.</p><br>
<h2>Fishing</h2><br>
<p>Leyte Gulf is identified by the Leyte State University as one of the important fishing grounds of Leyte and Samar. Like other rich fishing grounds such as Maqueda Bay and Carigara Bay, the gulf is known for abundant catches of anchioves, herring, shrimp and crabs. It was also once one of the richest sources of mud crabs in 1985. Fish harvest has been in decline in the gulf due to the use of dynamite fishing. Typhoon Haiyan has damaged the hard coral cover within the gulf&#39;s area, further reducing the fish harvest.</p><br>
<p>Macquarie Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies in the southwest Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54° 30 S, 158° 57 E. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997.</p><br>
<p>It was a part of Esperance Municipality until 1993 when the municipality was merged with other municipalities to Huon Valley. The island is home to the entire royal penguin population during their annual nesting season. Ecologically, the island is part of the Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion.</p><br>
<p>Since 1948 the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) has maintained a permanent base, the Macquarie Island Station, on the isthmus at the northern end of the island at the foot of Wireless Hill. The population of the base, the island&#39;s only human inhabitants, usually varies from 20 to 40 people over the year. A heliport is located near the base.</p><br>
<p>In September 2016, the Australian Antarctic Division said it would close its research station on the island in 2017. However, shortly afterwards the Australian government responded to widespread backlash to the decision by announcing funding to upgrade aging infrastructure and continue existing operations at Macquarie Island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Australian-Briton Frederick Hasselborough discovered the uninhabited island accidentally on 11 July 1810 when looking for new sealing grounds. He claimed Macquarie Island for Britain and annexed it to the colony of New South Wales in 1810. The island took its name after Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. Hasselborough reported a wreck "of ancient design", which has given rise to speculation that the island may have been visited before by Polynesians or others.</p><br>
<p>Richard Siddins and his crew ended up being shipwrecked in Hasselborough Bay on 11 June 1812. Joseph Underwood sent the ship Elizabeth and Mary to the Island to rescue the remaining crew. When Siddins landed on Macquarie island in 1812, he met the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen there.</p><br>
<p>Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who explored the area for Alexander I of Russia, produced the first map of Macquarie Island. Bellingshausen landed on the island on 28 November 1820, defined its geographical position and traded his rum and food for Macquarie Island&#39;s fauna with the sealers. Between 1810 and 1919, seals and then penguins were hunted almost to the point of extinction. The conditions on the island and the surrounding seas were considered so harsh that a plan to use it as a penal settlement was rejected.</p><br>
<p>In 1877, the crew of the schooner Bencleugh was shipwrecked on the islands for four months; folklore says they came to believe there was hidden treasure on the island. The ship&#39;s owner, John Sen Inches Thomson, wrote a book on his sea travels, including his time on the island. The book, written in 1912, was entitled Voyages and Wanderings In Far-off Seas and Lands.</p><br>
<p>In 1890, New South Wales transferred the island to Tasmania, which leased it to Joseph Hatch (1837–1928) between 1902 and 1920 for his oil industry based on harvesting penguins.</p><br>
<p>Between 1911 and 1914, the island became a base for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson. George Ainsworth operated a meteorological station between 1911 and 1913, followed by Harold Power (1913 to 1914) and by Arthur Tulloch from 1914 until it was shut down in 1915.</p><br>
<p>In 1933, the authorities declared the island a wildlife sanctuary under the Tasmanian Animals and Birds Protection Act 1928, and in 1972 it was made a State Reserve under the Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Act 1970.</p><br>
<p>The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) established its expedition headquarters on 25 May 1948 on Macquarie Island.</p><br>
<p>The island had status as a biosphere reserve under the Man and the Biosphere Programme from 1977 until its withdrawal from the programme in 2011.</p><br>
<p>On 5 December 1997, Macquarie Island was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a site of major geoconservation significance, being the only place on earth where rocks from the earth&#39;s mantle are being actively exposed above sea-level.</p><br>
<p>On 23 December 2004, an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the moment magnitude scale rocked the island but caused little damage.</p><br>
<p>Geoscience Australia issued a Tsunami Inundation Advice for Macquarie Island Station. The paper indicates that in certain scenario, a significant tsunami caused by a local earthquake could occur with no warning possible, and could inundate the isthmus where the existing station resides. Such a tsunami would likely affect other parts of the coastline and field huts located close to the shore. Such a significant earthquake at Macquarie Island capable of causing such a tsunami is a high risk according to several papers.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island is about 34 km long and 5 km wide, with an area of 128 km&sup2;. The island is in two main pieces of plateau of around 150 - elevation to the north and south, joined by a narrow isthmus close to sea level. The high points include Mount Elder on the north-east coastal ridge at 385 m, and Mounts Hamilton and Fletcher in the south at 410 m.</p><br>
<p>Near Macquarie Island are two small groups of minor islands, the Judge and Clerk Islets (54&deg;21&prime;S latitude, 159&deg;01&prime;E longitude), 14 km to the north, 0.2 km&sup2; in area, and the Bishop and Clerk Islets (55&deg;03&prime;S latitude, 158&deg;46&prime;E longitude), 34 km to the south, 0.6 km&sup2; in area. The Bishop and Clerk Islets are part of the Australian state of Tasmania and mark the southernmost point of Australia (including islands).</p><br>
<p>In the 19th century a phantom island named "Emerald Island" was believed to lie south of Macquarie Island.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Macquarie Island is an exposed portion of the Macquarie Ridge and is located where the Australian plate meets the Pacific plate. The island lies close to the edge of the submerged microcontinent of Zealandia, but is not regarded as part of it as the Macquarie Ridge is oceanic rather than continental crust.</p><br>
<p>It is the only place in the Pacific Ocean where rocks from the mantle are actively exposed at sea level. It also is the only oceanic environment with an exposed ophiolite sequence. Due to these unique geological exposures it was made a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Macquarie Islands climate is moderated by the sea, and all months have an average temperature above freezing although snow is common between June and October and may even occur in Macquarie Islands "summer". Its climate is defined as a tundra climate under the Köppen climate classification due to its cool summers.</p><br>
<p>Average daily maximum temperatures range from 4.9 &deg;C in July to 8.8 &deg;C in January. Precipitation occurs fairly evenly throughout the year and averages 967.9 mm annually. Macquarie Island is one of the cloudiest places on Earth with an average of only 856 hours of sunshine per year, similar to that in Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The flora has taxonomic affinities with other subantarctic islands, especially those to the south of New Zealand. Plants rarely grow over 1 m in height, though the tussock-forming grass Poa foliosa can grow up to 2 m tall in sheltered areas. There are over 45 vascular plant species and more than 90 moss species, as well as many liverworts and lichens. Woody plants are absent.</p><br>
<p>The island has five principal vegetation formations: grassland, herbfield, fen, bog and feldmark. Bog communities include featherbed, a deep and spongy peat bog vegetated by grasses and low herbs, with patches of free water. Endemic flora include the cushion plant Azorella macquariensis, the grass Puccinellia macquariensis, as well as two orchids – Nematoceras dienemum and Nematoceras sulcatum.</p><br>
<p>Mammals found on the island include: subantarctic fur seals, Antarctic fur seals, New Zealand fur seals and southern elephant seals – over 80,000 individuals of this species. Diversities and distributions of cetaceans are less known; southern right whales and orcas are more common followed by other migratory baleen and toothed whales especially sperm and beaked whales prefer deep waters. So called "Upland Seals" once found on Antipodes Islands and Macquarie Island have been claimed as a distinct subspecies of fur seals with thicker furs by scientists although it is unclear whether these seals were genetically distinct.</p><br>
<p>Royal penguins and Macquarie shags are endemic breeders, while king penguins, southern rockhopper penguins and gentoo penguins also breed here in large numbers. The island has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because it supports about 3.5 million breeding seabirds of 13 species.</p><br>
<h3>Ecological balance</h3><br>
<p>The ecology of the island was affected soon after the beginning of European visits to the island in 1810. The island&#39;s fur seals, elephant seals and penguins were killed for fur and blubber. Rats and mice that were inadvertently introduced from the ships prospered due to lack of predators. Cats were subsequently introduced deliberately to keep the rodents from eating human food stores. In about 1870, rabbits were left on the island by sealers to breed for food. By the 1970s, the then 130,000 rabbits were causing tremendous damage to vegetation.</p><br>
<p>The feral cats introduced to the island have had a devastating effect on the native seabird population, with an estimated 60,000 seabird deaths per year. From 1985, efforts were undertaken to remove the cats. In June 2000, the last of the nearly 2,500 cats were culled in an effort to save the seabirds. Seabird populations responded rapidly, but rats and rabbits continued to cause widespread environmental damage.</p><br>
<p>The rabbits rapidly multiplied before numbers were reduced to about 10,000 in the early 1980s when myxomatosis was introduced. Rabbit numbers then grew again to over 100,000 by 2006. The rodents feed on young chicks while rabbits nibbling on the grass layer has led to soil erosion and cliff collapses, destroying seabird nests. Large portions of the Macquarie Island bluffs are eroding as a result. In September 2006 a large landslip at Lusitania Bay, on the eastern side of the island, partially destroyed an important penguin breeding colony. Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service attributed the landslip to a combination of heavy spring rains and severe erosion caused by rabbits.</p><br>
<p>Research by Australian Antarctic Division scientists, published in the 13 January 2009 edition of the British Ecological Society&#39;s Journal of Applied Ecology, suggested that the success of the feral cat eradication program has allowed the rabbit population to increase, damaging the Macquarie Island ecosystem by altering significant areas of island vegetation. However, in a comment published in the same journal other scientists argued that a number of factors (primarily a reduction in the use of the Myxoma virus) were almost certainly involved and the absence of cats may have been relatively minor among them. The original authors examined the issue in a later reply and concluded that the effect of the Myxoma virus use was small and reaffirmed their original position.</p><br>
<p>On 4 June 2007 a media release by the Australian Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Malcolm Turnbull, announced that the Australian and Tasmanian Governments had reached an agreement to jointly fund the eradication of rodent pests, including rabbits, to protect Macquarie Islands World Heritage values. The plan, estimated to cost $24 million Australian dollars, was based on mass baiting the island similar to an eradication program on New Zealands Campbell Island, to be followed up with dog hunting teams trained by Steve Austin over a period of up to seven years. The baiting was expected to inadvertently affect kelp gulls, but higher than expected levels of bird deaths caused a temporary suspension of the program. Other species killed by the baits include giant petrels, black ducks and skuas.</p><br>
<p>In February 2012, The Australian reported that rabbits, rats and mice had been nearly eradicated from the island.</p><br>
<p>By April 2012, the hunting teams had located and exterminated 13 rabbits still surviving since the baiting in 2011. The last five rabbits found were in November 2011, including a lactating doe and four kittens. No fresh rabbit signs were found up to July 2013. On 8 April 2014 Macquarie Island was officially declared pest-free after seven years of conservation efforts. This achievement is the largest successful island pest-eradication program ever attempted.</p><br>
<h3>Wildlife sounds</h3><br>
<p>The Lansingburgh Academy was a seminary in Lansingburgh in the USA state of New York just north of the city of Troy from the late 18th century to 1900, when the building was leased, and later sold, to the local public school district, used initially as a high school. The building was eventually sold to the local library system, and, serves as the Lansingburgh Branch of the Troy Public Library.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>On December 24, 1795, a group of prominent Lansingburgh residents petitioned the Regents of the State of New York for a charter, for the purpose of establishing a Seminary of Learning to be called The Lansingburgh Academy. They had erected a wooden building on the west side of the village green. This petition was signed by 27 persons. The charter was granted on February 20, 1796 and signed by John Jay. It contained the names of the first sixteen trustees.</p><br>
<p>The trustees selected as the first principal Rev. Chauncey Lee, a noted educator and the author of The American Accomptant. He invented the dollar sign and first used it in a textbook he had published in Lansingburgh.</p><br>
<p>By 1820, it was apparent that the first building was not large enough to serve the growing student body, so a second building of brick was built on the northwest corner of what is now known as Fourth Avenue and 114th Street (then called North Street.) It remains almost unchanged in appearance today. The building was constructed on two lots transferred to the trustees of the Academy by a deed dated May 2, 1820.</p><br>
<p>In the new building with its expanded facilities, The Lansingburgh Academy flourished for the next eighty years. The Academy offered such an advanced program of study that students were able to enter college as sophomores after graduating.</p><br>
<p>Many famous people were connected to the Academy. Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, an early president, was later the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was the author of a noted Greek grammar, used at the Academy and in many colleges. Ebenezer D. Maltbie was in charge of the Academy when author Herman Melville graduated with a degree in surveying and engineering. Maltbie was the author of a popular book on zoology. And Chester A. Arthur, future president of the United States, taught a course in Elements of Law when he resided in Lansingburgh.</p><br>
<p>In 1900 (the year Lansingburgh was annexed by the city of Troy), the trustees of the Academy leased the building with its equipment and a fine library for a period of ten years to the Lansingburgh Free School District No. 1, to be used as a high school. During this time, a 2,500 square foot (230 m²) addition was built on the back of the building. On May 27, 1911 the lease expired and the trustees sold the Academy building to the Lansingburgh School District. The district used it as a high school and later as a vocational school. It was used for elementary classes until 1975.</p><br>
<p>In 1975, the Lansingburgh Citizen&#39;s Council was given full access to the building by the school district. The Council soon put together a proposal for the rehabilitation and restoration of the old Lansingburgh Academy so it could be used as an expanded branch of the Troy Public Library, and as a neighborhood arts center. Also in 1975, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1976, the Council, under the auspices of the City of Troy, was awarded a $350,000 grant for this project. Work included a new roof, complete interior and exterior painting, new doors, a handicapped access ramp, new heating and air conditioning systems and extensive interior construction work. The project was completed in 1980 and, after a brief stay at the Methodist Church, the library reopened in its new quarters.</p><br>
<h2>Lansingburgh Branch of the Troy Public Library</h2><br>
<p>The establishment of a branch library in Lansingburgh was due largely to the work of a citizens group called the Lansingburgh Library Association. The group felt the need for a library in Lansingburgh existed because of the difficulty residents had in getting to the main library downtown. As a result of the Association&#39;s efforts, in 1938 the Board of Education voted to give use of a small room in the former Lansingburgh Academy for a branch of the Troy Public Library, and to furnish the necessary heat, light and custodial service. It was necessary to appeal to the residents of the community to give books and financial aid to the library. The Lansingburgh Library Association was active in providing annual operating funds to the branch until the Association dissolved in 1947.</p><br>
<p>The branch library opened on June 15, 1939 in a room on the second floor of the vocational school. The new branch was staffed by a professional librarian and an assistant from the main library and contained about 500 volumes. After only five months, the collection had doubled in size and the library had to expand, so it moved from the second floor of the school to the first.</p><br>
<p>In 1940, there was a separation of adult and children&#39;s departments due to the heavy circulation. In 1952, the library was moved from the two front rooms to the rear of the building with the entrance on Fourth Avenue. In 1999, the Troy Public Library purchased the Lansingburgh Academy building from the Lansingburgh School District. In 2002, renovations were completed that nearly doubled the size of the branch. Today, the Lansingburgh Branch contains over 16,000 volumes, and continues to provide service to the citizens of Lansingburgh.</p><br>
<p>It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.</p><br>
<p>Georgetown is a historic neighborhood, commercial, and entertainment district located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751 in the Province of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years. Georgetown remained a separate municipality until 1871, when the United States Congress created a new consolidated government for the whole District of Columbia. A separate act passed in 1895 specifically repealed Georgetowns remaining local ordinances and renamed Georgetowns streets to conform with those in the City of Washington.</p><br>
<p>The primary commercial corridors of Georgetown are the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, which contain high-end shops, bars, restaurants, and the Georgetown Park enclosed shopping mall, as well as the Washington Harbour waterfront restaurants at K Street, between 30th and 31st Streets.</p><br>
<p>Georgetown is home to the main campus of Georgetown University and numerous other landmarks, such as the Volta Bureau and the Old Stone House, the oldest unchanged building in Washington. The embassies of Cameroon, France, Kosovo, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Mongolia, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine and Venezuela are located in Georgetown.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>Situated on the fall line, Georgetown was the farthest point upstream that oceangoing boats could navigate the Potomac River. In 1632, English fur trader Henry Fleet documented a Native American village of the Nacotchtank people called Tohoga on the site of present-day Georgetown and established trade there. The area was then part of the Province of Maryland, an English colony.</p><br>
<p>George Gordon constructed a tobacco inspection house along the Potomac in approximately 1745. The site was already a tobacco trading post when the inspection house was built. Warehouses, wharves, and other buildings were then constructed around the inspection house, and it quickly became a small community. It did not take long before Georgetown grew into a thriving port, facilitating trade and shipments of goods from colonial Maryland.</p><br>
<p>In 1751, the legislature of the Province of Maryland authorized the purchase of 60 acre of land from Gordon and George Beall at the price of £280. A survey of the town was completed in February 1752. Since Georgetown was founded during the reign of George II of Great Britain, some speculate that the town was named after him. Another theory is that the town was named after its founders, George Gordon and George Beall. The Maryland Legislature formally issued a charter and incorporated the town in 1789. (Although Georgetown was never officially made a city, it was later referred to as the "City of Georgetown" in several 19th-century acts of Congress.) Robert Peter, an early area merchant in the tobacco trade, became Georgetown&#39;s first mayor in 1790.</p><br>
<p>Col. John Beatty established the first church in Georgetown, a Lutheran church on High Street. Stephen Bloomer Balch established a Presbyterian Church in 1784. In 1795, the Trinity Catholic Church was built, along with a parish school-house. Construction of St. John&#39;s Episcopal Church began in 1797, but paused for financial reasons until 1803, and the church was finally consecrated in 1809. Banks in Georgetown included the Farmers and Mechanics Bank, which was established in 1814. Other banks included the Bank of Washington, Patriotic Bank, Bank of the Metropolis, and the Union and Central Banks of Georgetown.</p><br>
<p>Newspapers in Georgetown included the Republican Weekly Ledger, which was the first paper, started in 1790. The Sentinel was first published in 1796 by Green, English & Co. Charles C. Fulton began publishing the Potomac Advocate, which was started by Thomas Turner. Other newspapers in Georgetown included the Georgetown Courier and the Federal Republican. William B. Magruder, the first postmaster, was appointed on February 16, 1790, and in 1795, a custom house was established on Water Street. General James M. Lingan served as the first collector of the port.</p><br>
<p>In the 1790s, City Tavern, the Union Tavern, and the Columbian Inn opened and were popular throughout the 19th century. Of these taverns, only the City Tavern remains today, as a private social club (the City Tavern Club) located near the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street.</p><br>
<h3>Establishment of the federal capital</h3><br>
<p>George Washington frequented Georgetown, including Suter&#39;s Tavern where he worked out many deals to acquire land for the new Federal City. A key figure in the land deals was a local merchant named Benjamin Stoddert, who arrived in Georgetown in 1783. He had previously served as Secretary to the Board of War under the Articles of Confederation. Stoddert partnered with General Uriah Forrest to become an original proprietor of the Potomac Company.</p><br>
<p>Stoddert and other Potomac landowners agreed to a land transfer deal to the federal government at a dinner at Forrests home in Georgetown on March 28, 1791. Stoddert bought land within the boundaries of the federal district, some of it at the request of Washington for the government, and some on speculation. He also purchased stock in the federal government under Hamiltons assumption-of-debt plan. The speculative purchases were not, however, profitable and caused Stoddert much difficulty before his appointment as Secretary of the Navy to John Adams. Stoddert was rescued from his debts with the help of William Marbury, later of Marbury v. Madison fame, and also a Georgetown resident. He ultimately owned Halcyon House at the corner of 34th and Prospect Streets. The Forrest-Marbury House on M Street is currently the embassy of Ukraine.</p><br>
<p>After the establishment of the federal capital, Georgetown became an independent municipal government within the District of Columbia, along with the City of Washington, the City of Alexandria, and the newly created County of Washington and County of Alexandria (now Arlington County, Virginia).</p><br>
<h3>19th century</h3><br>
<p>By the 1820s, the Potomac River had become silted up and was not navigable up to Georgetown. Construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal began in July 1828, to link Georgetown to Harper&#39;s Ferry, Virginia (West Virginia afer 1863). But the canal was soon in a race with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and got to Cumberland eight years after the railroad, a faster mode of transport, and at the cost of $77,041,586. It was never profitable. From its beginning to December 1876, the canal earned $35,659,055 in revenue, while expending $35,746,301.</p><br>
<p>The Canal nonetheless provided an economic boost for Georgetown. In the 1820s and 1830s, Georgetown was an important shipping center. Tobacco and other goods were transferred between the canal and shipping on the Potomac River. As well, salt was imported from Europe, and sugar and molasses were imported from the West Indies. These shipping industries were later superseded by coal and flour industries, which flourished with the C & O Canal providing cheap power for mills and other industry. In 1862, the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company began a horsecar line running along M Street in Georgetown and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, easing travel between the two cities.</p><br>
<p>The municipal governments of Georgetown and the City of Washington were formally revoked by Congress effective June 1, 1871, at which point its governmental powers were vested within the District of Columbia. The streets in Georgetown were renamed in 1895 to conform to the street names in use in Washington.</p><br>
<p>By the late 19th century, flour milling and other industries in Georgetown were declining, in part due to the fact that the canals and other waterways continually silted up. Nathaniel Michler and S.T. Abert led efforts to dredge the channels and remove rocks around the Georgetown harbor, though these were temporary solutions and Congress showed little interest in the issue. An 1890 flood and expansion of the railroads brought destitution to the C&O Canal, and Georgetown&#39;s waterfront became more industrialized, with narrow alleys, warehouses, and apartment dwellings which lacked plumbing or electricity. Shipping trade vanished between the Civil War and World War I. As a result, many older homes were preserved relatively unchanged.</p><br>
<h3>20th century</h3><br>
<p>In 1915, the Buffalo Bridge (on Q Street) opened and connected this part of Georgetown with the rest of the city east of Rock Creek Park. Soon thereafter, new construction of large apartment buildings began on the edge of Georgetown. In the early 1920s, John Ihlder led efforts to take advantage of new zoning laws to get restrictions enacted on construction in Georgetown. A 1933 study by Horace Peaslee and Allied Architects laid out ideas for how Georgetown could be preserved.</p><br>
<p>The C & O Canal, then owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, formally ceased operations in March 1924. After severe flooding in 1936, B & O Railroad sold the canal to the National Park Service in October 1938. The waterfront area retained its industrial character in the first half of the 20th century. Georgetown was home to a lumber yard, a cement works, the Washington Flour mill, and a meat rendering plant, with incinerator smokestacks and a power generating plant for the old Capital Traction streetcar system, located at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue, which closed in 1935, and was demolished in October 1968. In 1949, the city constructed the Whitehurst Freeway, an elevated highway above K Street, to allow motorists entering the District over the Key Bridge to bypass Georgetown entirely on their way downtown.</p><br>
<p>In 1950, Public Law 808 was passed, establishing the historic district of "Old Georgetown". The law required that the United States Commission of Fine Arts be consulted on any alteration, demolition, or building construction within the historic district.</p><br>
<p>In 1967, the Georgetown Historic District was listed on the USA National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>21st century</h2><br>
<p>Georgetown is home to many politicians and lobbyists. Georgetowns landmark waterfront district was further revitalized in 2003 and includes hotels such as a Ritz-Carlton and a Four Seasons. Georgetowns highly traveled commercial district is home to a variety of specialty retailers and fashionable boutiques.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Georgetown is bounded by the Potomac River on the south, Rock Creek to the east, Burleith and Glover Park to the north, with Georgetown University on the west end of the neighborhood. Much of Georgetown is surrounded by parkland and green space that serve as buffers from development in adjacent neighborhoods, and provide recreation. Rock Creek Park, the Oak Hill Cemetery, Montrose Park and Dumbarton Oaks are located along the north and east edge of Georgetown, east of Wisconsin Avenue. The neighborhood is situated on bluffs overlooking the Potomac River. As a result, there are some rather steep grades on streets running north-south. The famous "Exorcist steps" connecting M Street to Prospect Street were necessitated by the hilly terrain of the neighborhood.</p><br>
<p>The primary commercial corridors of Georgetown are M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, whose high fashion stores draw large numbers of tourists as well as local shoppers year-round. There is also the Washington Harbour complex on K Street, on the waterfront, featuring outdoor bars and restaurants popular for viewing boat races. Between M and K Streets runs the historic Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, today plied only by tour boats; adjacent trails are popular with joggers or strollers.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>Georgetown in the 1850s had a large African-American population, including both slaves and free blacks. Slave labor was widely used in construction of new buildings in Washington, in addition to provide labor on tobacco plantations in Maryland and Virginia. Slave trading in Georgetown began in 1760, when John Beattie established his business on O Street and conducted business at other locations around Wisconsin Avenue. Slave trading continued until the mid-19th century, when it was banned. Other slave markets ("pens") were located in Georgetown, including one at McCandless&#39; Tavern near M Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Congress abolished slavery in Washington and Georgetown on April 16, 1862. Many African Americans moved to Georgetown following the Civil War, establishing a thriving community.</p><br>
<p>In the late 18th century and 19th century, African Americans comprised a substantial portion of Georgetowns population. The 1800 census reported the population in Georgetown at 5,120, which included 1,449 slaves and 227 free blacks. A testament to the African-American history that remains today is the Mount Zion United Methodist Church, which is the oldest African-American congregation in Washington. Prior to establishing the church, free blacks and slaves went to the Dumbarton Methodist Church where they were restricted to a hot, overcrowded balcony. The church was originally located in a small brick meetinghouse on 27th Street, but it was destroyed in the 1880s due to fire. The church was rebuilt on the present site. Mount Zion Cemetery offered free burials for Washingtons earlier African-American population. "From a pre-Civil War population of 6,798 whites, 1,358 free Negroes, and 577 slaves, Georgetown&#39;s population had grown to 17,300 but half these residents were poverty-stricken Negroes."</p><br>
<h2>Education</h2><br>
<h3>Primary and secondary education</h3><br>
<p>Throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries the concentration of wealth in Georgetown sparked the growth of many university-preparatory schools in and around the neighborhood. One of the first schools was the Columbian Academy on N Street, which was established in 1781 with Reverend Stephen Balch serving as the headmaster.</p><br>
<p>Private schools currently located in Georgetown include Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, while nearby is the eponymous Georgetown Day School. Georgetown Preparatory School, while founded in Georgetown, moved in 1915 to its present location several miles north of Georgetown in Montgomery County.</p><br>
<p>District of Columbia Public Schools operates area public schools, including Hyde-Addison Elementary School on O Street. Hardy Middle School and Wilson High School both serve Georgetown as zoned schools. Duke Ellington School of the Arts, a public magnet school, is in the community.</p><br>
<h3>Georgetown University</h3><br>
<p>The main campus of Georgetown University is located on the western edge of the Georgetown neighborhood. Father John Carroll founded Georgetown University as a Jesuit private university in 1789, though its roots extend back to 1634. Although the school struggled financially in its early years, Georgetown expanded into a branched university after the American Civil War under the leadership of university president Patrick Francis Healy., the university has 6,853 undergraduate students and 4,490 graduate students on the main campus.</p><br>
<p>The main campus is just over 102 acre in area and includes 58 buildings, student residences capable of accommodating 80 percent of undergraduates, various athletic facilities, and the medical school. Most buildings employ collegiate Gothic architecture and Georgian brick architecture. Campus green areas include fountains, a cemetery, large clusters of flowers, groves of trees, and open quadrangles. The main campus has traditionally centered on Dahlgren Quadrangle, although Red Square has replaced it as the focus of student life. Healy Hall, built in Flemish Romanesque style from 1877 to 1879, is the architectural gem of Georgetown&#39;s campus, and is a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<h3>Public libraries</h3><br>
<p>The District of Columbia Public Library operates the Georgetown Neighborhood Library, which originally opened at 3260 R St. NW in October 1935 on the site of the former Georgetown Reservoir. An earlier public library in Georgetown was endowed by financier George Peabody in 1867 and opened in a room of the Curtis School on O Street opposite St. John&#39;s Church in 1875. In the early 1930s a library committee was formed to encourage the establishment of a new public library branch in Georgetown.</p><br>
<p>The building was severely damaged by a fire on April 30, 2007 and underwent a $17.9 million renovation and expansion. The building was re-opened on October 18, 2010 with a LEED-Silver Certification from the USA Green Building Council. A newly constructed, climate-controlled third floor now houses the collections of the original Peabody Library and is a center for research on Georgetown history.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>Georgetown&#39;s transportation importance was defined by its location just below the fall line of the Potomac River. The Aqueduct Bridge (and later, the Francis Scott Key Bridge) connected Georgetown with Virginia. Before the Aqueduct Bridge was built, a ferry service owned by John Mason connected Georgetown to Virginia. In 1788, a bridge was constructed over Rock Creek to connect Bridge Street (M Street) with the Federal City.</p><br>
<p>Georgetown was located at the juncture of the Alexandria Canal and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The C&O Canal, begun in Georgetown in 1829, reached Cumberland, Maryland in 1851, and operated until 1924. Wisconsin Avenue is on the alignment of the tobacco hogshead rolling road from rural Maryland, and the Federal Customs House was located on 31st Street (now utilized as the post office). The city&#39;s oldest bridge, the sandstone bridge which carries Wisconsin Avenue over the C&O Canal, and which dates to 1831, was reopened to traffic on May 16, 2007, after a $3.5 million restoration. It is the only remaining bridge of five constructed in Georgetown by the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company.</p><br>
<p>Several streetcar lines and interurban railways interchanged passengers in Georgetown. The station was located in front of the stone wall on Canal Road (currently occupied by a gas station) adjacent to the Exorcist steps, and the former D.C. Transit car barn at the end of the Key Bridge. Four suburban Virginia lines, connecting through Rosslyn, Virginia, provided links from the D.C. streetcar network to Mount Vernon, Falls Church, Great Falls, Fairfax, Vienna, Leesburg, and Purcellville. Streetcar operations in Washington, D.C. ended January 28, 1962. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built an 11-mile branch line from Silver Spring, Maryland, to Water Street in Georgetown in an abortive attempt to construct a southern connection to Alexandria, Virginia. The line served as an industrial line, shipping coal to a General Services Administration power plant on K Street (now razed) until 1985. The abandoned right-of-way has since been converted into the Capital Crescent Trail – a rails-to-trails route – and the power plant replaced by a condo.</p><br>
<p>There is no Metro station in Georgetown. Some residents opposed building one but no serious plans for a station existed in the first place, primarily due to the engineering issues presented by the extremely steep grade from the Potomac River (under which the subway tunnel would run) to the center of Georgetown, very close to the river. The planners expected the Metro to serve rush-hour commuters, and the neighborhood has few apartments, office buildings, or automobile parking areas. Since the Metro&#39;s opening, there have been occasional discussions about adding another subway line and tunnel under the Potomac to service the area. Three stations are located roughly one mile (1.6 km) from the center of Georgetown: Rosslyn (across the Key Bridge in Arlington), Foggy Bottom-GWU, and Dupont Circle. Georgetown is served by the 30-series, D-Series, and G2 Metrobuses, as well as the DC Circulator.</p><br>
<h2>Historic landmarks</h2><br>
<p>The entire Georgetown neighborhood is a designated National Historic Landmark District. It received this designation in 1967 for its large concentration of well-preserved colonial and Federal period architecture.</p><br>
<p>Georgetown is also home to a variety of other historic landmarks, including:</p><br>
<p>Canal Square Building, 1054 31st Street, NW, former home of the Tabulating Machine Company, a direct precursor of IBM</p><br>
<p>The City Tavern Club, built in 1796, is the oldest commercial structure in Washington, D.C.</p><br>
<p>The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, begun in 1829.</p><br>
<p>Dumbarton Oaks, 3101 R Street, NW, former home of John C. Calhoun, USA vice president, where the United Nations charter was outlined in 1944.</p><br>
<p>Evermay, built in 1801 and restored by F. Lammot Belin</p><br>
<p>The Forrest-Marbury House, 3350 M Street, NW, where George Washington met with local landowners to acquire the District of Columbia. Currently the Embassy of Ukraine.</p><br>
<p>Georgetown Lutheran Church was the first church in Georgetown, dates back to 1769. The current church structure, the fourth on the site, was built in 1914.</p><br>
<p>Georgetown Presbyterian Church was established in 1780 by Reverend Stephen Bloomer Balch. Formerly located on Bridge Street (M Street), the current church building was constructed in 1881 on P Street.</p><br>
<p>Healy Hall on Georgetown&#39;s campus, built in Flemish Romanesque style from 1877 to 1879 was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.</p><br>
<p>Mount Zion United Methodist Church and Mount Zion Cemetery</p><br>
<p>The Oak Hill Cemetery, a gift of William Wilson Corcoran whose Gothic Revival chapel and gates were designed by James Renwick, is the resting place of Abraham Lincoln&#39;s son Willie and other figures.</p><br>
<p>The Old Stone House, built in 1765, located on M Street is the oldest original structure in Washington, D.C.</p><br>
<p>Tudor Place and Dumbarton Court</p><br>
<p>The Volta Laboratory and Bureau, created by Alexander Graham Bell as his first formal research laboratory, the profits from which were used to create a research and educational institution devoted to serving the deaf, which operates today as the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, also known as the AG Bell.</p><br>
<h2>Notable residents</h2><br>
<p>Famous former residents include:</p><br>
<p>Thomas Jefferson lived for some time in Georgetown while serving as vice president under President John Adams. Georgetown was home to Francis Scott Key who arrived as a young lawyer in 1808 and resided on M Street. Dr. William Beanes, a relative of Key, captured the rear guard of the British Army while it was burning Washington during the War of 1812. When the mass of the army retreated, they retrieved their imprisoned guard and took Dr. Beanes as a captive to their fleet near Baltimore. Key went to the fleet to request the release of Beanes, was held until the bombardment of Fort McHenry was completed, and gained the inspiration for "The Star-Spangled Banner".</p><br>
<p>Alexander Graham Bell&#39;s earliest switching office for the Bell System was located on a site just below the C&O Canal, and it remains in use as a phone facility to this day. Bell originally moved to Georgetown due to the numerous legal hearings related to telephone patents, but then later created the Volta Laboratory and stayed on due to the many other scientific and technical organizations established in the region.</p><br>
<p>John F. Kennedy lived in Georgetown in the 1950s as both a Congressman and a Senator. Parties hosted by his wife, Jackie, and many other Georgetown hostesses drew political elites away from downtown clubs and hotels or the upper 16th Street corridor. Kennedy went to his presidential inauguration from his townhouse at 3307 N Street in January 1961.</p><br>
<p>Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk resided in Georgetown and attended the Georgetown synagogue, Kesher Israel Congregation, between 1964 and 1983 when he was researching and writing his two novels of World War II, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.</p><br>
<p>Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor lived in Georgetown during her marriage to Senator John Warner in the 1970s and early 80s. Taylors first major stage performance, in Lillian Hellmans The Little Foxes, took place nearby at the Kennedy Center during that time.</p><br>
<p>Current residents include:</p><br>
<p>Former Secretary of State John Kerry</p><br>
<p>Former Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee</p><br>
<p>Washington Post Watergate reporter and current assistant managing editor Bob Woodward</p><br>
<p>Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright</p><br>
<p>Montana Senator Max Baucus</p><br>
<h2>In film</h2><br>
<p>Many movies have been filmed in Georgetown:</p><br>
<p>Topaz (1969, private house)</p><br>
<p>The Exorcist (1973) was set in the neighborhood and partially filmed there. In the movie&#39;s climactic scene, the protagonist is hurled down the 75-step staircase at the end of 36th Street NW, which connects Prospect Street with M Street below. The staircase has come to be known as the "Exorcist steps". A false front was built onto the house at the top of the steps so that the bedroom windows would immediately overlook the steps. The real structure is considerably set-back.</p><br>
<p>St. Elmo&#39;s Fire (1985) was set in Georgetown, though the campus fraternity row portions were filmed at the University of Maryland campus in College Park.</p><br>
<p>No Way Out (1987) featured a Georgetown Metro stop as a plot device, even though no such station exists; the subway station shots were filmed in Baltimore, Maryland. Chase scenes for the movie were shot on the Whitehurst Freeway.</p><br>
<p>The Man with One Red Shoe (1985, an early Tom Hanks film)</p><br>
<p>Chances Are (1989)</p><br>
<p>The Exorcist 3 (1990)</p><br>
<p>Timecop (1994)</p><br>
<p>True Lies (1994)</p><br>
<p>Dave (1993)</p><br>
<p>The Jackal (1997, private homes)</p><br>
<p>Enemy of the State (1998)</p><br>
<p>Dick (1999, C&O Canal)</p><br>
<p>Election (1999)</p><br>
<p>Spy Games (2001)</p><br>
<p>Minority Report (2002)</p><br>
<p>The Recruit (2003)</p><br>
<p>The Girl Next Door (2004)</p><br>
<p>Wedding Crashers (2005)</p><br>
<p>Transformers (2007).</p><br>
<p>Although Burn After Reading (2008) featured Georgetown prominently, filming was done in Brooklyn.</p><br>
<p>The television series The West Wing occasionally filmed scenes in and around Georgetown.</p><br>
<p>Several animals described by and named for Georg Steller, of whom no portrait is known to exist. Clockwise from top left: Stellers sea eagle, Stellers jay, Stellers sea lion, Stellers sea cow , and Steller&#39;s eider.</p><br>
<p>Georg Wilhelm Steller (10 March 1709 – 14 November 1746) was a German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer, who worked in Russia and is considered a pioneer of Alaskan natural history.</p><br>
<h2>Biography</h2><br>
<p>Steller was born in Windsheim, near Nuremberg in Germany, son to a Lutheran cantor named Johann Jakob Stöhler (after 1715, Stöller), and studied at the University of Wittenberg. He then traveled to Russia as a physician on a troop ship returning home with the wounded. He arrived in Russia in November 1734. He met the naturalist Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt (1685–1735) at the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Two years after Messerschmidt&#39;s death, Steller married his widow and acquired notes from his travels in Siberia not handed over to the Academy.</p><br>
<p>Steller knew about Vitus Bering’s Second Kamchatka Expedition, which had left Saint Petersburg in February 1733. He volunteered to join it and was accepted. He then left St Petersburg in January 1738 with his wife who decided to stay in Moscow and go no farther. Steller met Johann Georg Gmelin in Yeniseisk in January 1739. Gmelin recommended that Steller take his place in the planned exploration of Kamchatka. Steller embraced that role and finally reached Okhotsk and the main expedition in March 1740 as Bering&#39;s ships, the St. Peter and St. Paul, were nearing completion.</p><br>
<p>In September 1740, the expedition sailed to the Kamchatka Peninsula with Bering and his two expeditionary vessels sailing around the peninsulas south tip and up to Avacha Bay on the Pacific coast. Steller went ashore on the east coast of Kamchatka to spend the winter in Bolsherechye, where he helped to organize a local school and began exploring Kamchatka. When Bering summoned him to join the voyage in search of America and the strait between the two continents, serving in the role of scientist and physician, Steller crossed the peninsula by dog sled. After Berings St. Peter was separated from its sister ship the St. Paul in a storm, Bering continued to sail east, expecting to find land soon. Steller, reading sea currents and flotsam and wildlife, insisted they should sail northeast. After considerable time lost they turned northeast and made landfall in Alaska at Kayak Island on Monday 20 July 1741. Bering wanted to stay only long enough to take on fresh water. Steller argued Captain Bering into giving him more time for land exploration and was granted 10 hours. During this time, as the first non-native to have set foot upon Alaskan soil, Steller became the first European naturalist to describe a number of North American plants and animals, including a jay later named Steller&#39;s jay.</p><br>
<p>Of the 6 species of birds and mammals that Steller discovered during the voyage, two are extinct (Stellers sea cow and the spectacled cormorant), and three are endangered or in severe decline (Stellers sea lion, Stellers eider and Stellers sea eagle). The sea cow, in particular, a massive northern relative of the dugong, lasted only 27 years after Steller discovered and named it, a limited population that quickly became victim of over-hunting by the Russian crews that followed in Bering&#39;s wake.</p><br>
<p>Steller&#39;s jay is one of the few species named after Steller that is not currently endangered. In his brief encounter with the bird, Steller was able to deduce that the jay was kin to the American blue jay, a fact which seemed proof that Alaska was indeed part of North America.</p><br>
<p>Although Steller tried to treat the crews growing scurvy epidemic with leaves and berries he had gathered, officers scorned his proposal. Steller and his assistant were some of the very few who did not suffer from the ailment. On the return journey, with only 12 members of the crew able to move and the rigging rapidly failing, the expedition was shipwrecked on what later became known as Bering Island. Almost half of the crew had perished from scurvy during the voyage. Steller nursed the survivors, including Bering, but the aging captain could not be saved and died. The remaining men made camp with little food or water, a situation made only worse by frequent raids by Arctic foxes. Despite the hardships the crew endured, Steller studied the flora, fauna, and topography of the island in great detail. Of particular note were the only detailed behavioral and anatomical observations of Stellers sea cow, a large sirenian mammal that once ranged across the Northern Pacific during the Ice Ages, but whose surviving relict population was confined to the shallow kelp beds around the Commander Islands, and which was driven to extinction within 30 years of discovery by Europeans.</p><br>
<p>Based on these and other observations, Steller later wrote De Bestiis Marinis (‘On the Beasts of the Sea’), describing the fauna of the island, including the northern fur seal, the sea otter, Stellers sea lion, Stellers sea cow, Stellers eider and the spectacled cormorant. Steller claimed the only recorded sighting of the marine cryptid, Stellers sea ape.</p><br>
<p>In early 1742 the crew used salvaged material from the St. Peter to construct a new vessel to return to Avacha Bay and nicknamed it The Bering. Steller spent the next two years exploring the Kamchatka peninsula. Because of his sympathies for the native Kamchatkans, he was accused of fomenting rebellion and was recalled to Saint Petersburg. At one point he was put under arrest and made to return to Irkutsk for a hearing. He was freed, and again turned west toward St. Petersburg, but along the way he came down with a fever and died at Tyumen.</p><br>
<p>His journals, which reached the Academy and were later published by Peter Simon Pallas, were used by other explorers of the North Pacific, including Captain Cook.</p><br>
<h2>Discoveries and namesakes</h2><br>
<p>Georg Steller described a number of animals and plants, some of which bear his name, either in the common name or scientific:</p><br>
<p>Steller&#39;s eider (Polysticta stelleri)</p><br>
<p>Steller&#39;s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)</p><br>
<p>Sea otter (Enhydra lutris)</p><br>
<p>Steller&#39;s sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus)</p><br>
<p>Steller&#39;s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas)</p><br>
<p>Steller&#39;s sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus)</p><br>
<p>Gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri)</p><br>
<p>Hoary mugwort (Artemisia stelleriana)</p><br>
<p>Stellera L. (Thymelaeaceae)</p><br>
<p>There is a secondary school in Anchorage, Alaska named after him: Steller Secondary School.</p><br>
<p>Klein Bonaire  is a small uninhabited islet off the west coast of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, and is part of the Dutch special municipality of Bonaire. The islet, which sits within the rough crescent formed by the main island, is 6 km&sup2; and extremely flat, rising no more than two meters above the sea. The only structures on the island are some ruins of slave huts , and a small open shelter on the beach facing Bonaire. The island has no running water or sanitation facilities.</p><br>
<p>The distance from the shore of Bonaire to the shore of Klein Bonaire is about 800 m at the nearest point. This span is frequently traversed by private and commercial boats and can be done by kayak with some difficulty. The primary attraction for visitors is scuba diving and snorkeling the pristine coral reef surrounding the islet. Numbered yellow painted rocks near the open shelter show where divers can cross low points on the reef, which is very close to the beach. When facing the water at the rocks the current runs from right to left.</p><br>
<p>In 1868, Klein Bonaire was sold to Angel Jeserun and remained in private hands until 1999. During this period the native trees were removed, resulting in a scrub growth across the island. The development of Klein Bonaire was attempted a few times prior to its establishment as a marine preserve. The final development plan in 1995 was also unsuccessful and led to finally preserving it. Concerned locals rallied to save Klein Bonaire and raise funds to do so and The Foundation for the Preservation of Klein Bonaire (FPKB) was born. Through efforts of the FPKB and other concerned parties, and with monies from the Department of the Interior and Kingdom Affairs of the Netherlands, the World Nature Fund of the Netherlands and FPKB, the island was successfully purchased for 9 million Netherlands Antillean guilder (US$5 million). Klein Bonaire is now part of the Bonaire National Marine Park. Long-term plans include reintroduction of the native vegetation.</p><br>
<p>Klein Bonaire is included in the protection of the Bonaire National Marine Park and is home to turtle nesting grounds and occasional flamingos.</p><br>
<p>Montastraea annularis was the most common coral seen during a recent 2011 survey.</p><br>
<p>The Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia 14 km from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland&#39;s most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are used by commercial operators who provide seafood to market.</p><br>
<p>The Port of Brisbane coordinates large traffic along the shipping channel which crosses the northern section of the bay. The bay serves as a safe approach to the airport and reduces noise pollution over the city to the west of the runway. A number of barge, ferry and water-taxi services also travel over the bay.</p><br>
<p>Moreton Bay was the site of conflict between the indigenous Quandamooka people and early European settlers. It contains environmentally significant habitats and large areas of sandbanks. The bay is the only place in Australia where dugong gather into herds. Many parts of the mainland foreshore and southern islands are settled.</p><br>
<p>Moreton Bay is described as lagoonal because of the existence of a series of off-shore barrier islands that restrict the flow of oceanic water. This shallow depth lets light filter through to the seafloor, allowing an array of marine plants to grow which support a diverse range of fauna. The bay itself covers 1,523 km&sup2; and has a catchment area 14 times larger, covering 21,220 km&sup2;. The waters of the bay are mostly blue in colour. Western parts of the bay are sometimes tinted green from algae, brown from suspended sediments or yellow-brown from humic runoff.</p><br>
<p>In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Moreton Bay was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "Natural attraction".</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>Moreton Bay was formed roughly 6000 years ago as the sea level rose and inundated what was then the floodplains of the Brisbane River. Moreton Bay and its islands were inhabited by indigenous tribes. In indigenous economy was very rich, one of the strongest for its productive yields of edible natural resources on the Australian continent. Of particular importance for the intertribal trade and ceremonial life were in particular massive oyster beds, the annual mullet catch, and bunya nut harvesting, on the coast and inland, which led to annual migrations either way to enjoy the abundance of the respective tribal group&#39;s territory. In the 1840s, resident white administrators estimated the aboriginal population of the area to be around 4,000. They were only outnumbered with the influx over the five year period of 1850-1855 with saw the disembarkation of 3,000 European migrants on their land.</p><br>
<h3>European exploration and settlement</h3><br>
<p>The name Mortons Bay was given by Captain Cook when he passed the area on 15 May 1770, honouring Lord Morton, president of the Royal Society. The spelling Moreton was an error in the first published account of Cooks voyage (Hawkesworths Voyages). Cook gave the name only to the bight formed by the northern end of Stradbroke Island (in 1770, there was only one island) and the eastern side of Moreton Island. He was unaware of the South Passage (as its now called) between the two islands, and did not sail into what is the present Moreton Bay.</p><br>
<p>Matthew Flinders was the first recorded European to enter the bay in 1799 touching down at the Pumicestone Passage, Redcliffe and Coochiemudlo Island. He was followed by John Oxley who explored the Brisbane River in 1823. On a subsequent visit in the following year, Oxley established the first European settlement in the bay at the present site of Redcliffe.</p><br>
<p>After Oxley in 1823 came convicts and soldiers. As the South Passage between Moreton and Stradbroke Islands was the shortest shipping route, a depot and pilot station were established at Amity Point in 1825.</p><br>
<p>European settlement began in earnest after the abandonment of the Redcliffe settlement, and work began on the new convict settlement several miles up the Brisbane River in 1825. Within a couple years this new settlement was growing rapidly and the number of ships entering the bay was increasing. As a result, the facilities required to service the pilot station at Amity grew, and in 1827 convicts were sent to the island to build a new causeway at Dunwich, remnants of which can still be found on the same site. Within a year the first permanent European settlement at Dunwich had been built.</p><br>
<p>The first immigrant ship from England, the Artemisia, reached Moreton Bay in December 1848 after a four-month journey. The next year saw the arrival of the Fortitude carrying more free immigrants to the settlement.</p><br>
<p>By the 1850s the region&#39;s earliest industry was utilising the bay for the transport of timber. After felling, the logs were dragged or rolled into flooded streams from where they were washed downstream to tidal reaches and bound together into rafts. After the floods had ceased and tides returned to normal, the currents of the bay and sometimes boats were used to direct the timber north to the Brisbane River or to Dunwich for shipment to Sydney.</p><br>
<p>The bay was home to the Lightship Rose which provided a permanent navigation aid to passing ships at the mouth of the Brisbane River. The John Oxley was another notable boat which temporarily acted as a pilot ship.</p><br>
<p>Car ferries began crossing the bay to reach North Stradbroke Island in 1947, leading to an increase in tourism on the island. In the 1950s both sand mining and the first land sales at Point Lookout occurred.</p><br>
<p>On 1 September 2007 four people were killed in a boat accident on the bay, two kilometres from the Pinkenba boat ramp. Ten others were injured.</p><br>
<p>Moreton Bay has at least 102 shipwrecks of which 26 have their exact location known.</p><br>
<h3>European contact with Aborigines</h3><br>
<p>At first the Quandamooka tribes had a choice of avoiding contact or engaging with the Europeans at the various small government institutions that were established on the mainland and on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island). Aboriginal labour and resources were, however, voluntarily supplied to assist these newcomers, for example, at the pilot station.</p><br>
<p>Problems came about when the newcomers displayed a lack of respect for Aboriginal marriage rules, stole bones and other artefacts and desecrated sites important to the Aboriginals. This produced a period of conflict through the 1830s, sometimes followed up by reprisals with guns, during which a number of Aboriginal people were massacred.</p><br>
<p>Like the mainland tribes, the Nooghie, Noonuccal and Goenpul people struggled when Moreton Bay was opened up to free settlers. The mainland Aboriginal people in particular were progressively deprived of the traditional hunting grounds and food. When they turned to killing domestic stock to survive, they were rounded up and shot. As their tribal groups and way of life disintegrated, many drifted towards towns and cities. Because of their isolation, the people of the islands, however, managed to keep a lot of their traditional ways alive.</p><br>
<p>In 1843, Catholic missionaries chose Dunwich as the site for the first Catholic mission to Australian Aborigines. The sand islands of Quandamooka did not support pasturage suitable for sheep and cattle, and thus there did not occur conversion of large tracts of land into farms and pastoral properties and the subsequent widespread annihilation and displacement of Aboriginal people. The very existence of the quarantine station on Stradbroke Island from 1850 to the 1870s led to the official discouragement of pastoralism or wider settlement for fear of spreading disease. Another reason for discouraging settlement was to reduce the likelihood of incoming vessels to the bay evading customs duty.</p><br>
<p>Thus the European usage and occupation of Quandamooka in the 19th century was largely restricted to government institutions on small portions on the islands, and with free enterprise business men like the Campbell brothers who ran a saltworks and sugar plantations on Russell and Macleay islands, and the early fishing and oystering businesses in the bay who employed the Aboriginal people of Quandamooka.</p><br>
<p>Aboriginal peoples were a source of labour for various institutions and enterprises from the time of the first pilot station. Conflict with Europeans intensified during the middle part of the 19th century, leading to significant numbers of Aboriginal people being killed (including at the hands of the native police). Despite these conflicts other Aboriginal people were able to evade intense contact due to the lack of European activity on the bay islands. From the 1830s to 1865 there remained virtual exclusive Aboriginal possession of most of Quandamooka. However trade and social interaction with the mainland groups gradually diminished due to the outward march of pastoral settlement on the mainland. This resulted in irreparable damage to indigenous social networks and patterns of group intermarriage, as well as joint ceremonial activities.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and natural history</h2><br>
<p>The bay extends some 125 km from Caloundra in the north almost to Surfers Paradise in the south. The bay&#39;s southern navigation entrance is the Gold Coast Seaway. The bay is 35 km across at its widest point.</p><br>
<p>It is separated from the Coral Sea by a chain of three sand islands: Moreton Island in the north, North Stradbroke Island, and South Stradbroke Island in the south. Tipplers Passage is the main channel on the western coast of South Stradbroke Island. The Gold Coast Seaway is at the southern extent of Moreton Bay, before the Gold Coast Broadwater.</p><br>
<p>The bay itself contains around 360 islands in total. This includes the populated Russell, Macleay, Lamb and Karragarra Islands collectively known as the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. Residential development has also occurred on Coochiemudlo Island and Bribie Island. In the past Peel Island has been used as a sisal plantation, quarantine station, asylum and a leper colony.</p><br>
<p>Moreton Bay is generally shallow and sandy, though a substantive channel is maintained to allow access to the Port of Brisbane at Fisherman Islands at the mouth of the Brisbane River, for international shipping. As well as the Brisbane River, the Pimpama River, Logan River, Albert River, Pine River, Tingalpa Creek and the Schulz Canal all empty into Moreton Bay. Within Moreton Bay are the smaller bays of Waterloo Bay, Redland Bay, Raby Bay, Deception Bay and Bramble Bay.</p><br>
<p>The bay contains a number of island villages such as the settlement on the bayside of Moreton Island, Tangalooma and on North Stradbroke, Dunwich and Amity Point. Prominent coastal communities and mainland suburbs situated on the bay include Deception Bay, Scarborough, Redcliffe, Margate, Woody Point, Brighton, Sandgate, Cleveland, Victoria Point and Redland Bay. Other attractions in the bay include Pumicestone Passage and numerous boat ramps, marinas and jetties, including the Shorncliffe pier.</p><br>
<h3>Sandbanks</h3><br>
<p>Moreton Bay is filled with sandbanks from sand supplied via littoral drift along the coast of Moreton Island. The field of sandbanks extends across the entrance to Moreton Bay and evolved after sea level reached its present position, about 6,500 years ago after the last ice age Between Tangalooma and Skirmish Point on Bribie Island are the Middle Banks, Central Banks and Western Banks. From north of Moreton Island towards Caloundra are the Yulle Road, Spitfire Bank, and the Salamander Bank, amongst others.</p><br>
<p>Amity Banks are found just west of Amity Point, while the Moreton Banks lie to the west of the southern tip of Moreton Island. These banks can be hazard for marine navigation because they are constantly changing due to tidal currents.</p><br>
<p>The Middle Banks area close to Moreton Island has been used in the past as a source of sand for large projects such as the nearby Brisbane Airport and port facilities. Past dredging has removed 18 million metres and the removal of another 40 million metres is planned. Future sand extraction is expected to aid a major shipping channel straightening project.</p><br>
<p>To ensure the shipping channel remains open, several areas of the bay have been allocated for dredged material dumping sites. These sites have been selected to provide beach nourishment, aiding the natural long shore transport of sand along ocean beaches.</p><br>
<h3>Flora and fauna</h3><br>
<p>The bays heritage protected wetlands, mudflats, and waterways are some of the healthiest in the region, supporting seasonally up to 25% of Australias bird species. The combination of muddy habitats on the western side of the bay and sandy habitats on the eastern side of the bay together with coral and seagrass beds support more than 43 species of shorebird. Collectively, around 50,000 wading birds visit the Moreton Bay each year, and its wetlands are classified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA). In its Shorebird Management Strategy, the Queensland Government notes that: "Moreton Bay&#39;s extensive intertidal areas are essential for shorebirds as they provide roosting, feeding and, in some cases, breeding habitat."</p><br>
<p>The bay is also home to other abundant wildlife, including whales, dolphins, dugong, sharks and turtles. The loggerhead turtle population in the bay is the most significant in the country.</p><br>
<p>The bay is ranked among the top ten dugong habitats in Australia and together with the Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait is considered one of the most important areas for dugong in Queensland. In 2009, there were just between 600 and 800 remaining.</p><br>
<p>Many whale and dolphin species can be found in Moreton Bay including humpback whales, killer whales, southern right whales, sperm whales, melon-headed whales, blue whales, Brydes whales, minke whales, common dolphins, spinner dolphins and Rissos dolphins. Under Australia&#39;s EPBC Act the southern right whale is listed as endangered and the humpback whale is listed as vulnerable. Commercial tour operators offer whale watching cruises between June and September each year. Most of larger cetaceans observed in the bay are humpbacks, and several smaller dolphins live or regularly visit the bay.</p><br>
<p>The Moreton Bay bug (Thenus orientalis) is a species of slipper lobster found throughout the waters of Australia&#39;s north coast. The bug is a relatively expensive delicacy served in many restaurants in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla) is a large tree endemic to the east coast of Australia within a range centred on the shores and surrounds of Moreton Bay.</p><br>
<p>The southern and western parts of the bay contain shallow mud-layered waters that are protected from strong wave action by the barrier islands. This has provided excellent habitat for mangroves of which seven different species thrive within the bay.</p><br>
<p>About 1% of the bay is coral reef. Land clearing and settlement in the catchment has led to unfavourable conditions for coral growth. Climate change is expected to raise sea levels and produce warmer waters that will aid coral growth in the bay.</p><br>
<p>The bay may experience widespread outbreaks of bacteria lyngbya which can cause skin lesions and asthma attacks upon contact.</p><br>
<h3>Ship strikes to marine megafauna</h3><br>
<p>One of serious threats to marine animals in Moreton Bay is ship-strikes. Dugongs and turtles in Moreton Bay are often killed or injured when struck by speeding boats.</p><br>
<h4>Southern right whales</h4><br>
<p>Unlike the southern and south-western population of Australia, southern right whales off the east coast of Australia, along with the west coast, Tasmania, and eastern Victoria, are critically endangered, consisting of only 10 or more individuals. Whales have not been seen on the east coast for many years (unlike humpbacks) as the first whale came back to both Australia and New Zealand in the early &#39;60s, largely due to mass illegal hunts by the Soviet Union with support from Japan although at first it was reported to take only 4 whales.</p><br>
<p>Recent increases in sightings along the east coast indicate very slow but certain recovery of the species in that area, and Moreton Bay was possibly used to be a prominent calving ground for these coast-loving whales. Very small but steady appearances of southern rights have been confirmed in Moreton Bay, Gold Coast, and Hervey Bay. Seasonal presences of right whales have been recorded in Moreton Bay at least in the late &#39;90s, and small family groups of whales have been observed visiting the southern bay each year since 2002, especially around Toondah Harbour.</p><br>
<p>However, there was an instance of a southern right whale being fatally struck by a ferry in August 2014. This whale was a calf, and her mother was also seriously injured by the accident and her fate is still unknown. Another southern right whale, possibly with a calf was also hit few days prior to the incident with a sighting of possibly the same whales near Victoria Point. These ship-strikes and entanglements in fishing gear may contribute severely to preventing the future re-establishment of the species in the former habitats.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<h3>Environmental threats</h3><br>
<p>Moreton Bay&#39;s sea grass beds and corals are subject to ongoing threat from soil run-off caused by agriculture in the Lockyer Valley and construction activity in south east Queensland. Professor John Olley has noted that mud is now flowing out to Moreton Bay 10 times as fast as it did before Europeans settled in the region 120 years ago. The 2013 Healthy Waterways Report shows a downward trend in the ecosystem health of Moreton Bay over the period from 2012 to 2013, with water quality also affected by major flood events such as those in 2009 and 2011.</p><br>
<p>After the 2011 Brisbane River floods washed contaminated water into the bay, commercial fishermen and recreation anglers were warned not catch or eat seafood from its waters. The flood plume was investigated to monitor its impact on the bay&#39;s marine ecosystems. It contained sewerage, pesticides, heavy metals such as lead and zinc as well as hydrocarbons.</p><br>
<p>An oil spill occurred in March 2009 from the MV Pacific Adventurer dumping 100 t of oil, 30 t of fuel and other toxic chemicals on Brisbane&#39;s suburban beaches. Premier Anna Bligh described the spill as the "worst environmental disaster Queensland has ever seen".</p><br>
<p>On 2 November 2012 the Queensland Government announced that in conjunction with the Gold Coast City Council it would call expressions of interest to develop an international cruise ship terminal and associated development for the Southport Broadwater at the southern end of Moreton Bay. On 13 February 2014 the Government announced that the ASF Consortium&#39;s proposal "has demonstrated a cruise ship terminal is a possibility that could be further developed, should the Council and the proponent choose to progress it". This project is opposed by the Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council.</p><br>
<p>On 31 May 2014 an approved development scheme was released for the Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area in Cleveland which would allow development of a large marina up to 400 berths in southern Moreton Bay between Toondah Harbour, G.J. Walter Park and Cassim Island. The Queensland Government released at the same time a lengthy report on the 583 submissions received in response to a draft scheme released for consultation in January 2014. The draft Toondah scheme was opposed by marine planning experts and various environmentally concerned community groups including the Bay Wilderness Society. On 4 March 2014 a petition with 1,211 signatures calling for the Government&#39;s plans to be withdrawn was tabled in the Queensland Parliament.</p><br>
<h3>Federal government protection</h3><br>
<p>In 1993 large areas of Moreton Bay with a total area exceeding 113,000 hectare were recognised as wetlands of international significance under the Ramsar Wetland Convention 1971. Listing as a Ramsar site is justified on many grounds including:</p><br>
<p>Moreton Bay supports large numbers of the nationally threatened green turtle, hawksbill turtle and loggerhead turtle.</p><br>
<p>The site is ranked among the top ten habitats in Queensland for the internationally vulnerable dugong and is a foraging and breeding ground for the dugong.</p><br>
<p>The Moreton Bay Ramsar site supports 55 species of algae associated with mangroves, seven species of mangrove and seven species of seagrass.</p><br>
<p>At least 43 species of shorebirds use intertidal habitats in the bay, including 30 migratory species listed by international migratory bird conservation agreements.</p><br>
<p>The Moreton Bay Ramsar site supports more than 50,000 wintering and staging shorebirds during the non-breeding season.</p><br>
<p>The Moreton Bay Ramsar site regularly supports more than 1% of the population the wintering eastern curlews and the grey-tailed tattler.</p><br>
<p>Many of the migratory shorebirds which use the bay as part of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway are protected in accordance with three bilateral agreements:</p><br>
<p>Japan–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (JAMBA)</p><br>
<p>China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA)</p><br>
<p>Republic of Korea–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (ROKAMBA)</p><br>
<p>Actions that have a significant impact on a Ramsar listed site or on species which are the subject of international bird migratory agreements are "matters of national environmental significance" which are protected by the Federal Government in accordance with provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.</p><br>
<h3>Queensland government protection</h3><br>
<p>Moreton Island is protected as Moreton Island National Park. The bay itself contains St Helena Island National Park and the Moreton Bay Marine Park with areas designated under the Marine Park Zoning Plan. The Marine Park was declared in 1993 and covers 3,400 square kilometres. Parts of the bay are also protected under the Southern Moreton Bay Islands National Park.</p><br>
<p>The bay&#39;s marine park zoning plan was renewed in 2008. Despite angst from both commercial and recreational fishers, draft Queensland Government plans indicate further fishing restrictions aiming to protect more than 15% of important marine and coastal environments. Artificial reefs could be placed in Moreton Bay to ease the concerns of fishermen who fear they are being forced out. The Queensland Government will spend 1 million on research, planning and construction of a new concrete reef in the bay.</p><br>
<p>To make up for the fishing areas lost to the 2009 expansion of the Moreton Bay Marine Park, the Queensland Government agreed to create a total of six artificial reefs for anglers. The reefs are constructed from specially designed balls of concrete which will provide habitat for fish species. According to former Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara the bay produces a commercial catch valued at $25 million and that $4 million worth of this figure has become off-limits with the rezoning.</p><br>
<p>In March 2012 the Queensland Government signalled its intention to allow recreational anglers back into marine park green zones in parts of Moreton Bay. Mark Robinson, the Government&#39;s fishing spokesman, was quoted as saying: "Any changes we make would be evidence-based,". On 31 January 2014 the Queensland Government announced a proposed change to marine park zoning that would relax fishing restrictions at Scotts Point on the Redcliffe Peninsula. This policy change was criticised by the Australian Marine Conservation Society whose spokesperson said: "We question why Premier Newman is going against the science and the rigorously surveyed opinions of local recreational fishers to adopt a proposal that was being pushed by disgraced former MP Scott Driscoll whilst he was still the member for Redcliffe. There was no scientific process behind this decision".</p><br>
<p>In May 2014 the Queensland Government announced that MRAG Asia Pacific had been engaged to review fishing management in Queensland. MRAG has stated that while the green zones were not formally part of the review scope, it is likely that they would be discussed in the review team&#39;s report.</p><br>
<h2>Economic aspects</h2><br>
<p>The economic value of recreational fishing in Moreton Bay has been estimated at approximately $20 million per year.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>The bay is popular with recreational anglers. The Moreton Bay Classic fishing competition is held annually from the Manly foreshore.</p><br>
<p>There are many sailing events held on Moreton Bay including:</p><br>
<p>Yacht and dinghy racing organised by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron at Manly.</p><br>
<p>The Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race, first staged in 1949, which starts from near the Shorncliff Pier every year on Good Friday.</p><br>
<p>The Interclub Bay Cruise held each year in the first week of the Queensland September school holidays.</p><br>
<p>The bay is home to many other watersports and activities including kayaking, jet-skiing, windsurfing and water-skiing. Diving and snorkelling are popular around Tangalooma on Moreton Island.</p><br>
<p>Nalanda was an acclaimed Mahavihara, a large Buddhist monastery in the ancient kingdom of Magadha  in India. The site is located about 95 km southeast of Patna near the town of Bihar Sharif, and was a centre of learning from the fifth century CE to. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.</p><br>
<p>The highly formalized methods of Vedic learning helped inspire the establishment of large teaching institutions such as Taxila, Nalanda, and Vikramashila which are often characterised as India&#39;s early universities. Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj. The liberal cultural traditions inherited from the Gupta age resulted in a period of growth and prosperity until the ninth century. The subsequent centuries were a time of gradual decline, a period during which the tantric developments of Buddhism became most pronounced in eastern India under the Pala Empire.</p><br>
<p>At its peak, the school attracted scholars and students from near and far with some travelling all the way from Tibet, China, Korea, and Central Asia. Archaeological evidence also notes contact with the Shailendra dynasty of Indonesia, one of whose kings built a monastery in the complex.</p><br>
<p>Much of our knowledge of Nalanda comes from the writings of pilgrim monks from East Asia such as Xuanzang and Yijing who travelled to the Mahavihara in the 7th century. Vincent Smith remarked that "a detailed history of Nalanda would be a history of Mahayanist Buddhism". Many of the names listed by Xuanzang in his travelogue as products of Nalanda are the names of those who developed the philosophy of Mahayana. All students at Nalanda studied Mahayana as well as the texts of the eighteen (Hinayana) sects of Buddhism. Their curriculum also included other subjects such as the Vedas, logic, Sanskrit grammar, medicine and Samkhya.</p><br>
<p>Nalanda was very likely ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate under Bakhtiyar Khilji in. While some sources note that the Mahavihara continued to function in a makeshift fashion for a while longer, it was eventually abandoned and forgotten until the 19th century when the site was surveyed and preliminary excavations were conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India. Systematic excavations commenced in 1915 which unearthed eleven monasteries and six brick temples neatly arranged on grounds 12 hectare in area. A trove of sculptures, coins, seals, and inscriptions have also been discovered in the ruins many of which are on display in the Nalanda Archaeological Museum situated nearby. Nalanda is now a notable tourist destination and a part of the Buddhist tourism circuit.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>A number of theories exist about the etymology of the name. According to the Tang Dynasty Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, it comes from meaning no end in gifts or charity without intermission. Yijing, another Chinese traveller, however, derives it from referring to the name (Nanda) of a snake (naga) in the local tank. Hiranand Sastri, an archaeologist who headed the excavation of the ruins, attributes the name to the abundance of (lotus-stalks) in the area and believes that Nalanda would then represent the giver of lotus-stalks.</p><br>
<h2>Early history</h2><br>
<p>Nalanda was initially a prosperous village by a major trade route that ran through the nearby city of Rajagriha (modern Rajgir) which was then the capital of Magadha. It is said that the Jain thirthankara, Mahavira, spent 14 rainy seasons at Nalanda. Gautama Buddha too is said to have delivered lectures in a nearby mango grove named Pavarika and one of his two chief disciples, Shariputra, was born in the area and later attained nirvana there. This traditional association with Mahavira and Buddha tenuously dates the existence of the village to at least the 5th–6th century BCE.</p><br>
<p>Not much is known of Nalanda in the centuries hence. Taranatha, the 17th-century Tibetan Lama, states that the 3rd-century BCE Mauryan and Buddhist emperor, Ashoka, built a great temple at Nalanda at the site of Shariputras chaitya. He also places 3rd-century CE luminaries such as the Mahayana philosopher, Nagarjuna, and his disciple, Aryadeva, at Nalanda with the former also heading the institution. Taranatha also mentions a contemporary of Nagarjuna named Suvishnu building 108 temples at the location. While this could imply that there was a flourishing centre for Buddhism at Nalanda before the 3rd century, no archaeological evidence has been unearthed to support the assertion. When Faxian, an early Chinese Buddhist pilgrim to India, visited Nalo, the site of Shariputras parinirvana, at the turn of the 5th century CE, all he found worth mentioning was a stupa.</p><br>
<h2>Nalanda in the Gupta era</h2><br>
<p>Nalanda&#39;s datable history begins under the Gupta Empire and a seal identifies a monarch named Shakraditya as its founder. Both Xuanzang and a Korean pilgrim named Prajnyavarman attribute the foundation of a sangharama (monastery) at the site to him. Shakraditya is identified with the 5th-century CE Gupta emperor, Kumaragupta I, whose coin has been discovered at Nalanda. His successors, Buddhagupta, Tathagatagupta, Baladitya, and Vajra, later extended and expanded the institution by building additional monasteries and temples.</p><br>
<p>The Guptas were traditionally a Brahmanical dynasty. They built a sangharama at Nalanda and also a 300 feet high vihara with a Buddha statue within which, according to Xuanzang, resembled the "great Vihara built under the Bodhi tree". The Chinese monk also noted that Baladitya&#39;s son, Vajra, who commissioned a sangharama as well, "possessed a heart firm in faith".</p><br>
<h2>The post-Gupta era</h2><br>
<p>The post-Gupta period saw a long succession of kings who continued building at Nalanda "using all the skill of the sculptor". At some point, a "king of central India" built a high wall along with a gate around the now numerous edifices in the complex. Another monarch (possibly of the Maukhari dynasty) named Purnavarman who is described as "the last of the race of Ashoka-raja", erected an 80 feet high copper image of Buddha to cover which he also constructed a pavilion of six stages.</p><br>
<p>However, after the decline of the Guptas, the most notable patron of the Mahavihara was Harsha, the 7th-century emperor of Kannauj. Harsha was a converted Buddhist and considered himself a servant of the monks of Nalanda. He built a monastery of brass within the Mahavihara and remitted to it the revenues of 100 villages. He also directed 200 households in these villages to supply the institutions monks with requisite amounts of rice, butter, and milk on a daily basis. Around a thousand monks from Nalanda were present at Harshas royal congregation at Kannauj.</p><br>
<p>Much of what is known of Nalanda before the 8th century is based on the travelogues of the Chinese monks, Xuanzang (Si-Yu-Ki) and Yijing (A Record of the Buddhist Religion As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago).</p><br>
<h3>Xuanzang in Nalanda</h3><br>
<p>Xuanzang (also known as Hiuen Tsang) travelled around India between the years of 630 and 643 CE, and visited Nalanda first in 637 and then again in 642, spending a total of around two years at the monastery. He was warmly welcomed in Nalanda where he received the Indian name of Mokshadeva and studied under the guidance of Shilabhadra, the venerable head of the institution at the time. He believed that the aim of his arduous overland journey to India had been achieved as in Shilabhadra he had at last found an incomparable teacher to instruct him in Yogachara, a school of thought that had then only partially been transmitted to China. Besides Buddhist studies, the monk also attended courses in grammar, logic, and Sanskrit, and later also lectured at the Mahavihara.</p><br>
<p>In the detailed account of his stay at Nalanda, the pilgrim describes the view out of the window of his quarters thus,</p><br>
<p>Xuanzang was a contemporary and an esteemed guest of Harsha and catalogued the emperors munificence in some detail. According to Xuanzangs biographer, Hwui-Li, Nalanda was held in contempt by some Sthaviras for its emphasis on Mahayana philosophy. They reportedly chided King Harsha for patronising Nalanda during one of his visits to Odisha, mocking the "sky-flower" philosophy taught there and suggesting that he might as well patronise a Kapalika temple. When this occurred, Harsha notified the chancellor of Nalanda, who sent the monks Sagaramati, Prajnyarashmi, Simharashmi, and Xuanzang to refute the views of the monks from Odisha.</p><br>
<p>Xuanzang returned to China with 657 Buddhist texts (many of them Mahayanist) and 150 relics carried by 20 horses in 520 cases, and translated 74 of the texts himself. In the thirty years following his return, no fewer than eleven travellers from China and Korea are known to have visited famed Nalanda.</p><br>
<h3>Yijing in Nalanda</h3><br>
<p>Inspired by the journeys of Faxian and Xuanzang, the pilgrim, Yijing (also known as I-tsing), after studying Sanskrit in Srivijaya, arrived in India in 673 CE. He stayed there for fourteen years, ten of which he spent at the Nalanda Mahavihara. When he returned to China in 695, he had with him 400 Sanskrit texts which were subsequently translated.</p><br>
<p>Unlike his predecessor, Xuanzang, who also describes the geography and culture of 7th-century India, Yijings account primarily concentrates on the practice of Buddhism in the land of its origin and detailed descriptions of the customs, rules, and regulations of the monks at the monastery. In his chronicle, Yijing notes that revenues from 200 villages (as opposed to 100 in Xuanzangs time) had been assigned toward the maintenance of Nalanda. He described there being eight halls with as many as 300 apartments. According to him, daily life at Nalanda included a series of rites that were followed by all. Each morning, a bell was rung signalling the bathing hour which led to hundreds or thousands of monks proceeding from their viharas towards a number of great pools of water in and around the campus where all of them took their bath. This was followed by another gong which signalled the ritual ablution of the image of the Buddha. The chaityavandana was conducted in the evenings which included a "three-part service", the chanting of a prescribed set of hymns, shlokas, and selections from scriptures. While it was usually performed at a central location, Yijing states that the sheer number of residents at Nalanda made large daily assemblies difficult. This resulted in an adapted ritual which involved a priest, accompanied by lay servants and children carrying incense and flowers, travelling from one hall to the next chanting the service. The ritual was completed by twilight.</p><br>
<h2>Nalanda in the Pala era</h2><br>
<p>The Palas established themselves in North-eastern India in the 8th century and reigned until the 12th century. Although they were a Buddhist dynasty, Buddhism in their time was a mixture of the Mahayana practised in Nalanda and Vajrayana, a Tantra-influenced version of Mahayanist philosophy. Nalanda was a cultural legacy from the great age of the Guptas and it was prized and cherished. The Palas were prolific builders and their rule oversaw the establishment of four other Mahaviharas modelled on the Nalanda Mahavihara at Jagaddala, Odantapura, Somapura, and Vikramashila respectively. Remarkably, Odantapura was founded by Gopala, the progenitor of the royal line, only 6 mi away from Nalanda.</p><br>
<p>Inscriptions at Nalanda suggest that Gopalas son, Dharmapala, who founded the Mahavihara at Vikramshila, also appears to have been a benefactor of the ancient monastery in some form. It is however, Dharmapalas son, the 9th century emperor and founder of the Mahavihara at Somapura, Devapala, who appears to have been Nalandas most distinguished patron in this age. A number of metallic figures containing references to Devapala have been found in its ruins as well as two notable inscriptions. The first, a copper plate inscription unearthed at Nalanda, details an endowment by the Shailendra King, Balaputradeva of Suvarnadvipa (Sumatra in modern-day Indonesia). This Srivijayan king, "attracted by the manifold excellences of Nalanda" had built a monastery there and had requested Devapala to grant the revenue of five villages for its upkeep, a request which was granted. The Ghosrawan inscription is the other inscription from Devapalas time and it mentions that he received and patronised a learned Vedic scholar named Viradeva who was later elected the head of Nalanda.</p><br>
<p>The now five different seats of Buddhist learning in eastern India formed a state-supervised network and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them. Each establishment had its own official seal with a dharmachakra flanked by a deer on either side, a motif referring to Buddhas deer park sermon at Sarnath. Below this device was the name of the institution which in Nalandas case read, "" which translates to "of the Community of Venerable Monks of the Great Monastery at Nalanda".</p><br>
<p>While there is ample epigraphic and literary evidence to show that the Palas continued to patronise Nalanda liberally, the Mahavihara was less singularly outstanding during this period as the other Pala establishments must have drawn away a number of learned monks from Nalanda. The Vajrayana influence on Buddhism grew strong under the Palas and this appears to have also had an effect on Nalanda. What had once been a centre of liberal scholarship with a Mahayanist focus grew more fixated with Tantric doctrines and magic rites. Taranatha&#39;s 17th-century history claims that Nalanda might have even been under the control of the head of the Vikramshila Mahavihara at some point.</p><br>
<h2>The Mahavihara</h2><br>
<p>While its excavated ruins today only occupy an area of around 1,600 ft by 800 ft or roughly 12 hectares, Nalanda Mahavihara occupied a far greater area in medieval times.</p><br>
<p>The subjects taught at Nalanda covered every field of learning, and it attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey.</p><br>
<p>Xuanzang left detailed accounts of the school in the 7th century. He described how the regularly laid-out towers, forest of pavilions, harmikas and temples seemed to "soar above the mists in the sky" so that from their cells the monks "might witness the birth of the winds and clouds". The pilgrim states: "An azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade."</p><br>
<h3>Library</h3><br>
<p>It is evident from the large numbers of texts that Yijing carried back with him after his 10-year residence at Nalanda, that the Mahavihara must have featured a well-equipped library. Traditional Tibetan sources mention the existence of a great library at Nalanda named Dharmaganja (Piety Mart) which comprised three large multi-storeyed buildings, the Ratnasagara (Ocean of Jewels), the Ratnodadhi (Sea of Jewels), and the Ratnaranjaka (Jewel-adorned). Ratnodadhi was nine storeys high and housed the most sacred manuscripts including the Prajnyaparamita Sutra and the Guhyasamaja.</p><br>
<p>The exact number of volumes in the Nalanda library is not known. But it is estimated to have been in the hundreds of thousands. The library not only collected religious manuscripts but also had texts on such subjects as grammar, logic, literature, astrology, astronomy, and medicine. The Nalanda library must have had a classification scheme which was possibly based on a text classification scheme developed by the Sanskrit linguist, Panini. Buddhist texts were most likely divided into three classes based on the Tripitaka&#39;s three main divisions: the Vinaya, Sutra, and the Abhidhamma.</p><br>
<h3>Curriculum</h3><br>
<p>In his biography of Xuanzang, Hwui-Li states that all the students of Nalanda studied the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) as well as the works of the eighteen (Hinayana) sects of Buddhism. In addition to these, they studied other subjects such as the Vedas, Hetuvidyā (Logic), Shabdavidya (Grammar and Philology), Chikitsavidya (Medicine), the works on magic (the Atharvaveda), and Samkhya.</p><br>
<p>Xuanzang himself studied a number of these subjects at Nalanda under Shilabhadra and others. Besides Theology and Philosophy, frequent debates and discussions necessitated competence in Logic. A student at the Mahavihara had to be well-versed in the systems of Logic associated with all the different schools of thought of the time as he was expected to defend Buddhist systems against the others. Other subjects believed to have been taught at Nalanda include law, astronomy, and city-planning.</p><br>
<p>Tibetan tradition holds that there were "four doxographies" (Tibetan: grub-mtha’) which were taught at Nalanda:</p><br>
<p>Sarvastivada Vaibhashika</p><br>
<p>Sarvastivada Sautrantika</p><br>
<p>Madhyamaka, the Mahayana philosophy of Nagarjuna</p><br>
<p>Chittamatra, the Mahayana philosophy of Asanga and Vasubandhu</p><br>
<p>In the 7th century, Xuanzang recorded the number of teachers at Nalanda as being around 1510. Of these, approximately 1000 were able to explain 20 collections of sutras and shastras, 500 were able to explain 30 collections, and only 10 teachers were able to explain 50 collections. Xuanzang was among the few who were able to explain 50 collections or more. At this time, only the abbot Shilabhadra had studied all the major collections of sutras and shastras at Nalanda.</p><br>
<h3>Administration</h3><br>
<p>The Chinese monk Yijing wrote that matters of discussion and administration at Nalanda would require assembly and consensus on decisions by all those at the assembly, as well as resident monks:</p><br>
<p>Xuanzang also noted:</p><br>
<h2>Influence on Buddhism</h2><br>
<p>A vast amount of what came to comprise Tibetan Buddhism, both its Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, stems from the teachers and traditions at Nalanda. Shantarakshita, who pioneered the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century was a scholar of Nalanda. He was invited by the Tibetan king, Khri-sron-deu-tsan, and established the monastery at Samye, serving as its first abbot. He and his disciple Kamalashila (who was also of Nalanda) essentially taught Tibetans how to do philosophy. Padmasambhava, who was also invited from Nalanda Mahavihara by the king in 747 CE, is credited as a founder of Tibetan Buddhism.</p><br>
<p>The scholar Dharmakirti, one of the Buddhist founders of Indian philosophical logic, as well as one of the primary theorists of Buddhist atomism, taught at Nalanda.</p><br>
<p>Other forms of Buddhism, such as the Mahayana Buddhism followed in Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan, flourished within the walls of the ancient school. A number of scholars have associated some Mahayana texts such as the Shurangama Sutra, an important sutra in East Asian Buddhism, with the Buddhist tradition at Nalanda. Ron Epstein also notes that the general doctrinal position of the sutra does indeed correspond to what is known about the Buddhist teachings at Nalanda toward the end of the Gupta period when it was translated.</p><br>
<p>Several Buddhist institutions overseas have chosen to call themselves Nalanda to acknowledge Nalanda&#39;s influence. These include Nalanda Buddhist Society in Malaysia and Nalanda College, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nalanda Buddhist Education Foundation, Indonesia.</p><br>
<h2>Historical figures associated with Nalanda</h2><br>
<p>Traditional sources state that Nalanda was visited by both Mahavira and the Buddha in 6th and 5th century BCE. It is also the place of birth and nirvana of Shariputra, one of the famous disciples of Buddha.</p><br>
<p>Aryabhata</p><br>
<p>Aryadeva, student of Nagarjuna</p><br>
<p>Atisha, Mahayana and Vajrayana scholar</p><br>
<p>Chandrakirti, student of Nagarjuna</p><br>
<p>Dharmakirti, logician</p><br>
<p>Dharmapala</p><br>
<p>Dignaga, founder of Buddhist Logic</p><br>
<p>Nagarjuna, formaliser of the concept of Shunyata</p><br>
<p>Naropa, student of Tilopa and teacher of Marpa</p><br>
<p>Śāntarakṣita, founder of Yogācāra-Mādhyamika</p><br>
<p>Shilabhadra, the teacher of Xuanzang</p><br>
<p>Xuanzang, Chinese Buddhist traveller</p><br>
<p>Yijing, Chinese Buddhist traveller</p><br>
<h2>Decline and end</h2><br>
<p>The decline of Nalanda is concomitant with the disappearance of Buddhism in India. When Xuanzang travelled the length and breadth of India in the 7th century, he observed that his religion was in slow decay and even had ominous premonitions of Nalanda&#39;s forthcoming demise. Buddhism had steadily lost popularity with the laity and thrived, thanks to royal patronage, only in the monasteries of Bihar and Bengal. By the time of the Palas, the traditional Mahayana and Hinayana forms of Buddhism were imbued with Tantric practices involving secret rituals and magic. The rise of Hindu philosophies in the subcontinent and the waning of the Buddhist Pala dynasty after the 11th century meant that Buddhism was hemmed in on multiple fronts, political, philosophical, and moral. The final blow was delivered when its still-flourishing monasteries, the last visible symbols of its existence in India, were overrun during the Muslim invasion that swept across Northern India at the turn of the 13th century.</p><br>
<p>In around 1200 CE, Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turkic chieftain out to make a name for himself, was in the service of a commander in Awadh. The Persian historian, Minhaj-i-Siraj in his Tabaqat-i Nasiri, recorded his deeds a few decades later. Khilji was assigned two villages on the border of Bihar which had become a political no-man&#39;s land. Sensing an opportunity, he began a series of plundering raids into Bihar and was recognised and rewarded for his efforts by his superiors. Emboldened, Khilji decided to attack a fort in Bihar and was able to successfully capture it, looting it of a great booty. Minhaj-i-Siraj wrote of this attack:</p><br>
<p>This passage refers to an attack on a Buddhist monastery (the "Bihar" or Vihara) and its monks (the shaved Brahmans). The exact date of this event is not known with scholarly estimates ranging from 1197 to 1206. While many historians believe that this monastery which was mistaken for a fort was Odantapura, some are of the opinion that it was Nalanda itself. However, considering that these two Mahaviharas were only a few kilometres apart, both very likely befell a similar fate. The other great Mahaviharas of the age such as Vikramshila and later, Jagaddala, also met their ends at the hands of the Turks at around the same time.</p><br>
<p>Another important account of the times is the biography of the Tibetan monk-pilgrim, Dharmasvamin, who journeyed to India between 1234 and 1236. When he visited Nalanda in 1235, he found it still surviving, but a ghost of its past existence. Most of the buildings had been damaged by the Muslims and had since fallen into disrepair. But two viharas, which he named Dhanaba and Ghunaba, were still in serviceable condition with a 90-year-old teacher named Rahula Shribhadra instructing a class of about 70 students on the premises. Dharmasvamin believed that the Mahavihara had not been completely destroyed for superstitious reasons as one of the soldiers who had participated in the desecration of a Jnananatha temple in the complex had immediately fallen ill.</p><br>
<p>While he stayed there for six months under the tutelage of Rahula Shribhadra, Dharmasvamin makes no mention of the legendary library of Nalanda which possibly did not survive the initial wave of Turkic attacks. He, however, provides an eyewitness account of an attack on the derelict Mahavihara by the Muslim soldiers stationed at nearby Odantapura (now Bihar Sharif) which had been turned into a military headquarters. Only the Tibetan and his nonagenarian instructor stayed behind and hid themselves while the rest of the monks fled Nalanda. Contemporary sources end at this point. But traditional Tibetan works which were written much later suggest that Nalanda&#39;s story might have managed to endure for a while longer even if the institution was only a pale shadow of its former glory. The Lama, Taranatha, states that the whole of Magadha fell to the Turks who destroyed many monasteries including Nalanda which suffered heavy damage. He however also notes that a king of Bengal named Chagalaraja and his queen later patronised Nalanda in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, although no major work was done there.</p><br>
<p>An 18th-century work named Pag sam jon zang recounts another Tibetan legend which states that chaityas and viharas at Nalanda were repaired once again by a Buddhist sage named Mudita Bhadra and that Kukutasiddha, a minister of the reigning king, erected a temple there. A story goes that when the structure was being inaugurated, two indignant (Brahmanical) Tirthika mendicants who had appeared there were treated with disdain by some young novice monks who threw washing water at them. In retaliation, the mendicants performed a 12-year penance propitiating the sun, at the end of which they performed a fire-sacrifice and threw "living embers" from the sacrificial pit into the Buddhist temples. The resulting conflagration is said to have hit Nalanda&#39;s library. Fortunately, a miraculous stream of water gushed forth from holy manuscripts in the ninth storey of Ratnodadhi which enabled many manuscripts to be saved. The heretics perished in the very fire that they had kindled. While it is unknown when this event was supposed to have occurred, archaeological evidence (including a small heap of burnt rice) does suggest that a large fire did consume a number of structures in the complex on more than one occasion. A stone inscription notes the destruction by fire and subsequent restoration at the Mahavihara during the reign of Mahipala.</p><br>
<h2>Nalanda and the Tibetan Buddhist tradition</h2><br>
<p>The last throne-holder of Nalanda, Shakyashri Bhadra of Kashmir, Opening the Treasure of the Profound: Teachings on the Songs of Jigten Sumgon and Milarepa, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche, Milarepa, Jigten Sumgon,</p><br>
<p>Editor Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, Shambhala Publications, 2013 fled to Tibet in 1204 at the invitation of the Tibetan translator Tropu Lotsawa (Khro-phu Lo-tsa-ba Byams-pa dpal). Some of the surviving Nalanda books were taken by fleeing monks to Tibet. He took with him several Indian masters: Sugataśrī, (an expert in Madhyamaka and Prajñāpāramitā); Jayadatta (Vinaya); Vibhūticandra (grammar and Abhidharma), Dānaśīla (logic), Saṅghaśrī (Candavyākaraṇa), Jīvagupta (books of Maitreya), Mahābodhi,(Bodhicaryāvatāra); and Kālacandra (Kālacakra).</p><br>
<p>Tibetan Buddhist tradition is regarded to be a continuation of the Nalanda tradition. The Dalai Lama states:</p><br>
<p>The Dalai Lama refers to himself as a follower of the lineage of the seventeen Nalanda masters.</p><br>
<p>An Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra manuscript preserved at the Tsethang monastery has superbly painted and well preserved wooden covers and 139 leaves. According to its colophon it was donated by the mother of the great pandita Sri Asoka in the second year of the reign of King Surapala, at the very end of the 11th century.l#14</p><br>
<p>TIBET – Monasteries Open Their Treasure Rooms – the exhibition and its book: A Review, Michael Henss, Asian Art, December 25, 2007</p><br>
<h2>The excavated remains</h2><br>
<p>After its decline, Nalanda was largely forgotten until Francis Buchanan-Hamilton surveyed the site in 1811–1812 after locals in the vicinity drew his attention to a vast complex of ruins in the area. He, however, did not associate the mounds of earth and debris with famed Nalanda. That link was established by Major Markham Kittoe in 1847. Alexander Cunningham and the newly formed Archaeological Survey of India conducted an official survey in 1861–1862. Systematic excavation of the ruins by the ASI did not begin until 1915 and ended in 1937. A second round of excavation and restoration took place between 1974 and 1982.</p><br>
<p>The remains of Nalanda today extend some 1,600 ft north to south and around 800 ft east to west. Excavations have revealed eleven monasteries and six major brick temples arranged in an ordered layout. A 100 ft wide passage runs from north to south with the temples to its west and the monasteries to its east. Most structures show evidence of multiple periods of construction with new buildings being raised atop the ruins of old ones. Many of the buildings also display signs of damage by fire on at least one occasion.</p><br>
<p>The map give the layout of the excavated structures. Temple 3 in the south was the most imposing structure. Temple 12, 13, 14 face the monasteries and face east. With the exception of those designated 1A and 1B, the monasteries all face west with drains emptying out in the east and staircases positioned in the south-west corner of the buildings. Temple 2 was to the east.</p><br>
<p>All the monasteries at Nalanda are very similar in layout and general appearance. Their plan involves a rectangular form with a central quadrangular court which is surrounded by a verandah which, in turn, is bounded by an outer row of cells for the monks. The central cell facing the entrance leading into the court is a shrine chamber. Its strategic position means that it would have been the first thing that drew the eye when entering the edifice. With the exception of those designated 1A and 1B, the monasteries all face west with drains emptying out in the east and staircases positioned in the south-west corner of the buildings.</p><br>
<p>Monastery 1 is considered the oldest and the most important of the monastery group and shows as many as nine levels of construction. Its lower monastery is believed to be the one sponsored by Balaputradeva, the Srivijayan king, during the reign of Devapala in the 9th century (see Nalanda copper-plate of Devapala). The building was originally at least 2 storeys high and contained a colossal statue of a seated Buddha.</p><br>
<p>Temple no. 3 (also termed Sariputta Stupa) is the most iconic of Nalanda&#39;s structures with its multiple flights of stairs that lead all the way to the top. The temple was originally a small structure which was built upon and enlarged by later constructions. Archaeological evidence shows that the final structure was a result of at least seven successive such accumulations of construction. The fifth of these layered temples is the most interesting and the best preserved with four corner towers of which three have been exposed. The towers as well as the sides of the stairs are decorated with exquisite panels of Gupta-era art depicting a variety of stucco figures including Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, scenes from the Jataka tales. The temple is surrounded by numerous votive stupas some of which have been built with bricks inscribed with passages from sacred Buddhist texts. The apex of Temple no. 3 features a shrine chamber which now only contains the pedestal upon which an immense statue of Buddha must have once rested. According to Win Maung, the stupa was derived from the early Kushana type and in turn influenced Gwe Bin Tet Kon (Sri Khettara) stupa in Myanmar. In a shrine near the bottom of the staircase, a large image of Avalotiteshvar was found which was eventually moved to the Museum.</p><br>
<p>Temple no. 2 notably features a dado of 211 sculptured panels depicting a variety of religious motifs such as Shiva, Parvati, Kartikeya, and Gajalakshmi, Kinnaras playing musical instruments, various representations of Makaras, as well as human couples in amorous postures, as well as scenes of art and of everyday life. It has been suggested that Temple 2 was of Brahmanical affiliation, however that is not settled. The site of Temple no. 13 features a brick-made smelting furnace with four chambers. The discovery of burnt metal and slag suggests that it was used to cast metallic objects.</p><br>
<p>To the north of Temple 13 lie the remains of Temple no. 14. An enormous image of the Buddha was discovered here. The image&#39;s pedestal features fragments of the only surviving exhibit of mural painting at Nalanda.</p><br>
<p>To the east of Temple 2, lie the remains of Sarai Temple in the recently excavated Sarai Mound. This multi-storeyed Buddhist temple with many stupas and shrines was enclosed by a massive wall enclosure. The remains in the sanctum suggest that the Buddha statue was around eighty feet high.</p><br>
<p>Numerous sculptures, murals, copper plates, inscriptions, seals, coins, plaques, potteries and works in stone, bronze, stucco and terracotta have been unearthed within the ruins of Nalanda. The Buddhist sculptures discovered notably include those of the Buddha in different postures, Avalokiteshvara, Jambhala, Manjushri, Marichi, and Tara. Brahmanical idols of Vishnu, Shiva-Parvathi, Ganesha, Mahishasura Mardini, and Surya have also been found in the ruins.</p><br>
<p>A modern temple termed the Black Buddha temple (termed by locals as the Telia Bhairav, "tel" refers to use of oil as a protective coating) has emerged near Temple 14 with has a ancient large black Buddha image in bhumisparha mudra. This the same temple termed Baithak Bhairab in Cunninghams 1861–62 ASI report (See "A map of Nalanda and its environs from Alexander Cunninghams 1861–62 ASI report" above), suggesting that the Buddha image was in worship by the locals even then, suggesting a continuity of religious activity in the ruins of Nalanda. Replicas of the Black Buddha image have been installed in temples in Thailand. It is notable that the temple is outside of the ASI protected area, presumable because was in active worship before ASI took control.</p><br>
<p>In nearby villages, such as Ghosrawan, Sarilchak, Mustafpur, Jagdishpur, there are several Buddha images in active worship by the local people. Some of the statues have been stolen and some have been deliberately vandalized.</p><br>
<h2>Surviving Nalanda manuscripts</h2><br>
<p>Fleeing monks took some of the Nalanda manuscripts. A few of them have survived and are preserved in collections such as those at:</p><br>
<p>Los Angeles County Museum of Art Folios from a Dharanisamgraha, circa 1075.</p><br>
<p>Asia Society This Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita manuscript records, in Sanskrit and Tibetan, the history of the manuscript from its creation at the famous Nalanda monastery in India through its use in Tibet by the compiler of the first Tibetan canon of Buddhism, Buton.</p><br>
<p>Yarlung Museum, Tsetang (From the On ke ru Lha khang monastery) Astasahahasrika Prajnaparamita Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscript, with 139 leaves and painted wooden covers. According to the colophon the this manuscript was donated by the mother of the great pandita Sri Asoka in the second year of the reign of King Surapala, at end of the 11th century.</p><br>
<h2>Nalanda Inscriptions</h2><br>
<p>A number of inscriptions were found during the excavation, which are now preserved in the Nalanda Museum. These include:</p><br>
<p>Son of a minister of Yashovarman donated to the temple built by king Baladitya. 8th cent CE, basalt slab found in monastery 1.</p><br>
<p>Murnavarman constructed a 24.3 meter high brass image of Buddha. 7th cent CE, basalt slab, found in Sarai mound.</p><br>
<p>Monk Vipulshrimitra built a monastery. Basalt slab, later half of 12th cent, found in the uppermost level of Monastary 7.</p><br>
<p>Donation of Balaputradeva, the king of Suvarnadvipa of Sailendra dynasty. 860 CE Copperplate found by Hirananda Shastri in 1921 in the antechamber of Monastery 1 at Nalanda.</p><br>
<h2>Revival after India's Independence</h2><br>
<p>In 1951, the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (New Nalanda Mahavihara), a modern centre for Pali and Buddhism in the spirit of the ancient institution, was founded by the Government of Bihar near Nalandas ruins at the suggestion of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Indias first president. It was deemed to be a university in 2006.</p><br>
<p>September 1, 2014, saw the commencement of the first academic year of a modern Nalanda University, with 15 students, in nearby Rajgir. It has been established in a bid to revive the ancient seat of learning. The university has acquired 455 acres of land for its campus and has been allotted ₹2727 crores (around $454M) by the Indian government. It is also being funded by the governments of China, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and others.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Nalanda is a popular tourist destination in the state attracting a number of Indian and overseas visitors. It is also an important stop on the Buddhist tourism circuit.</p><br>
<h3>Nalanda Archaeological Museum</h3><br>
<p>The Archaeological Survey of India maintains a museum near the ruins for the benefit of visitors. The museum exhibits the antiquities that have been unearthed at Nalanda as well as from nearby Rajgir. Out of 13,463 items, only 349 are on display in four galleries.</p><br>
<h3>Xuanzang Memorial Hall</h3><br>
<p>The Xuanzang Memorial Hall is an Indo-Chinese undertaking to honour the famed Buddhist monk and traveller. A relic, comprising a skull bone of the Chinese monk, is on display in the memorial hall.</p><br>
<h3>Nalanda Multimedia Museum</h3><br>
<p>Another museum adjoining the excavated site is the privately run Nalanda Multimedia Museum. It showcases the history of Nalanda through 3-D animation and other multimedia presentations.</p><br>
<p>The Apennines or Apennine Mountains  are a mountain range consisting of parallel smaller chains extending along the length of peninsular Italy. In the northwest they join with the Ligurian Alps at Altare. In the southwest they end at Reggio di Calabria, the coastal city at the tip of the peninsula. Since the year 2000 the Environment Ministry of Italy, following the recommendations of the Apennines Park of Europe Project, has been defining the Apennines System to include the mountains of north Sicily, for a total distance of. The system forms an arc enclosing the east side of the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Seas.</p><br>
<p>The etymology most frequently repeated, because of its semantic appropriateness, is that it derives from the Celtic Penn, "mountain, summit": "...its etymology is doubtful but some derive it from the Ligurian-Celtish Pen or Ben, which means mountain peak."</p><br>
<p>The Apennines also conserve some intact ecosystems, which have survived to the human intervention. In here there are some of the best preserved forests and montane grasslands in the whole continent, now protected by national parks and, within them, a high diversity of flora and fauna. These mountains are, in fact, one of the last refuges for the big European predators such as the Italian wolf and the marsican brown bear, now extinct in other countries of central Europe.</p><br>
<p>The mountains lend their name to the Apennine peninsula, which forms the major part of Italy. They are mostly verdant, although one side of the highest peak, Corno Grande is partially covered by Calderone glacier, the only glacier in the Apennines. It has been receding since 1794. The eastern slopes down to the Adriatic Sea are steep, while the western slopes form foothills on which most of peninsular Italy&#39;s cities are located. The mountains tend to be named from the province or provinces in which they are located; for example, the Ligurian Apennines are in Liguria. As the provincial borders have not always been stable, this practice has resulted in some confusion about exactly where the montane borders are. Often but not always a geographical feature can be found that lends itself to being a border.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Apennines are divided into three sectors: northern (Appennino settentrionale), central (Appennino centrale), and southern (2001.</p><br>
<p>A number of long hiking trails wind through the Apennines. Of note is European walking route E1 coming from northern Europe and traversing the lengths of the northern and central Apennines. The Grand Italian Trail begins in Trieste and after winding through the Alpine arc traverses the entire Apennine system, Sicily and Sardinia.</p><br>
<h3>Northern Apennines</h3><br>
<p>The northern Apennines consist of three sub-chains: the Ligurian (Appennino ligure), Tuscan-Emilian (Appennino toscano-emiliano), and Umbrian Apennines (Appennino umbro).</p><br>
<h4>Ligurian Apennines</h4><br>
<p>The Ligurian Apennines border the Ligurian Sea in the Gulf of Genoa, from about Savona below the upper Bormida River valley to about La Spezia (La Cisa pass) below the upper Magra River valley. The range follows the Gulf of Genoa separating it from the upper Po Valley. The northwestern border follows the line of the Bormida River to Acqui Terme. There the river continues northeast to Alessandria in the Po Valley, but the mountains bend away to the southeast.</p><br>
<p>The upper Bormida can be reached by a number of roads proceeding inland at a right angle to the coast southwest of Savona, the chief one being the Autostrada Torino-Savona. They ascend to the Bocchetta di Altare, sometimes called Colle di Cadibona, 436 m, the border between the Ligurian Alps along the coast to the west and the Ligurian Apennines. A bronze plaque fixed to a stone marks the top of the pass. In the vicinity are fragments of the old road and three ruins of former fortifications.</p><br>
<p>At Carcare, the main roads connect with the upper Bormida valley (Bormida di Millare) before turning west. The Scrivia, the Trebbia and the Taro, tributaries of the Po River, drain the northeast slopes. The range contains dozens of peaks. Toward the southern end the Aveto Natural Regional Park includes Monte Penna. Nearby is the highest point of Ligurian Apennines, Monte Maggiorasca at 1,780 m.</p><br>
<p>The main and only feasible overland route connecting the coastal plain of Liguria to the north Italian plain runs through Bocchetta di Altare. It has always been of strategic importance. Defenders of north Italy have had to control it since ancient times, as the various fortifications placed there testify. Trenitalia, the state railway system, highly developed on the coastal plain, now traverses the mountains routinely through a number of railway tunnels, such as the one at Giovi Pass.</p><br>
<p>The southeastern border of the Ligurian Apennines is the Fiume Magra, which projects into the Tyrrhenian Sea south of La Spezia, and the Fiume Taro, which runs in the opposite direction to join the Po River. The divide between the two upper river valleys is the Passo della Cisa (Cisa Pass). Under it (two tunnels) runs the Autostrada della Cisa between Spezia and Parma.</p><br>
<h4>Tuscan–Emilian Apennines</h4><br>
<p>Starting at Cisa Pass, the mountain chains turn further to the southeast to cross the peninsula along the border between the Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany regions. They are also named the Tuscan–Emilian Apennines west of the Futa pass and the Tuscan–Romagnol Apennines east of it, or just the Tuscan Apennines. They extend to the upper Tiber River. The highest point is Monte Cimone at 2,165 m.</p><br>
<p>A separate branch, the Apuan Alps, goes to the southwest bordering the coast south of La Spezia. Whether they are to be considered part of the Apennines is a matter of opinion; certainly, they are part of the Apennine System. Topographically only the valley of the River Serchio, which running parallel to the coast turns and exits into the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Pisa, separates the Apuan Alps from the Apennines; geologically the rock is of a slightly different composition: marble. The Roman marble industry was centered at Luna, and is now active in Carrara.</p><br>
<p>As the Tuscan Apennines divide the peninsula between the Po Valley and the plains and hills of Tuscany and Lazio, transportation over them is essential to political and economic unity. Historically the Romans used the Via Flaminia between Rome and Rimini. The montane distance between Florence in Tuscany and Bologna in Emilia-Romagna is shorter, but exploitation of it required the conquest of more rugged terrain, which was not feasible for the ancients. Railway lines were constructed over the mountains in the early 19th century but they were of low capacity and unimprovable.</p><br>
<p>Since 1856 a series of tunnels have been constructed to conduct "the Bologna-Florence rail line", which is neither a single line nor a single tunnel. The Porrettana Line went into service in 1864, the Direttissima in 1934 and the High Speed in 1996. A few dozen tunnels support the three of them, the longest on the High-Speed Line being the Voglia Tunnel at 16.757 km. The longest is on the Direttissima, the Great Apennine Tunnel, which at 18.5 km is the longest entirely within Italy, although the Simplon Tunnel, which connects Italy and Switzerland, is longer. Automobile traffic is carried by the Autostrada del Sole, Route A1, which goes through numerous shorter tunnels, bypassing an old road, originally Roman, through Futa Pass. In December 2015, a new Route A1 called Variante di Valico was opened after many years of construction consisting of major tunnels (the longest being the new 8.6 km Tunel Base) and new overpasses notably shortening the traveling time between Florence and Bologna by road.</p><br>
<p>Inside the Tuscan–Romagnol Apennines are in the southern part also the Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona, Campigna National Park.</p><br>
<p>Geographically the southernmost sharp limit of the Tuscan–Romagnol Apennines is the Bocca Serriola pass that is politically between northern Umbria and northern Marche.</p><br>
<h4>Umbrian Apennines</h4><br>
<p>The Tiber River at Rome flows from northeast to southwest, projecting into the Tyrrhenian Sea at right angles to the shore. The upper Tiber, however, flows from northwest to southeast, gradually turning through one right angle clockwise. In the north Val Tevere ("Valley of the Tiber") is a deep valley separating the Umbrian Apennines on the left bank from a lesser range, the Tuscan Anti- or Sub-Apennines on its right. They and some of Val Tevere are part of Tuscany, which used to be enclosed by the Arno River, the Tiber River and the coast, but has lost ground around the Tiber to Lazio and Umbria. Lazio extends a little way up the Tiber. Val Tevere, however, is mainly in Umbria. In the Apennines also and on the east coast is Marche.</p><br>
<p>The Val Tevere is marked on the map by Highway A1, the Autostrada del Sole, which enters it in the vicinity of Monte Rotondo north of Rome and follows the course of the river to the point where the latter flows from Lago di Corbara in the vicinity of Baschi and then goes up the valley of the Fiume Paglia. North of the lake the course of the Fiume Tevere is marked by Highway E45 almost to where the Tevere begins at Falera on the slopes of Monte Fumaiolo. That location is in Emilia-Romagna. For that entire distance the eastern slopes of the Apennines are in Marches.</p><br>
<p>South of Monte Fumaiolo the Tevere enters Tuscany. It crosses the Umbrian border in the vicinity of San Giustino and remains in it, becoming part of the border between Umbria and Lazio in the south, entering Lazio unequivocally in the vicinity of Castello delle Formiche. Over the centuries these borders have varied, mainly at the expense of Tuscany. Consequently, there has been considerable imprecision in locating the Umbrian Apennines, and therefore the highest peak in them. The major difficulty is discriminating the Umbrian of the Northern Apennines from the Umbrian-Marchean of the Central Apennines. The mountains of Umbria and Marches are so wide and so tangled, rather than parallel, that the borders are difficult to place and vary according to author. Many do not make the distinction, but one is still recognized, however uncertainly, by the Italian park service. In general, the Umbrian Apennines are located mainly in Umbria, while the great mass of mountains in Marches are considered Central Apennine.</p><br>
<p>Merriam-Webster&#39;s Geographical Dictionary defines the Umbrian Apennines to extend from the "sources of the Tiber" to Scheggia Pass, bounded on the east by the border between Umbria and Marches, which runs along the divide. Similarly the Alto Tevere begins near the border between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. The pass is the point where the Roman Via Flaminia crosses the divide, at 575 m. Starting from Rimini on the Adriatic coast the old road follows the coast south to Fano, then turns inland and goes up the Fiume Metauro to Ponti di Traiano, then up the Fiume Candigliano to Acqualagna, and by the Fiume Burano to Cagli (ancient Cales). Here the Via Flaminia turns south, approximated today by highway SP3, which climbing the flanks of Monte Fiume arrives at last at the pass. This is the southernmost limit of the Umbrian Apennines, according to the dictionary. The pass goes down to Gualdo Tadino (Tadinium). Gubbio is east of the Val Tevere.</p><br>
<p>The region specified by the dictionary includes Monte Nerone, 1,526 m, which is actually in Marches. South of the pass the same chain is in Umbria and includes a number of parklands considered by the Italians to be in the northern Apennines. The LOTO Project (Landscape Opportunities for Territorial Organization), a recent pilot study for regional landscape planning undertaken by the European Institute of Cultural Routes, an agency of the European Union, simply calls it "the Apennine Ridge" of "the Umbria Region," which it locates in "the central and northern mountains of the Apennines." The western part of this range is considered by some to be the Umbrian Apennines; it includes Parco del Monte Cucco, 1,566 m, which includes the pass, the road and the Umbrian side of the ridge south to Fossato di Vico. Further south are Parco del Monte Subasio around Assisi and Parco di Colfiorito on the border with Marches.</p><br>
<h3>Central Apennines</h3><br>
<p>The Apennine System forms an irregular arc with centers of curvature located in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The northern and southern segments comprise parallel chains that can be viewed as single overall mountain ridges, such as the Ligurian Mountains. The center, being thicker and more complex, is geologically divided into an inner and an outer arc with regard to the centers of curvature. The geologic definition, however, is not the same as the geographic.</p><br>
<p>Based on rock type and orogenic incidents, the northern segment of the arc is divided into the Outer Northern Apennines (ONA) and the Inner Northern Apennines (INA). The inner are located in Tuscany and Umbria and correspond well with the geography, comprising the Apuan Alps and Umbrian Apennines. The outer comprise the outer Ligurian, Tuscan–Emilian and half the Central Apennines, which are the eastern half of the divide marked by the Umbria–Marches border. The Central Apennines, also called the High Apennines, are therefore divided into the Umbrian–Marchean (Appennino umbro-marchigiano) or Roman Apennines in the north and the Abruzzi Apennines (Appennino abruzzese) in the south.</p><br>
<h4>Umbrian–Marchean Apennines</h4><br>
<p>A natural border exists between the Northern Apennines and the Central Apennines: a klippen zone, or band of isolated Liguride rocks, follows the Val Marecchia ("Valley of the Marecchia River") to the Marches–Tuscany border and passes through the Monti Rognosi and Arezzo in Tuscany. If extended the line would touch the northern tip of Corsica, but it is only relevant on the east slopes of the Apennines, where it is located just south of the border between Marches and Emilia-Romagna. The west border of the Umbrian-Marchean Apennines (or "Umbro-Marchean") runs through Cagli. They extend south to the Tronto River, the south border of the ONA.</p><br>
<p>In the northeast of the range, the Republic of San Marino is located on the slopes of Monte Titano. The highest peak, Monte Vettore, at 2,478 m, is part of the Monti Sibillini, incorporated into Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini. Further inland is Parco Sasso Simone e Simoncello and further south Parco naturale regionale Gola della Rossa di Frasassi, in which are the Gola della Rossa ("Canyon of the Red") and Frasassi Caves. The Italian Park Service calls it the "green heart" of Italy. The region is heavily forested, such as the Riserva Naturale Statale Gola del Furlo, where Furlo Pass on the Via Flaminia is located. Both the Etruscans and the Romans constructed tunnels here.</p><br>
<h4>Abruzzi Apennines</h4><br>
<p>The Abruzzi Apennines, located in Abruzzo, Molise (formerly part of Abruzzo) and southeastern Lazio, contain the highest peaks and most rugged terrain of the Apennines. They are known in history as the territory of the Italic peoples first defeated by the city of Rome. Coincidentally they exist in three parallel folds or chains surviving from the orogeny. These extend in a northwest-southeast direction from the River Tronto to the River Sangro, which drain into the Adriatic. The coastal hills of the east extend between San Benedetto del Tronto in the north and Torino di Sangro in the south.</p><br>
<p>The eastern chain consists mainly of the southern part of the Monti Sibillini, the Monti della Laga, the Gran Sasso d&#39;Italia Massif and the Majella Massif. Among them are two national parks: Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park and Majella National Park; and the Regional Park of the Monti Simbruini. Gran Sasso contains Corno Grande, the highest peak of the Apennines.</p><br>
<p>Other features between the western and central ranges are the plain of Rieti, the valley of the Salto, and the Lago Fucino; while between the central and eastern ranges are the valleys of Aquila and Sulmona. The chief rivers on the west are the Nera, with its tributaries the Velino and Salto, and the Aniene, both of which fall into the Tiber. On the east there is at first a succession of small rivers which flow into the Adriatic, from which the highest points of the chain are some 20 km distant, such as the Tronto, Tordino, Vomano and others. The Pescara, which receives the Aterno from the north-west and the Gizio from the south-east, is more important; and so is the Sangro.</p><br>
<p>The central Apennines are crossed by the railway from Rome to Pescara via Avezzano and Sulmona: the railway from Orte to Terni (and thence to Foligno) follows the Nera valley; while from Terni a line ascends to the plain of Rieti, and thence crosses the central chain to Aquila, whence it follows the valley of the Aterno to Sulmona. In ancient times the Via Salaria, Via Caecilia and Via Valeria-Claudia all ran from Rome to the Adriatic coast. The volcanic mountains of the province of Rome are separated from the Apennines by the Tiber valley, and the Monti Lepini, part of the Volscian chain, by the valleys of the Sacco and Liri.</p><br>
<h3>Southern Apennines</h3><br>
<p>The southern Apennines can be divided into four major regions: (1) Samnite Apennines, (2) Campanian Apennines, (3) Lucan Apennines and (4) Calabrian Apennines including the Sicilian Apennines.</p><br>
<h4>Samnite and Campanian Apennines</h4><br>
<p>In the southern Apennines, to the south of the Sangro valley, the three parallel chains are broken up into smaller groups; among them may be named the Matese, the highest point of which is the Monte Miletto 6,725 ft. The chief rivers on the south-west are the Liri or Garigliano with its tributary the Sacco, the Volturno, Sebeto, Sarno, on the north the Trigno, Biferno and Fortore.</p><br>
<p>The promontory of Monte Gargano, on the east, is completely isolated, and so are the Campanian volcanic arc near Naples. The district is traversed from north-west to south-east by the railway from Sulmona to Benevento and on to Avellino, and from south-west to northeast by the railways from Caianello via Isernia to Campobasso and Termoli, from Caserta to Benevento and Foggia, and from Nocera Inferiore and Avellino to Rocchetta S. Antonio, the junction for Foggia, Spinazzola (for Barletta, Bari, and Taranto) and Potenza. Roman roads followed the same lines as the railways: the Via Appia ran from Capua to Benevento, whence the older road went to Venosa and Taranto and so to Brindisi, while the Via Traiana ran nearly to Foggia and thence to Bari.</p><br>
<h4>Lucan Apennines</h4><br>
<p>The valley of the Ofanto, which runs into the Adriatic close to Barletta, marks the northern termination of the first range of the Lucanian Apennines (now Basilicata), which runs from east to west, while south of the valleys of the Sele (on the west) and Basento (on the east)—which form the line followed by the railway from Battipaglia via Potenza to Metaponto—the second range begins to run due north and south as far as the plain of Sibari. The highest point is the Monte Pollino 7,325 ft. The chief rivers are the Sele—joined by the Negro and Calore—on the west, and the Bradano, Basento, Agri, Sinni on the east, which flow into the gulf of Taranto; to the south of the last-named river there are only unimportant streams flowing into the sea east and west, inasmuch as here the width of the peninsula diminishes to some 40 mi.</p><br>
<h4>Calabrian and Sicilian Apennines</h4><br>
<p>The railway running south from Sicignano to Lagonegro, ascending the valley of the Negro, is planned to extend to Cosenza, along the line followed by the ancient Via Popilia, which beyond Cosenza reached the west coast at Terina and thence followed it to Reggio. The Via Herculia, a branch of the Via Traiana, ran from Aequum Tuticum to the ancient Nerulum. At the narrowest point the plain of Sibari, through which the rivers Coscile and Crati flow to the sea, occurs on the east coast, extending halfway across the peninsula. Here the limestone Apennines proper cease and the granite mountains of Calabria begin.</p><br>
<p>The first group extends as far as the isthmus formed by the gulfs of South Eufemia and Squillace; it is known as the Sila, and the highest point reached is 6,330 ft (the Botte Donato). The forests which covered it in ancient times supplied the Greeks and Sicilians with timber for shipbuilding. The railway from South Eufemia to Catanzaro and Catanzaro Marina crosses the isthmus, and an ancient road may have run from Squillace to Monteleone. The second group extends to the south end of the Italian Peninsula, culminating in the Aspromonte (6,420 ft) to the east of Reggio di Calabria. In both groups the rivers are quite unimportant. Finally, the Calabrian southern Apennine Mountains extend along the northern coast of Sicily (the Sicilian Apennines, Italian Appennino siculo)—Pizzo Carbonara (1,979 m) being the highest peak.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<h3>Vegetative zones</h3><br>
<h4>Ecoregions</h4><br>
<p>north and central: Apennine deciduous montane forest (temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome)</p><br>
<p>north through south: Italian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests (Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome)</p><br>
<p>south: South Apennine mixed montane forests (also a Mediterranean biome)</p><br>
<p>The number of vascular plant species in the Apennines has been estimated at 5,599. Of these, 728 (23.6%) are in the treeline ecotone. Hemicryptophytes predominate in the entire Apennine chain.</p><br>
<h4>Alpine zone</h4><br>
<p>The tree line ecotone is mainly grasslands of the Montane grasslands and shrublands biome; with Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, and Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub below it. The tree line in the Apennines can be found in the range 1,600 m to 2,000 m. About 5% of the map area covered by the Apennines is at or above the tree line—or in the treeline ecotone. The snow line is at about 3,200 m, leaving the Apennines below it, except for the one remaining glacier. Snow may fall from October to May. Rainfall increases with latitude. The range&#39;s climates, depending on elevation and latitude, are the Oceanic climate and Mediterranean climate.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Apennines were created in the Apennine orogeny beginning in the early Neogene (about 20 mya, the middle Miocene) and continuing today. Geographically they are partially or appear to be continuous with the Alpine system. Prior to the explosion of data on the topic from about the year 2000 many authors took the approach that the Apennines had the same origin as the Alps. Even today some authors use the term Alpine-Apennine system. They are not, however, the same system and did not have the same origin. The Alps were millions of years old before the Apennines rose from the sea.</p><br>
<p>Both the Alps and the Apennines contain primarily sedimentary rock resulting from sedimentation of the ancient Tethys Sea in the Mesozoic. The northward movement of the African Plate and its collision with the European Plate then caused the Alpine Orogeny, beginning in the late Mesozoic. The band of mountains created extends from Spain to Turkey in a roughly east-west direction and includes the Alps. The Apennines are much younger, extend from northwest to southeast, and are not a displacement of the Alpine chain.</p><br>
<p>The key evidence of the difference is the geologic behavior of the Po Valley in northern Italy. Compressional forces have been acting from north to south in the Alps and from south to north in the Apennines, but instead of being squeezed into mountains the valley has been subsiding at 1 to 4 mm per year since about 25 mya, before the Apennines existed. It is now known to be not an erosional feature but is a filled portion of the Adriatic Trench, called the Adriatic foredeep after its function as a subduction zone was discovered. The Alps and the Apennines were always separated by this trench and were never part of the same system.</p><br>
<h3>Formation of rocks</h3><br>
<h3>Apennine orogeny</h3><br>
<p>The Apennine orogeny is a type of mountain-building in which two simpler types are combined in an apparently paradoxical configuration. Sometimes this is referred to as "syn-orogenic extension", but the term implies that the two processes occur simultaneously during time.</p><br>
<p>Some scientists imagine that this is relatively rare but not unique in mountain building, whereas others imagine that this is fairly common in all mountain belts.</p><br>
<p>The RETREAT Project have this specific feature as one of their focus points</p><br>
<p>In essence the east side of Italy features a fold and thrust belt raised by compressional forces acting under the Adriatic Sea. This side has been called the "Apennine-Adriatic Compressional Zone" or the "Apennines Convergence Zone." On the west side of Italy fault-block mountains prevail, created by a spreading or extension of the crust under the Tyrrhenian Sea. This side is called the "Tyrrhenian Extensional Zone." The mountains of Italy are of paradoxical provenience, having to derive from both compression and extension:</p><br>
<p>"The paradox of how contraction and extension can occur simultaneously in convergent mountain belts remains a fundamental and largely unresolved problem in continental dynamics."Both the folded and the fault-block systems include parallel mountain chains. In the folded system anticlines erode into the highest and longest massifs of the Apennines.</p><br>
<p>According to the older theories (originating from the 1930s to 1970s) of Dutch geologists, including Van Bemmelen, compression and extension can and should occur simultaneously at different depths in a mountain belt. In these theories, these different levels are called Stockwerke. More recent work in geotectonics and geodynamics of the same school of geoscientists (Utrecht and Amsterdam University) by Vlaar, Wortel, and Cloetingh, and their disciples, extended these concepts even further into a temporal realm. They demonstrated that internal and external forces acting upon the mountain belt (e.g., slab pull and intra-plate stress field modulations due to large scale reorganisations of the tectonic plates) result in both longer episodes and shorter phases of general extension and compression acting both upon and inside mountain belts and tectonic arches (See e.g. for extensive reviews, bibliography and discussions on the literature:</p><br>
<p>Van Dijk (1992),</p><br>
<p>Van Dijk and Okkes (1991),</p><br>
<p>Van Dijk & Scheepers (1995),</p><br>
<p>and Van Dijk et al. (2000a)).</p><br>
<h4>Compressional zone</h4><br>
<p>The gradual subsidence of the Po Valley (including that of Venice) and the folding of the mountains of eastern Italy have been investigated using seismic wave analysis of the "Apennine Subduction System." Along the Adriatic side of Italy the floor of the Adriatic Sea, referred to as the "Adriatic lithosphere" or the "Adriatic plate," terms whose precise meaning is the subject of ongoing research, is dipping under the slab on which the Apennines have been folded by compressional forces.</p><br>
<p>Subduction occurs along a fault, along which a hanging wall, or overriding slab is thrust over an overridden slab, also called the subducting slab. The fault that acts as the subduction interface is at the bottom of the Apennine wedge, characterized by a deep groove in the surface, typically filled with sediment, as sedimentation here occurs at a much faster rate than subduction. In north Italy the dip of this interface is 30° to 40° at a depth of 80–90 km.</p><br>
<p>The strike of the Apennine subduction zone forms a long, irregular arc with centers of curvature in the Tyrrhenian Sea following the hanging wall over which the mountains have been raised; i.e., the eastern wall of the mountains. It runs from near the base of the Ligurian Apennines in the Po Valley along the margin of the mountains to the Adriatic, along the coastal deeps of the Adriatic shore, strikes inland at Monte Gargano cutting off Apulia, out to sea again through the Gulf of Taranto, widely around the rest of Italy and Sicily and across inland north Africa. The upper mantle above 250 km deep is broken into the "Northern Apennines Arc" and the "Calabrian Arc", with compressional forces acting in different directions radially toward the arcs&#39; centers of curvature. The overall plate tectonics of these events has been modeled in different ways but decisive data is still missing. The tectonics, however, are not the same as those which created the Alps.</p><br>
<h4>Extensional zone</h4><br>
<p>The west side of Italy is given to a fault-block system, where the crust, extended by the lengthening mantle below, thinned, broke along roughly parallel fault lines, and the blocks alternatively sank into grabens or were raised by isostasy into horsts. This system prevails from Corsica eastward to the valley of the Tiber River, the last rift valley in that direction. It runs approximately across the direction of extension. In the fault-block system the ridges are lower and are more steep-sided, since the walls are formed by faults. Geographically they are not considered part of the Apennines proper but are termed "sub-apennine" or "anti-apennine." These mountains are found mainly in Tuscany, Lazio and Campania.</p><br>
<h3>Stability of terrain</h3><br>
<p>The terrain of the Apennines (as well as that of the Alps) is to a large degree unstable due to various types of landslides, including falls and slides of rocks and debris, flows of earth and mud, and sink holes. The Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale), a government agency founded in 2008 by combining three older agencies, published in that year a special report, Landslides in Italy, summarizing the results of the IFFI Project (Il Progetto IFFI), the Italian Landslide Inventory (Inventario dei Fenomeni Franosi in Italia), an extensive survey of historical landslides in Italy undertaken by the government starting in 1997. On December 31, 2007, it had studied and mapped 482,272 landslides over 20,500 km&sup2;. Its major statistics are the Landslide Index (LI here), the ratio of the landslide area to the total area of a region, the Landslide Index in Mountainous-Hilly Areas (here LIMH) and the Density of Landslides, which is the number per 100 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>Italy as a whole has a LI of 6.8, a LIMH of 9.1 and a density of 160. Lombardia (LI of 13.9), Emilia-Romagna (11.4), Marches (19.4), Molise (14.0), Valle d&#39;Aosta (16.0) and Piemonte (9.1) are significantly higher. The most unstable terrain in the Apennines when the landslide sites are plotted on the map are in order from most unstable the eastern flanks of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, the Central Apennines and the eastern flank of the southern Apennines. Instability there is comparable to the Alps bordering the Po Valley. The most stable terrain is on the western side: Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio. The Apennines are slumping away to the northeast into the Po Valley and the Adriatic foredeep; that is, the zone where the Adriatic floor is being subducted under Italy. Slides with large translational or rotational surface movements are most common; e.g., a whole slope slumps into its valley, placing the population there at risk.</p><br>
<h3>Glacial ice</h3><br>
<p>Glaciers no longer exist in the Apennines outside the Gran Sasso d&#39;Italia massif. However, post-Pliocene moraines have been observed in Basilicata.</p><br>
<h2>Major peaks</h2><br>
<p>The Apennines include 21 peaks over 1,900 m, the approximate tree line. Most of these peaks are located in the Central Apennines.</p><br>
<p>The Sangro is a river in eastern central Italy, known in ancient times as Sagrus from the Greek Sagros or Isagros, Ισαγρος.</p><br>
<p>It rises in the middle of Abruzzo National Park near Pescasseroli in the Apennine Mountains. It flows southeast past Pescasseroli, Opi and Villetta Barrea and flows into the artificial lake Lago di Barrea. It then flows northeast through Alfedena, Castel di Sangro, Ateleta, Quadri, and Villa Santa Maria, before flowing into the Lago di Bomba. From there it flows northeast and joins the Aventino River, and thence into the Adriatic Sea south of Punta Cavelluccio.</p><br>
<p>During World War II, the mouth of the Sangro was part of the series of German military fortifications known as the Gustav Line. The Eighth Army crossed the Sangro on 23 November 1943. This crossing was the beginning of the Allied offensive on the Winter Line defenses east of the Apennines.</p><br>
<p>The Alban Hills are the site of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located 20 km southeast of Rome and about 24 km north of Anzio.</p><br>
<p>The dominant peak (but not the highest) is Monte Cavo at 950 m. There are two small calderas which contain lakes, Lake Albano and Lake Nemi. The rock of the hills is called peperino (lapis albanus) a variety of tuff, a combination of volcanic ash and small rocks that is useful for construction, and provides a mineral-rich substrate for vineyards.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The hills, especially around the shores of the lakes, have been popular since prehistoric times. From the 9th to 7th century BC, there were numerous villages (see the legendary Alba Longa and Tusculum). The area was inhabited by the Latini during the 5th to 3rd centuries BC.</p><br>
<p>The ancient Romans called the hill Albanus Mons. On the summit was the sanctuary of Jupiter Latiaris, in which the consuls celebrated the Feriae Latinae, and several generals celebrated victories here during times when they were not accorded regular triumphs in Rome. The foundations and some of the architectural fragments of the temple were still in existence until 1777, when they were used to build the Passionist monastery by Cardinal York, but the Via Triumphalis leading up to it can still be seen.</p><br>
<p>In Roman times, the area was often used by the rich as a way to escape the heat and crowds of Rome, as it is today as shown by the many villas and country houses present.</p><br>
<h2>Towns and cities</h2><br>
<p>The towns and villages in the Alban Hills are known as the Castelli Romani.</p><br>
<h2>Volcanic activity</h2><br>
<p>Examination of deposits have dated the four most recent eruptions to two temporal peaks, around 36,000 and 39,000 years ago. The area exhibits small localised earthquake swarms, bradyseism, and release of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide into the atmosphere. The uplift and earthquake swarms have been interpreted as caused by a slowly growing spherical magma chamber 5-6 kilometres below the surface; some think that it may erupt again; if so, there is risk to Rome, which is only 25 to 30 km away.</p><br>
<p>There is documentary evidence which may describe an eruption in 114 BC, but the absence of Holocene geological deposits has largely discredited it as a volcanic event and instead the account is considered to be a description of a forest fire.</p><br>
<p>The volcano emits large amounts of carbon dioxide which can potentially reach lethal concentrations if it accumulates in depressions in the ground in the absence of wind. The asphyxiation of 29 cows in September 1999 prompted a detailed survey, which found that concentration of the gas at 1.5 m above the ground in a residential area on the northwestern flank sometimes exceeded the occupational health threshold of 0.5%. Eight sheep were killed in a similar incident in October 2001.</p><br>
<h2>People</h2><br>
<p>Writers and artists who have produced work about this area include:</p><br>
<p>Thomas Ashby, archaeologist, wrote The Roman Campagna in Classic Time</p><br>
<p>William Brockedon painter and illustrator of guide-books</p><br>
<p>George Gordon Byron in Childe Harold&#39;s Pilgrimage</p><br>
<p>Charles Coleman painter</p><br>
<p>Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Italian Journey</p><br>
<p>Louis Gurlitt, German painter</p><br>
<p>Jacob Philipp Hackert, German painter</p><br>
<p>Gavin Hamilton, artist and antiquarian, painter and archaeologist, in Genzano and Lanuvio (18th century)</p><br>
<p>James Duffield Harding in Tourist in Italy</p><br>
<p>John Henry Henshall watercolor painter</p><br>
<p>Richard Colt Hoare in A classical tour through Italy and Sicily</p><br>
<p>Ellis Cornelia Knight, writer and painter in Description of Latium or La Campagna di Roma</p><br>
<p>Edward Lear painter and lithographer</p><br>
<p>William Leighton Leitch watercolor painter in Lanuvio</p><br>
<p>Charles H. Poingdestre painter</p><br>
<p>John Singer Sargent, painter in Villa Torlonia - Frascati</p><br>
<p>Stendhal, writer, in Albano Laziale, Chroniques italiennes (1836–1839): L&#39;Abbesse de Castro</p><br>
<p>Georgina E. Troutbeck, Rambles in Rome - London - ed. Mills & Boon - 1914</p><br>
<p>Richard Voss, German dramatist and novelist</p><br>
<p>Clara Louisa Wells in The Alban Hills ed. 1878</p><br>
<p>Hatra  was an ancient city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. It was known as Hatra in Persian and al-Hadr in Arabic, a name which appears once in ancient inscriptions. Located in the ancient Persian province of Khvarvaran, the city lies 290 km northwest of Baghdad and 110 km southwest of Mosul.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Some believe Hatra may have been built by the Assyrians or possibly in the 3rd or 2nd century BC under the influence of the Seleucid Empire, but there is no reliable information on the city before the Parthian period. Hatra flourished under the Parthians, during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, as a religious and trading center. Later on, the city became the capital of possibly the first Arab Kingdom in the chain of Arab cities running from Hatra, in the northeast, via Palmyra, Baalbek and Petra, in the southwest. The region controlled from Hatra was the Kingdom of Araba, a semi-autonomous buffer kingdom on the western limits of the Parthian Empire, governed by Arabian princes.</p><br>
<p>Hatra became an important fortified frontier city and withstood repeated attacks by the Roman Empire, and played an important role in the Second Parthian War. It repulsed the sieges of both Trajan (116/117) and Septimius Severus (198/199). Hatra defeated the Persians at the battle of Shahrazoor in 238, but fell to the Persia&#39;s Sassanid Empire of Shapur I in 241 and was destroyed. The traditional stories of the fall of Hatra tell of Nadera, daughter of the King of Araba, who betrayed the city into the hands of Shapur. The story tells of how Shapur killed the king and married Nadera, but later had her killed also.</p><br>
<p>Hatra was the best preserved and most informative example of a Parthian city. It was encircled by inner and outer walls nearly 2 km in diameter and supported by more than 160 towers. A temenos (τέμενος) surrounded the principal sacred buildings in the city’s centre. The temples covered some 1.2 hectares and were dominated by the Great Temple, an enormous structure with vaults and columns that once rose to 30 metres. The city was famed for its fusion of Greek, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, Aramean and Arabian pantheons, known in Aramaic as ("House of God"). The city had temples to Nergal (Assyrian-Babylonian and Akkadian), Hermes (Greek), Atargatis (Syro-Aramaean), Allat, Shamiyyah (Arabian), and Shamash (the Mesopotamian sun god). Other deities mentioned in the Hatran Aramaic inscriptions were the Aramaean Ba&#39;al Shamayn, and the female deity known as Ashurbel, which was perhaps the assimilation of the two deities the Assyrian god Ashur and the Babylonian Bel&mdash;despite their being individually masculine.</p><br>
<h2>List of rulers</h2><br>
<p>In inscriptions found at Hatra, several rulers are mentioned. Other rulers are sporadically mentioned by classical authors. They appear with two titles. The earlier rulers are called mrj´ (translation uncertain), the later ones mlk -king.</p><br>
<h2>Modern Hatra</h2><br>
<p>Hatra was used as the setting for the opening scene in the 1973 film The Exorcist, and since 1985 has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.</p><br>
<p>Saddam Hussein saw the sites Mesopotamian history as reflecting glory on himself, and sought to restore the site, and others in Ninevah, Nimrud, Ashur and Babylon, as a symbol of Arab achievement, spending more than US $80 million in the first phase of restoration of Babylon. Saddam Hussein demanded that new bricks in the restoration use his name (in imitation of Nebuchadnezzar) and parts of one restored Hatra temple have Saddams name.</p><br>
<p>From 1987 the, directed by R. Ricciardi Venco (University of Torino), is working at Hatra. The excavations were focused on an important house (), located close to the Temenos, and on in the Temenos central area. Now the Expedition is active in different regarding the preservation and development of the archaeological site.</p><br>
<p>In 2004, The Daily Telegraph stated "Hatras finely preserved columns and statues make it one of the most impressive of Iraqs archaeological sites"</p><br>
<h4>==Demolition by ISIL==</h4><br>
<p>Actions by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which occupied the area in mid-2014, have been a major threat to Hatra. In early 2015 they announced their intention to destroy many artifacts, claiming that such "graven images" were un-Islamic, encouraged shirk (or polytheism), and could not be permitted to exist, despite the preservation of the site for 1,400 years by various Islamic regimes. ISIL militants pledged to destroy the remaining artifacts. Shortly thereafter, they released a video showing the destruction of some artifacts from Hatra. After the bulldozing of Nimrud on March 5, 2015, "Hatra of course will be next" said Abdulamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist from Stony Brook University. On March 7, Kurdish and Iraqi official sources reported ISIS had begun the demolishing the ruins of Hatra. A video released by ISIL during the next month showed the destruction of the monuments.</p><br>
<p>UNESCO and ISESCO issued a joint statement saying “With this latest act of barbarism against Hatra, (the IS group) shows the contempt in which it holds the history and heritage of Arab people.”</p><br>
<p>The pro-Iraqi government Popular Mobilization Forces captured the city on 26 April 2017. A spokeswoman for the militias stated that ISIL had destroyed the sculptures and engraved images of the site, but its walls and towers were still standing though contained holes and scratches received from ISIL bullets. PMF units also stated that the group had mined the sites eastern gates, thus temporarily preventing any assessment of damage by archaeologists. It was reported on 1 May that the site had suffered less damage than feared earlier. A journalist of EFE had earlier reported finding many destroyed statues, burnt buildings as well as signs of looting. Layla Salih, head of antiquities for Nineveh Governorate, stated that most of the buildings were intact and the destruction didnt compare with that of other archaeological sites of Iraq. A PMF commander also stated that the damage was relatively minor.</p><br>
<p>The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel. To the south of the Nahe is the Palatinate region.</p><br>
<p>Many of the hills are no higher than 400 metres (1,300 ft) above sea level. There are several chains of much higher peaks within the Hunsrück, all bearing names of their own: the (Black Forest) Hochwald, the Idar Forest, the Soonwald, and the Bingen Forest. The highest mountain is the Erbeskopf (816 m; 2,677 ft).</p><br>
<p>Notable towns located within the Hunsrück include Simmern, Kirchberg, and Idar-Oberstein, Kastellaun, and Morbach. Frankfurt-Hahn Airport is also located within the region.</p><br>
<p>The climate in the Hunsrück is characterised by rainy weather, and mist rising in the morning. Slate is still mined in the mountains. Since 2010, the region has become one of Germany&#39;s major onshore wind power regions, with major wind farms located near Ellern and Kirchberg. Nature-based tourism has increased in recent years and in 2015, a new national park was inaugurated. Culturally, the region is best known for its Hunsrückisch dialect and through depictions in the Heimat film series. The region experienced significant emigration in the mid-19th century, particularly to Brazil.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<h3>Location</h3><br>
<p>The heart of the Hunsrück is formed by the Hunsrück Plateau and the Simmern Bowl. In the northwest the Hunsrück is bounded by the Moselle river and in the east by the Rhine. Its northeasternmost tip is thus formed by the Deutsches Eck. The Nahe - on the edge of the Bingen Forest, the Soonwald and the Lützelsoon - borders the mountains to the south. The Lower Naheland is not part of the Hunsrück, but belongs to the Upper Rhine Plain. The Idar Forest, the Hochwald and the Wildenburger Kopf adjoin the Hunsrück to the southwest. Here the Upper Nahe Hills rise in the shadow of the Hunsrück. The Osburger Hochwald, Schwarzwalder Hochwald and the rivers Saar and Ruwer form the western perimeter. Its southern continuation is formed by the Westrich and the North Palatine Uplands.</p><br>
<p>The low mountain range is around 100 km long (SW to NE) and an average of 25 to 30 km wide (NW to SE). Its perimeter is a heavily incised peneplain with elongated ridges in the south (the Hochwald, Idar Forest, Soonwald and Bingen Forest). The range, which begins at the Saar in the southwest and, with breaks, reaches as far as the Rhine, climbs to its highest point in the Hochwald at the Erbeskopf, the highest peak in the Hunsrück and in the Rhenish Massif west of the Rhine. It continues to the NE as the Idar Forest with its highest peaks, An den zwei Steinen and the Idarkopf. Its northeasternmost part is formed by the Soonwald (highest mountain: the Ellerspring, ), the Lützelsoon (Womrather Höhe, ) and the Bingen Forest (Kandrich, ). All these ranges form an almost unbroken belt of forest. – To the east of the Rhine the crest of the Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus.</p><br>
<p>Geomorphologically the Hunsrück bears great similarities to the Eifel, the Taunus and the Westerwald, which are also part of the Rhenish Massif.</p><br>
<p>The Hunsrück hill road runs from west to east from Saarburg to Koblenz. A Roman military road, the so-called Via Ausonius also once ran through the mountains in an east-west direction and linked Trier with Bingen.</p><br>
<p>In many primary schools in the Hunsrück children are taught the boundaries of the Hunsrück using the following rhyme: "Mosel, Nahe, Saar und Rhein schließen unsern Hunsrück ein." ("Moselle, Nahe, Saar and Rhine enclose our Hunsrück")</p><br>
<h3>Mountains and hills</h3><br>
<p>The following table lists the highest mountains and hills of the Hunsrück by sub-range (Osburger and Schwarzwalder Hochwald, Idar Forest, Haardt Forest, Soonwald, Bingen Forest and Lützelsoon) and height in metres above sea level (NN):</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Despite, in places, intensive agricultural or timber use, the Hunsrück remains a landscape with a biodiversity, because many elements of the landscape can only be extensively utilised or even not used at all.</p><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>The plant world of the Hunsrück is rich and varied. In the Soonwald there are over 850 species of ferns and flowers. The traditional forest monocultures are increasingly giving way, especially as a result of windthrow damage, to mixed woods, supporting a greater variety of plant species.</p><br>
<h3>Fauna</h3><br>
<p>Although the Hunsrück is not classified as a bird reserve, it is home to a wide variety of bird species: woodpeckers, birds of prey and song birds may be seen at all times of the year. Even the rare and shy black stork nests in the forests. The Hunsrück is rich in mammals; red deer, roe deer and wild boar are intensively hunted. Larger predators include a few examples of wild cat or even the lynx. Red fox, badgers and pine martens are more commonly encountered.</p><br>
<p>The best known mammal in the Hunsrück has become the barbastelle. It achieved notoriety when the presence of this rare species of bat delayed construction on the runway extension at Hahn Airport.</p><br>
<p>In the numerous wet areas, amphibians, like the fire salamander, and insects have found ideal habitats. Meanwhile, in areas covered by dry grassland or scree, numerous reptiles like the slowworm and smooth snake have found a home. The viper does not occur in the Hunsrück.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Prehistory</h3><br>
<p>Finds such as stone axes indicate that the Hunsrück has been settled since the New Stone Age. Older discoveries, which prove that the area was either settled or crossed during the Old Stone Age, are rare. Middle Palaeolithic (ca. 200,000–400,000 B.C.) surface finds from Weiler bei Bingen are an exception. By contrast the Gravettian (ca. 30,000–20,000 B.C.) sites in Heddesheim (in the municipality of Guldental) and Brey (in the municipality of Rhens) are the first settlements in the area around the Hunsrück. The rather more recent Old Stone Age site of Nußbaum near Bad Sobernheim and the encampment of Late Palaeolithic deer hunters in Boppard, which was first discovered in 2001 by the ARRATA Archaeology Society, should also be mentioned. In 2014, Late Palaeolithich rock carvings, like those known in southern France and Spain, were found for the first time in Germany in the Hunsrück. They were portraits of animals, especially horses, about 25,000 years old carved into a 1.2 m² slab of slate.</p><br>
<p>The oldest witnesses from the New Stone Age are dated to no later than the Middle Neolithic, relics of the so-called Rössen culture (whose sites include Biebernheim and Reckershausen). The majority of finds, especially of stone axes date, however, to the Late Neolithic and belong to the Michelsberg culture. Up to 2007, numerous oval stone axes were discovered, especially in the Fore-Hunsrück (Morshausen, Beulich and Macken). Likewise, finds of flint arrowheads point to a Late Neolithic (inter alia at Bell) and very Late Neolithic (Hirzenach) settlement. Other finds from the Bronze Age prove that there was continual settlement (especially documented by graves and grave goods). A greater process of settlement took place in the Early Iron Age (Hallstatt period) with the Laufeld culture and in the La Tène period (5th– 1st century B.C.) with the Hunsrück-Eifel culture, which can be linked with the Celts. This is indicated, e.g. by the coach grave of Bell, the Waldalgesheim prince&#39;s grave, the circular rampart of Otzenhausen, the Pfalzfeld flame column, the upland settlement of Altburg in the Hahnenbach valley and the numerous fields of tumuli. At that time, the Hunsrück was the tribal area of the Treveri.</p><br>
<h3>Roman period</h3><br>
<p>Between about 50 B. C. and 400 A. D. the Romans opened up the Hunsrück by building a dense network of roads. The best known relic of this is the Via Ausonia. Numerous finds of Roman farms (Villa Rustica), settlements, like the vicus, Belginum, and military structures point to an almost total settlement of the region by the Romans.</p><br>
<h3>Frankish period</h3><br>
<p>The final years of the 4th century saw the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Franks conquered the Roman territories and began to divide them up. This was the start of the great western and central European empire of Francia. In the mid-8th century this was divided into gaus under Carolingian rule. The northern part of the present Hunsrück foreland belonged to the Trechirgau, the southern part to the Nahegau. The Trechirgau was managed by the so-called Bertholds, the Nahegau by the Emichones. The capital of the Trechirgau, Trigorium, was in Treis.</p><br>
<h3>Middle Ages to French period</h3><br>
<p>The Hundesrucha is mentioned for the first time in a 1074 deed from Ravengiersburg Abbey.</p><br>
<p>In the Middle Ages, the Hunsrück was territorially fragmented between the counts Palatine of the Rhine, the archbishops of Trier, the counts of Sponheim and the successors of the Emichones (the Wildgraves, the Raugraves and the counts of Veldenz). There were also a number of smaller dominions.</p><br>
<p>In 1410 the Principality of Simmern emerged as a territory ruled by a side line of the counts Palatine. In the following years, Simmern became the most important residence of a noble family in the Hunsrück. Under Duke John II the town achieved supra-regional importance for a short time.</p><br>
<p>After the Thirty Years War, Louis XIV of France made reunification demands on several principalities in the Palatinate, the Hunsrück and the Eifel. He had his troops invade and thus precipitated the Nine Years War. In 1689 Kirchberg, Kastellaun, Simmern and the town and castle of Stromberg were set on fire. Then came the chaos of war, which led to the War of the Spanish Succession and which ended in 1713.</p><br>
<p>In the following years, trade and commerce grew. In the Hunsrück the first industry was set up by the families of Hauzeur, Pastert and Stumm. They ran mining, processing and ore smelting businesses. These, in turn, spurred the manufacture of implements for the house, farming and handicrafts: ovens, pans, boilers, weights, spades, nails, hammers, anvils, looms, spinning wheels and ammunition (cannonballs and shells weighing from 2 to 30 pounds). Leaders in the iron processing industry were the family of Stumm. Their progenitor, Christian Stumm, was a blacksmith in Rhaunensulzbach. Two of his sons were important entrepreneurs. Johann Nikolaus Stumm (1668-1743) was a smeltery owner and his sons, Johann Ferdinand, Friedrich Philipp and Christian Philipp Stumm, bought on 22 March 1806, the Neunkirchen ironworks, part of today&#39;s Saarstahl AG. Johann Michael Stumm (1683-1747) was the founder of a organ building workshop.</p><br>
<p>The notorious robbers, Johannes Bückler (known as Schinderhannes) and Johann Peter Petri (Black Peter) brought insecurity to the Hunsrück in the late 18th century.</p><br>
<p>In 1792, as a result of the French Revolution and the seizure of power by Napoleon, French troops once again invaded the territories west of the Rhine and annexed them during the French period. After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, most of the Hunsrück was reallocated at the Congress of Vienna to Prussias Rhine Province. Parts of todays Birkenfeld and the northern Saarland belonged to the Oldenburg Principality of Birkenfeld until 1937.</p><br>
<h3>Prussia era and emigration</h3><br>
<p>The economic situation in the Hunsrück became serious during the years 1815-1845. A poor harvest in 1815 was followed by the year without a summer in 1816; grain prices rose rapidly and 1817 became a year of famine.</p><br>
<p>In September 1822, the Brazilian government sent Georg Anton Schäffer to Germany to recruit mercenaries and colonists. He arrived in 1823, as a representative of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil, and visited the Hanseatic cities, Frankfurt and many of the German courts. This mission sparked the first major wave of German emigrants to Brazil. Many of them were recruited by Schäffer from the Hunsrück, the northern and western parts of present-day Saarland and the Western Palatinate.</p><br>
<p>The first immigrants from the Hunsrück settled in 1824 in what is now the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, near the city of São Leopoldo. Not until 1830 did the number of emigrants to Brazil begin to fall.</p><br>
<p>The 1840s in Europe were marked by inflation, crop failures and a degree of social unrest, so that again (especially in 1846 and 1861) many people in Hunsrück decided to leave in two more waves of emigration, especially to North America and Brazil.</p><br>
<p>In August 1846, it was announced in Dunkirk, that free passage to Brazil would no longer be possible. At this time there over 800 people were waiting there. Prussia refused any responsibility for the impoverished and helpless emigrants. They were transported from France in three warships to Algeria and settled in the villages of Stidia and Sainte-Léonie. Most of their descendants returned to France after the Algerian War in 1962.</p><br>
<p>As a result of the increasing neglect and deprivation of parts of the population in Germany during the era of industrialization, an Inner Mission association was founded at the initiative of the Simmern pastor, and later superintendent, Julius Reuss, in Simmern, with the aim of building a rescue centre in the Hunsrück for children living in poverty. In 1851, an area between Simmern and Nannhausen, the Schmiedel was acquired. There, the first building was erected as a "mother house" (Mutterhaus or domus materna), which was opened on 13 September 1851 for a householder and twelve boys. Even today, the head offices of the Schmiedel organisation remain on the site.</p><br>
<h3>German Reich</h3><br>
<p>After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 and the foundation of the German Reich under Prussia&#39;s leadership, the so-called Gründerzeit began. Its success did not impact the Hunsrück until later, which is why many job seekers and even entire families went looking for work in the Ruhr area and migrated there.</p><br>
<p>The Protestant pastor, later Prussian Landtag MP, Richard Oertel, founder of the Hunsrück Farmers&#39; Union in 1892, and Albert Hackenberg, acting pastor in Hottenbach from 1879 to 1912, successfully worked to improve the economic, social and technological conditions in the Hunsrück region. They achieved this through the creation of dairy cooperatives, postal agencies and, in particular, through adult education.</p><br>
<h3>First and Second World War</h3><br>
<p>The First World War, the Occupation Period and inflation also had a serious impact on the economy of the Hunsrück and its inhabitants, but there were not the political tensions that arose in many places in the German Reich.</p><br>
<p>A pioneer of industrialisation in the Hunsrück was entrepreneur, Michael Felke. In 1919 he founded the Felke Möbelwerke, a company that produced and sold furniture in Central Europe until the late 1990s. It was one of the first major employer in the region.</p><br>
<p>In 1938 and 1939, the German army became interested in the Hunsrück region as a strategic deployment route to the German-French border and the Siegfried Line, building the Hunsrück Highway, 140 kilometres long, in just 100 days. Supply depots and airfields were built in the woods on both sides of the road. In the Second World War and post-war period, two places in the Hunsrück rose to notoriety: Hinzert concentration camp and Bretzenheim POW camp, the so-called "Field of Misery".</p><br>
<h3>Cold War to the present</h3><br>
<p>In 1946, most of the Hunsrück became part of the new state of Rhineland-Palatinate, with small elements around Nonnweiler going to the Saarland.</p><br>
<p>During the Cold War until the early 1990s, the Hunsrück was home to numerous military airfields, ammunition dumps, command positions and missile sites. The most famous were Hahn Air Base, Pferdsfeld Air Base, the Börfink Command Bunker and the Pydna Missile Base.</p><br>
<p>In 1986/87, as a result of the NATO Double-Track Decision, 96 cruise missiles, fitted with nuclear warheads, were to be stored at Pydna. On 11 Oct 1986, on the market place in Bell, what was probably the largest demonstration in the Hunsrück&#39;s history took place. Around 200,000 people, 95% of whom were not from the Hunsrück, peacefully protested against the deployment of the missiles. At the end of the day the "Hunsrück Declaration" was read out which called for a reversal of the security policy. This did not happen, however, the Cold War ended two years later anyway, and the missile based was closed on 31 August 1993, the land being acquired by the Kastellaun garrison authority.</p><br>
<p>Likewise the US airbase at Hahn was transferred in 1993 to the German authorities and became a civilian facility, Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. The airport has expanded steadily since that time.</p><br>
<p>In the early 1980s, film director, Edgar Reitz, shot the first part of his trilogy Heimat in the Hunsrück, a large part of it in Woppenroth alias Schabbach. From Apr–Aug 2012, Reitz chose the Hunsrück village of Gehlweiler for the shooting of his film Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht. The film focuses on the pre-March era in the mid-19th century and the wave of emigration from the Hunsrück to Brazil.</p><br>
<h2>Sights and attractions</h2><br>
<p>Baybach valley and Waldeck Castle</p><br>
<p>Birkenfeld: museum of the local history society; Birkenfeld Castle was the residenz of the Wittelsbach line of Palatinate-Birkenfeld; residenz schloss of the grand dukes of Oldenburg</p><br>
<p>Bundenbach: Herrenberg roofing slate pit, Celtic settlement</p><br>
<p>Dhaun Castle: medieval knights&#39;s castle</p><br>
<p>Dickenschied: where the martyr, Paul Schneider, worked and is buried</p><br>
<p>Dill: ruins of one of the Sponheim family castles; church with ceiling murals by Johann Georg Engisch</p><br>
<p>Emmelshausen: Ehrbach Gorge, Baybach valley, Hunsrück Railway</p><br>
<p>Erbeskopf (part of Deuselbach): Hunsrückhaus Museum, highest mountain in the Hunsrück</p><br>
<p>Feilbingert: Schmittenstollen show mine</p><br>
<p>Fischbach (Nahe): Historic copper mine (open to visitors)</p><br>
<p>Gemünden: Gemünden Castle, Koppenstein Castle</p><br>
<p>Hattgenstein: observation tower</p><br>
<p>Hermeskeil: steam engine museum, Firefighting Museum and aviation museum</p><br>
<p>Herrstein: historic town centre</p><br>
<p>Hinzert: memorial to the victims of Nazism at Hinzert concentration camp</p><br>
<p>Idar-Oberstein: German Gemstone Museum, Rock church, Gemstone show mine and much more.</p><br>
<p>Kastellaun: castle ruins and old US nuclear missile base of Pydna</p><br>
<p>Kempfeld: Wildenburg Castle and wildlife park on the Wildenburger Kopf</p><br>
<p>Kirchberg: market place, St. Michaels Market (Thursday after St. Michaels Day)</p><br>
<p>Krummenau: refuge of the famous Schinderhannes</p><br>
<p>Leisel: Heiligenbösch church and Roman baths</p><br>
<p>Morbach: telephone museum, Hinzerath: Baldenau Castle, Wederath: Belginum archaeological park, Weiperath: timber museum and Hunolstein: Hunolstein Castle</p><br>
<p>Neuerkirch: Cultural History Museum, agricultural implements and machines, old handicraft skills, their products and village life and culture of bygone times</p><br>
<p>Otzenhausen: Hunnenring, a Celtic fortification</p><br>
<p>Pfalzfeld: Flammensäule</p><br>
<p>Ravengiersburg: "Hunsrück Cathedral" from the 12th/13th century</p><br>
<p>Rhaunen: Protestant church with the oldest surviving Stumm organ dating to 1723, village with historic buildings from various style periods</p><br>
<p>Sargenroth: the Nunkirche with fresco in the tower, Nunkircher Market (early September)</p><br>
<p>Schneppenbach: Schmidtburg, extensive castle ruins above the Hahnenbach stream</p><br>
<p>Schwollen: Sauerbrunnen (fountain)</p><br>
<p>Seesbach: Gateway to the Soonwald, Semendis Chapel (murals by Bishop Willigis) Rock formation in the centre of the village dating to the last ice age, RC parish church, Schinderhannes&#39; Cave</p><br>
<p>Siesbach: Roman gravesite</p><br>
<p>Simmern: Schinderhannes Tower, local history museum in Simmern Castle, Hunsrück Museum, Simmern</p><br>
<p>Spabrücken: RC church with the "Black Mother of God of the Soon" (Schwarzer Mutter Gottes vom Soon), active monastery, Gräfenbacher Hütte with remains of a free-standing furnace for Soonwald ore</p><br>
<p>Stipshausen: "Hunsrück Baroque" church and Stumm organ</p><br>
<p>Stromberg: Stromburg Castle, home of the deutschen Michel</p><br>
<p>Sulzbach: home of the Stumm organ-building family with a large Stumm organ, the last one made by Johann Michael Stumm</p><br>
<p>Trollbach valley: rock landscape between Rümmelsheim Castle Layen and Münster-Sarmsheim along the Trollbach</p><br>
<p>Woppenroth: the village which was one of the main locations for the films Heimat and Heimat 3 by Edgar Reitz. From Woppenroth one can reach the Hahnenbach valley and the Hellkirch</p><br>
<p>Züsch: Züscher Hammer Mill, a former hammer mill once driven by water power</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The German television drama series Heimat, directed by Edgar Reitz, examined the 20th-century life of a small fictional village in the Hunsrück.</p><br>
<p>The electronic music festival Nature One is held at the Pydna missile base in Kastellaun.</p><br>
<p>The Château d&#39;If is a fortress  located on the island of If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea about 1.5 km offshore in the Bay of Marseille in southeastern France. It is famous for being one of the settings of Alexandre Dumas&#39; adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo. If is the French word for the yew tree.</p><br>
<h2>Island</h2><br>
<p>Île d’If measures 3 hectare and is located 3.5 km west of the Old Port of Marseille. The entire island is heavily fortified; high ramparts with gun platforms surmount the cliffs that rise steeply from the surrounding ocean. Apart from the fortress, the island is uninhabited.</p><br>
<h2>Fortress</h2><br>
<p>The "château" is a square, three-story building 28 m long on each side, flanked by three towers with large gun embrasures. It was built in 1524-31 on the orders of King Francis I, who, during a visit in 1516, saw the island as a strategically important location for defending the coastline from sea-based attacks.</p><br>
<p>The castle&#39;s principal military value was as a deterrent; it never had to fight off an actual attack. The closest that it came to a genuine test of strength was in July 1531, when Holy Roman Emperor Charles V made preparations to attack Marseille. However, he abandoned the invasion plan.</p><br>
<p>This might have been fortunate, given the weaknesses identified by military engineer Vauban in a scathing report in 1701: "The fortifications look like the rock, they are fully rendered, but very roughly and carelessly, with many imperfections. The whole having been very badly built and with little care... All the buildings, very crudely done, are ill made."</p><br>
<p>The embalmed body of general Jean Baptiste Kléber was repatriated to France after his assassination in Cairo in 1800. Napoleon, fearing that his tomb would become a symbol to Republicanism, ordered that the body stay at the château. It remained there for 18 years until Louis XVIII granted Kléber a proper burial in his native Strasbourg.</p><br>
<h2>Prison</h2><br>
<p>The isolated location and dangerous offshore currents of the Château dIf made it an ideal escape-proof prison, very much like the island of Alcatraz in California in more recent times. Its use as a dumping ground for political and religious detainees soon made it one of the most feared and notorious jails in France. Over 3,500 Huguenots (French Calvinists) were sent to Château dIf, as was Gaston Crémieux, a leader of the Paris Commune, who was shot there in 1871.</p><br>
<p>The island became internationally famous in the 19th century when Alexandre Dumas used it as a setting for The Count of Monte Cristo, published to widespread acclaim in 1844. In the novel, the main character Edmond Dantès (a commoner who later purchases the noble title of Count) and his mentor, Abbé Faria, were both imprisoned in it. After fourteen years, Dantès makes a daring escape from the castle, becoming the first person ever to do so and survive. In reality, no one is known to have done this. The modern Château d&#39;If maintains a roughly hewn dungeon in honour of Dantès as a tourist attraction.</p><br>
<p>As was common practice in those days, prisoners were treated differently according to their class and wealth. The poorest were placed at the bottom, being confined perhaps twenty or more to a cell in windowless dungeons under the castle. However, the wealthiest inmates were able to pay for their own private cells (or pistoles) higher up, with windows, a garderobe and a fireplace.</p><br>
<h2>The château today</h2><br>
<p>The châteaus use as a prison ceased at the end of the 19th century. It was demilitarized and opened to the public on 23 September 1890. It can be reached by boat from Marseilles old port. Its fame comes from the setting for Dumas&#39; novel, The Count of Monte Cristo. This fame has made the prison a popular tourist destination.</p><br>
<p>Mark Twain visited the château in July 1867 during a months-long pleasure excursion. He recounts his visit in his book, The Innocents Abroad. He says a guide took his party into the prison, which was not yet open to the public, and inside the cells, one of which he says housed the "Iron Mask." There is a sign at the château that says "Prison dite de lHomme au Masque de Fer" ("Said to be the prison of the Man in the Iron Mask"), but this is likely only legend since the famed Man in the Iron Mask was never held at the Château dIf.</p><br>
<p>The Château d&#39;If is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.</p><br>
<h2>In fictional works</h2><br>
<p>Château dIf is famous for being one of the settings of Alexandre Dumas adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo. However, other locations have been used to represent Château dIf in film adaptations of the work. In the 2002 adaptation starring Jim Caviezel, the château was represented by Saint Marys Tower on Comino, the smallest inhabited Maltese island. The cliff-top watchtower can be seen from the ferry crossing between Malta and Gozo.</p><br>
<p>The fortress was used as the location where Alain Charnier a.k.a. Frog One (Fernando Rey) meets Devereaux (Frédéric de Pasquale) to finalise the drugs shipment to the United States in the 1971 crime film The French Connection.</p><br>
<p>In the 1956 "Tales of Old Dartmoor" episode of The Goon Show radio comedy series, Grytpype-Thynne has Dartmoor Prison put to sea to visit the Château d&#39;If, as part of a plan to find the treasure of the Count of Monte Cristo.</p><br>
<p>In "The Ruby Notebook" by Laura Resau, Zeeta and Wendell visit the Château d&#39;If.</p><br>
<p>In the Clive Cussler novel Spartan Gold, the main characters visit the Château d&#39;If as part of their quest for hidden treasure.</p><br>
<h2>Notable prisoners</h2><br>
<p>Chevalier Anselme (1580-?)</p><br>
<p>Jean Serres, Huguenot</p><br>
<p>Élie Neau, Huguenot</p><br>
<p>Chevalier de Lorraine, lover of Philippe de France</p><br>
<p>Honoré Mirabeau, writer, popular orator and statesman - (1774–1775)</p><br>
<p>Abbé Faria - (1797-?) - his stay at the château is disputed</p><br>
<p>Michel Mathieu Lecointe-Puyraveau, politician - (1815)</p><br>
<p>Gaston Crémieux, a leader of the Paris Commune (1871)</p><br>
<p>Contrary to common belief, the Marquis de Sade was not a prisoner at the château.</p><br>
<p>The Northumberland Strait  is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf&#39;s eastern, southern and western shores.</p><br>
<h2>Boundaries</h2><br>
<p>The western boundary of the strait is delineated by a line running between North Cape, Prince Edward Island and Point Escuminac, New Brunswick while the eastern boundary is delineated by a line running between East Point, Prince Edward Island and Inverness, Nova Scotia.</p><br>
<h2>Hydrography</h2><br>
<p>The Northumberland Strait varies in depth between 17 and 65 metres, with the deepest waters at either end. The tidal patterns are complex; the eastern end has the usual two tides per day, with a tidal range of 1.2 to 1.8 metres, while the western end effectively has only one tide per day.</p><br>
<p>The strait&#39;s shallow depths lend to warm water temperatures in summer months, with some areas reaching 25°C, or 77°F. Consequently, the strait is reportedly home to the warmest ocean water temperatures in Canada, and some of the warmest ocean water temperatures on the Atlantic coast north of Virginia.</p><br>
<p>During the winter months between December and April, sea ice covers the entire strait and Gulf of St. Lawrence.</p><br>
<h2>Geomorphology</h2><br>
<p>While the western shores of Cape Breton Island and northeastern shores of the Nova Scotia peninsula are dominated by granite, sedimentary rocks along the central and western parts of the strait, as well as the entire south shore of Prince Edward Island, consist of sandstone, lending to beautiful sandy beaches with minimal coastal development. The largest island in the strait is Pictou Island.</p><br>
<h2>Settlements</h2><br>
<p>Major communities on the strait include the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside, Prince Edward Island as well as the towns of Souris, Prince Edward Island, Pictou, Nova Scotia, and Shediac, New Brunswick.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<h3>Shipping</h3><br>
<p>The Northumberland Strait is a minor shipping route, with ports such as Pugwash shipping salt, Summerside, Charlottetown, Georgetown and Souris shipping agricultural products and receiving petroleum and aggregate, and Pictou shipping forestry products and general cargo. Shipping has declined in recent decades with the decline of rail service to ports and the increased capacity of highways to larger ports outside of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which freezes in the winter.</p><br>
<p>Cruise ships regularly visit Charlottetown during summer and fall, and since 2012 a few smaller cruise ships have been visiting Pictou.</p><br>
<h3>Confederation Bridge</h3><br>
<p>The narrowest part of the strait, the 13-kilometre (7–nautical mile) wide Abegweit Passage in the western part of the strait between Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island and Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick, is now spanned by the Confederation Bridge.</p><br>
<h3>Ferries</h3><br>
<p>The strait hosts three seasonal ferry services:</p><br>
<p>* Northumberland Ferries Limited operates a passenger/vehicle service between Caribou, Nova Scotia and Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island.</p><br>
<p>* A passenger-only ferry service operates from Caribou, Nova Scotia to Pictou Island.</p><br>
<p>* Groupe CTMA operates a passenger/vehicle service between Souris, Prince Edward Island and Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec.</p><br>
<p>All three ferry services are located in the eastern end of the strait and operate during the ice-free months from May - December.</p><br>
<p>There was a year-round ferry service that operated in the central/western part of the strait across Abegweit Passage between Port Borden, Prince Edward Island and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. This service operated from October 1917 until May 1997. Owned by the Government of Canada, it was one of Canada&#39;s busiest ferry services and was operated by various federal Crown corporations (Canadian National Railways, CN Marine, Marine Atlantic). The ferry service was replaced by the Confederation Bridge when it opened on 31 May 1997.</p><br>
<h3>Undersea cables</h3><br>
<p>Maritime Electric supplies electricity to customers in Prince Edward Island. Although the utility does have some electrical generation facilities, since the mid-1970s the majority of Prince Edward Island&#39;s electricity has been purchased from NB Power and supplied via an interprovincial electrical interconnection. This interconnection consists of two 23 km 138 kilovolt oil-filled submarine transmission cables installed 1975-78 under the Northumberland Strait at the western end of the Abegweit Passage between Murray Corner, New Brunswick and Fernwood, Prince Edward Island. Since the Northumberland Strait freezes in winter, the cables are designed to be protected from ice scouring and were copied from a Swedish design that was originally used to supply the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.</p><br>
<p>Pictou Island, in Nova Scotia receives no electricity from that province&#39;s utility, Nova Scotia Power. Residents must generate their own electricity from off-grid sources.</p><br>
<p>Bell Aliant has two fibre optic telecommunications cables spanning Northumberland Strait to serve Prince Edward Island. The first is a submarine cable running from Caribou, Nova Scotia to Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island. The other runs through the Confederation Bridge; this cable replaced a submarine cable that used to run from Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island to Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick.</p><br>
<p>Eastlink has a fibre optic telecommunications cable connecting Gaspereau, Prince Edward Island with Port Hood, Nova Scotia.</p><br>
<h3>Swim crossings</h3><br>
<p>Swim-related details about crossings, tides, currents, marine life, and navigation can be found at http://www.openwaterpedia.com/index.php?title=Northumberland_Strait OpenWaterPedia&#39;s Northumberland Strait page.</p><br>
<p>There have been several documented unassisted swim crossings of the strait, although there is no official body to verify these claims. All documented single and double crossings except one have been at the western end of the strait across the Abegweit Passage.</p><br>
<p>The first documented single crossing of Abegweit Passage (approximately 14 km) with assistance was made by Evelyn Henry of Keppoch, PEI on July 15, 1951 when she swam from Cape Tormentine, NB to Borden, PEI in 8 hours, 47 minutes.</p><br>
<p>There have been two documented single-day double crossings of Abegweit Passage (approximately 27 km) with assistance to date:</p><br>
<p>* Jennifer Alexander of Halifax, NS, swam a double crossing on July 26, 2007 in 19 hours, 17 minutes from Cape Jourimain, NB to Borden, PEI.</p><br>
<p>* Kristin Roe of Halifax, NS, swam a double crossing on July 26, 2008 in 15 hours, 40 minutes from Cape Jourimain, NB to Borden, PEI.</p><br>
<p>The first, and to date only, documented single crossing with assistance across the eastern end of the strait (approximately 24.5 km was made by Jill Leon of Charlottetown, PEI on July 31, 2013 when she swam from Caribou, NS to Wood Islands, PEI in 9 hours, 48 minutes.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural significance</h2><br>
<p>The strait is famous in folklore circles for regular sightings of the Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait, a flaming vessel which appears in the middle of the strait. The strait is also notable for the ice boats, small oared boats which made regular dangerous crossings of the strait in winter carrying mail and passengers before the era of ice breaking ferries.</p><br>
<p>Galdhøpiggen is the tallest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia and Northern Europe, at 2,469 m  above sea level. It is located within the municipality of Lom , in the Jotunheimen mountain area.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>Galdhøpiggen means "the peak/spike (piggen) of the mountain Galdhø." The first element in the name of the mountain is gald (m.) "steep mountain road", the last element is hø (f.) "(big and) rounded mountain." An old road between Gudbrandsdalen and Sogn passes beneath the mountain.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Geologically Galdhøpiggen, like most of Southern Norway&#39;s mountain ranges, belongs to the Caledonian folding. The peak is made of gabbro, a hard but rather coarse-grained rock which is found in most of the Jotunheimen range. During the ice ages it was heavily glaciated and got its present form. The theory that the highest summits in Norway stayed above the ice as nunataks has been abandoned by most geologists. It fits well with the present flora in the area, but it does not fit well with the present knowledge of ice thickness and the results of glaciation.</p><br>
<p>For many years, geologists did not know that Galdhøpiggen was the highest summit in Norway. The honor was granted to the much more visible Snøhetta in the Dovrefjell range. Hence no attempts were made to climb the peak, while Snøhetta was visited for the first time in 1798 as part of a scientific trip to the area. In 1844 the geologist and mountaineer, Baltazar Mathias Keilhau, made two unsuccessful attempts to reach the summit. On one of these he reached a summit, which was later named Keilhaus topp, (at 2,355 m above sea level very close to Galdhøpiggen), but the terrible weather forced him to return.</p><br>
<p>In 1850 three men from Lom reached the summit; the guide Steinar Sulheim, the local teacher Arnesen and the church warden Flotten.</p><br>
<h2>Access and modern tourism</h2><br>
<p>Access to the top of Galdhøpiggen is not especially hard: from Juvasshytta (1850 metres above sea level, 5 km from the summit) it takes about three hours up (including about 45 minutes to prepare for crossing the Styggebreen glacier), an hour at the top and about two hours back. Some days in the summer, a few hundred people reach the summit each day. Guides are needed to cross the glacier, but are available every summer morning.</p><br>
<p>Galdhøpiggen can also be hiked from the Spiterstulen lodge in Visdalen, with a technically very easy, but still somewhat strenuous climb of 1300 m &mdash; nearly 4000 ft. It takes four hours walk up, two hours down. From Spiterstulen, hikers do not have to cross the Styggebreen glacier, and hence a guide is not required. Ardent peak-baggers may count three summits on the route from Spiterstulen: Svellnose, Keilhaus topp and the summit itself. During the main season guided trips take one to the summit from Spiterstulen via the well known blue ice fall on Svellnosbreen.</p><br>
<p>At Juvasshytta there is an alpine ski resort with lift on a glacier, with top on 2200 m.a.sl, the highest in Scandinavia. It is called Galdhøpiggen summer ski center and is open from June and all the summer, when the road is open.</p><br>
<h2>Summit</h2><br>
<p>Galdhøpiggen had earlier been challenged for the title as the highest mountain in Norway by Glittertind, as some measurements showed Glittertind was slightly higher including the glacier at its peak. This glacier has, however, shrunk in recent years, and Glittertind is now only 2464 m even including the glacier. Hence, the dispute has been settled in Galdhøpiggen&#39;s favour.</p><br>
<p>At the summit a small cabin has been built. In the summer soft drinks, chocolate bars, postcards and other items are sold here. Earlier the Norwegian Postal Authority had a small post office here&mdash;being the highest in Northern Europe.</p><br>
<p>Galdhøpiggen is not only the highest summit in Northern Europe, it also contains two probably unbreakable horticultural records in Northern Europe, being the upper limit for Ranunculus glacialis (2370 m) and Saxifraga oppositifolia (2350 m). Since the summer might not occur at all, some years, it tells something about these flowers&#39; adaptation to the extremely harsh climate.</p><br>
<p>On sunny days in the later part of July and August, the summit is visited by hundreds of people.</p><br>
<p>The Battle of Cape Matapan  was a Second World War naval engagement fought from 27–29 March 1941. The cape is on the south-west coast of the Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece. Following the interception of Italian signals by the Government Code and Cypher School  at Bletchley Park, ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, under the command of Admiral Andrew Cunningham, intercepted and sank or severely damaged several ships of the Italian Regia Marina under Squadron-Vice-Admiral Angelo Iachino. The opening actions of the battle are also known in Italy as the Battle of Gaudo.</p><br>
<h2>Background</h2><br>
<p>In late March 1941, as British ships of the Mediterranean Fleet covered troop movements to Greece, Mavis Batey, a cryptographer at Bletchley Park, made a breakthrough, reading the Italian naval Enigma for the first time. The first message, the cryptic "Today’s the day minus three," was followed three days later by a second message reporting the sailing of an Italian battle fleet comprising one battleship, six heavy and two light cruisers, plus destroyers to attack the merchant convoys supplying British forces. As always with Enigma, the intelligence breakthrough was concealed from the Italians by ensuring there was a plausible reason for the Allies to have detected and intercepted their fleet. In this case, it was a carefully directed reconnaissance plane.</p><br>
<p>As a further deception, Admiral Cunningham made a surreptitious exit after dark from a golf club in Alexandria to avoid being seen boarding his flagship, the battleship. He had made a point of arriving at the club the same afternoon, with his suitcase prominently paraded as if for an overnight stay and spent time on the golf course within sight of the Japanese consul. An evening party on his flagship was advertised for that night but was never meant to take place.</p><br>
<p>At the same time, there was a failure of intelligence on the Axis side. The Italians had been wrongly informed by the Germans that the Mediterranean Fleet had only one operational battleship and no aircraft carriers, however there were three battleships, while the damaged British aircraft carrier (HMS Illustrious) had been replaced by HMS Formidable.</p><br>
<h2>Prelude</h2><br>
<h3>Opposing forces</h3><br>
<p>The Allied force was the British Mediterranean fleet, consisting of the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable and the battleships, and Warspite. The main fleet was accompanied by two flotillas of destroyers: the 10th ( and, and, commanded by Commander "Hec" Waller, RAN), and the 14th (,, and, commanded by Philip Mack); also present were and. A second force, under Admiral Sir Henry Pridham-Wippell, consisted of the British light cruisers, and, the Australian light cruiser, and the British destroyers, and. The Australian had returned to Alexandria. Allied warships attached to convoys were available:, and waited in the Kithira Channel and,, and and were nearby.</p><br>
<p>The Italian fleet was led by Iachino&#39;s flagship, the modern battleship, screened by destroyers Alpino, Bersagliere, Fuciliere, and Granatiere of the 13th Flotilla. The fleet also included most of the Italian heavy cruiser force:, and, accompanied by four destroyers (Alfredo Oriani, Vincenzo Gioberti, and ) of the 9th Flotilla; and Trieste, Trento, and Bolzano, accompanied by three destroyers (Ascari, Corazziere, and Carabiniere) of the 12th Flotilla. Joining them were the light cruisers and (8th division) and two destroyers of the 16th Flotilla (Emanuele Pessagno and Nicoloso de Recco) from Brindisi. Significantly, none of the Italian ships had radar, unlike several of the Allied ships.</p><br>
<h2>Battle</h2><br>
<p>On 27 March, Vice-Admiral Pridham-Wippell—with the cruisers Ajax, Gloucester, Orion and Perth and a number of destroyers—sailed from Greek waters for a position south of Crete. Admiral Cunningham with Formidable, Warspite, Barham and Valiant left Alexandria on the same day to meet the cruisers.</p><br>
<p>The Italian Fleet was spotted by a Sunderland flying boat at 12:00, depriving Iachino of any advantage of surprise. The Italian Admiral also learned that Formidable was at sea, thanks to the decryption team aboard Vittorio Veneto. Nevertheless, after some discussion, the Italian headquarters decided to go ahead with the operation, to show the Germans their will to fight and confidence in the higher speed of their warships.</p><br>
<h3>Action off Gavdos</h3><br>
<p>On 28 March, an IMAM Ro.43 floatplane launched by Vittorio Veneto spotted the British cruiser squadron at 06:35. At 07:55, the Trento group encountered Admiral Pridham-Wippell&#39;s cruiser group south of the Greek island of Gavdos. The British squadron was heading to the south-east. Thinking they were attempting to run from their larger ships, the Italians gave chase, opening fire at 08:12 from 24,000 yd. The three heavy cruisers fired repeatedly until 08:55, with Trieste firing 132 armour piercing rounds, Trento firing 204 armour-piercing and 10 explosive shells and Bolzano firing another 189 armour piercing shells, but the Italians experienced trouble with their rangefinding equipment and scored no significant hits.</p><br>
<p>As the distance had not been reduced after an hour of pursuit, the Italian cruisers broke off the chase, turning to the north-west on a course to rejoin Vittorio Veneto. The Allied ships changed course in turn, following the Italian cruisers at extreme range. Iachino let them come on in hopes of luring the British cruisers into the range of Vittorio Venetos guns.</p><br>
<p>An officer on Orions bridge remarked to a companion, "What&#39;s that battleship over there? I thought ours were miles away." The Italians eavesdropped on Orions signal that she had sighted an unknown unit and was going to investigate. At 10:55, Vittorio Veneto joined the Italian cruisers and immediately opened fire on the shadowing Allied cruisers. She fired 94 rounds from a distance of 25,000 yd, all well aimed but again with an excessive dispersal of her salvos. The Allied cruisers, until then unaware of the presence of a battleship, withdrew, suffering slight damage from 381 mm shell splinters. Vittorio Veneto fired a total of 94 shells in 29 salvos. Another 11 rounds got jammed in the barrels.</p><br>
<h3>Air attacks</h3><br>
<p>Cunningham&#39;s force, which had been attempting to rendezvous with Pridham-Wippell, had launched an attack by Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers from HMS Formidable at 09:38. They attacked Vittorio Veneto without direct effect, but the required manoeuvring made it difficult for the Italian ships to maintain their pursuit. The Italian ships fired 152, 100 and 90 mm guns and also 37, 20 and 13.2 mm guns when at close range, repelling the attack, while one of the two Junkers Ju 88s escorting the Italian fleet was shot down by a Fairey Fulmar. Iachino broke off the pursuit at 12:20, retiring towards his own air cover at Taranto.</p><br>
<p>A second aerial attack at 15:09 surprised the Italians; Lieutenant-Commander Dalyell-Stead was able to fly his Albacore to within 1,094 yd of Vittorio Veneto before releasing a torpedo which hit her outer port propeller and caused 4,000 LT of flooding. Dalyell-Stead and his crew were killed when their aircraft was shot down by antiaircraft fire from the battleship. The ship stopped while the damage was repaired, but she was able to get under way again at 16:42, making 19 kn. Cunningham heard of the damage to Vittorio Veneto, and started a pursuit.</p><br>
<p>A third attack by six Albacores and two Fairey Swordfish of 826 and 828 Naval Air Squadrons from Formidable and two Swordfish of 815 squadron from Crete took place between 19:36 and 19:50. Admiral Iachino deployed his ships in three columns and used smoke, searchlights, and a heavy barrage to protect the Vittorio Veneto. The tactics prevented further damage to the battleship, but one torpedo hit the Pola, which had nearly stopped to avoid running into the Fiume and could not take any evasive action. This blow knocked out five boilers and the main steam line, causing Pola to lose electric power and drift to a stop. The torpedo was apparently dropped by Lieutenant F.M.A. Torrens-Spence.</p><br>
<p>Unaware of Cunningham&#39;s pursuit, a squadron of cruisers and destroyers was ordered to return and help Pola. This squadron included Polas sister ships, Zara and Fiume. The squadron did not start to return towards Pola until about an hour after the order had been given by Iachino, officially due to communication problems, while Vittorio Veneto and the other ships continued to Taranto.</p><br>
<h3>Night action</h3><br>
<p>At 20:15, Orions radar picked up a ship six miles to port, apparently dead in the water; she was the crippled Pola. The bulk of the Allied forces detected the Italian squadron on radar shortly after 22:00, and were able to close without being detected. The Italian ships had no radar and could not detect British ships by means other than sight; Italian thinking did not envisage night actions and their main gun batteries were not prepared for action. At 22:20 they spotted the Allied squadron, but thought them to be Italian ships. The battleships Barham, Valiant, and Warspite were able to close to 3,800 yd – point blank range for battleship guns – at which point they opened fire. The Allied searchlights (including those aboard Valiant, under the command of a young Prince Philip) illuminated their enemy. Some British gunners witnessed cruiser main turrets flying dozens of metres into the air. After just three minutes, Fiume and Zara had been destroyed. Fiume sank at 23:30, while Zara was finished off by a torpedo from the destroyer HMS Jervis at 02:40 of 29 March.</p><br>
<p>Two Italian destroyers, and, were sunk in the first five minutes. The other two, Gioberti and Oriani, managed to escape, the former with heavy damage. Towing Pola to Alexandria as a prize was considered, but daylight was approaching, and it was thought that the danger of enemy air attack was too high. British boarding parties seized a number of much-needed Breda anti-aircraft machine guns. Polas crew was taken off and she was sunk by torpedoes from the destroyers Jervis and Nubian shortly after 04:00. The only known Italian reaction after the shocking surprise was a fruitless torpedo charge by some destroyers and the aimless fire of one of Zaras 40 mm guns in the direction of the British warships.</p><br>
<p>The Allied ships took on survivors but left the scene in the morning, fearing Axis air strikes. Admiral Cunningham ordered a signal to be made on the Merchant Marine emergency band. This signal was received by the Italian High Command. It informed them that due to air strikes the Allied ships had ceased their rescue operations and granted safe passage to a hospital ship for rescue purposes. The location of the remaining survivors was broadcast, and the Italian hospital ship Gradisca came to recover them. Allied casualties during the battle were a single torpedo bomber shot down by Vittorio Venetos 90 mm (3.5-inch) anti-aircraft batteries, with the loss of the three-man crew. Italian losses were up to 2,303 sailors, most of them from Zara and Fiume. The Allies rescued 1,015 survivors, while the Italians saved another 160.</p><br>
<h2>Aftermath</h2><br>
<h3>Balance of naval power</h3><br>
<p>Matapan was Italy&#39;s greatest defeat at sea, subtracting from its order of battle a cruiser division. The British in the Mediterranean lost the heavy cruiser and the new light cruiser Bonaventure in the same period (26–31 March 1941), but while the Royal Navy lost four heavy cruisers during the war (York, Exeter, Cornwall and Dorsetshire), at Matapan the Regia Marina lost three in a night. That the Italians had sortied so far to the east established a potential threat that forced the British to keep their battleships ready to face another sortie during the operations off Greece and Crete.</p><br>
<p>After the defeat at Cape Matapan, the Italian Admiral Iachino wrote that the battle had</p><br>
<p>The Italian fleet did not venture into the Eastern Mediterranean again until the fall of Crete two months later. Despite his impressive victory, Admiral Cunningham was somewhat disappointed with the failure of the destroyers to make contact with Vittorio Veneto. The escape of the Italian battleship was, in the words of the British Admiral, "much to be regretted".</p><br>
<h3>Bletchley Park (GC&CS)</h3><br>
<p>For reasons of secrecy, code breakers at the GC&CS were rarely informed of the operational effects of their work, but their impact on the Battle of Cape Matapan was an exception. A few weeks after the end of the battle, Admiral Cunningham dropped into Bletchley Park to congratulate &#39;Dilly and his girls, with a positive impact on morale: Mavis Batey (née Lever), one of the code breakers remembers: "Our sense of elation knew no bounds when Cunningham came down in person to congratulate us". Admiral John Godfrey, the Director of Naval Intelligence, stated: "Tell Dilly that we have won a great victory in the Mediterranean and it is entirely due to him and his girls".</p><br>
<h3>Post war</h3><br>
<p>There is still controversy in Italy regarding the orders given by the Italian Admiral Angelo Iachino to the Zara division to recover the Pola, when it was clear that an enemy battleship force was steaming from the opposite direction.</p><br>
<p>For decades after the end of the Second World War, the involvement of the GC&CS, as well as the code breaking methods used, were kept secret. A number of controversial theories were published before more complete accounts emerged after records were declassified in 1978. Only later, after Dillys rodding method was demonstrated by Mavis Batey to the Admiral in charge of naval history, were Italian official records corrected. In 1966, H. Montgomery Hyde published a story alleging that a spy (codename Cynthia) seduced Admiral Alberto Lais (the Italian naval attaché in Washington, D.C.) and that she obtained a codebook used by the British to defeat the Italians at Matapan. Hyde was found guilty of libelling the dead, but evidence of GC&CS involvement was not made public at that time. In 1980, the BBC series Spy! included similar allegations about a spy called Cynthia&#39; who obtained a codebook. In 1974, Frederick Winterbotham in The Ultra Secret falsely credited the decryption of Luftwaffe Enigma traffic.</p><br>
<h2>Order of battle</h2><br>
<h3>Italy</h3><br>
<p>Ammiraglio di squadra Angelo Iachino</p><br>
<p>One battleship: Vittorio Veneto (damaged)</p><br>
<p>Four destroyers (13a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere):, ,</p><br>
<p>Ammiraglio di divisione Antonio Legnani</p><br>
<p>Two light cruisers (8a Divisione Incrociatori): Duca degli Abruzzi, Giuseppe Garibaldi</p><br>
<p>Two destroyers (6a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): ,</p><br>
<p>Ammiraglio di divisione Luigi Sansonetti</p><br>
<p>Three heavy cruisers (3a Divisione Incrociatori): Bolzano, Trento, Trieste</p><br>
<p>Three destroyers (12a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere):, Carabiniere,</p><br>
<p>Ammiraglio di divisione Carlo Cattaneo</p><br>
<p>Three heavy cruisers (1a Divisione Incrociatori): Fiume (sunk), Pola (sunk), Zara (sunk)</p><br>
<p>Four destroyers (9a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): (sunk), (sunk), ,</p><br>
<h3>Allies</h3><br>
<p>Force A, 14th Destroyer Flotilla, 10th Destroyer Flotilla (of Force C), Force B, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, Force D</p><br>
<p>Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham</p><br>
<p>Three battleships: HMS Barham, Valiant, and Warspite</p><br>
<p>One aircraft carrier: HMS Formidable</p><br>
<p>Nine destroyers: HMS Greyhound, Griffin, Jervis, Janus, Mohawk, Nubian, Hotspur and Havock and HMAS Stuart</p><br>
<p>Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell</p><br>
<p>Four light cruisers: HMS Ajax, Gloucester and Orion and HMAS Perth</p><br>
<p>Three destroyers: HMS Hasty, Hereward and Ilex</p><br>
<p>AG 9 convoy (from Alexandria to Greece)</p><br>
<p>Two light cruisers: HMS Calcutta and Carlisle</p><br>
<p>Three destroyers: HMS Defender and Jaguar and HMAS Vampire</p><br>
<p>GA 8 convoy (from Greece to Alexandria)</p><br>
<p>One anti-aircraft cruiser: HMS Bonaventure</p><br>
<p>Two destroyers: HMS Decoy and Juno</p><br>
<p>One merchant ship: Thermopylæ (Norwegian)</p><br>
<p>Ugarit  was an ancient port city in northern Syria. Its ruins are often called Ras Shamra after the headland where they lie. Ugarit had close connections to the Hittite Empire, sent tribute to Egypt at times, and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus , documented in the archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery found there. The polity was at its height from c. 1450 BC until 1200 BC until its destruction, which was possibly caused by the mysterious Sea Peoples. The kingdom would be one of the many destroyed during the Bronze Age Collapse.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Ras Shamra lies on the Mediterranean coast, some 11 km north of Latakia, near modern Burj al-Qasab.</p><br>
<h3>Origins and the second millennium</h3><br>
<p>Neolithic Ugarit was important enough to be fortified with a wall early on, perhaps by 6000 BCE, though the site is thought to have been inhabited earlier. Ugarit was important perhaps because it was both a port and at the entrance of the inland trade route to the Euphrates and Tigris lands. The city reached its heyday between 1800 and 1200 BC, when it ruled a trade-based coastal kingdom, trading with Egypt, Cyprus, the Aegean, Syria, the Hittites, and much of the eastern Mediterranean.</p><br>
<p>The first written evidence mentioning the city comes from the nearby city of Ebla, c. 1800 BCE. Ugarit passed into the sphere of influence of Egypt, which deeply influenced its art. Evidence of the earliest Ugaritic contact with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilization) comes from a carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I, 1971–1926 BC. A stela and a statuette from the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear at what time these monuments were brought to Ugarit. Amarna letters from Ugarit c. 1350 BCE record one letter each from Ammittamru I, Niqmaddu II, and his queen.</p><br>
<p>From the 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in regular contact with Egypt and Alashiya (Cyprus).</p><br>
<p>In the second millennium BC, Ugarit&#39;s population was Amorite, and the Ugaritic language probably has a direct Amoritic origin. The kingdom of Ugarit may have controlled about 2,000 km on average.</p><br>
<p>During some of its history it would have been in close proximity to, if not directly within the Hittite Empire.</p><br>
<h3>Destruction</h3><br>
<p>The last Bronze Age king of Ugarit, Ammurapi (circa 1215 to 1180 BC), was a contemporary of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma II. The exact dates of his reign are unknown. However, a letter by the king is preserved, in which Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Near Eastern states from invasion by the advancing Sea Peoples. Ammurapi pleads for assistance from the king of Alashiya, highlighting the desperate situation Ugarit faced:</p><br>
<p>However, no help arrived, and the city was burned to the ground at the end of the Bronze Age. By excavating the highest levels of the city&#39;s ruins, archaeologists can study various attributes of Ugaritic civilization just before their destruction, and compare artifacts with those of nearby cultures to help establish dates. Ugarit also contained many caches of cuneiform tablets, actual libraries that contained a wealth of information. The destruction levels of the ruin contained Late Helladic IIIB pottery ware, but no LH IIIC (see Mycenaean period). Therefore, the date of the destruction of Ugarit is important for the dating of the LH IIIC phase in mainland Greece. Since an Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah was found in the destruction levels, 1190 BC was taken as the date for the beginning of the LH IIIC. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed after the death of Merneptah (1203 BC). It is generally agreed that Ugarit had already been destroyed by the 8th year of Ramesses III (1178 BC). Recent radiocarbon work indicates a destruction date between 1192 and 1190 BC.</p><br>
<p>Whether Ugarit was destroyed before or after Hattusa, the Hittite capital, is debated. The destruction was followed by a settlement hiatus. Many other Mediterranean cultures were deeply disordered just at the same time, apparently by invasions of the mysterious "Sea Peoples".</p><br>
<h3>Kings of Ugarit</h3><br>
<h2>Language and literature</h2><br>
<h3>Alphabet</h3><br>
<p>Scribes in Ugarit appear to have originated the "Ugaritic alphabet" around 1400 BC: 30 letters, corresponding to sounds, were inscribed on clay tablets; although they are cuneiform in appearance, they bear no relation to Mesopotamian cuneiform signs. A debate exists as to whether the Phoenician or Ugaritic "alphabet" was first. While the letters show little or no formal similarity, the standard letter order (preserved in the Latin alphabet as A, B, C, D, etc.) shows strong similarities between the two, suggesting that the Phoenician and Ugaritic systems were not wholly independent inventions.</p><br>
<h3>Ugaritic language</h3><br>
<p>The existence of the Ugaritic language is attested to in texts from the 14th through the 12th century BC. Ugaritic is usually classified as a Northwest Semitic language and therefore related to Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician, among others. Its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian. It possesses two genders (masculine and feminine), three cases for nouns and adjectives (nominative, accusative, and genitive); three numbers: (singular, dual, and plural); and verb aspects similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order in Ugaritic is verb–subject–object, subject-object-verb (VSO)&(SOV); possessed–possessor (NG) (first element dependent on the function and second always in genitive case); and noun–adjective (NA) (both in the same case (i.e. congruent)).</p><br>
<h3>Ugaritic literature</h3><br>
<p>Apart from royal correspondence with neighboring Bronze Age monarchs, Ugaritic literature from tablets found in the citys libraries include mythological texts written in a poetic narrative, letters, legal documents such as land transfers, a few international treaties, and a number of administrative lists. Fragments of several poetic works have been identified: the "Legend of Keret", the "Legend of Danel", the Baal tales that detail Baal-Hadad&#39;s conflicts with Yam and Mot, among other fragments.</p><br>
<p>The discovery of the Ugaritic archives in 1929 has been of great significance to biblical scholarship, as these archives for the first time provided a detailed description of Canaanite religious beliefs, during the period directly preceding the Israelite settlement. These texts show significant parallels to Hebrew biblical literature, particularly in the areas of divine imagery and poetic form. Ugaritic poetry has many elements later found in Hebrew poetry: parallelisms, metres, and rhythms. The discoveries at Ugarit have led to a new appraisal of the Hebrew Bible as literature.</p><br>
<h2>Religion</h2><br>
<p>The important textual finds from the site shed a great deal of light upon the cultic life of the city.</p><br>
<p>The foundations of the Bronze Age city Ugarit were divided into quarters. In the north-east quarter of the walled enclosure, the remains of three significant religious buildings were discovered, including two temples (of the gods Baal Hadad and Dagon) and a building referred to as the library or the high priests house. Within these structures atop the acropolis numerous invaluable mythological texts were found. These texts have provided the basis for understanding of the Canaanite mythological world and religion. The Baal cycle represents Baal Hadads destruction of Yam (the god of chaos and the sea), demonstrating the relationship of Canaanite chaoskampf with those of Mesopotamia and the Aegean: a warrior god rises up as the hero of the new pantheon to defeat chaos and bring order.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>After its destruction in the early 12th century BC, Ugarit&#39;s location was forgotten until 1928 when a peasant accidentally opened an old tomb while ploughing a field. The discovered area was the necropolis of Ugarit located in the nearby seaport of Minet el-Beida. Excavations have since revealed a city with a prehistory reaching back to c. 6000 BC.</p><br>
<p>The site is a sixty-five foot high mound. Archaeologically, Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite. A brief investigation of a looted tomb at the necropolis of Minet el-Beida was conducted by Léon Albanèse in 1928, who then examined the main mound of Ras Shamra. But in the next year scientific excavations of Tell Ras Shamra were commenced by archaeologist Claude Schaeffer from the Musée archéologique in Strasbourg. Work continued under Schaeffer until 1970, with a break from 1940 to 1947 because of World War II.</p><br>
<p>The excavations uncovered a royal palace of ninety rooms laid out around eight enclosed courtyards, and many ambitious private dwellings. Crowning the hill where the city was built were two main temples: one to Baal the "king", son of El, and one to Dagon, the chthonic god of fertility and wheat. 23 stelae were unearthed: nine stelae, including the famous Baal with Thunderbolt, near the Temple of Baal, four in the Temple of Dagon and ten more at scattered places around the city.</p><br>
<p>On excavation of the site, several deposits of cuneiform clay tablets were found; all dating from the last phase of Ugarit, around 1200 BC. These represented a palace library, a temple library and—apparently unique in the world at the time—two private libraries, one belonging to a diplomat named Rapanu. The libraries at Ugarit contained diplomatic, legal, economic, administrative, scholastic, literary and religious texts. Various tablets are written in Sumerian, Hurrian, Akkadian (the language of diplomacy at this time in the ancient Near East), and Ugaritic (a previously unknown Northwest Semitic language). No less than seven different scripts were in use at Ugarit: Egyptian and Luwian hieroglyphs, and Cypro-Minoan, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian, and Ugaritic cuneiform. Unique among the texts in Ugaritic are the earliest known abecedaries, lists of letters in alphabetic cuneiform, where not only the canonical order of Hebrew-Phoenician script is evidenced, but also the traditional names for letters of the alphabet.</p><br>
<p>During excavations in 1958, yet another library of tablets was uncovered. These were, however, sold on the black market and not immediately recovered. The "Claremont Ras Shamra Tablets" are now housed at the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, School of Religion, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California. They were edited by Loren R. Fisher in 1971.</p><br>
<p>After 1970, succeeding Claude Schaeffer were Henri de Contenson, followed by Jean Margueron, Marguerite Yon, then Yves Calvet and Bassam Jamous, who since 2005 has held the office of Director General of Antiquities and Museums.</p><br>
<p>In 1973, an archive containing around 120 tablets was discovered during rescue excavations; in 1994 more than 300 further tablets dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age were discovered within a large ashlar masonry building.</p><br>
<p>The most important literary document recovered from Ugarit is arguably the Baal cycle, describing the basis for the religion and cult of the Canaanite Baal. There are also among the religious texts the Hurrian songs, including a noteworthy hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal, the oldest surviving substantial musical notation in the world. Its music is a series of 2-toned intervals played upon a 9-string lyre.</p><br>
<p>These tablets reveal parallels between ancient Canaanite and Israelite practices; for example, levirate marriage, giving the eldest son a larger share of the inheritance or redeeming the first-born son were practices common to the people of Ugarit.</p><br>
<p>The Citadelle of Quebec , also known as La Citadelle, is an active military installation and official residence of both the Canadian monarch and the Governor General of Canada. It is located atop Cap Diamant, adjoining the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, Quebec. The citadel is the oldest military building in Canada, and forms part of the fortifications of Quebec City, which is one of only two cities in North America still surrounded by fortifications, the other being Campeche, Mexico.</p><br>
<p>The Citadelle is a National Historic Site of Canada and forms part of the Fortifications of Québec National Historic Site of Canada. The fortress is located within the Historic District of Old Québec, which was designated a World Heritage Site in 1985. The site receives some 200,000 visitors annually.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Cap Diamants strategic value was identified by Samuel de Champlain in 1608 and led him to found Quebec City at the base of the escarpment. The promontory was practically insurmountable and thus the only side of the settlement ever to be heavily fortified was the west, the only one not naturally protected by the hill. The first protective wall (enceinte)—Major Provosts palisade—was built by command of Governor General of New France Louis de Buade, sieur de Frontenac and completed just in time for the Battle of Quebec in 1690. Three years later, a plan by engineer Josué Boisberthelot de Beaucours for new, 75 m (246 ft) wide enceinte was developed by the French military engineer Jacques Levasseur de Néré and approved in 1701 by King Louis XIV&#39;s Commissary General of Fortifications, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The proposal to build a full fort was deemed by the government in France to be too costly, despite both the importance and vulnerability of Quebec City. After the fall of Louisbourg in 1745, considerable work on the battlements took place under the direction of military engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry.</p><br>
<p>The first British Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, General James Murray, saw the weakness of Quebec Citys defences (indeed, Murrays post existed precisely because the British had conquered Quebec City four years before Murray&#39;s appointment as governor in 1763). He urged the construction of a citadel, but the imperial government at Westminster, like the French before, deemed a large fort to be of little value; a smaller, wooden citadel was built. During the American Revolutionary War, after seizing Montreal in the autumn of 1775, American rebels, led by General Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, attempted to take Quebec on 31 December. There, Montgomery was killed and Arnold wounded and forced to retreat. The Americans attempted to keep Quebec under siege, but withdrew after the arrival of British reinforcements in the spring of 1776.</p><br>
<p>As tensions between the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as fears of further rebellion in British North America, The ramparts around the Upper Town cliff and four martello towers (still extant) on the Plains of Abraham were completed before 1812. A citadel was a key part of Manns design, but no fort was built because the cost was deemed prohibitive. as part of a wider improvement of Canadas defences coordinated by the Duke of Richmond, then Governor-in-Chief of British North America, the existing star fort was built between 1820 and 1850 under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Elias Walker Durnford of the Royal Engineers. Intended to secure Quebec City against the Americans and serve as a refuge for the British garrison in the event of attack or rebellion, the Citadelle incorporated a section of the French enceinte of 1745 and the layout was based on Sébastien Le Prestre de Vaubans design for an arms, munitions, and supplies depot, as well as a barracks. That, though, was somewhat of an anachronism by the time of the forts completion, in comparison to other contemporary European military architecture. Additional buildings were completed in 1850.</p><br>
<p>After Canadian Confederation in 1867, Canada became responsible for its own defence; the British departed the Citadelle in 1871. Since 1920, the Citadelle has been the home station of the Royal 22 Régiment of the Canadian Forces. From the late 19th century, living conditions for soldiers at the fort gradually improved; canteens were opened and the casemates were made more comfortable. reviving a tradition dating to the founding of New France.</p><br>
<p>The Quebec Conferences of 1943 and 1944, in which Governor General of Canada the Earl of Athlone, Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt discussed strategy for World War II, were held at the Citadelle of Quebec.</p><br>
<p>The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated the Citadel as a national historic site in 1946. The fortress was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1980 and, five years later, the Historic District of Old Québec, of which the Citadelle is a part, was placed on UNESCO&#39;s list of World Heritage Sites.</p><br>
<h2>Function</h2><br>
<p>The Citadelle is a functioning military installation for the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as an official residence of both Canadas monarch and its governor general. The latter, by tradition, resides there for several weeks during the summer as well as other shorter periods throughout the year. As is done at the other federal royal residence, Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Canadian award presentations and investitures and ceremonies for both incoming and outgoing ambassadors and high commissioners to Canada are held at the Citadelle. The residence is also open to the public, running a visitors program and free tours of the state rooms throughout the year as well as educational tours for students. The Citadelle attracts approximately 200,000 visitors each year.</p><br>
<p>A number of military ceremonies related to the Royal 22 Régiment take place at the Citadelle&#39;s parade ground, such as the changing of the guard and of battalion command and the consecration of each successive Batisse the Goat as regimental mascot. Additionally, daily at noon, a cannon is fired from the fort, the sound of which can be heard throughout Quebec City. Originally, two guns were fired each day, at 12:00 pm to alert Quebec City residents of the lunch hour and Angelus, or noon-day prayer and at 9:30 pm, marking the curfew for gunners and soldiers in the city. The tradition has continued since 1871, save for between 1994 and 2004.</p><br>
<h2>Buildings</h2><br>
<p>The fort is an uneven star shaped citadel and comprises four bastions and three straight curtain walls, all constructed with locally quarried sandstone. Within its walls are 24 buildings constructed mostly of grey cut stone.</p><br>
<h3>Royal and viceregal residence</h3><br>
<p>The Officers Barracks, a neo-Norman structure built in 1831 by the British Army, has been the residence of the Governor General of Canada since 1872. The residence today has a total of 153 rooms over 4,459 m (48,000 sq ft), including offices for the governor generals secretary.</p><br>
<p>The entrance into the original area of the residence is through a set of double doors beneath a neo-classical porch bearing the words GOUVERNEUR GÉNÉRAL on the frieze and the crest of the Royal Arms of Canada in the tympanum. Within is a foyer with marble tile floor and a stair descending to the basement and, through another set of doors in a screen with translucent leaded glass sidelights and fanlight, is a hall; both rooms are in the Georgian style, in beige, cream, and gold. The Small Dining Room is similarly Georgian in decor, with robin&#39;s egg blue walls and white-painted trim. From the ceiling hang two crystal chandeliers.</p><br>
<p>Soon after the building became a royal residence, additions to accommodate the viceregal party and household were required, including a ballroom and sunroom. These, however, were on 2 February 1976 destroyed by fire and the other rooms of the residence suffered smoke and water damage. The Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada (which oversees the infrastructure of the Citadelle) restored the original wing and new state rooms were built in place of the lost post-1872 additions, the work being completed in 1984. This new wing was built at the east end of and at a slight angle to the 1831 structure, the roof being copper and the exterior walls of the same masonry as the adjacent buildings, but, using more regulated block sizes and a flatter relief of pilasters and windows, as well as less detailing overall. The wing contains a separate entrance and ceremonial foyer with twin spiral staircases ascending to a piano nobile; the stairs have wood handrails with aluminum pickets and between them is a niche for sculpture. On the upper level is an event space, lounge, and sunroom with a terrace overlooking the St. Lawrence River. The former two areas are fully barrel vaulted and linked together by a continuous, narrow skylight in the roof under which crystal pendants of different lengths hang and transfer the natural light into the rooms. Interiors of the modern addition were designed by Quebec artist Madeleine Arbour, who was inspired by the colours of winter in Quebec, and use Canadian materials, including granite, walnut, and aluminum. The residence is furnished with pieces from the Crown Collection, mostly in New France style, antique furniture mixed with contemporary Canadian art.</p><br>
<h3>Royal 22 Régiment Museum</h3><br>
<p>Building 15, constructed in 1750, also known as the powder magazine, houses the Museum of the Royal 22 Régiment and Canadian Forces Museum, which collects, preserves, and displays artifacts of Canadian military historical significance, as well as the Museum, which features weapons, uniforms, and other military artifacts of the Royal 22 Régiment. The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, OMMC and Virtual Museum of Canada.</p><br>
<h3>Other buildings</h3><br>
<p>Building 1, the Former Hospital Administration Building, is the principal structure in Mann&#39;s Bastion. It is a two-story, rectangular, symmetrical stone structure with a hipped-roof pierced by two brick chimneys. The west-facing facade features restrained decorative detailing of pilasters supporting a flat cornice along the length of the five-bay façade. Loopholes are visible on the second floor on both sides of the building. The rear elevation facing into the bastion is functional and plain in appearance.</p><br>
<p>Building 2, also known as the Men&#39;s Barracks, was formerly the armory and powder magazine. It faces the parade ground near the throat of the Prince of Wales Bastion. It is a long, rectangular, two story masonry building built of smooth limestone with a hipped roof clad in sheet copper. The main façade of the building has little ornamentation and is regulated and orderly, with small, regularly placed, multi-paned windows.</p><br>
<p>Building 5, the Former Powder Magazine, is a low, rectangular stone structure with a gabled roof and a surrounding protective blast wall. Two doors at ground level and three openings at gable level pierce the symmetrical façade. Along the plain side elevations are three half-barrel-vaulted passages, or traverses, two on the west and one on the east.</p><br>
<p>Building 7, also known as the Memorial Building, forms part of a complex of three structures, which includes a chapel and a workshop, situated near the parade ground. They are attached by a 19th-century protective wall. It is a small, rectangular, one-story masonry edifice with a pyramidal stone roof and a row of windows on all four elevations. Its principal façade is distinguished by a modern porchway.</p><br>
<p>Located within the Kings Bastion and adjacent to the governor generals residence, Building 10 is the former military prison and presently the museum annex. Constructed in 1842, it is a two-story rectangular stone structure with a hipped roof pierced by three brick chimneys. The west elevation facing the citadel is restrained but decorated by pilasters. Loopholes pierce the walls on both stories. There are several irregularly placed windows with iron bars.</p><br>
<p>Building 14, the former ordnance store, stands along the parade ground. The long, rectangular two story structure is constructed of stone with a hipped roof clad in copper sheet. The symmetrical façade features small, evenly spaced windows.</p><br>
<p>Building 16 is the museum office and former cooperage.</p><br>
<p>Building 17, also known as the Men&#39;s Barracks, stands on the south side of the parade ground near the throat of the Dalhousie Bastion. Two stories high for most of its length, the rectangular building has exterior walls of stone and features symmetrical elevations, a hipped, copper clad roof, and a projecting course of stone above the ground floor.</p><br>
<p>Clearly seen from the river and aligned on the meridian for observation purposes, Building 20, also known as the Ball House, is the former observatory and time ball tower. It is a compact, tall, two story stone structure of several architectural shapes. The rectangular section with a gabled roof was the former observatory and the square section formerly housed the time ball installation topped with an antenna. The building is entered from the ground floor of its small porch, which joins the two buildings.</p><br>
<p>Building 32, formerly the Defensive Guard House, is located at the eastern end of the north main ditch below the King&#39;s Bastion. It is a small, squat, one story masonry edifice with a gable roof supported by wood rafters. A chimney rises through the roof, which is covered in painted tin sheeting.</p><br>
<p>The former caponier, Building 46, is located at the south end of the ditch separating the counterscarp from the Men&#39;s Barracks. Its two walls and small turret in the middle of its gabled roof are the only visible elements of this small stone building. It is integrated with the ramparts and pierced with loopholes.</p><br>
<p>Sexi  was a Phoenician colony at the present-day site of Almuñécar on Spain&#39;s Costa Tropical .</p><br>
<p>The Roman name for the place was Sexi Firmum Iulium. At the height of the Roman Empire, its suburbs included Pænis, Socordia and Villa Fatuus Maximus.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>An ancient Phoenician settlement, whose earliest phases are archeologically cloudy, was located on the Southern Spanish coast, southwest of the Solorius Mons (the modern Sierra Nevada mountain range) at the present-day site of Almuñécar on Spain&#39;s Costa Tropical. From the 3rd-2nd centuries BC it issued a sizeable corpus of coinage, with many coins depicting the Phoenician/Punic god Melqart on the obverse and one or two fish on the reverse, possibly alluding to the abundance of the sea and also a principal product of the area. The Barrington atlas of the ancient world equates ancient Sexi with modern Almuñécar.</p><br>
<p>The Khorat Plateau  is a plateau in the northeastern Isan region of Thailand. The plateau forms a natural region, named after the short form of Nakhon Ratchasima, a historical barrier controlling access to and from the area.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The average elevation is 200 m and it covers an area of about 155,000 km². The saucer-shaped plateau is divided by a range of hills called the Phu Phan Mountains into two basins: the northern Sakhon Nakhon Basin, and the southern Khorat Basin. The plateau is tilted towards the southeast, and drained by the Mun and Chi Rivers, tributaries to the Mekong that forms the northeastern boundary of the area. It is separated from central Thailand by the Phetchabun Mountains and the Dong Phaya Yen Mountains in the west, the Sankamphaeng Range in the southwest and by the Dângrêk Mountains in the south, all of which historically made access to the plateau difficult.</p><br>
<p>These mountains together with the Truong Son Range in the northeast catch a lot of the rainfall, so the southwest monsoon has much lower intensity than in other regions—the mean annual rainfall in Nakhon Ratchasima is about 1,150 mm, compared with 1,500 mm in central Thailand. The difference between the dry and wet seasons is much greater, which makes the area less optimal for rice. The portion known as Tung Kula Rong Hai was once exceptionally arid.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The plateau uplifted from an extensive plain composed of remnants of the Cimmerian microcontinent, and terranes such as the Shan–Thai Terrane, either late in the Pleistocene or early in the Holocene Epoch, approximately Year 1 of the Holocene calendar. Much of the surface of the plateau was once classified as laterite, and layers that can easily be cut into brick-shaped blocks are still so called, but the classification of soils as various types of oxisols is more useful for agriculture. Oxisols of the type called rhodic ferralsols, or Yasothon soils, formed under humid tropical conditions in the early Tertiary. When portions of the plain uplifted as a plateau, these relict soils, characterized by a bright red color, wound up on uplands in a great semicircle around the southern rim. These soils overlie associated gravel horizons cleared of sand by field termites, in a prolonged and still on-going process of bioturbation. Xanthic ferralsols of the Khorat and Ubon Series, characterized by a pale yellow to brown color, developed in midlands in processes still under investigation, as are those forming lowland soils resembling European brown soils.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Many prehistoric Thailand sites are located on the plateau, with some bronze relics of the Dong Son culture having been found. The World Heritage Ban Chiang archaeological site, discovered in 1966, yielded evidence of bronze making beginning c. 2000 BCE, but lacking evidence of weaponry so often associated with the Bronze Age in Europe and the rest of the world. The site appears to have once been part of a broader culture, until abandoned c. 200 CE, not to be resettled until the early-19th century. None Nok Tha in the Phu Wiang District of Khon Kaen yielded evidence of an Iron Age settlement dating from about 1420 to 50 BCE.</p><br>
<p>The region was once under the suzerainty of the Dvaravati Kingdom, and later under the Khmer Empire. It is dotted with the ruins of Khmer resthouses located about 25 km apart, a comfortable day&#39;s walk, along the Khmer highways. The chapels were not just places of rest, but also were hospices and libraries, and typically included a baray (pond).</p><br>
<p>Though Higham states, "...we remain largely unaware of the relationships between sites and the presence or otherwise of states on the Khorat plateau" during the 7th to 11th centuries. Muang Sema and Muang Fa Daet are notable though for their religious structures, including sema stones at Muang Fa Daet.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>There is a paucity of information from the centuries known as the Dark ages of Cambodia, but the plateau seems to have been largely depopulated. In 1718, the first Lao muang in the Chi valley—and in fact anywhere in the interior of the Khorat Plateau—was founded at Suwannaphum District, in present-day Roi Et Province, by an official in the service of King Nokasad of the Kingdom of Champasak.</p><br>
<p>The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is Großer Feldberg at 878 m; other notable peaks are Kleiner Feldberg  and Altkönig .</p><br>
<p>The Taunus range spans the districts of Hochtaunuskreis, Main-Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus, Limburg-Weilburg, and Rhein-Lahn. The range is known for its geothermal springs and mineral waters that formerly attracted members of the European aristocracy to its spa towns. The car line Ford Taunus is named after it.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>It is a relatively low range, with smooth, rounded mountains covered with forest. The Taunus is bounded by the valleys of the Rhine, Main and Lahn rivers and it is part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains.</p><br>
<p>On the opposite side of the Rhine, The Taunus range is continued by the Hunsrück.</p><br>
<p>For geographical, ecological and geological purposes the Taunus is divided in three parts:</p><br>
<p>Anterior Taunus (Vortaunus or Vordertaunus) in the south, next to the cities of Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden. This section is mainly made up of old sedimentary rocks with phyllite, greenschist and muscovite. The rocks are often given a greenish hue by the presence of epidote and chlorites.</p><br>
<p>High Taunus (Hoher Taunus). The central region of the range where the highest peaks are found. Its geological composition includes slates, quartzite and sandstones.</p><br>
<p>Farther Taunus (Hintertaunus) at its northern end is the biggest part by area. The geological materials that compose it include greywacke, claystones and siltstones.</p><br>
<p>The Taunus range originated during the Devonian period. The geological composition of the mountains was formed in a region covered by an ancient sea that was a few hundred kilometers wide and are mainly made up of phyllite, greenschist, gneiss, slates and sandstone.</p><br>
<h3>Summits</h3><br>
<p>Großer Feldberg (878 m), Hochtaunuskreis (Kreis=district). Being the highest point in the range, it provides the scenario for the Feldbergrennen hillclimbing and rallying contests. It should not be confused with the Feldberg in the Black Forest</p><br>
<p>Kleiner Feldberg (825 m), Hochtaunuskreis. It has an observatory on the summit.</p><br>
<p>Altkönig (798 m), Hochtaunuskreis. It has the remains of a late Iron Age hill fort (La-Tène A, ca. 400 BC) near the summit.</p><br>
<p>Weilsberg (701 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Glaskopf (685 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Pferdskopf (663 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Kolbenberg (684 m; telecommunication facility), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Klingenkopf (683 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Sängelberg (665 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Pferdskopf (663 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Weißeberg (660 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Fauleberg (633 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Großer Eichwald (633 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Roßkopf (632 m; telecommunication facility), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Kalte Herberge (619 m), Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis</p><br>
<p>Hohe Wurzel (618 m; telecommunication facility), Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis</p><br>
<p>Hohe Kanzel (592 m), Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis</p><br>
<p>Hallgarter Zange (580 m), Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis</p><br>
<p>Erbacher Kopf (580 m), Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis</p><br>
<p>Steinkopf (Hochtaunuskreis) (570 m), Hochtaunuskreis</p><br>
<p>Kuhbett (526 m), Kreis Limburg-Weilburg at Weilrod-Hasselbach</p><br>
<p>Steinkopf (Wetteraukreis) (518 m), Wetteraukreis</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Roman Limes was built across the Taunus. The Saalburg, a restored Roman castellum, now houses a museum.</p><br>
<p>After the fall of the Limes (in 259/260 AD), the Alamanni settled in the range and for this reason there are some Alemannic cemeteries in the southern foothills of the Taunus (Eschborn). This area of the Taunus became part of the Frankish confederation of Germanic tribes after the Battle of Tolbiac around 500 AD.</p><br>
<p>In past centuries the Taunus became famous among aristocrats for its therapeutic hot springs.</p><br>
<p>Lists Bad Ems, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, and Wiesbaden among the 16 in total.</p><br>
<p>Certain towns in the area, such as Bad Homburg vor der Höhe with its Kurpark, have geothermal spas that were formerly renowned. Other spa towns in the Taunus range are Bad Schwalbach (formerly Langenschwalbach) mentioned in documents dating back to the 16th century, Bad Ems, one of the most reputed therapeutic spas in Germany since the 17th century, as well as Bad Weilbach where a spring reached wide fame for some time. By the 19th century the most famous spa towns in the area were Wiesbaden, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Bad Nauheim and Bad Soden am Taunus.</p><br>
